Decarbonizing basic chemicals — 4.6 million dollars in funding from the Dutch government will allow Dow, Shell and two new partners to push forward on their previous plans to develop steam crackers heated by electricity, for CO2-free production of ethylene.

BASF and Shanshan have formed a battery materials joint venture in China which aims to focus on the growing electric vehicle segment in the country. The joint venture has plans to develop an annual cathode active materials capacity of 90 kilotons by 2022.

Market research firm, Research and Markets has recently released an in-depth report on the impact of Covid-19 on the Chinese chemical industry. In the report, various regional players, laws and policies, consumer behaviour and macro-economic factors have also been analysed.

BASF is constructing a new pilot plant center at its Ludwigshafen site in Germany which will act as a global hub for pilot-scale production and process innovations of chemical catalysts. The new center will help the company to strengthen its global catalyst development.

The Floating Liquefied Natural Gas project by Petronas has chosen BASF’s OASE purple gas treatment technology for its Acid Gas Removal Unit process. The project will extract natural gas from deepwater gas reservoirs in depths up to 1,500 meters.

BASF and Sinopec have plans to expand production capacities for numerous downstream chemical plants at its Verbund site in Nanjing, China. This includes the construction of a new tert-butyl acrylate plant to meet the growing demand for specialty chemicals in the country.

BASF and Eni have entered into a strategic agreement and launched a joint R&D initiative to reduce the CO2 footprint of the transportation sector. Together, the companies aim at developing a new sustainable technology to produce advanced bio-propanol from glycerin.

To develop next-generation lithium-ion batteries, a joint venture between Porsche and Customcells Itzehoe has brought the chemical group BASF on board. The partner is to exclusively supply high-energy HEDTM cathode materials for Porsche's high-performance vehicles.

A massive explosion occurred at the waste disposal centre of the chemical park operator Currenta in Leverkusen on 27 July. Black clouds of smoke could be seen over the city. At least two people were killed in the subsequent fire of a solvent tank.

BASF has plans to invest double-digit million-dollars into the expansion of the mobile emissions catalysts production plant in Chennai, India. With this, the company intends to double its catalysts production capacity for the heavy-duty on- and off-road segment.