Plant Watch ICA Fluor to build $1-billion petroleum-refining facility in Mexico January 11, 2016 — ICA Fluor, Fluor Corp.’s (Irving, Tex.; www.fluor.com) joint venture (JV) with Empresas ICA, S.A.B. de C.V. (www.ica.com.mx/ir), was authorized by Pemex to proceed with the…
A real-life example is provided to show how to stay on program and within budget Over the past few years, much has been written in the trade press about how to manage large, $1- billion-plus plant-construction and expansion projects in…
Market volumes for specialty chemicals decreased in December by 0.1%, following a 0.7% decline in November, according to the latest Weekly Chemistry and Economic Report from the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com). The declines were reported on a…
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Today, Novozymes (Copenhagen, Denmark; www.novozymes.com) announced it has separated its biopharma activities into an independent company called Albumedix. The new company will be fully owned by Novozymes.“Over the past nine years, our work in albumin has resulted in a series…
The preliminary value for the November 2015 CE Plant Cost Index (CEPCI; the most recent available) declined again from the previous month, driven by a relatively large decrease in the Equipment subindex and small decreases in the Buildings and Construction…
Industrial production of chemicals in the U.S. fell by 0.5% in December, reversing a string of gains, according to the latest Weekly Chemistry and Economic Report from the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com). Production of pharmaceuticals was off…
The S&P Chemicals Index, a measure of equity prices for chemical companies, fell 4.0% in December and ended 2015 down 6.3% compared to the beginning of the year, according to the first Weekly Chemistry and Economic Report of 2016, from…
Chemical Engineering Bookshelf for January 2016 Book Review: Ludwig’s Applied Process Design for Chemical and Petrochemical Plants, Vol 3., 4th Edition. By A. Kayode Coker. Reviewed by: Dr. Gavin P. Towler, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Honeywell Performance…
Plant Watch Dow to increase capacity for glycidyl methacrylate at Freeport site December 10, 2015 — The Dow Chemical Co. (Dow; Midland, Mich.; www.dow.com) plans to complete a debottlenecking project at its Freeport, Tex. facility to increase capacity for…