Business & Economics
Axchem USA and Novel Industrial Solutions combine for pulp-and-paper chemicals
Axchem USA, Inc. (Greensboro, N.C.; www.axchemgroup.com) and Novel Industrial Solutions LLC (New Albany, Ohio; www.novelindustrial.com) today announced the combination of business operations, assets, people and customer contracts under the Axchem USA brand to offer chemicals and solutions to the pulp-and-paper…
Altivia completes acquisition of Dow’s acetone-derivatives business
Altivia Ketones & Additives, LLC (Houston, Tex.; www.altivia.com) an affiliate of Altivia Petrochemicals, today announced that it acquired Dow's Acetone Derivatives Business and associated chemical manufacturing assets at Institute, W.Va., as well as the Institute Industrial Park. Altivia successfully assumed…
Books for the CPI: November 2019
The following is a list of selected titles that have been recently published and may have relevance for chemical process industries (CPI) professionals: Data Analytics: Effective Methods for Presenting Results. Edited by Subhashish Samaddar and Satish Nargundkar, Auerbach Publications, 2019,…
Technology Profile: Nitrile Rubber Production
This column is based on “Nitrile Rubber Production – Cost Analysis,” a report published by Intratec. It can be found at: www.intratec.us/analysis/nitrile-rubber-production-cost. Nitrile rubber (NBR), also known as Buna-N, is a synthetic rubber copolymer of 1,3-butadiene and acrylonitrile. The material…
Business News – November 2019
Plant Watch Arkema to expand PVDF plant in Changshu October 15, 2019 — Arkema (Colombes, France; www.arkema.com) will increase the capacity of polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) at its Changshu, China plant by approximately 50%. The expanded capacity is scheduled to come…
Computational Fluid Dynamics for Driving Engineering Productivity
This article provides an overview of how computational fluid dynamics (CFD) works, and what benefits it can bring to the chemical process industries Sustainability, waste reduction, energy efficiency and increased demand for engineered material are driving process engineers to continuously…
Portable CFD: Build Interpolation Models from CFD results
Portable laptop computers and smartphones can be used to emulate computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling results using this interpolation procedure Most engineers are familiar with computational-fluid-dynamics (CFD) models and their power (for an overview of CFD, see Part 1). At…
Chemical activity barometer falls in October, 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 0.4 percent in October on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis following stable activity during the third quarter. On a…
U.S. chemical production rises in all regions in Sept., 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 0.3 percent in September following declines of 0.2 percent in August and 0.7 percent in July. During September, chemical output…
U.S. specialty chemical markets ease to close 3rd quarter, ACC says
The American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com) reported that U.S. specialty chemicals market volumes ended the third quarter on soft note, falling 0.1 percent in September after rising 0.2 percent in August. Of the 28 specialty chemical segments that…