The U.S. economy is on “solid footing” at the midpoint of 2024, and recession risks have moderated, according to the ACC Mid-Year Situation & Outlook 2024 from the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com). Martha Moore, ACC chief economist,…
The preliminary value for the CE Plant Cost Index® (CEPCI) for April 2024 (most recent available) decreased slightly compared to the previous month, reversing a three-month string of small monthly increases. In April, declines in the Equipment and Buildings subindices…
Plant Watch Asahi Kasei starts operation of multi-module hydrogen pilot plant in Japan May 14, 2024 — Asahi Kasei Corp. (Tokyo; www.asahi-kasei.com) opened a new hydrogen pilot plant in Kawasaki, Japan. In the pilot plant, four 0.8-MW electrolyzer modules are…
Developing a new technology from idea to commercial production involves major risks. Presented here are tools that project-management teams can use to mitigate them Technology development in the chemical process industries (CPI) involves designing and building facilities for which there…
The preliminary value for the CE Plant Cost Index (CEPCI) for March 2024 (most recent available) is higher than the previous month’s value, albeit by a very small margin. The small uptick is the third consecutive monthly rise. In March,…
Cespa (Madrid, Spain) has selected Siemens Energy AG (Munich, Germany) for the supply of 100 MW) of proton-exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis technology for green hydrogen production at its La Rábida Energy Park in Palos de la Frontera (Huelva), southern Spain.…
Thyssenkrupp nucera AG & Co. KGaA (Dortmund, Germany) is the preferred supplier of a 300-MW electrolyzer for Cepsa’s (Madrid, Spain) green hydrogen plant in Spain. Under an agreement, announced at the World Hydrogen Summit in Rotterdam, the Spanish energy company…
Last month, the LF AI & Data Foundation (lfaidata.foundation) under the auspices of the Linux Foundation (San Fransciso, Calif.; linuxfoudation.org) launched the Open Platform for Enterprise Artificial Intelligence (OPEA; opea.dev) as its latest Sandbox Project. The initiative is aimed at…
Plant Watch Celanese expands production capacities for acetic acid and VAE April 9, 2024 — Celanese Corp. (Dallas, Tex.; www.celanese.com) started up a new production unit for vinyl acetate ethylene (VAE) in Nanjing, China and completed several downstream debottlenecking projects…
Trends related to the energy transition are shifting global demand for refined products and affecting feedstock slates, forcing petroleum refiners to embrace adaptation and flexibility Demand for fossil fuels has remained strong in the years after the COVID-19 pandemic, but…