The preliminary value for the August 2018 CE Plant Cost Index (CEPCI; top; most recent available) increased compared to the previous month’s value, continuing an upward trend that has been in place throughout 2018. The increase, however was driven by…
Shell Chemical Appalachia LLC (Houston, www.shell.us) today announced the successful installation of its quench tower – the largest piece of equipment at its Pennsylvania Petrochemicals Complex, currently under construction. The heavy lift of the quench tower, undertaken October 7, marked…
Perstorp (Malmö, Sweden; www.perstorp.com) announced that it will substantially expand the production capacity of its non-phthalate polyester plasticizer Pevalen in 2019. To accomplish this Perstorp has entered into a long-term production agreement with Italian company Alcoplast Srl. The new partnership…
Plant Watch Dow announces investment plans to increase global silicones production September 12, 2018 — The Dow Chemical Company (Dow; Midland, Mich.; www.dow-dupont.com) will make investments in its global silicones businesses, including plans to build a new hydroxyl functional siloxane…
The preliminary value for the July 2018 CE Plant Cost Index (CEPCI; the most recent available) increased slightly compared to the previous month’s value, although, due to revisions in the values, the final June value was adjusted downward by a…
The Siemens technology group (Munich, Germany; www.siemens.com) and Sartorius Stedim Biotech (SSB; Aubagne, France; www.sartorius.com), a leading international supplier for the biopharmaceutical industry, have agreed on long-term cooperation in the area of automation. This agreement provides that Sartorius Stedim Biotech…
The following list of recently published book titles shown here are relevant to professionals in various parts of the chemical process industries (CPI) Biotechnology of Metals: Principles, Recovery Methods and Environmental Concerns, By K.A. Natarajan, Elsevier ScienceDirect, 2018, 502 pages,…
The results of a recent survey (2018 Pulse of Engineering Survey*) give a snapshot of how over 2,200 survey respondents view their current work environments. The respondents were predominantly design engineers (37%), followed by those in research and development, consulting,…
The kilogram is the last of the SI units (International System of Units) still defined by a physical object, rather than defined in terms of universal fundamental constants of nature. However, this will change in November 2018, as a multi-year…
The preliminary value for the June 2018 CE Plant Cost Index (CEPCI; most recent available) once again increased compared to the previous month’s value, continuing a string of monthly increases since the beginning of 2018. All four of the major…