Chemical Engineering November 2010 - 75

Economic Indicators
Business neWs
Plant Watch
Construction starts on new
helium plant in U.S.
October 13, 2010 - Air Products and
Chemicals, Inc. (Lehigh Valley, Pa.; www.
airproducts.com) and Matheson (www.
mathesongas.com), a member of the Taiyo
Nippon Sanso Corp. (TNSC) group, have
announced that onsite construction has
commenced on a new, jointly owned liquidhelium
production plant near Big Piney, Wyo.
The plant, designed to produce 200-million
standard cubic feet (scf) per year at startup,
with expectations for future expansion to
400-million scf/yr, would process crude helium
produced by a natural gas processing
facility that would be operated by Cimarex
Energy Co. Production at the new Wyoming
plant is anticipated to commence in 2011.
Fluor to design two solar power
plants in Spain
October 13, 2010 - Elecnor S.A. (Madrid,
Spain; www.elecnor.es) has awarded
Fluor Corp. (Irving, Tex.; www.fluor.com)
an engineering services contract for two
new 50-MW concentrating solar-power
(CSP) plants in Alcazar de San Juan,
Spain (for more on CSP plants, see Solar's
Second Coming, Chem. Eng., March 2009,
pp. 18-21). The project is under way with
engineering expected to be complete by
the 3rd Q of 2011.
Ineos Technologies wins Innovene S PE
technology license for the Russian market
October 11, 2010 - Ineos Technologies
(Lyndhurst, U.K.; www.ineos.com) has
licensed its Innovene S Process for the manufacture
of high-density polyethylene (HDPE)
and linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE)
to the JSC Angarsk Polymer Plant of Rosneft
in Angarsk, Russia. The 345,000-metric ton per
year (m.t./yr) plant will produce a full range
of Ziegler and Chrome monomodal and
bimodal products.The companies have begun
the engineering phase of the project.
Solvay to expand
compounding capacity in China
October 10, 2010 - Solvay S.A. (Brussels, Belgium;
www.solvay.com) will build a specialty
polymers compounding plant at its site in
Changshu in the province of Jiangsu, China.
Startup of the plant is expected in the last
quarter of 2012. The plant will satisfy the growing
demand for specialty polymers in China
and requires the investment of €21 million.
Chiyoda awarded EPC contract for
polycrystalline silicon plant in Malaysia
October 6, 2010 - The Tokuyama Corp.
(Tokyo; www.tokuyama.co.jp) group has
awarded an engineering, procurement and
construction (EPC) contract for a polycrystalline
silicon plant in Malaysia to Chiyoda
Corp. (Yokohama, Japan; www.chiyodacorp.com/en)
in collaboration with Chiyoda
Sarawak Sdn. Bhd. (Sarawak, Malaysia).
The 6,000-ton/yr plant will be located at the
Samalaju Industrial Park, in Sarawak, Malaysia.
Construction will begin in early 2011,
with startup slated for spring, 2013.
Haldor Topsøe and Linde supply
technology for POSCO's SNG plant
October 5, 2010 - The Linde Group
(Munich, Germany; www.linde.com) and
Haldor Topsøe A/S (Lyngby, Denmark;
www.topsoe.com) have been selected
as technology suppliers for the syngas
treatment and methanation unit of Posco's
(www.posco.com) synthetic natural gas
(SNG) plant. The new plant will be erected
in Gwangyang, South Korea and will have
a nominal capacity of 500,000 m.t./yr of
pipeline-ready SNG, which will be brought
into operation by the end of 2013. It will be
the first SNG plant in South Korea.
Technip awarded two hydrogen-plant
contracts in the U.S.
October 1, 2010 - Technip (Paris, France;
www.technip.com) has been awarded two
lump-sum contracts by Valero Refining Co.
and Diamond Shamrock Refining Co. (both
part of the Valero group) for two hydrogen
plants at their refineries in Memphis, Tenn.
and McKee, Tex. The two 30-million-scfd
hydrogen plants will produce high purity
hydrogen and export steam. Technip is partnered
with Performance Contractors Inc. for
the installation of both hydrogen plants. The
project is scheduled to be completed in the
first half of 2012.
Toyo-China wins contract
for a new ETA plant
September 29, 2010 - Toyo Engineering
Corp. China, a wholly owned subsidiary of
Toyo Engineering Corp. (Toyo; Chiba, Japan;
www.toyo-eng.co.jp), has been awarded
a contract for an ethanolamine (ETA) production
plant to be constructed in Jiaxing,
Zhejiang Province, China, by Honam Petrochemical
Corp. (Korea; www.hpc.co.kr). The
50,000-ton/yr plant is scheduled for completion
in the 1st Q of 2012.
BASF to establish production of watertreatment
and paper chemicals
September 27, 2010 - BASF SE (Ludwigshafen,
Germany; www.basf.com) has
decided to establish a wholly owned
production base for water-treatment
and paper chemicals in Nanjing, China,
with the construction of a 40,000-ton/yr
quaternized-cationic monomers plant and
a 20,000-ton/yr cationic-polyacrylamides
plant. The two BASF plants are expected
to start up production in the 3rd Q of 2012.
They mark the first Asian manufacturing of
these products for BASF.
Mergers and acquisitions
Wacker buys silicone-production
plant in South Korea
October 14, 2010 - Wacker Chemicals
Korea Inc., a Wacker Chemie AG (Munich,
Germany; www.wacker.com) subsidiary,
is acquiring the Lucky Silicone brand from
Henkel Technologies (Korea) Ltd. The two
companies announced a purchase agreement,
with the transaction's closing expected
before year-end 2010.The transaction
requires antitrust approval.
BASF to establish Styrolution as
a leading company in styrenics
October 7, 2010 - As part of the strategic development
of its styrenics business, BASF SE
is establishing a separate company, Styrolution.
BASF plans to carve out its businesses
in styrene monomers (SM), polystyrene
(PS), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS),
styrene butadiene copolymers (SBC) and
other styrene-based copolymers and establish
separate companies. BASF will retain its
global business in polystyrene foams. The
SM and PS capacities in Ludwigshafen used
to produce foams will also remain with BASF.
The carve-out is to be completed by January
1, 2011.
DyStar sells its Brunsbüttel,
Germany site
September 8, 2010 - CBW Chemie GmbH
(Bitterfeld Wolfen,Germany; www.cbwchem.
com) and WeylChem Group (www.weylchem.com)
have reached an agreement
with DyStar Colours Deutschland GmbH
(Frankfurt; www.dystar.com) for the acquisition
of DyStar's production site in Brunsbüttel,
Germany. DyStar plans to transfer most of
the production of reactive dyes to Asia at
the beginning of 2012.
■
Dorothy Lozowski
For additional news as it develops, please visit www.che.com
Novemberr 2010; VOL. 117; NO. 12
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ChemiCal engineering www.Che.Com november 2010 59

http://www.tokuyama.co.jp http://www.basf.com http://www.airproducts.com http://www.mathesongas.com http://www.chiyoda http://www.corp.com/en http://www.linde.com http://www.topsoe.com http://www.wacker.com http://www.posco.com http://www.elecnor.es http://www.fluor.com http://www.technip.com http://www.ineos.com http://www.cbwchem http://www.weyl http://www.chem.com http://www.solvay.com http://www.toyo-eng.co.jp http://www.dystar.com http://www.hpc.co.kr http://www.che.com http://www.Che.Com

Chemical Engineering November 2010

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