No-one who deals with highly active substances in OSD development can avoid the issue of containment. However, the smaller scale places different demands on equipment compared to the equivalent steps in production. What do developers need to look out for, and what practical solutions are available? We look for clues between the laboratory and the plant.

Why do you only need to remember one radar level sensor from now on? Whether you’re dealing with liquid or bulk material, whether at 6 GHz, 26 GHz or 80 GHz — in future, one radar sensor will cover all applications. It couldn’t be simpler, promise the radar experts at Vega, who have one thing in mind above all: better processes for the user.

Pumps are the workhorses of every process plant, not to mention plenty of auxiliary equipment and even portable test gear too. This run-round of recent developments takes in centrifugals, vacuum pumps, positive-displacement pumps and gas sampling units.

BASF is working with authorities in China to use more electricity from renewable sources at its chemical plants. The company has just announced a particularly ambitious goal for the new Verbund site in Zhanjiang, in the southern province of Guangdong: The first plants at the Verbund site, which is currently under construction, are to be operated entirely with renewable energies.

Waste water is more than just mud. In some industrial processes it is full of valuable raw materials, such as traces of the rare metal gallium. In order to recover them, researchers from Freiberg have now tested a new biotechnical process — and filtered metal ions out of the wastewater using a peptide gel.

Tirelli Robosorter is the result of the cross-industry expertise of Arol Group R&D team.

Elgi Compressors Europe has recently launched the ‘LD Series’ range of lubricated direct drive reciprocating air compressors in Europe. With the new piston air compressor technology, the series claims to offer high performance, low noise, and easy maintenance.

China has announced massive investments in one of the country's largest petrochemical industry sites. In Zhanjiang, at the southern tip of the People's Republic in Guangdong Province, another 45.2 billion dollars is being pumped into a Verbund site which will focus on petrochemicals and steel production over the next five years. The German chemical giant BASF is right in the middle of all this.

Under a ten-year contract signed between both the parties, Air Liquide will purchase 52 gigawatt-hours per year of solar photovoltaic renewable energy from Shell Energy Europe to power its industrial and medical gas production operations in North East Italy.

Under a joint study agreement, Pertamina and Air Liquide Indonesia have teamed up to develop Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU) technology at the Balikpapan Refinery Processing Unit in Indonesia. The two firms will jointly conduct a study on CO2 Syngas and Flue Gas capture technology application from hydrogen production at the site.