Anup Kothari has been selected to spearhead Division Nutrition & Health, Lampertheim at BASF from February 1, 2021 while Thomas Kloster will take charge of the firm’s Performance Chemicals business.

Under the terms of the agreement, Air Products will build, own and operate numerous onsite gas production facilities including an air separation unit in China in order to meet Binhua’s oxygen and nitrogen demand. With this, Air Products will support Binhua’s flagship chemical project situated in Shandong Province, China.

Austria's OMV is expanding and modernizing the cracker facilities and petrochemical cold section at the Burghausen refinery. The aim of the measures is to increase ethylene and propylene production capacity at the site.

Kemira has successfully completed the first phase of a two-stage capacity expansion of its water treatment chemicals production in the UK. With this, the company expects the output of the product line in Ellesmere Port to increase by more than 30.000 tonnes annually.

The year 2020 was a promising year for bio-based polymers: Sold out PLA in 2019 has led to the installation of increased capacities, PE and PP made from bio-based naphtha are breaking ground and future expansion for bio-based polyamides as well as for PBAT, PHAs and casein polymers is on the horizon. A lower production is only observed for bio-based PET.

With Dinnissen's multisize sample carousel, producers can now take samples of different sizes in an automated sampling process.

Solvay’s hydrogen platform will offer the polymer membranes technology which is expected to be a vital contributor to the electrolyzer and fuel cells markets. Through this platform, the company also plans to contribute multiple other applications and components to the hydrogen market.

A fire and an explosion took place in the incinerator of the ESBR rubber production installation at Synthos’ production site in Oswiecim, Poland. No injuries were reported in the accident.

“What opportunities does the nanotechnology provide in general, provide nanoparticles for my products and processes?” So far, this question cannot be answered easily. Preparation and modification of nanoparticles and the further processing require special technical infrastructure and complex knowledge. For small and medium businesses the construction of this infrastructure “just on luck” is often not worth it. Even large companies shy away from the risks. As a result many good ideas just stay in the drawer.

Achema Pulse is a new digital format that has been introduced to complement the prominent trade fairs Achema and Achem Asia. Scheduled to be held from June 15 – 16, 2021, the virtual platform aims at bringing together industry leaders and market players from the process industries in order to explore opportunities for collaboration and establish new contacts.