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DSM polymerization plant to be built in Augusta, Ga.

Royal DSM (Heerlen, the Netherlands; www.dsm.com) today announces that its new polymerization plant will be built in Augusta, GA. The investment was accounted earlier this year and now a location has been confirmed. The plant, which will become part of…

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Cristal to acquire TiO2 assets of Jiangxi Tikon  

The National Titanium Dioxide Co. (Cristal; Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; www.cristal.com) has entered into an agreement to acquire the titanium dioxide assets of Jiangxi Tikon Titanium Co. The Jiangxi Tikon manufacturing facility is located in the city of Fuzhou in Jiangxi…

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BASF to increase production capacity for t-butylamine plant in Nanjing  

BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) will expand the production capacity of its existing world-scale production plant for t-butylamine (tBA) at the Nanjing Chemical Industry Park in China. The company plans to increase the existing production capacity by 60%, from 10,000…

CAB suggests stronger headwinds for U.S. economy, ACC says

The Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB), a leading economic indicator created by the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com), featured a slight decline of 0.1% in October, which is a deceleration from the 0.1% gain in September, as measured on…

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Fluor and Technip JV awarded contract for Sasol’s La. ethane cracker and derivatives complex  

Fluor Corp. (Irving, Tex.; www.fluor.com), in a joint venture (JV) with Technip (Paris, France; www.technip.com), was awarded a contract to continue to support Sasol with the detailed design, procurement and construction of its world-scale ethane cracker and derivatives complex in…

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Outotec to modernize Norilsk Nickel’s smelter in Russia  

Outotec Oyj (Espoo, Finland; www.outotec.com) has been awarded a contract by JSC MMC Norilsk Nickel to modernize and rebuild Norilsk Nickel’s nickel flash-smelting furnace at Nadezhda smelter in Norilsk, Russia. The contract value in these types of total rebuilds is…

Yokogawa and Murata form alliance for development of wireless-device communication modules

Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (Kyoto, Japan; www.murata.com) and Yokogawa Electric Corp. (Tokyo, Japan; www.yokogawa.com) announce that they have reached an agreement whereby they will cooperate in the development of communication modules for field wireless devices used in plants. Under the…

Westlake to expand ethylene capacity in Lake Charles

Westlake Chemical Corp. (Houston; www.westlake.com) has announced that it will expand its ethylene capacity and make other capital improvements in Lake Charles, La. with an investment in excess of $330 million.  This expansion is expected to be completed in late…

AkzoNobel starts operations at China vehicle refinishes plant

AkzoNobel (Amsterdam, the Netherlands; www.akzonobel.com) has started operations at its state-of-the-art vehicle refinishes plant in Changzhou, China. It is the company's 30th manufacturing facility in the country.   The new factory adds around 25 million liters of capacity for Sikkens,…

U.S. CPRI continues to rise in September, ACC says

The U.S. Chemical Production Regional Index (CPRI) continued its rise, gaining 0.6% in September, according to the latest Weekly Chemistry and Economic Report from the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com).   The September gain follows an upwardly revised…