Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. LP (The Woodlands, Tex.; www.cpchem.com) has announced a study to expand its low-viscosity polyalphaolefins (PAO) capacity by 10,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr) of capacity at its Cedar Bayou plant in Baytown, Texas. Currently, its low…
Momentive Performance Materials Inc. (Waterford, N.Y.; www.momentive.com) has commissioned two new expansions at its Rayong, Thailand manufacturing facility to serve the growing Asian market demand for specialty chemicals. Commissioning took place as part of part of the 10th anniversary celebration…
KBR Inc. (Houston; www.kbr.com) has signed an agreement with Chiyoda Corp. (Yokohama, Japan; www.chiyoda-corp.com/en), a leading engineering and construction firm in Japan, to license its CT-Acetica technology. Chiyoda developed the CT-Acetica process, a methanol-carbonylation process that uses methanol and carbon…
Airgas, Inc. (Radnor, Pa.; www.airgas.com) has announced plans to build a liquid hydrogen plant in Calvert City, Kentucky. The new facility is targeted to be onstream in the summer of 2016 with the capacity to produce 10 tons per day…
Technip (Paris, France; www.technip.com) was awarded by Sasol Ltd. (Johannesburg, South Africa; www.sasol.co.za) a contract to provide engineering and procurement for eight proprietary Ultra Selective Conversion (USC) furnaces for a world-scale ethane cracker and derivatives complex to be located in…
Evonik Industries AG (Essen, Germany; www.evonik.com) opened a new plant for hydroxyl terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) in Marl, Germany. The group invested a mid-double-digit million euro amount in the plant, which has a production capacity of several thousand metric tons per…
Trelleborg’s engineered fabrics operation in the U.S. (Spartanburg, S.C.; www.trelleborg.com), announces its acquisition of the assets and businesses of coated fabrics specialists, Uretek Archer LLC Group (New Haven, Conn.; www.uretek.com), comprising Uretek LLC and Archer Rubber Company LLC. Trelleborg says…
Vertellus (Indianapolis, Ind.; www.vertellus.com), a leading producer of pyridine and pyridine derivative chemicals, announced that it has purchased Pentagon Chemicals (Holdings) U.K. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of fine and specialty chemicals used in the life-sciences industry. The acquisition significantly expands…
The preliminary value for the August CE Plant Cost Index (CEPCI; the most recent available) rose 0.35% from the final July value, continuing a string of five consecutive monthly increases. The Equipment subindex saw the largest month-to-month gain, while the…
Creating and Leading a High-Performance Chemical Plant. By Bob Gilbert. Tate Publishing & Enterprises LLC, 127 East Trade Center Terrace, Mustang, OK,73064. Web: tatepublishing.com. 2014. 56 pages. $7.99. A Conceptual Guide to Thermodynamics. By Bill Poirier. John Wiley & Sons…