News in brief

25 November 2002 00:00  [Source: ICB]

ABF relocates

American Bio-Fuels (ABF), 35% owned by Green Star Products, has signed a joint venture agreement to move and expand its biofuel plant. The agreement with organic fertiliser manufacturer, Hondo Chemical, allows ABF to relocate its 2.5m gal/year biofuel plant from Adelanto to Bakersfield in California, US. Production will restart in February 2003 and will support production of more than 50m gal/year.

Gases boost

Air Products has brought on stream a new Air Separation Unit for Corus at its Llanwern site, Wales, UK, alongside a hydrogen plant commissioned earlier this year. The plants will be operated and maintained at the site of APLLAN, a joint venture between Air Products and steelmaker Corus. The plants will produce 132 000 tonne/year of nitrogen, 660 tonne/day of hydrogen and a quantity of oxygen. Air Products has also signed a marketing agreement with Johnson Matthey to commercialise its proprietary monolith catalyst-based process technology: the Monolith Loop Reactor.

Delayed selection

Sohar International Urea &Chemicals Industries has delayed the selection of a turnkey contractor for its ammonia-urea project in Sohar until the end of November, two months late. The bidders are Toyo Engineering, Krupp Uhde, and a consortium of Snamprogetti and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Scheduled for startup in 2005, the plant will produce 660 000 tonne/year of ammonia and 1.15m tonne/year of granular urea.

Rise in capacity

Futura Polyesters has decided to debottleneck its polyethylene terephthalate plant at Chennai, Tamilnadu, India. Capacity will rise from 54 000 to 72 000 tonne/year and is scheduled for completion in March 2003.

For the latest chemical news, data and analysis that directly impacts your business sign up for a free trial to ICIS news - the breaking online news service for the global chemical industry.

Get the facts and analysis behind the headlines from our market leading weekly magazine: sign up to a free trial to ICIS Chemical Business.

Printer Friendly