BASF has opened its first production plant for concrete admixtures in Russia located at its existing site in the Podolsk District of the Moscow Region. With this new production facility BASF will serve its customers in the Russian construction industry with a wide range of concrete admixtures.

The founding of a subsidiary in India is another step taken by the German pump specialist Flux-Geräte to extend its worldwide distribution network. Pune, one of India’s biggest cities, will be the company’s basis for its development of the huge Indian market.

Lanxess is building the world’s largest plant for EPDM synthetic rubber in China. The German specialty chemicals company is investing € 235 million in the plant in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province. According to Lanxess, this is the largest investment the company has made in China to date.

Solvay announced today that it has signed an agreement to acquire a controlling interest in Sunshield Chemicals, an Indian company specializing in surfactants, from Amit Choksey Group. This acquisition will enable Solvay’s Novecare business to accelerate growth plans in India for the home and personal care, agrochemicals, coatings and industrial applications markets.

Air Liquide is further expanding its footprint in Brazil, establishing a new licensing agreement with Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras) in conjunction with its recently awarded contract to Foster Wheeler for a world-scale grassroots gas-to-chemicals complex in Linhares, Espirito Santo State, South-East Brazil, called Complexo Gás-Químico UFN-IV.

Following the capacity increase of its syngas production facility in Bay City, Texas, USA, the chemical company Oxea is in the last stages of completion of a feasibility study of additional downstream plant expansion projects.

Due to the sensitive nature of the manufacturing process, the aggressive atmospheres and the extremely high safety standards in the chemical industry, drive systems have to meet very demanding requirements. Machine availability is not the only issue. Humans, the machinery and the environment also need adequate protection.

How do you live up to the promise of Operational Excellence? That was the theme for Yokogawa’s fourth EMEA user conference, which took place in Barcelona/Spain in September this year.

Bayer MaterialScience has commissioned a new technical center for the development of isocyanate production processes at Chempark Dormagen. The research center was erected in just under a year with an investment of €5 million.

Synbra Technology in the Netherlands had put a PLA (polylactic acid) plant into service. The plant can produce up to 5000 tons PLA per year and Synbra plans to further expand the capacity. Furthermore Sulzer decided to built its own 1000 tons a year PLA production plant to support customers in the development of new applications.