Mobile Navigation

Latest News: Business

Successful startup of world’s largest dehydrogenation plant using Catofin-catalyst technology

Today, Clariant (Muttenz, Switzerland; www.clariant.com) announced the successful startup of its Catofin catalyst at Hengli Group’s new mixed-feed dehydrogenation plant in Dalian, China. The new unit combines propane dehydrogenation (PDH) with iso-butane dehydrogenation (BDH) process technologies, and it will produce…

DOMO Chemicals to acquire Solvay’s performance polyamides business in Europe

DOMO Chemicals (Ghent, Belgium; www.domochemicals.com) and Solvay (Brussels, Belgium; www.solvay.com) have signed today an agreement for DOMO to acquire Solvay’s Performance Polyamides Business in Europe. This includes Engineering Plastics operations in France and Poland; High-Performance Fibers in France; Polymer and…

Wison Engineering announces startup of butene-to-butadiene plant in Nanjing

Wison Engineering Services Co. Ltd. announced that on August 11, Nanjing Chengzhi Yongqing Energy Technology Co., Ltd.'s new butene-to-butadiene plant, built by Wison Engineering, started up successfully and produced on-spec butadiene. The plant was deployed with Oxidative Dehydrogenation of Butene-to-Butadiene…

BASF and TU Berlin launch artificial intelligence cooperation

BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) and Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin; www.tu-berlin.de) have signed an agreement to cooperate closely in the area of machine learning. The aim of the collaboration, Berlin-based Joint Lab for Machine Learning (BASLEARN), is to develop…

Dow to sell Acetone Derivatives business to Altivia

Dow (Midland, Mich.; www.dow.com) announced that it has reached an agreement for the divestiture of its Acetone Derivatives business to Altivia Ketones & Additives, LLC, an affiliate of Altivia, a privately held producer of chemicals headquartered in Houston, Texas. “This…

Saudi Aramco intends to acquire 20% stake in Reliance Industries’ Oil-to-Chemicals division

Saudi Aramco (Dhahran; www.saudiaramco.com) and Reliance Industries Limited (RIL; Mumbai; www.ril.com) have agreed to a non-binding Letter of Intent (LOI) regarding a proposed investment in the Oil-to-Chemicals (O2C) division comprising the Refining, Petrochemicals and fuels marketing businesses of RIL. Saudi…

Lanxess to divest its chrome chemicals business

Lanxess AG (Cologne, Germany; www.lanxess.com) is selling its chrome chemicals business to Brother Enterprises, a Chinese leather chemicals producer. Both companies on August 12, 2019 signed a respective agreement. The transaction is still subject to approval by the relevant antitrust…

McDermott awarded FEED contract for PetroLogistics’ new PDH plant

McDermott International, Inc. (Houston; www.mcdermott.com) announced it has been awarded a sizeable contract by PetroLogistics ll LLC to perform the front-end engineering design (FEED) services for a propane dehydrogenation (PDH) facility planned for the U.S. Gulf Coast. Under the scope…

Ecolab acquires cleaning solutions provider Chemstar

Ecolab Inc. (St. Paul, Minn.; www.ecolab.com) has acquired the business of privately held Chemstar Corporation, a U.S.-based supplier of food safety and cleaning and sanitizing solutions focused on the grocery and food retail markets. Chemstar and its Sterilox Fresh product…

Ineos breaks ground on Bayport ASA plant

INEOS Styrolution (Frankfurt, Germany; www.ineos-styrolution.com) hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for its new ASA (acrylonitrile styrene acrylate) plant in Bayport, Texas. The development of the new site is part of a bigger expansion plan for the Americas, which includes increased ABS…