Euro Chlor, the association of chloralkali plant operators in Europe, has launched its latest 10-year Sustainability Program which comprises of nine new Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). These KPIs focus on developing a climate neutral and circular European chlor-alkali industry by 2050.

Clariant has announced a major climate campaign under which it will deliver its nitrous oxide- (N2O) removal catalysts i.e. its EnviCat N2O-S catalyst for free to 10 nitric acid producers across the globe. The catalyst is capable of removing up to 95 % of N2O generated as a by-product of nitric acid production and converting it into harmless gases such as oxygen and nitrogen.

Sabic has plans to invest a whopping 1.37 billion dollars at the Teesside facility in the UK in order to decarbonize the plant. The investment includes strengthening the operations at the facility and enabling its chemical cracker transformation, thus leading to the development of one of the world’s lowest carbon-emitting crackers.

Geothermal power plants produce superheated brine, which is full of lithium and other minerals. Berkeley Lab scientists now assess the technology landscape for developing a domestic source of lithium.

With a strong demand for high-tech plastics in China, Lanxess has invested 34 million dollars in China to expand its production in the region. The company aims to develop a second compounding line for its Durethan- and Pocan-branded high-tech engineering plastics at its manufacturing site in Changzhou which is expected to increase the site’s capacity by 30,000 metric tons per year.

Tatneft will make use of Versalis’ technologies to develop new rubber plants at its Togliatti industrial site in Russia. On completion, the plants are expected to produce 70 thousand tons of nitrile butadiene rubber and 30 thousand tons of carboxylate styrene butadiene rubber latexes.

The Schmersal Group has expanded its existing switch series for the heavy industry and it now includes Ex variants that are suitable for use in potentially explosive areas.

BASF is all set to create its new subsidiary for renewable energy activities next year. The new business aims at supplying BASF’s sites in Europe with electricity from renewable energies and will also act as a global consulting firm for its Group companies in the field of renewable energies.

With an expected processing capacity of about 55,000 tons of mixed plastic waste annually, the new chemical recycling facility will be the first industrial chemical recycling site at the North Sea Port in Vlissingen, The Netherlands. The plant will be developed under a joint venture by Neste and Ravago and will be based on Alterra Energy’s thermochemical liquefaction technology. With this project, the companies aim to demonstrate and advance the commercialization of chemical recycling.

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) of Japan has selected Chiyoda and Mitsubishi to conduct a feasibility study on the construction of a hydrogen supply chain by using the Spera hydrogen technology. The project, part of both the companies’ feasibility studies for the overseas deployment of high-quality energy infrastructure, aims to scale-up the hydrogen supply chain and reduce prices through increased hydrogen demand in Singapore, Japan etc.