Latest News: Business
Sandvik expands its sulfur technology portfolio
Sandvik Process Systems (SPS; Fellbach, Germany; www.processsystems.sandvik.com), a world leading supplier of sulfur processing & handling solutions for the oil-and-gas industry, has expanded its product portfolio by purchasing the proprietary technology and knowhow of the Brimrock Group Inc. (Calgary, Canada).…
BASF TOTAL Petrochemicals announces startup of tenth furnace at Texas steam cracker
The joint venture BASF TOTAL Petrochemicals LLC (Port Arthur, Texas; www.basf.us and www.totalpetrochemicals) today announced the startup of a tenth furnace at its steam cracker facility in Port Arthur, Texas. The additional furnace improves feedstock flexibility, enhances plant reliability and…
JGC awarded EPC contract for clean fuels project in Kuwait
JGC Corporation JGC Corp. (Yokohama, Japan; www.jgc.co.jp) and its partners GS Engineering & Construction (GS) and SK Engineering & Construction, both based in Korea, announced today that they received award notification by Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) to provide engineering,…
Bayer expands production for coating raw materials in China
Bayer MaterialScience AG (Leverkusen, Germany; www.materialscience.bayer.de) is increasing its production capacities in the Asia/Pacific region to meet the continued growth in demand there for raw materials for coatings and adhesives. Ground was broken at the site in Shanghai, China, on…
GTL joint venture
Velocys plc (Plain City, Ohio; www.velocys.com) has entered a joint venture (JV) with Waste Management (www.wm.com), NRG Energy (NRG; www.nrgenergy.com), and Ventech Engineers International (Ventech; www.ventech-eng.com) to develop gas-to-liquids (GTL) plants in the U.S. and other select geographies. The JV…
German Engineering & Construction: staying competitive in a volatile environment
The member companies of the Large Industrial Plant Manufacturers Ì Group (AGAB) at the German Engineering Federation (VDMA; Frankfurt am Main, Germany; www.vdma.org) booked orders worth €21.2 billion in 2013, a 3% increase year-on-year (2012: €20.5 billion). The industry is…
Oxea to increase plasticizer capacity in Europe
Oxea GmbH (Oberhausen, Germany; www.oxea-chemicals.com) is planning to increase its European capacity for Oxsoft GPO (Dioctyl Terephthalate - DOTP) by 50,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr) by the fourth quarter of 2015. To this end, Oxea has signed a memorandum…
Chevron Phillips licenses metallocene-based PE process technology to Repsol
Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. (The Woodlands, Tex.; www.cpchem.com) and the chemicals division of Repsol S.A. (Madrid, Spain; www.repsol.com) have announced that Repsol has entered into an agreement to license Chevron Phillips Chemical’s proprietary technology for production of metallocene-based polyethylene (PE)…
U.S. chemical production expanded in February, ACC says
According to the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com), the U.S. Chemical Production Regional Index (U.S. CPRI) grew 0.3% in February. Following flat growth in January due to harsh winter weather, February’s CPRI showed growth in six out of…
Oxea begins basic engineering work on new units in Bay City
Oxea GmbH (Oberhausen, Germany; www.oxea-chemicals.com) has started basic engineering for a 2-ethylhexanol (2-EH) and a propanol unit at its world-scale production plant in Bay City, Tex. Both units are scheduled to come onstream in late 2016. Key elements of the…