Plant Watch
Evonik breaks ground on specialty-amine production plant in Nanjing
November 11, 2024 — Evonik Industries AG (Essen, Germany; www.evonik.com) has broken ground on its plant expansion for specialty amines in Nanjing, China. The Nanjing plant specializes in producing amine-based additives that play a significant role as catalysts during polyurethane foam formation.
Shell Chemicals Park Moerdijk starts up waste-plastics processing unit
November 11, 2024 — Shell plc (London, U.K.; www.shell.com) announced that Shell Chemicals Park Moerdijk started up a new unit that allows difficult-to-recycle plastics, like food packaging, to be reused. With the new unit — called the Market Development Upgrader (MDU) — the Moerdijk complex can now upgrade plastic-waste raw materials at scale into pyrolysis-based feedstock for the site’s hydrocarbon-cracking processes. Moerdijk is the first location within Shell to upgrade pyrolysis oil at scale.
SABIC launches $170-million resin manufacturing facility in Singapore
November 7, 2024 — SABIC (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; www.sabic.com) announced the official launch of its new $170-million resin manufacturing facility in Singapore. The new facility supports SABIC’s goal of increasing global specialty-resin production by more than 50%.
Clariant expands storage capacity for recycled mono-propylene glycol
November 7, 2024 — Clariant AG (Muttenz, Switzerland; www.clariant.com) is expanding its storage capacity in Scandinavia for the use of recycled mono-propylene glycol (MPG) used in aircraft deicing fluids. Two new storage tanks and a truck unloading station have been installed at the company’s Uddevalla facility in Sweden to increase capacity and optimize handling of the product. This development helps Clariant to maximize the reuse of MPG, which can be collected from the run-off of deicing operations at local airports and processed into industrial-grade glycol.
BASF opens new production line for water-based dispersions
November 5, 2024 — BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) recently opened a new production line for water-based dispersions in Heerenveen, the Netherlands. The new unit will be electrically powered and supplied with renewable electricity from the Hollandse Kust Zuid wind farm, which BASF operates in a joint venture with Vattenfall and Allianz. The new production line will significantly increase production of polymer products used in inks for food packaging and to optimize the color and gloss of various types of paints and varnishes.
Veolia and Morocco to establish Africa’s largest desalination project
November 5, 2024 — Veolia (Paris, France; www.veolia.com) and the Kingdom of Morocco plan to establish a strategic partnership to develop, on an exclusive basis, a seawater desalination project that will be the largest in Africa and the second largest in the world. With a capacity of 822,000 m3 of drinking water per day, the plant will serve the Rabat-Salé-Kénitra and Fès-Meknès regions to meet the water needs of nearly 9.3 million inhabitants.
LanzaTech and Eramet announce plans for integrated CCUS project in Norway
November 5, 2024 — LanzaTech Global, Inc. (Chicago, Ill.; www.lanzatech.com) plans to develop a commercial-scale, integrated carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) facility at Herøya Industrial Park in Porsgrunn, Norway. The plant will produce ethanol from captured CO2 and is expected to begin operations in 2028. Eramet Group (Paris, France; www.eramet.com) will supply furnace gas as feedstock to the facility from the Porsgrunn Manganese Alloys smelter. The new facility’s maximum production capacity is expected to be 24,000 m.t./yr of fuel-grade ethanol.
ALPLA opens PET recycling plant in South Africa
November 1, 2024 — ALPLA Group (Hard, Austria; www.alpla.com) has launched a new polyethylene terephthalate (PET) recycling plant in Ballito, South Africa. The company has invested €60 million in the new plant, which is able to produce up to 35,000 m.t./yr of recycled PET flakes and pellets, which will then be further processed into sustainable plastic packaging at ALPLA’s production plant in Lanseria, South Africa.
MilliporeSigma investing $76 Million to expand manufacturing facility in St. Louis
October 31, 2024 — MilliporeSigma (Burlington, Mass.; www.sigmaaldrich.com) announced a $76-million expansion of its antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) manufacturing capabilities and capacity at its Bioconjugation Center of Excellence facility in St. Louis, Mo. This investment will triple existing capacity at the site and enhance the company’s contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) offering. The project will also add new laboratories, a dedicated buffer-preparation facility and cold-storage capacity.
Linde starts up supply of industrial gases to PT Freeport Indonesia
October 31, 2024 — Linde plc (Guildford, U.K.; www.linde.com) started up the supply of oxygen and nitrogen to PT Freeport Indonesia’s new copper smelter and refining facility in Manyar, one of the largest copper-processing sites in the world. Linde has invested $120 million in the new onsite air separation unit (ASU), the largest in Indonesia and Linde’s largest ASU in southeast Asia. Linde’s new ASU will also supply liquefied industrial gases to new and existing bulk customers in East Java.
BASF to expand capacity for expandable polystyrene
October 24, 2024 — BASF is expanding the production capacity for Neopor expandable polystyrene by 50,000 m.t./yr at its site in Ludwigshafen. Startup of the new production facility is scheduled for early 2027. Neopor is a graphite-containing, expandable polystyrene granulate that is primarily used as a raw material for the production of insulation materials.
Mergers & Acquisitions
Solenis acquires BASF’s mining flocculants business line
November 5, 2024 — Solenis (Wilmington, Del.; www.solenis.com) has acquired BASF’s flocculants business for mining applications. The acquired product portfolio includes flocculants and other products used for solid-liquid separation and material handling in mining and mineral-processing applications.
Toray Advanced Composites acquires Gordon Plastics
November 5, 2024 — Toray Advanced Composites USA (Morgan Hill, Calif.; www.toraytac.com) expanded its portfolio for continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composite materials by acquiring the assets of Gordon Plastics. The acquisition includes a 47,000-ft2 manufacturing facility near Denver, Colo., which produces continuous-fiber-reinforced composite tapes made with many matrices, including polyetherimide, polyphenylene sulfide, polyester and various polyamides, reinforced with a wide range of glass- and carbon-fiber types.
Asahi Kasei and Honda form battery-separator JV in Canada
November 5, 2024 — Asahi Kasei Corp. (Tokyo; www.asahikasei.com) and Honda Motor Co. plan to convert E-Materials Canada Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of an Asahi Kasei subsidiary in Canada, into a joint venture (JV) between Asahi Kasei and Honda. Honda will invest a total of approximately $300 million in this JV, which will produce separator materials to be utilized for lithium-ion batteries. The JV will be headquartered in Port Colborne, Ont., Canada, and will comprise 75% stakeholding by Asahi Kasei and 25% stakeholding by Honda Canada Inc.
Technip Energies acquires two engineering companies in Rome
October 31, 2024 — Technip Energies (Paris, France; www.ten.com) has acquired the businesses of GST s.r.l. and Energeco s.r.l., two engineering companies based in Rome, Italy. GST and Energeco specialize in process engineering and piping design. ■
-Mary Page Bailey