Latest News: Business
CB&I awarded contract for Afipsky Oil Refinery project
CB&I (The Woodlands, Tex.; www.cbi.com) has been awarded a contract by NefteGazIndustriya, LLC, through project developer MAVEG GmbH, to provide engineering and procurement services for the Afipsky Oil Refinery in Krasnodar, Russia. CB&I's project scope includes early detail engineering…
Air Liquide starts up a large hydrogen production unit in Germany
Air Liquide (Paris, France; www.airliquide.com) officially started up its new, state-of-the-art steam methane reformer (SMR) unit located in the Chempark Dormagen site near Cologne, Germany. Air Liquide invested around 100 million euros in this highly flexible production unit, which…
U.S. CPRI declines for the first time in over a year, ACC says
The U.S. Chemical Production Regional Index (U.S. CPRI) decreased by 0.3% in March, according to the American Chemistry Council’s (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com) latest Weekly Chemistry and Economic Report. The decline in March follows flat growth for February and is…
Huntsman increases specialty amine capacity
The Performance Products division of Huntsman Corp. (The Woodlands, Texas; www.huntsman.com) today announced plans to expand capacity of specialty amines at its manufacturing facilities in Petfurdo, Hungary and Conroe, Tex. The new multipurpose unit at Petfurdo extends the Huntsman manufacturing…
ABB acquires German robotics company Gomtec
At a press conference at the Hanover Messe 2015 event, ABB (Zurich, Switzerland; www.abb.com) announced its latest acquisition to expand its technological leadership in collaborative robotics. Germany’s Gomtec GmbH, based near Munich, brings with it 25 employees whose expertise, in…
Lubrizol increases U.K. hyperdispersant capacity
The Lubrizol Corp.’s (Wickliffe, Ohio; www.lubrizol.com) Performance Coatings business announced the addition of new hyperdispersant capacity at its Huddersfield, U.K. facility. The new capacity will be used for the manufacture of Solsperse hyperdispersants, additives that improve pigment dispersion in demanding…
Henkel to acquire Novamelt
Henkel AG & Co. (Düsseldorf, Germany; www.henkel.com) signed an agreement to acquire Novamelt GmbH, a privately owned company based in Wehr, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With this transaction Henkel will further enhance its competence in the area of hotmelt adhesives. In fiscal…
Celanese and Mitsui exploring methanol-production JV
Celanese Corp. (Irving, Tex.; www.celanese.com) and Mitsui & Co. entered into an exclusive arrangement to explore a joint venture (JV) for methanol production at Celanese’s integrated chemical plant in Bishop, Tex. The potential methanol unit at Bishop is expected to…
Arkema expands acrylic-resin production capacity in Brazil
The Coating Resins business of Arkema (Colombes, France; www.arkema.com) has expanded acrylic resin manufacturing capacity in Araçariguama, Brazil by 60%. The new reactor will enable manufacturing of Arkema’s product chemistries previously unavailable in the region. With the startup of the…
Molycorp to supply rare-earth metals to Siemens for wind-turbine generators
Siemens AG (Munich, Germany; www.siemens.com) has selected Molycorp Inc. (Greenwood Village, Colo.; www.molycorp.com) to supply rare-earth materials over the next 10 years from its Mountain Pass, Calif. facility for incorporation into Siemens' high-efficiency, direct drive wind turbine generators. Molycorp will…