VENEZUELA

KBR lands contract for large NH3 plant in Venezuela
KBR (Houston, Tex.; www.kbr.com) has been awarded a $57-million contract by MAN Ferrostaal AG (MFS) to provide basic and detailed engineering services for an 1,800 m.t./d ammonia plant for Petroquímica de Venezuela, S.A. (Pequiven). The plant will...

BRAZIL

Newsfront: Chemistry for Construction    
Click here for full pdf version of this article - includes all graphs, charts, tables, and author information At 2,064 ft as of this past April, the unfinished Burj Dubai skyscraper in the United Arab Emirates is the tallest man-made structure on earth...

BASF to build plant for sodium methylate in Brazil
BASF S.E. (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) is planning to construct a production plant for sodium methylate in Guaratinguet‡, Brazil, its largest site in South America. The plant, which will have a capacity of 60,000 m.t./yr, will be the first...

Rhodia starts producing eco-friendly solvent in Brazil
Rhodia (Paris, France; www.rhodia.com) has launched production of Rhodiasolv IRIS, an innovative  solvent with excellent eco-friendly properties, at a new unit located on the Group’s Santo Andre site in  Brazil. Rhodiasolv IRIS, designed for...

Shell Global Solutions licenses technology to SARC
Shell Global Solutions International B.V. (The Hague, Netherlands; www.shell.com/home/content/globalsolutions-en) and South Atlantic Refinery Company S.A. (SARC) recently signed an agreement to license technology for SARC’s new greenfield refinery...

Lanxess acquires majority share in Petroflex
Specialty chemicals group Lanxess AG (Leverkusen, Germany; www.lanxess.com) has successfully completed the acquisition of an approximate 70 % holding in Petroflex S.A., Latin America’s biggest rubber producer. Lanxess is paying some 200-million euros...

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ARGENTINA

Solvay Indupa will produce bioethanol-based vinyl in Brasil
Solvay S.A. (Brussels, Belgium; www.solvay.com) announces today that the Board of its affiliate Solvay Indupa has approved a further $135-million-investment program to expand and increase the competitiveness of its vinyls production plant of Santo Andre...

Plans for biodiesel plant in Argentina    
Integrated Biodiesel Industries, Ltd (IBI; Sao Paulo) has signed a Letter of Intent with port operator Terminal Puerto Rosario S.A. (TPR) to build a 60,000-m.t./yr biodiesel plant inside its facilities in the city of Rosario, Argentina. TPR will offer...

Calendar - April
Click here for full pdf version of this article - includes all graphs, charts, tables, and author information   NORTH AMERICA RFID Journal LIVE Annual Conference and Exhibition. RFID Journal LLC (Melville, N.Y.). Phone: 631-249-4989; Fax: 631-980-4314...

OTHER

Newsfront: Braving the Building Boom
Click here for full pdf version of this article - includes all graphs, charts, tables, and author information Despite challenges created by a building frenzy in the Middle East and Asia, E&C firms continue to deliver new chemical facilities around the...

Aker Kvaerner lands contract for copper project in Peru
Peru Copper Syndicate has awarded Aker Kvaerner Metals, Inc. (Tuscon, Ariz.; www.akerkvaerner.com) a $11.5-million contract for the provision of technical services for basic engineering and additional...

The economic outlook: 2008 and beyond
“This is the first time since the early 1970s there have been four strong years in a row; every piston of the economic engine was running,” says Dr. Thomas K. Swift, chief economist for the American Chemistry Council “We have just come off...

Chemical Processing Industry Information Now More Accessible
Chemical Engineering announced today the release of its new beta website.  The completely retooled site and online information service will provide up-to-the-minute news and in-depth technical expertise from Chemical Engineering’s global team of...

Sugar-to-PE
Dow Chemical Co. (Midland, Mich.; edlinks.che.com/6898-548) and Crystalsev (São Paulo, Brazil; edlinks.che.com/6898-549) are forming a joint venture in Brazil to design and build...