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Technip and METabolic EXplorer sign agreement to evaluate combined polymer technology

Technip (Paris; www.technip.com) and METabolic EXplorer (Saint-Beauzire, both France; www.metabolic-explorer.com) have signed an agreement to assess the feasibility of offering a combined technology package consisting of the companies’ respective 1,3-propanediol (PDO) and polytrimethylene terephthalate (PTT) technologies. The evaluation will include…

Jacobs awarded design contract for Pfizer Global Biotechnology Center in China

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (Pasadena, Calif.; www.jacobs.com) was awarded a contract to lead design and provide engineering services, procurement and construction support for Pfizer, Inc.’s new $350 million Global Biotechnology Center investment in the Hangzhou Economic Development Area in China.…

Royal DSM and NHU inaugurate polyphenylene sulfide joint venture

Royal DSM (Heerlen, the Netherlands; www.dsm.com) and specialty chemicals producer Zhejiang NHU Special Materials Co. (NHU) have officially inaugurated their joint venture (JV) company for polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) compounds, DSM NHU Engineering Plastics (Zhejiang) Co Ltd. The JV, which was…

Albemarle to acquire lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate assets in China

Albemarle Corp. (Baton Rouge, La.; www.albemarle.com) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate conversion assets and supporting business functions currently operated by Jiangxi Jiangli New Materials Science and Technology Co. Ltd. The transaction is…

Showa Denko and JX Nippon to buy out LyondellBasell’s stake in polypropylene JV

Showa Denko K.K. (SDK; Tokyo, Japan; www.sdk.co.jp), JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp. (JX), and LyondellBasell Group (LYB; Rotterdam, the Netherlands; www.lyondellbasell.com) have reached final agreement concerning the sale and purchase of LyondellBasell’s shares in SunAllomer Ltd. (SunAllomer), a joint…

Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB) suggests accelerated activity, ACC says

The Chemistry Activity Barometer (CAB), a leading economic indicator created by the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com), expanded 0.4 percent in August, following an upward revision for July. This marks the barometer’s sixth consecutive monthly gain. Accounting for…

U.S. specialty chemicals market notches first gain since March, ACC says

The Specialty Chemicals Market Volume Index, a tool created by the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com) entered the third quarter of 2016 on a positive note, rising 0.2 percent in July. This follows a 0.3 percent decline in…

Vacuum Measurement Made Easy

Finding a vacuum gauge for monitoring chemical processes can be a challenge.  There are few gauges that simultaneously cover the appropriate vacuum range with sufficient accuracy and have the ability to cope with regular exposure to aggressive chemicals.  VACUUBRAND's VACUU·VIEW™…

Prayon to license phosphoric-acid process technology for two new plants in Egypt

Prayon Group’s (Engis, Belgium; www.prayon.com) Prayon Technologies division, which specializes in the licensing of phosphoric acid processes, will provide a license and technical guidance for two new phosphoric acid plants to be built in Egypt, as part of the NCIC…

BASF opens construction chemicals plant in Sri Lanka

BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) has opened its first production plant in Sri Lanka, which will produce standard and custom-made performance-based construction chemicals under the Master Builders Solutions brand, including concrete admixtures product. The new plant will allow BASF to…