On a recent visit to evaluate several level transmitters on chemical storage applications at a new combined cycle power plant, Magnetrol-Ametek had the opportunity to work with the EPC firm, plant personnel and the chemical supplier. This provided an interesting look at the level instrumentation package for the chemical storage side of things from an engineering perspective, as well as from a daily operations point of view.

Ineos Enterprises has plans to acquire Ashta Chemicals from Bigshire Mexico. The deal will also include a 100 ktpa potassium hydroxide/65 ktpa Chlorine plant which is located close to the Ineos pigments facility in Ashtabula, Ohio, USA.

The new world-scale Methyl Methacrylate (MMA) production plant will be developed at OQ Chemicals’ production site at Bay City, Texas, USA. Röhm will make use of its latest proprietary production technology Lima for the project which is expected to produce 250,000 metric tons of MMA every year.

Under the chemical industry’s ‘Together for Sustainability’ initiative, the sector has agreed on a global guideline for calculating product carbon footprints. The new guideline aims to provide specific calculation instructions for emissions from ‘cradle-to-gate’ for chemicals and will also assist companies to compare and evaluate the climate impact of their products.

With this deal, Ineos Phenol will add more than 1 million tonnes of production capacity annually to its existing chemical business. This includes cumene (410 ktpa), phenol (310 ktpa), acetone (185 ktpa), alpha-methylstyrene (20 ktpa) and bisphenol A (150 ktpa).

Technip Energies together with Monford Group has secured an EPCC contract to develop a green hydrogen plant – Yuri, phase O in Australia. Awarded by Yuri Operations, the project is expected to produce up to 640 tonnes of green hydrogen annually and will be used in the existing Yara Pilbara Ammonia Plant to produce green ammonia.

No gas and still little hope: Chlorine manufacturing is under enormous pressure caused by skyrocketing energy costs. Production in Europe is declining and local competitiveness is at risk, says industry association Euro Chlor. Old-world chlorine is mostly produced as part of integrated chemical value chains. But for how much longer?

With an aim to develop a material recycling business for the automotive industry, Sumitomo Chemical will recycle waste plastics from end-of-life automobiles to commercially produce recycled plastics for automotive applications.

Lummus Technology’s Novolen PP technology has been selected by Lihuayi Weiyuan Chemical Co. for its new polypropylene plant in Shandong Province, China. The company will also carry out basic design engineering, training and services for the project.

Circularise and ISCC have announced a joint project under which numerous companies will test a pilot blockchain-based digital system with certification procedures to validate sustainability claims in the chemicals sector.