Coatings World - April 2012

proval of Evonik’s supervisory board and regulatory approvals.

Celanese gets approval to enhance integrated acetyl facility in Nanjing

Celanese Corporation has received key gov-
ernment approvals necessary to proceed
with its previously announced plans to
modify and enhance its existing integrated
acetyl facility at the Nanjing Chemical In-
dustrial Park to produce ethanol for indus-
trial uses. The unit, based on Celanese TCX
ethanol process technology, is expected to
startup in mid-2013. The new ethanol pro-
duction is expected to increase the overall
profitability of the facility by enhancing the
mix of products manufactured with the
current capacity of certain critical raw ma-
terials available at the site. Total investment
for the project is expected to be a fraction
of the required capital for a greenfield fa-
cility. Based upon continued advancements
to its TCX ethanol process technology, the
company now expects to have approxi-
mately 30 to 40 percent additional ethanol
production capacity than the originally an-
nounced 200,000 tons with no increase in
the capital investment for the modification
and enhancement. This additional capacity
will enable the company to meet the grow-
ing demand for industrial ethanol in China.

WorleyParsons awarded Evonik contract

Evonik Industries has awarded WorleyPar-
sons a contract for the detail engineering,
procurement support and construction
management on the building of world
scale plants for the production of
isophorone and isophorone diamine. The
plants will be located in Shanghai, China,
with a total capacity of 50 kt./a. Start of
the production is scheduled for the first
quarter of 2014.

Bühler Group Grinding & Dispersing Technologies Hosts Open House

When the Bühler Group acquired Draiswerke, Inc. in January 2011, the company looked at the acquisition as giving it new technologies in graphic arts equipment as well as a new northeastern headquarters. As a result, Bühler spent much of the rest of 2011 integrating Draiswerke’s product line and renovating Draiswerke’s Mahwah, N.J. facilities.

To celebrate the successful renovation of its new northeastern facility, Bühler Group decided to host an Open House with a Technology Seminar, a two-day event March 5-6 2012. The Open House featured a comprehensive tour of the newly created RADEC (Regional Application Development and Education Center). This state-of-the-art center includes the latest technology from Bühler and a full range of lab and process size equipment, plus a well-equipped analytical lab.

Meanwhile, speakers from both within Bühler as well as outside experts gave a broad overview of topics for all aspects of wet grinding and dispersing of materials across a wide spectrum of industries.

“Our main focus was on the open house to debut our revitalized facility, combining it with a sem-
inar with outside speakers and the hands-on aspect for picking up equipment,” Steve Jacobson,
general manager, Grinding & Dispersing Technologies for Bühler, said. “Bühler invests more than
four percent of our revenue into R&D yearly. We also put a lot into our new facility in North Amer-
ica, and we want to get the message to our customers that we are investing in a highly functional
facility for this market.”
Jacobson noted that Buhler had acquired Drais Mannheim, the original German side of
Draiswerke, in 2003, but the Draiswerke location in Mahwah was an ideal location for its grinding
and dispersing (GD) business segment.

“We looked at all of the portfolios,” Jacobson said. “There was only some minor overlap on the bead mill side between the two companies, and Bühler made considerable innovations to all the equipment after we acquired Draiswerke in Germany in 2003. Today, Bühler offers the latest bead mills and three-roll mills, but Draiswerke had developed some interesting mixers, such as their thermal kinetic mixer.

“This also allows us to be closer to our customers,” Jacobson said. “Our headquarters in Minneapolis, Minn., is ideal for our customers in the grain industry. But this new GD headquarters on the eastern seaboard is an ideal location for our grinding and dispersion in wet milling business.” As for presentations, a number of leading Bühler experts were on hand to give talks on topics ranging from three-roll mill technology and wet milling to nanotechnology. In addition, Howard Zakheim, engineering fellow for Dupont, and Richard Phun, staff engineer for Dupont, discussed automotive coatings trends, while Dan Scheffer, director R&D at Vorbeck Materials, a graphene ink innovator, gave a talk on conductive inks.

Rene Eisenring, sales account manager, Grinding & Dispersing Technologies for Bühler, noted that the event was very well attended, with more than 80 industry people coming in to the Open House and the Seminar.