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Amec Foster Wheeler completes sale of CFB boiler business

As part of the company-wide transformation program, which includes the sale of non-core assets, Amec Foster Wheeler (London, U.K.; www.amecfw.com) announces that it has completed the sale of its circulating fluidized-bed (CFB) boiler business to Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd (SHI),…

Metso investing €3.5 million in Africa for the manufacture of crusher wear parts

Metso Corp. (Helsinki, Finland; www.metso.com) is increasing its manufacturing capacity for large crusher wear parts castings used in minerals processing by investing in a second melting furnace at the Isithebe foundry in South Africa. The €3.5-million investment will ensure the…

U.S. specialty chemical market growth eases in May, ACC says

The American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com) reported today that after a strong start to the second quarter, growth in U.S. specialty chemicals market volumes eased to a 0.3 percent gain in May, about half the pace of the…

NatureWorks launches Performance Chemicals division

NatureWorks (Minnetonka, Minn.; www.natureworksllc.com) has formed a Performance Chemicals Division to supply lactides, polyols, binder resins and chemical intermediates to companies that manufacture C.A.S.E. (coatings, adhesives, sealants, and elastomers), toners and fine chemicals. "The NatureWorks Performance Chemicals Division delivers renewably…

ExxonMobil and Synthetic Genomics achieve breakthrough in algae-based biofuels

ExxonMobil Corp. (Irving, Tex.; www.exxonmobil.com) and Synthetic Genomics Inc. (SGI; La Jolla, Calif.; www.syntheticgenomics.com) announced a breakthrough in joint research into advanced biofuels involving the modification of an algae strain that more than doubled its oil content without significantly inhibiting…

BASF starts up expanded engineering plastics plant at Schwarzheide

BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) put the expanded compounding plant at BASF’s Schwarzheide site in Germany into operation. With the expansion of the plant up to 70,000 metric tons (m.t.) more Ultramid (PA; polyamide) and Ultradur (PBT; polybutylene terephthalate) can…

Dow announces quantum computing collaboration with 1QBit

The Dow Chemical Co. (Midland, Mich.; www.dow.com) and 1QB Information Technologies (1QBit) announced a collaboration agreement to develop quantum computing tools for the chemicals and materials science technology spaces. By combining Dow’s unique innovation capabilities with 1QBit’s leading expertise in the…

Executive changes at 3M

3M (St. Paul, Minn.; www.3m.com) announced that Michael F. Roman has been appointed chief operating officer (COO) and executive vice president, and Hak Cheol (H.C.) Shin is appointed vice chair and executive vice president. Both appointments are effective July 1,…

CB&I wins EPC contract from DuPont for cracking furnace expansion

CB&I (The Woodlands, Tex.; www.cbi.com) announced it has been awarded a contract valued at approximately $40 million by E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (DuPont) to provide engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) for an ethane cracking furnace expansion…

Amyris partners with Queensland on construction of new biorefinery

Amyris, Inc. (Emeryville, Calif.; www.amyris.com) and the Government of Queensland, Australia announced the next step their plans to develop a leading industrial biotechnology hub in Southeast Asia. Plans call for developing a new production plant with support from local partners…