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ExxonMobil invests in new coker unit at Belgium refinery

An affiliate of ExxonMobil (Irving, Tex., www.exxonmobil.com), Esso Belgium, a division of ExxonMobil Petroleum & Chemical B.V.B.A., announced that it plans to install a new delayed coker unit at its Antwerp refinery to convert heavy, higher sulfur residual oils into…

GE Power & Water to acquire Monsal

GE Power & Water (Schenectady, N.Y.; www.gepower.com) has announced that it has agreed to acquire Monsal (Mansfield, U.K.; www.monsal.com), a private water, waste, advanced anaerobic digestion and integrated biogas-to-energy business.

With Monsal’s advanced anaerobic digestion technology and industry knowledge, GE will…

Recently published books for the chemical process industries (CPI)

  Process Heat Transfer: Principles, Applications and Rules of Thumb. 2nd ed. By Robert Serth and Thomas Lestina. Elsevier Inc., 225 Wyman Street, Waltham, MA 02144. Web: elsevier.com. 2014. 632 pages. $120.00. Engineering Plastics. By T.R. Crompton. Smithers Rapra Publishing,…

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Finding the Balance in Packaging

The word “sustainability” is used a lot, but for many businesses and industries it is increasingly becoming a challenge that must be taken seriously. As customers, large retailers and end-users continue to demand sustainable practices, packaging and products from their…

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Project Optimization Through Engineering

In the face of intense market pressures, companies are increasingly requiring their engineering organizations to complete capital projects more quickly, while spending less capital and creating systems that cost less to operate over the long run. They are also asked…

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Westlake acquires German PVC producer Vinnolit, and more business news

Plant Watch Ineos licenses HDPE process technology in Turkmenistan June 10, 2014 — Ineos Technologies (Rolle, Switzerland; www.ineos.com) has licensed its Innovene S process technology for the Turkmengas petrochemical complex in the Balkan Region of Turkmenistan. The new complex will…

Michael Stubblefield becomes CEO of Avantor Performance Materials…

Stubblefield Howell Weston Rodriguez Evertz Ted Nelson joins Akron Rubber Development Laboratory (Akron, Ohio) as technical advisor. Michael Stubblefield becomes CEO of Avantor Performance Materials (Center Valley, Pa.), a developer of high-performance chemistries .  Ronen Tchelet joins biotechnology company Dyadic…

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Consortium plans new MDI plant in Shanghai  

BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com), Huntsman Corp., Shanghai Hua Yi (Group) Co., Shanghai Chlor-Alkali Chemical Co. and Sinopec Group Assets Management Corp. held a ceremony today kicking off the construction of a new plant with a production capacity of 240,000…

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Evonik invests in new research center at Rheinfelden site  

Evonik Industries AG (Essen, Germany; www.evonik.com) is making an investment in the double-digit-million euro range in a new research center at the Rheinfelden, Germany site. Starting at the beginning of 2016, research into silanes will be carried out in modern…

Current Economic Trends

The preliminary value for the April CE Plant Cost Index (CEPCI; the most recent available) rose 0.4% from the final March value, after dropping the previous month. The gain was mostly due to a rise in the Equipment subindex. The…