In August 2018, Clariant’s Mega Max 800 methanol synthesis catalyst was installed at the coal-to-liquid plant of CHN Energy Ningxia Coal Industry Co in China. Now, the 1-million-tonne per year methanol production plant has been able to produce higher yields at lower energy and feedstock costs.

Borealis has held the groundbreaking ceremony for its new, world-scale propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant. Located at the existing Borealis production site in Kallo, Belgium, the new facility will have a targeted production capacity of 750,000 metric tonnes per year of propylene.

Royal DSM has appointed Shruti Singhal as President of DSM Engineering Plastics. Singhal will report to Dimitri de Vreeze, Member of DSM’s Managing Board and succeed Roeland Polet who is expected to retire next year.

Microbiologists, biochemists, and chemical engineers need to cultivate organisms in a highly controlled manner. As such, bioreactors have become integral to the pharmaceutical, food, and chemical industries. In order to successfully fulfill experimental requirements, suitable conditions and parameters must be provided, which include accurate temperature control, i.e., heating and cooling.

The European Commission pursues in its 7th environmental programme key objectives in dealing with substances and materials known under the catchwords ‘non-toxic environment’ and ‘circular economy’. These target areas have numerous interfaces in waste, chemicals and product law, resulting in multiple conflicting goals. A total of five experts with many years of experience have dealt intensively with this topic and presented solutions. 

JGC Corporation, Ebara Environmental Plant, Ube Industries, and Showa Denko announced that they started a study of collaboration for an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) business for plastic waste gasification facilities utilizing the Ebara Ube Process (EUP).

Since the establishment of the Periodic Table of Elements (PSE) 150 years ago, not only the number of known elements has increased, but new technologies have also emerged: Chemical pesticides to protect the harvest, batteries for energy on the move and plastics in every form, color, and function. The current focus is on the sustainability aspect. But here, too, chemistry offers new solutions. The 10 most promising technologies for a more sustainable world have been selected by the chemical association IUPAC.

The 750,000 tonne/year Ethylene Glycol facility is the first of its kind unit for MEGlobal in the USA. The company’s scope of work for the project involves the installation of equipment, steel and piping for the process unit.

Specialty chemicals company Lanxess announced that it has successfully completed the acquisition of the phosphorus chemicals business from Solvay. The transaction includes the Belgian chemicals group's production site in Charleston, South Carolina.

Lanxess is selling its chrome chemicals business to Brother Enterprises, a Chinese leather chemicals producer. Both companies signed a respective agreement on August 12, 2019.