Lotte Chemical Corp said on Thursday that it expects that its U.S. ethane cracker will start commercial operations in Louisiana in May. The U.S. ethane cracker from Lotte Chemical is a joint venture with Axiall Corp, now merged with Westlake Corp. In the plant, Lotte owns 88 percent, while the rest is held by Westlake Corp. … Read more
Evonik is repositioning its business within the polyamide group for high-performance polymers. The company has started building of a new polyamide 12 (PA 12) facility and is expanding its production of transparent polyamides at Marl Chemical Park, focusing its activities on high-performance materials for attractive growth markets such as automotive, oil and gas, 3D printing … Read more
DIC Corporation announced that it has acquired mid-tier Indian resins manufacturer Ideal Chemi Plast Pvt. Ltd on April. 27, 2019. The details on the transaction were not disclosed. Ideal Chemi Plast produces and sells acrylic, alkyd, polyester and other resins for use in, among others, automotive refinish, coil and wood coatings. Ideal Chemi Plast also … Read more
Hempel announced that Lars Petersson, Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer in Hempel A/S, will be succeeding Henrik Andersen as CEO by 1 July 2019. Lars Petersson joined Hempel in March 2015 as Group COO. Since then, he has delivered remarkable results and been a central driver of the global transformation in Hempel as … Read more
Clariant today announced that it will be collaborating with its engineering partner, Wuxi Xiyuan, in two new projects to supply their joint formaldehyde production technology. The new contracts, awarded by Shandong Yushiju Chemical and Shandong Sunny Wealth New Materials, will grow the number of customers using the partners’ advanced technology to six in a short … Read more
Arkema to build its new world-scale plant dedicated to the manufacture of the amino 11 monomer and its flagship Rilsan polyamide 11 resins at the Jurong Island in Singapore. With this 50% increase in its global capacities announced in July 2017, the Group supports strong demand from its customers in Asia for high-performance bio-sourced solutions … Read more
DuPont announced that Raj Ratnakar has been named Chief Strategy Officer for the Specialty Products Division of DowDuPont, which is expected to become an independent company (the new DuPont) on June 1, 2019. Ratnakar’s appointment is effective May 1. He will report to Marc Doyle, chief executive officer-elect for DuPont and chief operating officer, DowDuPont … Read more
Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited announced on Friday that its indirect subsidiary Indorama Ventures Olefins LLC has achieved mechanical completion of its ethane cracker and is undergoing trial runs. Located at Westlake, LA, USA, Indorama Ventures Olefins LLC (IVOL) is a manufacturer of Ethylene from Ethane with annual capacity of 440,000 MT. IVOL has stabilized … Read more
Trinseo announced on Thursday that it has signed a definitive agreement with The Dow Chemical Company to acquire latex production facilities and related infrastructure at Rheinmunster, Germany. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2019, following European Union regulatory approval and customary closing conditions. Consideration for the transaction is approximately €40 … Read more
Linde announced on Thursday that it has started up a new air separation unit to supply 700 tons-per-day of gaseous nitrogen to support Samsung in Tangjeong, South Korea. This is the company’s fourth air separation plant at the facility. Linde’s nitrogen is used to cool and purge applications in Samsung’s manufacturing process. “Linde has worked … Read more
AmSty and Agilyx announce they have formed a joint venture, Regenyx LLC, to recycle post-consumer polystyrene materials back to new polystyrene products. Regenyx will utilize Agilyx’s chemical recycling process to convert used polystyrene products back to their original liquid form, styrene monomer. AmSty can then take that styrene monomer and work with its supply chain … Read more
West Australian lithium miner Alliance Mineral Assets signed a memorandum of understanding with Jiangxi Special Electric Motor Co. Ltd (Jiangte) to form a joint venture which would produce and sell the battery grade lithium hydroxide. Under the MoU, the parties have agreed to move into the downstream lithium products market within the next six to … Read more
Nouryon signed an exclusive global licensing agreement with SulNOx Group, a hydrocarbon fuel emulsification and additive specialist, to expand its offerings to customers in the fuels market. Under the agreement, Nouryon will introduce two new additives, Berol 6446 and Berol 6430, that help improve the combustion efficiency of diesel and lower-viscosity heavy fuel oil (HFO) … Read more
Food and beverage companies Nestlé Waters, Pepsi and Suntory Beverage & Food Europe have joined an industrial consortium to fund the development of Carbios’ enzyme technology for plastic recycling. There is an increasing pressure on companies recently to cut down waste and develop better ways to recycle the plastic they use or produce in order … Read more
Air Liquide announced today that it has expanded its utilities supply agreement with LyondellBasell for its new propylene oxide (PO) and tertiary butyl alcohol (TBA) project in the Houston area. This agreement comes in addition to the long-term contract already signed with LyondellBasell to supply oxygen for this project, which will be the world’s largest … Read more
Univation Technologies LLC has announced that PJSC Kazanorgsintez (KOS) has successfully produced metallocene polyethylene resin on their existing UNIPOL PE Reactor Line located in Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan, in the Russian Federation. KOS currently operates three UNIPOL PE Reactor Lines that have been in operation since 1983, with KOS also completing a significant capacity expansion … Read more
Socar and BP announced the construction of a new petrochemical complex for the production of aromatics and PTA (purified terephthalic acid) in Aliagha, Izmir, Turkey. The construction of the project is scheduled to start in 2020 and is planned to be launched by late 2023. “Aromatics factory will produce 830,000 tonnes of paraxylene, nearly 400,000 … Read more
Dow announced on Thursday its plans to expand the alkoxylation capacity at its existing facility in Tarragona, Spain to cater to the demand from Europe, Middle East, Africa and India region. The new capacity is “low capital intensive, high in returns and an incremental investment”, according to the company statement. This capacity which will be … Read more
BASF announced on Thursday its plans to invest a “mid-range double-digit euro million” sum in the modernization of its silica plant at the Düsseldorf-Holthausen site. The investment is aimed at modernizing and improving existing facilities and will help the company meet rising silicate demand, BASF said. “We want to continue serving our customers with high-value … Read more
Haldia Petrochemicals (HPL), one of the largest refiner in India, is planning to invest Rs 62,714 crore ($9 billion) in setting up a 12 Million Tonne Per Annum (MTPA) refinery-cum-petrochemical complex near Kakinada, in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The planned crude-to-chemical complex will produce refinery derivatives and petrochemicals for domestic and export markets. It will … Read more