Business News: September 2024 – Chemical Engineering

September 1, 2024 | By Mary Page Bailey

August 13, 2024 – Sika AG (Baar, Switzerland; www.sika.com) has doubled its production capacity at its Bekasi plant, its largest production facility in Indonesia. This site, which was opened in 2019, specializes in the production of adhesives and putties, as well as wall and facade systems. Sika has four mortar factories in Indonesia.

August 9, 2024 – Invista (Wichita, Kan.; www.invista.com) has completed the expansion of its nylon 6.6 polymer site at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park (SCIP). The site expansion, at a total investment of RMB 1.75 billion (US$240 million), doubled the annual capacity of nylon 6.6 polymer to 400,000 metric tons per year (mt/y). The expanded polymer site is fully integrated with existing Invista facilities, connecting upstream adiponitrile (ADN) and hexamethylenediamine (HMD) facilities.

August 5, 2024 — Nippon Shokubai Ltd. (Tokyo; www.shokubai.co.jp) plans to build a 50,000 mt/y superabsorbent polymer (SAP) plant at its Indonesian subsidiary, PT. Nippon Shokubai Indonesia (NSI). This new plant will augment an existing SAP plant at NSI, which currently produces 90,000 mt/year. Mechanical completion of the new site is expected in January 2027, with commercial operations to follow in July 2027. The investment for the project is approximately $110 million. NSI has also recently expanded its acrylic acid production facility by 100,000 mt/y.

August 5, 2024 – Verbio SE (Leipzig, Germany; www.verbio.de) announced that its North American subsidiary has begun commercial production of corn-based ethanol at its biorefinery in Nevada, Iowa. Operating as a fully integrated biorefinery, Verbio has installed a total capacity to produce 60 million gal/year of corn-based ethanol and 2.3 million Mbtu of renewable natural gas (RNG).

August 1, 2024 — Lubrizol Corp. (Cleveland, Ohio; www.lubrizol.com) announced plans to purchase a 120-acre site in Aurangabad, India, where it plans to build a new manufacturing facility to support the growth of industrial fluids in the region. markets. The initial phase of the project represents an estimated investment of around $200 million, the company’s largest in India. The plant will become the company’s second largest manufacturing facility globally and largest manufacturing facility in India when completed.

July 29, 2024 — Kemira Oyj (Helsinki, Finland; www.kemira.com) announced an investment to expand the capacity of its sodium chlorate production plant in Ortigueira, Brazil. The investment, a strategic priority for the Kemira Pulp & Paper business, will enable Kemira to respond to the continued growth of the bleached pulp market in South America, where Brazil is the region’s leading producer. The over 10% capacity increase will be operational in the last quarter of 2024.

July 30, 2024 — At Enterprise Hydrocarbons Terminal (EHT) in the Houston Ship Channel, Enterprise Products Partners LP (Houston; www.enterpriseproducts.com) announced it is adding refrigeration capacity that will increase propane and butane export volumes by approximately 300,000 barrels per day (bbl/d). In addition to providing additional capacity for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), the expansion will increase instantaneous loading rates for propane and butane, while providing additional capacity for propylene exports. The extended service is expected to begin by the end of 2026.

July 29, 2024 — Invista announced its intention to invest approximately CAD $23 million ($17 million USD) in the re-commissioning of the hexamethylene diamine (HMD) assets at its Maitland, Ontario, Canada site . Following regulatory approval, construction of the project will begin, with the HMD plant expected to begin production in the first quarter of 2025. HMD is a key ingredient in the production of nylon 6.6.

August 13, 2024 – Evonik Industries AG (Essen, Germany; www.evonik.com) collaborates with Knauer Wissenschaftliche Geräte GmbH (Berlin, Germany; www.knauer.net) to improve scale-up of lipid nanoparticle (LNP) formulations. Evonik is a key supplier of lipids and LNP formulations to global pharmaceutical companies.

August 8, 2024 — Aramco (Dhahran, Saudi Arabia; www.aramco.com) has agreed to acquire an additional stake of approximately 22.5% in Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Co. (Petro Rabigh), the refining and petrochemical complex located on the west coast of Saudi Arabia, from Sumitomo Chemical Corp. (Tokyo; www.sumitomo-chem.co.jp) for US$702 million. Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical each currently own a 37.5% stake in Petro Rabigh. Upon completion of the transaction, Aramco will become Petro Rabigh’s largest shareholder with approximately 60%, while Sumitomo Chemical will retain a 15% stake.

August 5, 2024 — Parker Hannifin Corp. (Cleveland, Ohio; www.parker.com) announced that it has signed an agreement to divest its North American Composites and Fuel Containment (CFC) division to private equity firm SK Capital Partners. Parker’s CFC division, a leading manufacturer of composites, fuel tanks and bladders, is headquartered in Erlanger, Ky. and has five additional locations in the US and Mexico with annual sales of approximately $350 million.

August 5, 2024 — OCI Global NV (Amsterdam, The Netherlands; www.oci-global.com) has reached an agreement to sell 100% of its interests in its clean ammonia project under construction in Beaumont, Texas to Woodside Energy. Group Ltd. (Perth, Australia; www.woodside.com) for $2.35 billion. The ammonia project began construction in December 2022 and is expected to start production in 2025. It is designed for a production capacity of 1.1 million mt/year of ammonia in its first phase.

August 1, 2024 — Veolia SA (Paris; www.veolia.com) announced the divestiture of Veolia North America Regeneration Services to private equity firm American Industrial Partners (AIP) for an enterprise value of $620 million. Following AIP’s acquisition of Veolia’s regeneration services business, the acquired company was renamed Nexpera. The acquired business unit includes Veolia North America’s sulfuric acid, potassium hydroxide and hydrofluoric acid regeneration activities for oil refineries, as well as sulfur gas and sulfur products recovery activities.

July 29, 2024 — Merck KGaA (Darmstadt, Germany; www.emd.group.com) has agreed to sell its global pigments unit Surface Solutions to Global New Material International Holdings (GNMI) Ltd. for €665 million. The Surface Solutions unit provides pigment solutions used in coating, industrial and cosmetic applications through its existing manufacturing facilities in Gernsheim, Germany, Onahama, Japan and Savannah, Georgia. ■

Mary Page Bailey