A new ethylene complex from Lyondell Basell and its Chinese joint venture partner has officially been put into operation. The petrochemical complex has started manufacturing the first end products with an annual capacity of 1.1 million tonnes of ethylene at the Panjin site in the northern Chinese province of Liaoning.

Sekisui Chemical Co., INCJ, and Sekisui Bio Refinery Co. have completed the construction of a ‘waste-to-ethanol’ demo plant in Iwate, Japan which aims to demonstrate the feasibility of a technology which has the potential to convert ‘industrial waste into ethanol’ on a large scale.

Under a contract, China’s Shandong Eco Chemical Co. will license Versalis’ proprietary continuous mass technology for its 210 KTPY Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plant in China.

BASF has added an additional production line to its existing facilities with an aim to expand its antioxidant production capacity in Singapore. The additional capacity will cater to the rapidly-growing Asia Pacific and Middle East markets.

The blast occurred at Organic Chemical Company’s factory in Gujarat, India. Six workers died of serious burn injuries while working near a rector which exploded during the unit’s solvent distillation process.

Pfeiffer Vacuum has expanded its Oktaline Atex series of explosion-proof Roots pumps. These pumps are Atex-certified and can be used for low and medium vacuum applications. The expansion of the series leads to a large pumping speed range from 280 to 8,100 m3/h.

Zhejiang Petroleum & Chemical Co. has selected Lyondell Basell’s technology once again for its facility in China. With the help of this technologies, the company aims to produce ethylene vinyl acetate copolymers (EVA) and low-density polyethylene (LDPE) homo polymers.

Holiferm has secured funding from Sasol Chemicals to carry out R&D for sustainable solutions in primary surfactants. Under the terms of the agreement, Sasol Chemicals will also buy majority of the sophorolipids produced at Holiferm’s new manufacturing plant in the UK with an aim to assist in the commercialization of sophorolipids.

BP and Linde will be developing a major carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in Texas, USA which will capture and store CO2 from Linde’s hydrogen production facilities in the region to produce low carbon hydrogen.

LG Chem’s new flame-retardant engineering plastic product has the potential to prevent the spread of flames in batteries, thus offering the world’s longest fire-resistance performance. Commercial production of the new product is expected to commence in 2023.