Chemical Engineering December 2012 - 65

Economic Indicators
BUSINESS NEWS
PLANT WATCH
BASF building production plant in
Poland for emissions catalysts
November 6, 2012 - BASF SE (Ludwigshafen,
Germany; www.basf.com) is investing
approximately €90 million in the first step to
build a mobile emissions-catalysts production
facility in Sroda Slaska, near Wrocław, Poland.
Construction of the new 40,000-m2 facility -
BASF's largest in Europe - will begin before the
end of the year. The plant will start production
in the 1st Q of 2014. Additional expansion will
follow, raising the total investment volume for
the project to approximately €150 million.
All ten planned light-duty and heavy-duty
production lines are expected to be operating
at full capacity by 2016.
Uhde wins mega contract for
fertilizer plants in the U.S.
November 5, 2012 - CF Industries has selected
ThyssenKrupp Uhde GmbH (Uhde; Dortmund,
Germany; www.uhde.eu) through its U.S. business
partner, Uhde Corp. of America (Pittsburgh, Pa.),
to provide engineering and services for two
fertilizer complexes in the U.S. At its complex in
Donaldsonville, La., CF Industries will construct
a 3,300-metric tons per day (m.t./d) ammonia
plant, a 3,500- m.t./d urea plant, a 1,520-m.t./d
nitric acid plant and a urea-ammonium nitrate
(UAN) plant with a capacity of 4,500 m.t./d
of UAN solution. The ammonia, nitric acid and
UAN plants will be based on Uhde processes,
while the urea plant will employ the process
belonging to Stamicarbon of the Netherlands.
The urea and UAN plants are scheduled to
come onstream in the 2nd half of 2015 and
the new ammonia plant in 2016. In Port Neal,
Iowa, the company plans to build an ammonia
plant with a capacity of 2,200 m.t./d, a urea
plant with a capacity of 3,500 m.t./d and a
urea granulation unit with a capacity of 3,500
m.t./d. These plants are scheduled to come
onstream in 2016. Overall expenditure on the
projects will total $3.8 billion.
Evonik builds new plant for personal- and
household-care ingredients in Brazil
October 24, 2012 - Evonik Industries AG (Essen,
Germany; www.evonik.com) is moving ahead
with its plans to build a new production facility for
cosmetics and consumer goods in the Brazilian
state of São Paulo. The mid-double-digit million
euro investment will go on stream in 2014. The
total production capacity is around 50,000 m.t./
yr, spread across different technologies, such
as surfactants, conditioning agents, emollients,
emulsifiers, thickeners and others.
Dow plans EPDM rubber plant
for the U.S. Gulf Coast
October 24, 2012 - The Dow Chemical Company
(Dow; Midland, Mich.; www.dow.com) says that
it plans to build a new world-scale plant for the
production of metallocene, ethylene propylene
diene monomer (EPDM), sold under the trademark
of Nordel IP Hydrocarbon Rubber. The new facility,
when operational in 2016, will incorporate the use
of Dow's newest proprietary catalyst technology.
The manufacturing site will be located on the U.S.
Gulf Coast. This production facility will leverage
Dow's investment plan to increase ethylene
and propylene production in the U.S. Gulf coast
and will connect the company's U.S. operations
into feedstock opportunities available from
increasing supplies of U.S. shale gas.
Algeria plans construction of solar-tower
power plant in North Africa
October 22, 2012 - The first solar-tower power
plant in North Africa will be built in Algeria.
The People's Democratic Republic of Algeria
Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific
Research and the German Federal Ministry
for the Environment, Nature Conservation and
Nuclear Safety (Bundesministeriums für Umwelt,
Naturschutz und Reaktorsicherheit; BMU) have
agreed to collaborate on this project. The aim is
to build a solar-gas hybrid power plant with an
output of up to 7 MW. Important components of
power station technology were, to a great extent,
developed by the German Aerospace Center
(DLR; Cologne; www.dlr.de) with partners. The
power plant will be constructed in Boughezoul,
on the northern edge of the Sahara desert. It will
be able to operate using only solar energy or as
a hybrid power plant fuelled by a combination
of solar power and gas.
Solvay doubles PVDF production
capacity in France
October 18, 2012 - Solvay S.A. (Brussels,
Belgium; www.solvay.com) says it is starting
up new production capacity for polyvinylidene
fluoride (PVDF) at its Tavaux plant in France.
Solvay invested €26 million to increase the PVDF
production capacity at the plant by 50%.
Uhde Inventa-Fischer to build
Europe's biggest PET plant
October 17, 2012 - Uhde Inventa-Fischer
(Domat/Ems, Switzerland; www.uhde-inventafischer.com)
is to build a polyethylene
terephthalate (PET) plant for its Indian
customer JBF Industries Ltd. The plant, with
a total nameplate capacity of 432,000 m.t./
yr, will be located in Geel, Belgium, and will
produce PET for bottling and packaging
applications, based on Uhde Inventa-Fischer's
patented Melt-To-Resin (MTR) technology.
Clariant expands production capacity
for dehydrogenation catalysts
October 15, 2012 - Clariant (Muttenz,
Switzerland; www.clariant.com) plans to
expand production capacity for its Houdry
dehydrogenation catalysts. The expansion
will be achieved by a low double-digit
million Swiss-francs investment at its
current Louisville, Ky. plant. Production is
planned to start in September 2013. Houdry
catalysts are part of the product portfolio
from Clariant's business unit Catalysis &
Energy (formerly Süd- Chemie), which is
headquartered in Munich, Germany.
MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
Siemens to reorganize its water business
to focus on automation and drives
November 11, 2012 - Siemens AG (Munich,
Germany; www.siemens.com) has decided to
reorganize its activities in the water business.
The company intends to focus on automation
and drive solutions for the control of water
applications for municipalities and industry.
The Business Unit known as Siemens Water
Technologies, which offers solutions for
municipal and industrial water purification and
wastewater treatment, is to be sold along with
the corresponding service activities. Siemens
Water Technologies is active predominantly
in the North American market and recently
underwent a comprehensive restructuring.
The products and services provided by Water
Technologies comprise a number of different
biological, chemical and mechanical methods
for the treatment of water and wastewater.
Clariant and Wilmar establish JV for
amines and selected amines derivatives
October 26, 2012 - Specialty chemicals
manufacturer Clariant Ltd. (Muttenz,
Switzerland; www.clariant.com) and
Wilmar International Ltd. (Singapore;
www.wilmar-international.com), an
Asian agribusiness group, have, through
their respective subsidiaries, agreed to
establish a 50-50 joint venture (JV) as
the global platform for production and
sales of amines and selected amines
derivatives. The JV will be headquartered
in Singapore. Subject to regulatory
approvals, including merger clearances,
the JV is expected to be operational in
spring of 2013. ■
Dorothy Lozowski
FOR ADDITIONAL NEWS AS IT DEVELOPS, PLEASE VISIT WWW.CHE.COM
December 2012; VOL. 119; NO. 13
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Chemical Engineering December 2012

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