Latest News: Business
Praxair and Messer collaborate on acquisition and divestiture
Praxair, Inc. (Danbury, Conn.; www.praxair.com) has announced that it has strengthened its position in Italy through the acquisition of Messer Italia S.p.A’s liquid carbon dioxide, oxygen, nitrogen and argon and packaged gases businesses. The businesses will be fully integrated into…
Unilever acquires Chinese water-purification company Qinyuan
Unilever PLC (London; www.unilever.com) has acquired a majority stake in the Qinyuan Group, a leading Chinese water purification business for an undisclosed amount. Qinyuan generated sales approaching €140 million (c. 1.2 billion RMB) for the 12-month period ending 31 December…
FMC announces separation into two independent companies
FMC Corp. (Philadelphia, Pa.; www.fmc.com) has announced plans to separate into two independent public companies, "New FMC," which will be comprised of FMC's Agricultural Solutions and Health and Nutrition segments and "FMC Minerals," which will be comprised of FMC's current…
Global manufacturing index rose in February, ACC report says
The JPMorgan Global Manufacturing PMI (purchasing manager's index) rose 0.3 points to 53.3 in February, a 34-month high, according to the latest Weekly Economic and Chemistry report from the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com). The global PMI…
Haldor Topsøe expands its Frederikssund catalyst plant
Haldor Topsøe A/S (Lyngby, Denmark; www.topsoe.com) officially opened a large extension of the company's catalyst plant in Frederikssund, Denmark. This plant and a plant in Houston, Texas, constitute the company's two primary facilities globally. The extension, representing an investment in…
BASF opens global R&D center in Mumbai
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) today inaugurated a new global Research and Development (R&D) Center at its Thane site in Navi Mumbai, India, focusing on organic synthesis, advanced process and formulation research, discovery chemistry for modern agricultural solutions, and molecular…
ExxonMobil to construct butyl rubber and hydrocarbon resin plants in Singapore
ExxonMobil Chemical Company (Houston, Tex.; www.exxonmobilchemical.com) has announced that it will build facilities to manufacture premium halobutyl rubber and hydrogenated hydrocarbon resin at its recently expanded petrochemical complex in Singapore. Engineering and procurement activities have begun, with construction expected to…
BASF breaks ground on new resin and coating facility in Shanghai
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) broke ground on a new resin and electrocoat (e-coat) plant at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park in Shanghai. With its operation scheduled to commence in the second half of 2015, the plant will help to…
Gevo process technology licensed for renewable isobutanol production in Argentina
Gevo, Inc. (Englewood, Colo.; www.gevo.com) has announced that Porta Hnos S.A. (Cordoba, Argentina; www.portahnos.com.ar) has signed a letter of intent to become the exclusive licensee of Gevo’s GIFT process technology in Argentina to produce renewable isobutanol. Gevo is said to…
ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions to build turnkey cement plant in Algeria
ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions (Essen, Germany; www.thyssenkrupp-industrial-solutions.com), the ThyssenKrupp Group’s plant engineering specialist, has received an order to build a cement clinker production line in Algeria. The customer is Société des Ciments de Ain El Kebira (SCAEK), a subsidiary of Algerian…