Latest News: Business
Chemical prices fell in Dec., while industrial production rose, ACC report says
Chemical prices, excluding pharmaceuticals, fell 0.9% in December, while industrial production rose 0.4%, according to data compiled from various sources and discussed in the latest Weekly Chemistry and Economic Report from the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com). …
Torresol Energy launches commercial operations of twin solar-thermal plants in Spain
Torresol Energy S.A. (Madrid, Spain; www.torresolenergy.com), a joint venture (JV) between Sener IngenierˇËa y Sistemas (Sener; Madrid, Spain; www.sener.es) and Masdar (Abu Dhabi; www.masdaruae.com) says that the Valle 1 and Valle 2 plants — two identical 50-MW parabolic trough plants,…
A PLA plant with new Sulzer/Purac technology starts up in the Netherlands
The first polylactic acid (PLA) plant running with innovative Sulzer technology was successfully put into service by Synbra Technology in Etten Leur, the Netherlands (photo, below). The plant was built by Sulzer Chemtech Ltd. (Winterthur, Switzerland; www.sulzerchemtech.com) and is based…
CB&I lands contract for Kearl Oil Sands Expansion Project
CB&I (The Woodlands, Tex.; www.cbi.com) has been awarded a contract, valued in excess of $750 million, by Imperial Oil Resources Ventures Ltd. for work on the Kearl Expansion Project in Alberta, Canada. CB&I’s work scope on the expansion project includes…
Sartorius Stedim Biotech and G-Con Manufacturing announce global collaboration
Sartorius Stedim Biotech (SSB; Göttingen, Germany; www.sartorius-stedim.com) and G-Con Manufacturing, LLC (G-Con; College Station, Tex.; www.gconbio.com) have agreed to a global collaboration to offer highly advanced and flexible production platforms for the biopharmaceutical manufacturing industry. The new product line will…
UOP to provide technology for petrochemical and fuels production in South Korea
UOP LLC (Des Plaines, Ill.; www.uop.com), a Honeywell company, has been selected by Samsung Total Petrochemicals Co. to provide technologies for the production of key petrochemicals and high-quality diesel and jet fuel at its complex in Daesan, South Korea. The…
‘Green’ cement developed by KIT wins German Innovation Award
The environmentally compatible cement Celitement developed by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT; Karlsruhe, Germany; www.kit.edu) has been granted the 2011 German Innovation Award for Climate and the Environment (IKU). Celitement GmbH (Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany; www.celitement.de) founded by KIT, the four…
Toyo awarded contract for a bioethanol production facility in Malaysia
Toyo Engineering & Construction Sdn. Bhd. (Toyo-Malaysia), a Malaysian subsidiary of Toyo Engineering Corp. (Toyo; Chiba, Japan; www.toyo-eng.co.jp) has been awarded a contract to build a bioethanol production facility with a capability of 10,000 ton/yr by a joint -venture company…
Foster Wheeler wins EPC contract for Petron refinery upgrade in the Philippines
Foster Wheeler AG (Zug, Switzerland; www.fwc.com) announced today that a subsidiary of its Global Engineering and Construction Group has been awarded a contract by Petron Corp. for the Petron Refinery Master Plan-2 Project in Bataan, Philippines. Foster Wheeler will execute…
BASF to build an integrated TDI plant in Ludwigshafen
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) says it will build a single-train 300,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr) production plant for toluene diisocyanate (TDI) and expand additional plants for its precursors at its site in Ludwigshafen. These include the construction of…