Business & Economics
Managing “First-of-a-Kind” Projects in the CPI
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…
2024 CEPCI updates: March (prelim.) and February (final)
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,…
Cepsa selects Siemens Energy’s PEM technology for 100-MW of electrolysis capacity for the Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley
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.…
Cepsa selects thyssenkrupp nucera as preferred supplier of a 300-MW electrolyzer for a ‘green’ hydrogen plant in 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…
Sandbox project launched for promoting open-source AI innovation
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…
Business News: May 2024
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…
Evolving Demand and Feed Profiles Challenge Refiners
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…
Open Process Automation Value Opportunities for the Chemical Industry
The Open Process Automation Standard (O-PAS) includes a business guide that outlines the business benefits of interoperability. This article discusses the benefits in the chemical industry While envisioning the Open Process Automation Standard (O-PASTM), the Open Group’s (www.opengroup.org) Open Process…
German large-scale plant engineering grows in a volatile market environment
At €24.3 billion, incoming orders booked in Germany by the members of the VDMA Large-scale Plant Engineering Group (AGAB; Frankfurt am Main) in Germany in 2023 were 15.7% higher than in the previous year (2022: €21.0 billion). This figure represents…
2024 CEPCI updates: February (prelim.) and January (final)
The preliminary value for the CE Plant Cost Index (CEPCI) for February 2024 (most recent available) rose compared to the previous month’s value, continuing a string of increases over the past three months. For February, the increase in the overall…