On December 2, a fire broke out at Tjeldbergodden’s methanol plant in Norway. The fire was successfully extinguished on the same day and no one was injured in the accident.

Akzo Nobel has strengthened its position in the North American hydrogen peroxide market with the acquisition of the remaining shares of Eko Peroxide. The Dutch company had originally founded Eko as a joint venture enterprise with OCI Peroxygens.

BASF has started up a world-scale plant for the production of specialty amines in Ludwigshafen. The multi-product plant can manufacture approximately 12,000 metric tons per year of a product range of about 15 amines for different applications.

Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation (MCC) has signed a framework agreement with Konfoong Materials International Co. and KFMI Group company TCPR (Shanghai) Electro-Mechanical High-Tech Co. for the takeover of MCC’s light metal products business.

Linde has been selected by Gazprom, Gazprom Pererabotka Blagoveshchensk and its general contractor Nipigas as the licenser for cryogenic gas separation technology at the Amur Gas Processing Plant (Amur GPP), located in the far east of Russia.

The takeover race continues. With the acquisition of the Swiss company Syngenta, Chemchina wants to grow strongly in the expanding market of agrochemicals and pest management. After first takeover rumors in December, there is now a concrete offer.

The two production units are expected to recycle organic material from agricultural and livestock activities and convert it into biomethane. The facilities will be constructed in Truccazzano, Milan and Fontanella, Bergamo.

The German Chemical Industry Association (VCI) has revealed that in the chemical-pharmaceutical industry production fell by 3 % year-on-year and turnover dropped by 6 % in the backdrop of the corona crisis.

Located in Ningbo, the 600 kt acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plant is part of Ineos Styrolution’s expansion plans into China. The new site is expected to be operational by 2023.

With the new oil-free DSS scroll vacuum pump, Atlas Copco is expanding its range of dry industrial pumps. The robust, low-wear pump is particularly suitable for vacuum generation in the rough vacuum range.