The year is 1864 — The Bavarian fairy-tale king Ludwig II ascends the throne. The first pneumatic post dispatch system starts up in Hamburg. Lincoln wins the US presidential elections. And the 28-year old Wilhelm Meyer from Hanover/Germany founds a machine company (Maschinenfabrik) in Aerzen. Of all these things, only the company Aerzener Maschinenfabrik is still a presence today. It has grown. And it has benefited from a pioneering spirit and a richness of ideas, courage and hard work.

In order to meet the fast growing global market demand for its innovative chelating agent, BASF will build a new Trilon M (methylglycinediacetic acid) world scale plant at Evonik’s Theodore, Alabama site.

JGC Group's wholly-owned subsidiary, JGC America, has been awarded a basic engineering services contract by Odfjell Terminals for the possible development of an ethylene export terminal at its facility in Seabrook, Texas.

BASF and Sinopec commenced production at the second propionic acid plant at the Verbund site in Nanjing, China. The new plant has an annual production capacity of 30,000 metric tons of propionic acid.

Praxair has signed a 15-year agreement to supply Celanese Corporation with carbon monoxide, as well as oxygen and nitrogen, in the U.S. Gulf Coast.

LDT Dosiertechnik has developed a new Dosatron food line proportional pump to its solutions portfolio. Ideal for many food and beverage applications including care and disinfection of piping networks, potable water treatment and odor control; the pump is constructed of FDA-certified materials.

Natural gas is not only a flammable, but also a corrosive medium. The production process requires the use of robust systems and equipment — as an application from North Africa shows.

The yoghurt producer La Fageda has been proving every day for 25 years that a business run by a team of people including persons with disabilities can be successful. The recipe for this is a mix of solid personal commitment, local raw materials and a clever marketing concept — and a perfectly coordinated sensor technology as an important “ingredient”.

For decades, centrifugal pumps were the standard choice for the process industry. Now, advancements in overall efficiency and the ability to handle a wide array of unique chemicals combine to make the air-operated double-diaphragm pump a first choice for chemical processors.

Today a large number of newly approved medications are manufactured using biotechnology. The new production methods being implemented as part of this process, e.g. involving single-use components, also require new process analysis tools. One of these tools, which is used in combination with statistical analysis methods, is NIR spectroscopy.