Chemical Engineering February 2012 - 53

Economic Indicators
BUSINESS NEWS
PLANT WATCH
UOP's Oleflex technology selected
by Dow Chemical
January 6, 2012 - UOP LLC (Des Plaines, Ill.; www.
uop.com), a Honeywell company, has been
selected by The Dow Chemical Co. (Midland,
Mich.; www.dow.com) to provide technology
to produce propylene at a Dow production site
in Texas. Dow Texas Operations will use UOP's
C3 Oleflex technology to produce 750,000
metric tons per year (m.t./yr) of polymer-grade
propylene. The unit is scheduled to start up
in 2012.
Jacobs secures contract with
ISACC in Saudi Arabia
January 4, 2012 - Jacobs Engineering Group
Inc. (Pasadena, Calif.; www.jacobs.com) has
been awarded a contract by IDEA Soda Ash
and Calcium Chloride Company (ISACC) to
provide engineering and project management
services for the construction of a $300-million
soda ash (sodium carbonate) and calcium
chloride production facility in Jubail's Second
Industrial City, the Royal Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Commercial operations are expected to start
in the 1st Q of 2015. ISACC is setting up a new
entity - Jubail Inorganic Chemicals Industries
Co. - to run the new facility.
Topsøe signs contract for ammonia
plant with Russian JSC Acron
December 22, 2011 - Haldor Topsøe A/S (Lyngby,
Denmark; www.topsoe.com) has signed a contract
with the Russian company JSC Acron for the
design of a 2,060 m.t./d ammonia plant. The
plant will be located in Veliky Novgorod, where
an ammonia plant was under construction in
the late 1980s. Due to the collapse of the Soviet
Union, the construction of the plant was put
on hold, but it will now be reconstructed. The
new plant is expected to be in operation by
the end of 2014.
Evonik to build a new methionine
production complex in Singapore
December 16, 2011 - With the largest of its
chemical investments to date, Evonik Industries
AG (Essen, Germany; www.evonik.com) will
invest roughly one-half billion euros in Singapore
for the construction of a methionine complex
with a capacity of 150,000 m.t./yr. The new
plant is scheduled to begin operating in the
2nd half of 2014. The new construction and the
expansion of four existing methionine plants
will raise Evonik's total capacity for this amino
acid to 580,000 m.t./yr beginning in 2014 - an
increase of more than 60% in five years.
Air Products receives largest, single
onsite ASU order ever for China
December 14, 2011 - Air Products (Lehigh Valley,
Pa.; www.airproducts.com) has signed a longterm
contract with Shaanxi Future Energy Chemical
Co., and will build, own and operate an onsite air
separation unit (ASU) in Yulin, Shaanxi Province,
China. The unit will produce 12,000 ton/d of
oxygen and significant tonnage volumes of
nitrogen and compressed dry air for Shaanxi's
coal chemical plant. The Air Products ASU trains
are scheduled to be operational in 2014.
Koch Membrane to install wastewater
system for steel plate manufacturer
December 12, 2011 - Koch Membrane
Systems, Inc. (KMS; Wilmington, Mass.; www.
kochmembrane.com) has been selected
to supply membranes for a large-scale
wastewater recycling system for Yingkou
Medium Plate Co., in Yingkou City, Liaoning
Province, China. The project will recycle the
plant's wastewater to meet government
discharge regulations and to conserve the
region's fresh water supply. KMS will work
in cooperation with Capital Engineering &
Research Inc. (CERI), the engineering firm
responsible for designing and building the
system. The system is designed to handle an
annual average flow of 80,000 m3/d. Startup
is scheduled for early 2012.
Air Liquide plans new plant
in North Dakota
December 12, 2011 - Air Liquide Industrial U.S.
LP (Houston, Tex.; www.us.airliquide.com) has
announced that it will build a new ASU to supply
nitrogen to industrial users, particularly those
in the oil and gas sector, in northwest North
Dakota. The new ASU is slated to be operational
by the end of 2012 and will be located in the
Bakken reserves.
BASF investing $20 million in
Vidalia, La. plant improvements
December 7, 2011 - BASF Corp. (Iselin, N.J.;
www.basf.com) will be investing $20 million in
its existing production facility in Vidalia, La. for
activated alumina adsorbent products. This
longterm improvement project will consolidate
the company's regional manufacturing activities
in a single, state-of-the-art operating environment.
As part of this project, the company will increase its
production capacity and operating capabilities
in Vidalia, while transferring production from its
smaller adsorbents plant in Port Allen, La., over
time. As a result, the Port Allen facility is expected
to discontinue operations in 2013.
MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
AkzoNobel to take 100 %
control of Metlac Group
January 9, 2012 - AkzoNobel (Amsterdam, the
Netherlands; www.akzonobel.com) plans to
exercise the right to buy the remaining shares of
Metlac, an Italian-based producer of packaging
coatings. AkzoNobel currently is a shareholder
in the Packaging Coatings Metlac Group. This
position was inherited from the acquisition of
ICI in 2008. The completion of the transaction
is subject to antitrust approval. The company
expects to finalize the acquisition in the 2ndQ
2012. Financial details were not disclosed.
DuPont and NexSteppe collaborate on
feedstocks for bio-based products
January 6, 2012 - DuPont (Wilmington, Del.;
www.dupont.com) and NexSteppe (Malibu,
Calif.; www.nexsteppe.com) have entered into a
collaboration to develop advanced feedstocks
for biofuels and other bio-based products. The
collaboration will focus on the development
of new sweet sorghum and high-biomass
sorghum hybrids that will create additional
feedstock options for bio-based products.
Under the agreement, DuPont has made
an equity investment in NexSteppe, and will
provide resources through its Pioneer Hi-Bred
(Des Moines, Iowa; www.pioneer.com) business
to help the company accelerate the breeding
and commercialization of new hybrids of these
crops in the U.S. and Brazil.
UOP creates dedicated natural gas and
hydrogen business unit
January 4, 2012 - UOP LLC has established a
new business unit dedicated to natural gas
processing solutions and hydrogen. The new
Natural Gas and Hydrogen business unit will
increase UOP's focus on developing technology,
equipment and adsorbents as well as the design
and execution of projects for global naturalgas
and hydrogen customers.
ABB invests in utility-scale concentratingphotovoltaic
solar-power company
December 14, 2011 - ABB (Zurich, Switzerland;
www.abb.com) has agreed to invest approximately
$20 million as part of a $35 million financial
round, for a substantial minority stake in
California-based GreenVolts, a provider of
turnkey concentrating-photovoltaic (CPV)
systems. This technology complements ABB's
recent acquisition of a stake in Novatec Solar, a
leading provider of Linear Fresnel concentrating
solar-power technology.
■
Dorothy Lozowski
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February 2012; VOL. 119; NO. 2
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Chemical Engineering February 2012

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