Chemical Engineering February 2017 - 13

Business News
Plant Watch
Arkema plans $90-million upgrade at
Clear Lake acrylic acid plant
January 11, 2017 - Arkema (Colombes,
France; www.arkema.com) is investing $90
million at its Clear Lake, Tex. site to replace
two acrylic-acid reactors, each with a capacity
of 45,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr), with
a single 90,000-m.t./year reactor. The new
unit is expected to come onstream in 2019.
With completion of this project, Clear Lake's
total acrylic acid production capacity will
be 270,000 m.t./yr.
Petronas selects LyondellBasell
technology for Malaysia HDPE project
January 11, 2017 - A subsidiary of Petronas
Chemicals Group Bhd (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia;
www.petronaschemicals.com.my) selected
LyondellBasell's (Rotterdam, the Netherlands;
www.lyondellbasell.com) process technology
to be used for a 400,000-m.t./yr high-density
polyethylene (HDPE) unit. The new unit will
be constructed at Petronas' Refinery and
Petrochemical Integrated Development (RAPID)
complex in Pengerang, Johor, Malaysia.
AkzoNobel expands
peroxides production in Mexico
January 11, 2017 - Akzo Nobel N.V. (Amsterdam,
the Netherlands; www.akzonobel.com)
completed a €22-million expansion of its Los
Reyes organic peroxides production facility in
Mexico. The new facility will produce Laurox
brand organic peroxides, which are used in the
production of plastics and rubber products.
Fluor wins EPC contract for
petroleum refinery in Chile
January 4, 2017 - Fluor Corp. (Irving, Tex.;
www.fluor.com) was awarded a contract for
the engineering, procurement and construction
(EPC) of a new process unit at Empresa Nacional
del Petróleo's Biobío refinery in Chile. Fluor
will perform the EPC services to install a new
fluegas steam generator, a wet-gas scrubber
and a purge-treatment unit to treat residual
gas generated in the refinery's fluid catalytic
cracker to reduce air emissions.
Technip awarded service contract for
Socar petrochemicals facilities
January 4, 2017 - Technip (Paris, France;
www.technip.com) has been awarded a service
contract by the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan
Republic (SOCAR) for the engineering design
of a new gas-processing plant with a capacity
of 10 billion m3/yr and a new petrochemical
plant, which include a steam cracker with a
capacity of 610,000 m.t./yr of ethylene and
120,000 m.t./yr of propylene. Technip's work
is scheduled to be completed in late 2017.
Linde starts up six ASUs at
coal-to-liquids complex in China
January 3, 2017 - The Linde Group (Munich,
Germany; www.linde.com) has brought six
air-separation units (ASUs) onstream for
Shenhua Ningxia Coal Industry Group Co.
in Northwest China. Each of the six ASUs
has a production capacity of around 100,000
m3/h. Shenhua Ningxia requires the oxygen
to produce 4 million m.t./yr of coal-derived
products - mainly liquid fuel.
Ma'aden announces significant
phosphate expansion
December 22, 2016 - The Saudi Arabian
Mining Co. (Ma'aden; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia;
www.maaden.com) will execute a project to
increase manufacturing capacity of phosphate
fertilizers gradually over the next seven years.
Upon completion of this project, production
will be increased by 3 million m.t., reaching
a total capacity of nearly 9 million m.t./yr for
phosphate fertilizer products.
Formosa-Mitsui JV to expand
electrolyte-solution production capacity
December 21, 2016 - Formosa Mitsui
Advanced Chemicals Co. (FMAC), a joint
venture (JV) of Mitsui Chemicals Inc. (Tokyo;
www.mitsuichem.com) and Formosa Plastics
Corp. (Kaohsiung City, Taiwan; www.fpc.
com.tw), plans to increase the capacity of
its electrolyte-solution production facilities.
Currently, the plant's production capacity is
1,500 m.t./yr, and the planned expansion
will increase the capacity to 5,000 m.t./yr.
Commercial operations of the expansion are
set to commence in November 2017.
Mergers & Acquisitions
Braskem agrees to sell quantiQ
distribution business
January 11, 2017 - Braskem (São Paulo,
Brazil; www.braskem.com.br) signed an
agreement with GTM do Brasil, a subsidiary
of GTM Holdings S.A., through which it will sell
a 100% interest in its subsidiary quantiQ, one of
Brazil's largest chemical-product distributors.
The transaction is worth around $172 million.
Toray forms JV with Mitsui Sugar for
cellulosic-sugar manufacturing process
January 5, 2017 - Toray Industries, Inc. (Tokyo;
www.toray.com) will establish a JV company with
Mitsui Sugar Co. for manufacturing cellulosic
sugar via a new membrane-based process
from the surplus bagasse generated at sugar
mills. The new JV will be called Cellulosic
Biomass Technology Co. (CBT), and will have
headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand. Toray will
hold a 67% interest in CBT, with Mitsui Sugar
owning the remaining 33%.
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http://www.linde.com http://www.arkema.com http://www.maaden.com http://www.petronaschemicals.com.my http://www.lyondellbasell.com http://www.mitsuichem.com http://www.fpc http://www.akzonobel.com http://www.com.tw http://www.fluor.com http://www.braskem.com.br http://www.toray.com http://www.technip.com http://www.chemengonline.com http://WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM
Chemical Engineering February 2017

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