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New CEO of American Chemistry Council named

Christopher L. Jahn has been selected to become the next president and CEO of the American Chemistry Council (ACC) , effective late October 2019. Jahn currently serves as president and CEO of The Fertilizer Institute (TFI) and will succeed Cal…

Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB) is flat in June, ACC says

The Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB), a leading economic indicator created by the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com), was flat (0.0 percent change) in June on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis, following three monthly gains. On a year-over-year…

Chevron Phillips Chemical and Qatar Petroleum sign agreement to develop petrochemical complex

  Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC (The Woodlands, Tex.; www.cpchem.com) and Qatar Petroleum (QP; Doha, Qatar; www.qp.com.qa)  announced the signing of an agreement to pursue the development, construction and operation of a petrochemicals complex in Qatar to produce ethylene and…

U.S. chemical production continues gain in May, 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) rose by 0.4 percent in May, following a 0.2 percent gain in April and a 0.3 percent decline in March. During May,…

Saudi Arabia’s first hydrogen fueling station

Saudi Aramco (Dhahran; www.saudiaramco.com) and Air Products (Allentown, Pa.; www.airproducts.com)  inaugurated the first hydrogen fueling station in Saudi Arabia at Air Products’ new Technology Center in the Dhahran Techno Valley Science Park. The pilot station will fuel an initial fleet…

Zachry Group and MHIA selected by Gulf Coast Growth Ventures to construct PE unit in Texas

As announced earlier, Gulf Coast Growth Ventures (GCGV; www.gulfcoastgv.com), a joint venture of ExxonMobil and Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) will be constructing a new chemical complex in Texas. Zachry Group and its partner Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America, Inc. (MHIA)…

Ascend completes investment in NTA chelate production

Ascend Performance Materials (Houston, Tex.; www.ascendmaterials.com), a global provider of premium chemicals, fibers and plastics, announced the completion of a multimillion-dollar reliability and capacity investment in nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) production at its Chocolate Bayou facility in Alvin, Texas. The investment…

Ineos selects lead engineering contractor for propane dehydrogenation unit

  INEOS (London, U.K.; www.ineos.com) has today announced the next step forwards in the design and build of its state-of-the-art PDH (propane dehydrogenation unit) at the centre of its €3 billion investment to be located at its Antwerp site in…

Grace licenses Unipol PP process technology to Hyundai Chemical

  W. R. Grace & Co. (Columbia, Md.; www.grace.com), the leading independent supplier of polyolefin catalyst technology and polypropylene (PP) process technology, has licensed its UNIPOL PP Process Technology to Hyundai Chemical Co., Ltd., a joint venture between Hyundai Oilbank Co.,…

LyondellBasell and Neste commercialize bio-plastics from renewables

LyondellBasell (Rotterdam, the Netherlands; www.lyondellbasell.com) and Neste (Espoo, FInland; www.neste.com) jointly announced the production of bio-based polypropylene and polyethylene at a commercial scale. This is said to be the first time bio-based polypropylene and bio-based low-density polyethylene were produced simultaneously…