Latest News: Business
U.S. chemical exports up; OECD CLI points to slowdown, ACC report says
U.S. chemical exports increased by 4.8% in August, rising by $747 million to $16.2 billion, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau that were discussed in the latest Chemistry and Economic Trends report from the American Chemistry Council (ACC;…
M&G Group partners with TPG to form Beta Renewables
Gruppo Mossi and Ghisolfi (M&G; Milan, Italy; www.gruppomg.com), through its wholly-owned subsidiary Chemtex (Wilmington, N.C.; www.chemtex.com), has founded Beta Renewables, a joint venture (JV) with TPG Capital and TPG Biotech (collectively TPG; San Francisco, Calif.; www.tpgbiotech.com), established to exclusively license…
Evonik to build isophorone plants in Shanghai
In Shanghai, China, Evonik Industries (AG (Essen, Germany; www.evonik.com) will build world-scale plants for producing isophorone and isophorone diamine. The Group is investing more than €100 million in the plants, which are scheduled to go onstream in the first quarter…
Envergent Technologies and Green Fuel Nordic: Biomass processing in Finland
Envergent Technologies LLC (Des Plaines, Ill.; www.envergenttech.com), a Honeywell company, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Finland’s Green Fuel Nordic Oy under which the two companies would collaborate on projects to convert biomass to renewable fuel for use in…
Lanxess acquires Unitex Chemical
Lanxess AG (Leverkusen, Germany; www.lanxess.com) is strengthening its global asset base and product portfolio for premium, environmentally-friendly phthalate-free plasticizers. The specialty chemicals company has agreed to acquire Unitex Chemical Corp. (Greensboro, N.C.). Financial details were not disclosed. The transaction also…
Technip: Specialty lubricant-base-stock facility in the U.S.
Technip (Paris, France; www.technip.com) was awarded a contract by ExxonMobil Chemical for a grassroots lubricant-base-stock facility to be built at ExxonMobil’s integrated refinery and chemical plant complex in Baytown, Texas. The project will provide a new synthetic-lubricant base-stock plant, consisting…
Air Liquide; Further investment in Bulgaria
Bulgaria’s economy has registered steady growth in recent years that relies mostly on industry. Non-ferrous metallurgy is one of the fast growing industrial sectors in Bulgaria, making a strong contribution to the development of the country’s economy. The sector is…
First plants of BASF-YPC expansion in Nanjing come onstream
The first production facilities in the $1.4-billion expansion of BASF-YPC Co(Nanjing, China; www.basf-ypc.com.cn) have now begun operations. Along with the successful completion of the steam cracker expansion, the newly constructed butadiene extraction plant and the non-ionic surfactants plant are now…
Wacker starts polysilicon production at its Nünchritz site
Wacker Chemie AG (Munich, Germany; www.wacker.com) has begun producing hyperpure polycrystalline silicon at its Nünchritz site, the Munich-based Group announced today. First deposition reactors at the new production complex have already ramped up production of high-quality polysilicon for sale. The…
Coal-to-Liquids complex in Mozambique to apply Uhde’s Prenflo PDQ process
ThyssenKrupp Uhde GmbH (Dortmund, Germany; www.uhde.eu) and SGC Energia (SGCE) have entered into a master license and supply agreement for the application of ThyssenKrupp Uhde’s proprietary Prenflo PDQ coal-gasification technology. Under this agreement, SGCE will license ThyssenKrupp Uhde’s Prenflo PDQ…