Americas
NPRA says EPA decision on E15 could hurt consumers
Charles T. Drevna, president of NPRA, the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association, issued the following statement in response to the decision by the Environmental Protection Agency today approving a 50 percent increase in the amount of ethanol allowed in gasoline used by cars and light trucks manufactured in the 2001-2006 model years.
NPRA praises President Obama’s action on regulations
President Obama’s announcement today that he has ordered a review to identify federal regulations that can be eliminated because they hinder economic growth and job creation is welcome news for every American.
Samsung Engineering breaks into the US plant market
Samsung Engineering has signed a contract for a $411 million chlor-alkali plant with Dow-Mitsui Chlor-Alkali LLC, a joint-venture comprised of Dow Chemical (US) and Mitsui (Japan).
Field device application designed to simplify instrumentation management
Honeywell has introduced Field Device Configurator (FDC), a software application for the MCToolkit hand-held configurator device.
SNC-Lavalin acquires Columbian engineering firm
SNC-Lavalin has acquired Itansuca Proyectos de Ingenieria S.A., an engineering firm of 1,000 professionals and administrative staff in the energy sector based in Bogota, Colombia.
Petrobras signs contract for new units at Refap
Petrobras signed today a contract for the construction of the new diesel hydrotreating unit (HDT II) and the new hydrogen generation unit (UGH II) at the Alberto Pasqualini refinery (Refap) in Canoas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
Flint Hills Resources gobbles up two Iowa ethanol plants
Flint Hills Resources plans to acquire ethanol plants in Iowa Falls and Fairbank, Iowa. Flint Hills Resources signed an agreement to purchase the plants from Hawkeye Renewables.
US does not have infrastructure to consume more ethanol
The US does not have the infrastructure to meet the federal mandate for renewable fuel use with ethanol but could meet the standard with significant increases in cellulosic and next-generation biofuels, according to a Purdue University study.
Ashland Inc. exiting the PE business
Ashland Inc.’s subsidiary Hercules Inc. has signed a definitive agreement to sell its pentaerythritol (PE) business to Perstorp Polyols Inc. The purchase price was not disclosed.
New silicon detection analyzer
XOS (USA) has rolled out a new product, the Signal analyzer. It can detect silicon down to 0.5 ppm.

- Vioneo awards Lummus polypropylene contract for world's first industrial scale fossil-free plastics from green methanol facility 8/19
- Research: Developing an energy-saving, carbon-capturing method for making ethylene glycol 8/19
- Emerson announced the release of its new Rosemount 3144S temperature transmitter 8/19
- Chinese refiners sweep up Russian oil after Indian demand falls 8/19
- Indonesia plans quick-to-build oil refineries for U.S. crude 8/19
- Russia's ultra low-sulfur diesel exports from Primorsk scheduled to rise in August 8/19