Chemical Engineering December 2011 - 63

Economic Indicators
BUSINESS NEWS
PLANT WATCH
Oxea to build its first production
plant in China
October 29, 2011 - Oxea GmbH (Oberhausen,
Germany; www.oxea-chemicals.com) will build
a plant for the production of oxo derivatives
in Nanjing, China. Oxo derivatives include
alcohols, polyols, carboxylic acids, specialty
esters and amines. The plant is scheduled to
go onstream in 2013.
Lanxess and BioAmber partner to
produce phthalate-free plasticizers
October 20, 2011 - Lanxess AG (Leverkusen,
Germany; www.lanxess.com) plans to produce
phthalate-free plasticizers from bio-based succinic
acid from 2012 onward. Its strategic partner,
BioAmber, Inc. (Minneapolis, Minn., www.bioamber.com),
produces bio-based succinic acid
in a 3,000-metric ton per year (m.t./yr) plant
in France, and expects to add an additional
17,000 m.t. of succinic acid capacity in 2013 at
a new facility in Sarnia, Canada - located on
a site within Lanxess' Bio-industrial Park. Under
the terms of their joint-development agreement,
Lanxess and BioAmber are developing a portfolio
of renewable succinic-based plasticizers that
can exceed the performance of phthalates
at competitive prices.
Air Liquide to build two large ASUs for
Korean steelmaker
October 17, 2011 - Air Liquide (Paris, France;
www.airliquide.com) has signed a contract with
Posco E&C, the Engineering and Construction div.
of Posco, to design and build two air separation
units (ASUs), each of which will have an oxygen
production capacity of 3,750 m.t./d. These two
new units will be installed at Posco's Gwangyang
and Pohang sites in South Korea.
Evonik to build isophorone
plants in Shanghai
October 13, 2011 - Evonik Industries AG
(Essen, Germany; www.evonik.com) plans to
build plants for producing isophorone and
isophorone diamine in Shanghai, China. The
Group is investing more than €100 million in the
plants, which are scheduled to go onstream in
the 1stQ of 2014. Evonik currently manufactures
isophorone-chemistry products in Mobile, Ala., as
well as in Marl and Herne, Germany. The plants
in Shanghai will be Evonik's first for isophorone
and isophorone diamine in Asia.
The Schweighofer Group chooses
Aquantis to supply anaerobic plant
October 12, 2011 - The Schweighofer Group
(Vienna, Austria; www.schweighofer.at/en/thecompany/schweighofer-group.html),
a familyowned
enterprise with forest-based industry as its
core business, has selected Aquantis (Ratingen,
Germany; www.vws-aquantis.de), a subsidiary
of Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies, to
design and build a wastewater-treatment and
energy-generation plant for its Schweighofer
Fiber GmbH site in Hallein, Austria. The new
plant will treat approximately 5,700 m³/d
wastewater. The treatment process will also
generate biogas with a combustion capacity
of approximately 4 MWh.
Evonik to build hydrogen peroxide
plant in China
October 6, 2011 - Evonik Industries AG plans
to invest more than €100 million in a project
to build a new production plant for hydrogen
peroxide in Jilin Province in China. The plant will
have a production capacity of 230,000 m.t./yr,
thus increasing Evonik's current overall capacity
of around 600,000 m.t./yr for H2O2 production
by nearly 40%. Scheduled to be completed
by the end of 2013, the plant will supply its
H2O2 directly to the adjacent propylene oxide
plant run by Jishen Chemical Industry Co., via
a pipeline that will link the two facilities.
MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
Fluor acquires sulfur
technology company
November 8, 2011 - Fluor Corp. (Irving, Tex.;
www.fluor.com) has acquired Goar, Allison
& Associates, a unit of Air Products. The Texasbased
company provides sulfur technologies
for upstream gas plants, downstream petroleum
refineries and gasification.
Cobalt Technologies and Rhodia to
develop bio-butanol in Latin America
October 19, 2011 - Cobalt Technologies (Mountain
View, Calif.; www.cobalttech.com) and Rhodia
(Paris, France; www.rhodia.com) have executed
a memorandum of understanding that sets
the basis for a strategic alliance to develop
bio-based n-butanol refineries throughout Latin
America. Under the terms of the alliance, Cobalt
and Rhodia will work together to deploy Cobalt's
technology for the conversion of sugar-cane
bagasse into n-butanol for the chemicals and
fuels market. The parties will initially develop
options for deploying Cobalt's technology
at a sugar mill.
M&G Group partners with TPG to form
Beta Renewables
October 13, 2011 - 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 Chemtex's
Proesa Technology into the global marketplace.
Prosesa is said to be a breakthrough technology
enabling production of fermentable sugars
from cellulosic biomass. TPG and M&G are
investing total capital of €250 million into Beta
Renewables, in which M&G will hold a majority
stake. Under the terms of the agreement, M&G
will transfer the pilot plant in Tortona, Italy and
the 40,000-m.t./yr industrial-scale cellulosicethanol
plant currently being constructed in
Crescentino, Italy to Beta Renewables. The plant
is scheduled for startup in 2012 and will be the
first industrial facility in the world producing
second-generation bioethanol.
Lanxess strengthens its phthalate-free
plasticizer portfolio
October 12, 2011 -Lanxess AG (Leverkusen,
Germany; www.lanxess.com) has agreed to
acquire Unitex Chemical Corp. (Greensboro,
N.C.), a privately owned company with a capacity
of more than 50,000 m.t./yr dedicated mainly
to producing phthalate-free plasticizers and
other specialty products. Financial details were
not disclosed. The transaction was expected
to close with immediate effect and Lanxess will
finance the acquisition from existing liquidity.
The Unitex business will be integrated into the
Lanxess business unit Functional Chemicals.
Resinall Rütgers Resins acquires Neville
Chemical Europe
October 4, 2011 - Resinall Rütgers Resins
GmbH (RRR; Duisburg, Germany) - a JV
between Rütgers Novares GmbH (Duisburg,
Germany; www.novares.de) and Resinall
Europe bvba (Brugge, Belgium; www.resinall.com)
- has acquired the chemicals
company Neville Chemical Europe BV (NCE;
Uithoorn, Netherlands).The acquisition of
NCE is part of the RRR expansion strategy
and is designed to sustainably strengthen
the JV partners' leading position within the
European producers of industrial resins. The
acquired company has extensive competencies
in the development, production
and marketing of high-quality hydrocarbon
resins for the printing inks, coatings, asphalt
and rubber industries.
■
Dorothy Lozowski
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December 2011; VOL. 118; NO. 13
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Chemical Engineering December 2011

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