Latest News: Business
Total invests in refinery upgrades; will create France’s first biorefinery
Total S.A. (Paris, France; www.total.com) has announced investments to upgrade the Donges refinery in western France and transform the La Mède refinery in southern France. Three of Total’s five refineries in France — Gonfreville in Normandy, Grandpuits in the Paris…
Henkel to double detergents production capacity in Mexico
Henkel AG & Co. (Düsseldorf, Germany; www.henkel.com) has announced Project Xina, a €27-million expansion project named for a volcano near its Toluca production site in Mexico. Project Xina will simultaneously double the capacity and reduce the environmental impact of Henkel’s…
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…