Chemical Engineering May 2012 - 81

Economic Indicators
BUSINESS NEWS
PLANT WATCH
Petrochemicals expansion project in the
U.S. awarded to CB&I
April 9, 2012 - CB&I (The Woodlands,
Tex.; www.cbi.com) has been awarded a
contract by Williams Olefins, LLC for a petrochemicals
expansion project in Geismar, La.
Plant capacity is expected to be increased
from 1.35 to 1.95 billion lb/yr. The scope of
the award includes the license and basic
engineering for the ethylene technology,
the supply of the cracking furnaces, and the
detailed engineering, procurement, and
construction of the expansion project.
Ube to add production facilities for Li-ion
battery separators to Sakai Factory
April 7, 2012 - Ube Industries, Ltd. (Tokyo,
Japan; www.ube-ind.co.jp) is adding a production
facility for battery separators to the
Sakai Factory located in Sakai City, Osaka
Prefecture. Startup is planned in early 2013,
and by the end of 2014, the total production
capacity is expected to be some 200-million
m2 from the two plants.
Russian Rosneft selects Topsøe
technology for two hydrogen units
April 5, 2012 - The Russian oil company, Rosneft,
has selected Haldor Topsøe A/S's (Lyngby,
Denmark; www.topsoe.com) technology
for two hydrogen units at the Kuibyshev and
Syzran Refineries. Both units will supply hydrogen
for the production of ultra-low-sulfur
diesel fuel. The diesel fuel will meet the Euro
4 specifications, which come into effect in
Russia in 2015. Each unit will have a capacity
of 50,000 Nm3/h, and will be based on
Topsøe's radiant-wall SMR technology.
UOP to expand adsorbents and catalysts
production at its Alabama facility
April 3, 2012 - UOP LLC (Des Plaines, Ill.;
www.uop.com), a Honeywell company, says
it will invest $20 million to expand its production
facility in Mobile, Ala., to produce adsorbents
and catalysts. The expansion is expected
to be completed in the 4th Q of this
year. The investment will expand production
of UOP's Ionsiv ion-exchange adsorbents,
which remove radioactive material from liquid,
and are currently being used in Japan
in response to last year's nuclear disaster.
Linde to construct onsite plants for
Sadara's complex in Saudi Arabia
April 2, 2012 -The Linde Group (Munich, Germany;
www.linde.com) and Sadara Chemical
Co. (Sadara) have signed a longterm
contract for Linde to supply Sadara with CO,
H2 and NH3 at a chemical complex being
built by Sadara in Jubail, Saudi Arabia. Linde
will be investing $380 million in the project.
Toyo and ENPPI awarded ethylene
plant contract for Ethydco
March 28, 2012 - Toyo Engineering Corp.
(Toyo; Chiba, Japan; www.toyo-eng.co.jp)
has been jointly awarded, with ENPPI - an
engineering company under the Egyptian
Ministry of Petroleum - a contract to build a
460,000-ton/yr ethylene plant and a 20,000ton/yr
butadiene extraction plant as part
of Ethydco's petrochemical complex to be
established in Alexandria, Egypt, and owned
by Ethydco, the Egyptian Ethylene and Derivatives
Co. The plant is scheduled for startup
in early 2015.
Lucite International boosts MMA and
MAA production in the U.S.
March 23, 2012 - Lucite International, Inc.
(Memphis, Tenn.; www.luciteinternational.
com) is progressing with its investment
to establish 150,000-ton/yr production of
methyl methacrylate (MMA) in 2012 at its
Beaumont, Tex. facility. The company will
continue to produce MMA at its Memphis,
Tenn. facility. In addition, Lucite is progressing
to commence production of methacrylic
acid (MAA) at Beaumont, with an expected
capacity of approximately 23,000 ton/yr.
GEA builds milk-powder plant
in New Zealand
March 26, 2012 - GEA Group AG (Düsseldorf,
Germany; www.geagroup.com)
has received an order worth more than €70
million from Fonterra in New Zealand for a
new whole-milk-powder plant that utilizes
GEA process technology. The spray dryer in
the new plant will be the largest dairy spray
dryer ever built with a capacity of 30 ton/h
of whole-milk powder, equivalent to more
than 4.4-million L/d of milk.
MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
Verenium sells oilseed processing
business and licensed enzymes to DSM
March 27, 2012 - Industrial biotechnology
company, Verenium Corp. (San Diego, Calif.;
www.verenium.com), has closed a transaction
with DSM Food Specialties B.V., a business
group of Royal DSM (Heerlen, The Netherlands;
www.dsm.com), in which Verenium
has sold its oilseed processing business to
DSM, licensed certain enzymes for use in the
food and beverage markets, and will provide
access to new gene libraries to be developed
by Verenium. Verenium will receive
$37 million in total consideration, including
transaction and related expenses.
Air Products acquires Xebec's
adsorption technology
March 23, 2012 - Air Products (Lehigh
Valley, Pa.; www.airproducts.com) has
acquired advanced adsorption technology
assets for its Generated Gases product
lines from Xebec Adsorption, Inc. (Blainville,
Quebec, Canada). In this acquisition, Air
Products purchased the technology, intellectual
property and know-how related to
structured adsorbents, beaded adsorbents,
and rotary valves from Xebec. Terms of the
acquisition were not disclosed.
Avantium and Danone sign development
partnership for bio-based plastic
March 22, 2012 - Avantium (Amsterdam,
The Netherlands; www.avantium.com)
and Danone Research have entered into
a joint development agreement for the development
of PEF (polyethylene-furanoate)
bottles for Danone. The agreement forms
another cornerstone of Avantium's commercialization
strategy to further co-develop the
YXY technology (For more on this tehnology,
see The Bio-Based Economy, Chem. Eng., August
2011, pp. 14-16). Avantium has recently
opened its pilot plant in Geleen, The Netherlands,
with the capacity of producing 40
tons of PEF for application development.
ABB helps turn electronic scrap into
high-grade products for Boliden
March 20, 2012 - ABB's (Zurich, Switzerland;
www.abb.com) automation and power
technologies are helping metals company
Boliden AB (Stockholm, Sweden; www.
boliden.com) expand its recycling facility
- recovering copper and precious metals
from electronic scrap. The new plant is
adjacent to an existing electronic-scrap
recycling facility at the Rönnskär copper
smelter in northern Sweden. This expansion
will almost triple recycling capacity from
45,000 to 120,000 metric tons a year, making
it the largest e-scrap recycling facility in the
world. For the new plant, ABB has supplied a
comprehensive range of process-critical automation
and power technologies, including
the process control system.
Dorothy Lozowski
FOR ADDITIONAL NEWS AS IT DEVELOPS, PLEASE VISIT WWW.CHE.COM
May 2012; VOL. 119; NO. 5
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Chemical Engineering May 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Chemical Engineering May 2012