The substance known colloquially as table sugar is actually sucrose, a disaccharide composed of fructose and glucose. Sucrose is a major agriculturally derived product with an established industry for its extraction, processing and supply. It is mainly employed as a…
PLANT WATCH Bayer MaterialScience inaugurates TDI plant in Dormagen December 9, 2014 — At its site in Dormagen, Germany, Bayer MaterialScience AG (Leverkusen, Germany; www.materialscience.bayer.de) has started up a new production plant for toluene diisocyanate (TDI). Valued at around €250…
Johnson Matthey (London; www.matthey.com) has agreed to divest its Gold and Silver Refining business to Asahi Holdings Inc., a collector, refiner and recycler of precious and rare metals from waste materials, for £118 million ($186 million) in cash, subject to…
Technip (Paris, France; www.technip.com) has announced that it has entered into an agreement with Air Liquide Global E&C Solutions Germany to purchase the entirety of its Zimmer polymer technology business. Based in Frankfurt, Germany, the business includes technologies for the…
Mitsui Chemicals Inc. (MCI; Tokyo; www.mitsuichem.com) and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) have announced the startup of what is said to be one of the world’s largest EPT (ethylene-propylene-dieneterpolymer) plants for a single train under their joint venture (JV),…
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD; Paris, France; www.oecd.org) most recent composite leading indicator (CLI) suggests stable growth momentum in the OECD as a whole, according to the latest Weekly Chemistry and Economic Report from the American Chemistry…
Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. LP (The Woodlands, Tex.; www.cpchem.com) announced completion of an ethylene expansion at its Sweeny complex in Old Ocean, Tex. With the addition of a tenth furnace to ethylene unit 33 at the Sweeny complex, the expansion…
Alcoa Power and Propulsion, a unit of Alcoa Inc. (Pittsburgh, Pa.; www.alcoa.com), is doubling its high-technology coating capacity at its Whitehall, Michigan facility. The $16.7 million investment will position the Company to further capture growing demand for advanced jet-engine parts.…
Despite facing global headwinds, the American chemical industry expanded at a healthy 2.0% growth rate in 2014, and is expected to reach a 3.7% gain in output in 2015, before hitting 3.9% in 2016, according to the Year End 2014…
Evonik Industries AG (Essen, Germany; www.evonik.com) has started up two new plant units for the production of crosslinking activators at its multi-user site in Wesseling. With triallyl cyanurate (TAC) and triallyl isocyanurate (TAICROS), the company now offers two high-quality crosslinking activators…