Chemical giant BASF reports the spillage of several hundred kilogramm of chemicals into the river Rhine.

Wacker Chemie has officially launched its new production plant for vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymer (VAE) dispersions at its Ulsan site in South Korea. The additional 40,000 metric tons from the second reactor line increases the site’s VAE-dispersion capacity to a total of 90,000 tons per year.

BASF plans to invest €50 million to expand its crop protection production capacities in the Guaratinguetá chemical complex, about 170 kilometers from São Paulo, Brazil. Furthermore, a new plant for biological products is scheduled to be opened by August this year in Chile. With these investments, the BASF Crop Protection Unit reinforces its strong commitment to deliver innovation and strengthen its position in continuously growing agricultural markets as Latin America.

The continuing evolution of software solutions is changing the broad capability base of automation technology. Server-based solutions for production automation create new markets and applications for the IT industry.

BASF and Petronas Chemicals Group Berhad (PCG) intend to invest US$ 500 million in an integrated aroma ingredients project at their existing joint venture site BASF Petronas Chemicals in Gebeng, Kuantan. With this investment, the partners will help meet the globally growing demands of customers in the flavor and fragrance industry, especially in Asia Pacific.

The company Glatt Ingenieurtechnik will showcase at the Powtech 2013 in Nuremberg the laboratory fluid bed unit ProCell LabSystem Pro. The modular lab system is designed explosion pressure proof and is able to process various material systems such as powders entailing the risk of dust explosion as well as hybrid mixtures.

Technology company The Linde Group has been awarded a major contract by Reliance Industries (RIL) to build several plants to generate and purify gases in Jamnagar, India. Part of the Reliance Group, India’s largest private enterprise, RIL specialises in the energy and petrochemicals industries.

Solvay announced it will invest €75 million to build a new 85,000 ton per year Highly Dispersible Silica (HDS) plant in Włocławek, Poland. Combined with a further capacity expansion at its site in Qingdao (China), these two investments will increase Solvay’s global highly dispersible silica production capacity by an additional 30%.

Bokela signed double-digit million Euro contract for catalyst recovery with Chinese BDO-producer. The filter manufacturer will deliver a multi-unit dynamic crossflow filtration plant to China in 2014.