Mobile Navigation

Business & Economics

Sharing your expertise

Chemical engineers can put their skills to use in a very broad range of areas — from chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing to petroleum refining and to areas of biomedical work, such as development of artificial dialysis equipment and more. This…

Fluor completes Shell’s Quest carbon-capture project in Alberta; and more business news

Plant Watch Ineos to import ethane to ExxonMobil ethylene plant in Scotland November 10, 2015 — Ineos (Rolle, Switzerland; www.ineos.com) will supply ethane from its new import terminal in Grangemouth, Scotland from U.S. shale gas for the ExxonMobil-owned Fife Ethylene…

Optimizing the Design-to-Cost Cycle

By intensifying cooperation between process designers and cost engineers in the conceptual stage of plant projects, better-informed decisions can be made on the economic viability of plant projects The global economic environment is competitive, demanding and fast-paced, and becoming more…

Member Exclusive

Competitive Pricing of Process Plants

Accurate pricing of CPI plants involves integrating technical design with economic evaluation and accounting for many types of risk. Knowledge of costing methods from the perspective of EPCs and owner-operators is critical Engineering is, by its nature, a commercial activity.…

Genomatica and Braskem confirm lab-scale production of bio-based butadiene

Genomatica  (San Diego, Calif.; www.genomatica.com) and Braskem (São Paulo, Brazil; www.braskem.com) announced they have been successfully producing butadiene at laboratory scale since June 2015, using their direct, bio-based process. The companies are jointly developing a commercial process for the on-purpose…

Dow Performance Plastics wins the 43rd Kirkpatrick Chemical Engineering Achievement Award

The 43rd Kirkpatrick Chemical Engineering Achievement Award was presented on Wednesday, November 18 to Dow Performance Plastics for its Intune Olefin Block Copolymers. Chemical Engineering magazine has presented this biennial award continuously since 1933. The award honors the most-noteworthy chemical…

U.S. CPRI rises in October, ACC report says

The U.S. Chemical Production Regional Index (U.S. CPRI) rose by 0.2% in October, following flat growth in September and a 0.1% gain in August, according to the latest Weekly Chemistry and Economic Report from the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington,…

Clariant to acquire Kilfrost aircraft de-icing business in Europe

Clariant (Muttenz, Switzerland; www.clariant.com), a world leader in specialty chemicals, signed an agreement with Kilfrost Ltd. (Newcastle, U.K.; www.kilfrost.com) to acquire Kilfrost’s aircraft de-icing business in Europe. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and conditional upon merger clearance.

Current Economic Trends

The preliminary value for the September 2015 CE Plant Cost Index (CEPCI; the most recent available) once again fell compared to the previous month’s value, driven by declines in Equipment producer prices, as well as drops in the Buildings and…

Joule and Red Rock Biofuels announce merger plans

Joule Unlimited (Bedford, Mass.; www.jouleunlimited.com), the pioneer of liquid fuels from recycled CO2, and Red Rock Biofuels LLC (Fort Collins, Colo.; www.redrockbio.com), a leading developer of renewable jet and diesel fuel biorefineries, today announced their intent to merge. Red Rock…