Under a MOU signed between BASF and Sanyo Chemical, both the companies will team up to create advanced polyurethane dispersions (PUDs) to produce sustainable products. The innovative new products will have world-wide market access through the two companies' global footprint, with the MOU allowing both the firms to leverage on production networks for PUDs.

BASF and SVOLT will collaborate on cathode active materials (CAM) development, raw materials supply and battery recycling for SVOLT’s battery cells. The move is expected to improve the R&D capabilities of both the companies in sustainable battery materials, strengthen their competitiveness in China and across the globe as well as accelerate global progress towards carbon neutrality.

Haldor Topsoe’s demo plant will utilize its electrified steam methane reforming technology (eSMR) for producing sustainable methanol from biogas at a competitive cost as compared to other non-fossil fuels. Located at Aarhus University’s research facility in Foulum, Denmark, the unit is expected to have an annual capacity of 10,000l of CO2-neutral methanol from biogas.

BASF announced the construction start of a new methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) synthesis unit at the company’s Verbund site in Geismar, Louisiana, in early Q2 2018.

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.

Orlen Unipetrol has plans to expand its existing Litvínov steam cracker, located at the company’s production plant in Záluží, Czech Republic, by adding an 11th furnace to the project. With an investment of more than 32 million dollars, the construction of the new furnace will be based on Technip Energies’ proprietary SMK coil technology and will be commissioned in 2022.

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2021 has been awarded to Benjamin List of the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany and David W.C. MacMillan, Princeton University, USA, for their development of a precise new tool for molecular construction called organocatalysis.

BASF has sold the production site for styrene-butadiene-based paper dispersions in Pischelsdorf, Austria to Synthomer Austria. The agreed purchase price amounts to approx. $ 37 million.

Shell has teamed up with BlueAlp to develop, scale and deploy BlueAlp’s plastic waste to chemical feedstock technology. The move will enable Shell to reach its ambition of recycling 1 million tons of plastic waste a year in its global chemical plants by 2025.

KBR’s dual-pressure nitric acid technology has been selected by the Hanwha Corp. for its new 1,200 metric tons per day unit located at Yeosu in South Korea. The technology is expected to offer Capex and Opex benefits including efficient energy recovery.