Chemical Engineering August 2022 - 12

Business News
LINEUP
AIR LIQUIDE
AKZONOBEL
ALTERRA ENERGY
BASF
HENKEL
HUNTSMAN
INEOS
JOHNSON MATTHEY
LOTOS GROUP
NESTE
PKN ORLEN
SIEMENS ENERGY
UBE
UMICORE
VERSALIS
Plant Watch
Johnson Matthey to build U.K.
gigafactory for H2 fuel-cell components
July 18, 2022 - Johnson Matthey plc (JM;
London; www.matthey.com) is building an
£80-million gigafactory at its existing site
in Royston, U.K. to manufacture hydrogen
fuel-cell components. The gigafactory will
initially be capable of manufacturing 3 GW
of proton-exchange-membrane (PEM) fuel-cell
components annually. The site is expected
to begin operation in the first half of 2024.
Huntsman starts up MDI
splitter in Geismar
July 14, 2022 - Huntsman Corp. (The
Woodlands, Tex.; www.huntsman.com) started
commercial operation of a new methylene
diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) splitter at its
Geismar site in Louisiana. The $180-million
splitter gives Huntsman the ability to produce
additional differentiated grades from the crude
MDI manufactured at the plant, thereby enabling
growth in the automotive, furniture, construction,
adhesives and coatings markets.
Umicore to construct
battery-materials plant in Canada
July 13, 2022 - Umicore N.V. (Brussels, Belgium;
www.umicore.com) plans to construct a plant
for cathode active battery materials (CAM) and
their precursor materials (pCAM) in Ontario,
Canada. The planned facility would be the first
of its kind in North America, combining cathode
and precursor materials manufacturing at a
large industrial scale. Umicore is targeting to
start construction in 2023, with production
startup at the end of 2025.
AkzoNobel invests €20 million to expand
production capacities in France
July 12, 2022 - AkzoNobel N.V. (Amsterdam, the
Netherlands; www.akzonobel.com) is investing
€20 million to expand production at two of its
sites in France. A total of €15 million will be
spent on the company's aerospace coatings
facility in Pamiers, where production capacity
is being boosted by 50%. The other €5 million
will be spent on improving production flexibility
at the decorative-paints site in Montataire.
Building work is expected to start by the end
of 2023, with the new installations at both
locations due to be operational in early 2025.
Look for more
latest news on
chemengonline.com
12
BASF doubles its polymer
dispersions capacity in Dahej, India
July 12, 2022 - BASF SE (Ludwigshafen,
Germany; www.basf.com) completed the
installation and startup of a new acrylicdispersions
production line in Dahej, India,
serving the coatings, construction, adhesives
and paper industries for South Asian markets.
BASF began production of polymer dispersions
in Dahej, in October 2014, and this additional
production line will almost double its capacity.
Air Liquide invests in biomethane
production in China
July 12, 2022 - Air Liquide S.A. (Paris; www.
airliquide.com) has invested in the group's first
biomethane-production unit in China, which is
expected to begin operation by the end of 2022.
Located in Huai'an City in Jiangsu Province,
the unit will have a production capacity of
75 GWh/yr. This new unit will produce biogas
from agricultural and livestock waste coming
from local farms and purify it into biomethane
for injection into the city gas grid for household
and commercial use.
Ube begins basic design for DMC and
EMC plant construction in the U.S.
July 6, 2022 - Ube Corp. (Tokyo; www.ube.
co.jp) is studying the feasibility of constructing a
new plant in Louisiana to produce commercialscale
volumes of dimethyl carbonate (DMC) and
ethyl methyl carbonate (EMC). The production
capacity is planned to be 100,000 metric tons
per year (m.t./yr) of DMC and 40,000 m.t./yr
of EMC derived from DMC. A final investment
decision is to be made in the first half of 2023,
with operations expected to commence in
the second half of 2025.
Versalis and Forever Plast to construct
plastics recycling facility in Italy
July 6, 2022 - Versalis S.p.A. (San Donato
Milanese, Italy; versalis.eni.com) and Forever
Plast have signed a new agreement related to
the construction of an advanced mechanicalrecycling
unit for selected post-consumer
plastics, in particular polystyrene and highdensity
polyethylene. Located at Versalis' Porto
Marghera industrial site, the new plant will
process 50,000 m.t./yr of pre-sorted waste
into recycled polymer compounds once it
comes onstream in 2024.
Ineos significantly expanding
PAO production in Texas
June 28, 2022 - Ineos Group Ltd. (London;
www.ineos.com) is executing a phased 50%
expansion of its LaPorte, Tex. high-viscosity
polyalphaolefin (PAO) unit, which will be fully
effective by mid-2025. The unit was initially
built with a capacity of 20,000 m.t./yr, and
was debottlenecked last year to reach
25,000 m.t./yr. With this further investment,
it will expand again to almost 40,00 m.t./yr.
Ineos also recently started up a low-viscosity
PAO unit in Chocolate Bayou, Tex. With a
production capacity of 120,000 m.t./yr, this
facility is said to be the world's largest single
PAO train.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM
AUGUST 2022
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Chemical Engineering August 2022

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