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Plant Watch – April 2020

DOMO Chemicals to invest €12 million in new nylon plant in China March 13, 2020 — DOMO Chemicals GmbH (Leuna, Germany; www.domochemicals.com) will invest €12 million for a new nylon production plant in Zhejiang, China. The new plant will be…

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Technology Profile: Production Process for Neopentyl Glycol

This column is based on “Neopentyl Glycol Production Process – Cost Analysis,” a report published by Intratec. It can be found at: www.intratec.us/analysis/neopentyl-glycol-production-cost. Neopentyl glycol (NPG; 2,2-dimethylpropane-1,3-diol) is an industrially important and versatile diol, mainly employed as a building block…

Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB) falls sharply in March, ACC says

The Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB), a leading economic indicator created by the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com), fell 2.6 percent in March on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis, following a downwardly revised 0.1 percent gain in February.…

Covestro CEO to become VCI vice president

Covestro (Leverkusen, Germany; www.covestro.com) CEO Dr. Markus Steilemann will be the new Vice President of the German Chemical Industry Association (VCI; www.vci.de). The presidium appointed the 49-year-old to the new position, in a written circulation procedure on account of the…

Air Liquide increases production and inventory of medical gases for healthcare system support

Since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, Air Liquide (Houston, Tex.; www.airliquide.com) in the U.S. has activated business continuity plans to maximize efficiency and maintain its activities, while increasing its medical gas production capabilities to meet the current demand. Air…

U.S. chemical production edged lower in February, ACC says

According to the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com), the U.S. Chemical Production Regional Index (U.S. CPRI) edged lower by 0.2 percent in February following a 0.1 percent gain in January and a 0.2 percent decline in December. During…

ACC urges G20 leaders to take collaborative on products needed for COVID-19

American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com) president and CEO Chris Jahn made a statement this morning aimed G20 leaders who are participating a virtual summit on coronavirus pandemic response. Jahn says: “U.S. chemicals manufacturers are calling for G20 leaders…

Germany’s Large Plant Manufacturers hold their own in a difficult environment

The new orders booked by the members of the VDMA Large Industrial Plant Manufacturers‘ Group group (AGAB; Frankfurt am Main; Germany; www.vdma.org) in 2019 were stable at the previous year's level of €18.3 billion. This means that the companies were…

2019 Chemical Engineering Plant Cost Index Annual Average

The average annual value for the 2019 Chemical Engineering Plant Cost Index (CEPCI) was higher than the corresponding value for the previous year CEPCI. The final value edged higher for the year despite a generally downward trend in the monthly…

Recently Published Books for the CPI: March 2020

The following is a list of recently published books selected because of their relevance to the chemical process industries (CPI) Simultaneous Mass Transfer and Chemical Reactions in Engineering Science: Solution Methods and Chemical Engineering Applications. By Bertram Chan, Elsevier Press,…