The specialty chemicals group Altana has completed the acquisition of the overprint varnish specialist Schmid Rhyner.

The specialty chemicals group Altana announced the grand opening of its BYK USA expanded facility in Wallingford, Connecticut. With this state of the art plant, BYK more than doubles production capacity in the U.S. and increases worldwide supply chain security for its additives, the company said.

Chevron has decided to reduce its 2020 capital spending plan by 4 billion dollars and Permian production guidance by 20 %. These measures are expected to protect the dividend, prioritise long-term value, and support the industry leading balance sheet.

The Muroran Institute of Technology has introduced a technology that makes use of highly selective zeolite catalysts to decompose waste plastics into specific monomers. In the joint research, the institute will create more sophisticated catalysts and Sumitomo Chemical will support the R&D of this technology.

With expansion capabilities of up to eight liquefaction trains and approximately 45 mtpa of capacity, the Port Arthur LNG project is claimed to become one of the largest LNG export projects in North America. Under the terms of the agreement, Bechtel’s subsidiary Bechtel Oil, Gas, and Chemicals will carry out detailed engineering, procurement, construction for the project.

Promoting the circular economy concept, Sekisui Chemical will combine its production technology for transforming waste into ethanol with Sumitomo Chemical’s technological know-how for chemically recycling waste into polyolefin.

In many chemical industry plants, a safety controller ensures the required level of safety — in the event of danger, it switches off. In order to do justice to this task, it decides, like a watchman, which signals from the field level may be forwarded to higher-level systems and which not. Field device diagnostics for maintenance and optimization have so far been left out of the scope. For the first time, a solution jointly developed by Endress+Hauser and Hima also grants access to advanced diagnostics from instruments applied in safety loops.

BASF has broken ground on the second phase of its Innovation Campus Asia Pacific at its Pudong site in Shanghai, China. The €90 million expansion consists of an additional regional research and development (R&D) building and auxiliary facilities and it will be completed by the end of 2015.

The Haver & Boecker Machinery Division together with its technology subsidiaries Behn + Bates, Feige Filling and Haver Automation have introduced technologies and digital developments for a more sustainable use of resources and materials.

Siluria Technologies, a pioneer in the commercial production of fuels and chemicals made from clean and abundant natural gas, and The Linde Group, a world-leading gases and engineering company, announced that they have entered into a collaboration agreement.