Latest News: Business
STB seeks to protect captive rail shippers from unreasonable rates
The U.S. Surface Transportation Board (STB; Washington, D.C.; www.stb.dot.gov) announced two initiatives to explore ways to further protect captive shippers from unreasonable rail rates. First, the Board proposed to reform its rules on how it resolves rate disputes to ensure…
CFATS discussed at security summit
The Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) were a hot topic of discussion at the Chemical Sector Security Summit & Expo, held July 30 to August 1, in Baltimore, Md. At the Congressional Perspectives Panel, Congressional staff shared their concerns on…
EPA posts plans for peer-review agenda for risk assessments
As part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA; Washington, D.C.; www.epa.gov) plan to enhance its Existing Chemicals Management Program, the agency identified 83 chemicals for further assessment under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Initially, seven of those chemicals…
Foster Wheeler awarded contract for gas-to-chemicals complex in Brazil
Foster Wheeler AG (Zug, Switzerland; www.fwc.com) says that a subsidiary of its Global Engineering and Construction Group has been awarded a contract by Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras) for a world-scale grassroots gas-to-chemicals complex in Linhares, Espirito Santo State, southeast Brazil,…
SGL Group to supply HCl-recovery system to Qinghai Salt Lake Industry
Yesterday, SGL Group (Wiesbaden, Germany; www.sglgroup.com) – The Carbon Company – and Qinghai Salt Lake Industry Co. (Qinghai Salt Lake; Golmud, Qinghai, China) held a project launch ceremony to celebrate contract signing for the supply of a recovery system which…
UOP technologist receives AIChE’ Gerhold Award
UOP LLC (Des Plaines, Ill.; www.uop.com), a Honeywell company, announced today that Dr. Santi Kulprathipanja has been selected to receive the 2012 American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ (AIChE) Gerhold Award. Kulprathipanja was recognized for the development of process technology used…
Chemical Activity Barometer signals slow growth for end of 2012
The American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com) today released the third monthly report of its Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB), a leading economic indicator derived from a composite index of chemical industry activity. The August CAB showed a 0.4% growth…
Uhde awarded FEED contract for Russian PP plant
In May 2012 ThyssenKrupp Uhde GmbH (Uhde; Dortmund, Germany; www.uhde.eu) won a front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract for a single-train polypropylene (PP) plant based on LyondellBasell's Spheripol process technology for ZapSibNeftekhim L.L.C, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sibur, in…
Black & Veatch expands in Pune, India
As part of the company’s India Growth Plan, Black & Veatch (Overland Park, Kan.; www.bv.com) is expanding its India operations, which includes adding numerous local professionals by 2020. Moving and expanding its Pune office to address the increased critical human…
BASF sells decorative paints business to Prosol
On August 14, BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) and Prosol Lacke + Farben GmbH (Aschaffenburg, Germany; www.prosol-farben.de) signed a contract regarding the sale of the decorative paints business of Relius Coatings GmbH & Co. KG in Germany and Relius France…