Geothermal power plants produce superheated brine, which is full of lithium and other minerals. Berkeley Lab scientists now assess the technology landscape for developing a domestic source of lithium.

Messer has developed an argon production facility in Slovakia which is based on residual gases from the ammonia synthesis process. Other industrial gases such as methane, nitrogen and syngas are also recovered at the unit. The plant includes a fully automated process and has the capability to reduce CO2 emissions by 1.4 metric tons a day at full capacity owing to its proximity to the delivery locations.

PROCESS Worldwide brings to you the ‘Top 10 plant engineering projects of October 2021’ from all over the world. Right from the Rotating Olefins Cracker technology advancing the energy transition of olefin production to Ineos investing more than 2 billion dollars on green hydrogen projects in Europe, find out all the projects making headlines here.

Air Liquide has acquired 100 % stake in H2V Normandy (now called Normand’Hy) and with this development the company aims to build a 200 MW PEM electrolyzer in Port-Jérôme, France for the production of renewable hydrogen which will be used for industrial and heavy mobility applications. The firm will connect the electrolyzer to its hydrogen pipeline network in Normandy, which will lead to the development of the world’s first low-carbon hydrogen network.

With an aim to increase its crude oil production capacity to 5 million barrels per day (mmbpd) by 2030, Adnoc has awarded procurement contracts to leading companies specializing in drilling equipment and services as these are crucial in drilling for oil and gas as well as completing wells. The procurement award for wellheads and related components is worth up to 3.27 billion dollars, making it the world’s largest in this category. In addition, the procurement award for Downhole Completion Equipment and related services is worth up to 2.34 billion dollars, also making it the world’s largest in this category.

The ammonia-methanol co-production technology, jointly developed by KBR and Johnson Matthey (JM), has been selected for Northern Petrochemical's new plant in Alberta, Canada. The project will produce blue ammonia and methanol by making use of the latest carbon capture and storage technologies to achieve a carbon-neutral process.

Agronutris’ mega insect protein plant will be built in Rethel, France and is expected to process up to 70,000 tons of organic residues and produce high-quality protein for the aquaculture and pet food markets annually. Bühler is responsible for engineering, procurement, manufacturing, supply, installation, commissioning of the project and has also been selected as its process solution provider.

Evonik and Wynca has commenced production at its first fumed silica plant in China. Located in Zhenjiang, the facility is expected to produce fumed silica under the brand name Aerosil. The plant will make use of Evonik's product technology with Wynca’s silicone industry chain to develop high-value products.

Genscript Probio has inaugurated its mega facility which is claimed to be China’s largest commercial GMP plasmid manufacturing plant. The plant will enable the firm to offer customers across the globe a one-stop service for plasmids. The move is expected to speed up the innovation and development of high-quality cell and gene therapy mRNA drugs.

CPhI has highlighted that continuous processing, PAT (Process Analytical Technology), and PAC (Process Analytical Chemistry) are now being combined in the pharma industry order to produce better-quality products at a lower cost. This new manufacturing strategy has gained speed owing to government’s efforts to ‘reshore’ manufacturing. CPhI’s recent annual report has also predicted that China and the USA will lead the pharma market in innovations by 2030 in the backdrop of mass personalized therapeutics, cobots, AI, and automation delivering process improvements.