Capacity Expansion

Acquisition

NuEarth Corporation has concluded its acquisition of AB Technology, SA. AB Tech, of Lokeren, Belgium, is a Northern European provider of “green” biodegradable cleaners and paint strippers. NuEarth plans to enhance and support the existing products of both companies. Both companies’ Boards of Directors have approved the acquisition and merger and subject to regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions, the deal is expected to close later this year. The combined companies will operate under the NuEarth name and brand with corporate headquarters located in the United States.

The International Vinyl Acetate Company has started up the commercial operations of its Vinyl Acetate Monomer Plant in Jubail Industrial city in Saudi Arabia. The plant produces vinyl acetate monomer with an annual production capacity of 330,000 metric tons. The plant production is used in many industrial fields such as the production of adhesives, plastic products, internal and external plants and paper products.

Presence Expanded

W.R. Grace & Co. has opened a new manufacturing facility in China as part of its efforts to expand its footprint in the Asia-Pacific region. The Chongqing, China facility will manufacture cement additives and concrete admixtures. It will also have a quality-control lab and administrative and personnel offices.

Plant Start Up

The biomass-to-liquids (BTL) demonstration plant, jointly operated by the Oxford Catalysts Group and SGC Energia, at the biomass gasification facility in Guessing, Austria, is now up and running. The plant is designed for the small-scale distributed production of biofuels via the Fisher-Tropsch (FT) reaction.

Greenfield Refinery

Nigeria’s southeastern Imo state is planning to establish a Greenfield refinery. The refinery will be built in partnership with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. Imo state has the highest gas deposit in Nigeria.

Refinery Expansion

Vietnam’s deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has officially ratified plans to raise the annual capacity of Dung Quat Oil Refinery from 6.5 million tons of oil to 10 million tons of oil. The plans were drawn in tandem with the refinery’s investor, Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam). The new plans were agreed upon by the ministries of planning and investment, industry and trade, and construction and finance. Dung Quat is the country’s first oil refinery and has a total investment of $3 billion. The refinery currently has more than 1,000 employees.