Chemical Engineering March 2019 - 12

Business News
LINEUP
ARKEMA
BASF
CABOT
CELANESE
CHEMOURS
CHEVRON
DAELIM
DE NORA
ECOLAB
ENI
HOLLYFRONTIER
JOHNSON MATTHEY
KEMIRA
PETROBRAS
PRAXAIR
SABIC
SASOL
SAUDI ARAMCO
SIBUR
TOTAL
VALMET
Plant Watch
Sasol begins operating LLDPE
unit at Lake Charles site
February 13, 2019 - Sasol Ltd. (Johannesburg,
South Africa; www.sasol.co.za) announced
that its new linear low-density polyethylene
(LLDPE) unit in Lake Charles, La. has achieved
beneficial operations. The LLDPE unit, which
uses Univation Technologies' (Houston;
www.univation.com)
Unipol PE process
to produce 470,000 metric tons per year
(m.t./yr) of LLDPE, is one of two LLDPE plants
at the site. The second, a 420,000-m.t./yr plant
using process technology from ExxonMobil
Corp. (Irving, Tex.; www.exxonmobil.com),
is scheduled to come online later this year.
Arkema opens new polyester-resin
manufacturing facility in India
February 13, 2019 - Arkema (Colombes, France;
www.arkema.com) inaugurated a new polyesterresin
manufacturing facility in Navi Mumbai,
Maharashtra, India. This $15-million investment
includes production capabilities for polyester
powder resins marketed under the Reafree trade
name. Arkema also produces Reafree resins and
runs powder-coating laboratories at its facilities
in Sant Celoni, Spain and North Kansas City, Mo.
Chemours triples low-GWP refrigerant
production with startup of new plant
February 12, 2019 - The Chemours Co.
(Wilmington, Del.; www.chemours.com) started
up a new Opteon YF (HFO-1234yf) low globalwarming-potential
(GWP) refrigerant production
facility at its Corpus Christi manufacturing plant
in Ingleside, Tex. This $300-million facility will
enable Chemours to triple the global capacity
of its hydrofluoroolefin (HFO) 1234yf-based
refrigerant products.
Sibur to expand polybutadiene
rubber production capacity
February 12, 2019 - Sibur (Moscow; www.
sibur.com) has launched an investment
project aimed at enhancing polybutadiene
rubber (Nd-BR) production at its Voronezh
facility in Russia. A capacity ramp-up of
13,000 m.t./yr will increase total capacity to
48,000 m.t./yr. Currently, the project is in the
design stage, with completion slated for 2021.
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latest news on
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12
Praxair to double capacity at
Missouri air-separation plant
February 11, 2019 - Praxair, Inc. (Danbury,
Conn.; www.praxair.com) will expand production
capacity at its Neosho, Mo. air-separation plant
in response to the growing demand in Missouri
and neighboring parts of Arkansas, Oklahoma
and Kansas. The project is expected to be
completed in 2020 and will double capacity
at the Neosho facility.
Kemira to increase production of
emulsion polymers at Alabama site
February 8, 2019 - Kemira Oyj (Helsinki,
Finland; www.kemira.com) has announced
a two-year investment of around €60 million
to significantly increase production of highmolecular-weight
emulsion polymers at its
manufacturing site in Mobile, Ala. Construction
is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of
2019 with full commercial operation starting
in early 2021.
Saudi Aramco, Total and Daelim sign MOU
to build new polyisobutylene plant
February 1, 2019 - Saudi Aramco (Dhahran,
Saudi Arabia; www.saudiaramco.com), Total
S.A. (Paris, France; www.total.com) and Daelim
(Seoul, South Korea; www.daelim.co.kr) signed
a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to
build a new 80,000-m.t./yr polyisobutylene
plant, which is expected to come onstream
in 2024. The new petrochemicals facility, to
be located in Saudi Arabia, will use feedstock
from Saudi Aramco and Total's joint Amiral
petrochemicals complex in Jubail.
Celanese to expand Clear Lake
acetic acid plant
January 28, 2019 - Celanese Corp. (Dallas,
Tex.; www.celanese.com) announced that its
Clear Lake, Tex. acetic acid facility will be
expanded from 1.3 million m.t./yr to around
2.0 million m.t./yr by late 2021. This project
delivers rate flexibility and a platform that is
expandable by an additional 600,000 m.t./yr.
BASF opens first phase of new
antioxidants plant in Shanghai
January 25, 2019 - BASF SE (Ludwigshafen,
Germany; www.basf.com) inaugurated a new
antioxidants manufacturing plant at its Caojing
site in Shanghai, China. With a capacity of
42,000 m.t./yr, the plant will produce antioxidants
and associated forms and blends for the
plastic-additives market.
Mergers & Acquisitions
Eni and Sabic to collaborate on new
natural-gas conversion technology
February 8, 2019 - Eni S.p.A. (Rome, Italy;
www.eni.com) and The Saudi Basic Industries
Corp. (Sabic; Riyadh; www.sabic.com) agreed
to jointly develop a technology for natural gas
conversion into syngas that can be further
transformed into high-value fuels and chemicals,
such as methanol. The partnership will involve,
among other activities, the construction of an
industrial demonstration plant that will be built
and operated inside one of Eni's industrial sites.
This process was initially developed by Eni
and was subsequently coupled with Sabic's
short-contact-time reactor technologies.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM
MARCH 2019
http://www.kemira.com http://www.sasol.co.za http://www.univation.com http://www.exxonmobil.com http://www.saudiaramco.com http://www.total.com http://www.daelim.co.kr http://www.arkema.com http://www.celanese.com http://www.chemours.com http://www.basf.com http://www.sibur.com http://www.eni.com http://www.sabic.com http://www.praxair.com http://www.chemengonline.com http://WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM
Chemical Engineering March 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Chemical Engineering March 2019
