A few months ago, this column addressed the megadrought in the U.S. Southwest and the increasing concerns over water scarcity [ 1]. Since that time, the drought in that region of the U.S. has continued, further impacting communities across the…
For the first time, researchers have proven that multigene bioengineering of photosynthesis increases the yield of the major food crop soybean in field trials. An international collaborative team of the RIPE project (Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency), led by the University…
The Red Sea National Petrochemical Co. has selected process technologies from W.R. Grace (Columbia, Md.) and Univation Technologies, LLC (Houston) for a major petrochemicals complex in Egypt. Univation's UNIPOL PE Process has been selected for two reactor lines. The two…
Fluor Corp. (Irving, Tex.) announced that the company has been selected by a leading biologics company to perform procurement and construction management for a large-scale biologics drug substance manufacturing facility located in Scandinavia. Fluor will book the multi-hundred-million-dollar reimbursable contract…
Solvay S.A. (Brussels, Belgium) announced that it is increasing its Amodel polyphthalamide (PPA) resin capacity by 15% at its Augusta manufacturing site in Georgia as a result of operational excellence initiatives. The new capacity facilitates the production of innovative and more sustainable Amodel PPA…
Solenis (Wilmington, Del.) and Kolb Distribution Ltd., a unit of KLK Kolb Group, have announced that Solenis has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the latter’s paper process chemicals business. The deal includes a long-term supply agreement, in which…
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany) closed the divestiture of its kaolin minerals business to KaMin, a global performance minerals company headquartered in Macon, Georgia, United States, following the fulfillment of clearance conditions. The kaolin minerals business has approximately 440 employees, including…
Ingevity Corp. (North Charleston, W.V.) announced the company has launched new Capa polyols production and produced the first commercial quantities of its high performance caprolactone polyols in the United States (U.S.). The completion of the company’s expansion at its facility…
Johnson Matthey plc (JM; London) and Dow (Midland, Mich.) announced that Anqing Shuguang Petrochemical Oxo Co., Ltd. (Anqing), has licensed LP Oxo Technology to produce approximately 200,000 ton/yr of 2-ethylhexanol and 25,000 ton/yr iso-butyraldehdye. This license, the second LP Oxo…
Nouryon (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire ADOB Fertilizers, a leading supplier of chelated micronutrients, foliars and other specialty fertilizers located in Poland. The acquisition will enable Nouryon to expand its product portfolio and broaden…