BASF plans to increase their production capacity for methane sulfonic acid (MSA) at its Ludwigshafen site by around 65 %, thus increasing their global capacity to 50,000 metric tons per year.

BASF India has recently inaugurated its large-scale chemical production complex at Dahej in Gujarat. With a project cost of INR 1,000 cr (approx €150 million), the site represents BASF’s single largest investment in India.

Lanxess has completed the sale of its remaining 50 % interest in the rubber company Arlanxeo to Saudi Aramco. All relevant antitrust authorities have granted the necessary approvals for the transaction announced in August 2018.

Dupont Transportation & Advanced Polymers (T&AP) recently announced its plans to extend its High Temperature Nylon polymerization capacity at Uentrop facility in Hamm, Germany.

In the Indian automation sector, Siemens has its distinguishable presence. In a conversation with PROCESS India, Karlheinz Kaul, Global CEO, Siemens Industry Automation Control Equipment, is describing the changing trend in demand from the user community and how the company is preparing itself to address those. Bhaskar Mandal, VP, Siemens Industry Automation, South Asia is facilitating the meeting.

Martin Brudermüller, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors, BASF SE, and Lin Shaochun, Vice Governor of Guangdong Province, signed a Framework Agreement in Ludwigshafen setting out further details of BASF’s plan to establish a new smart Verbund site in Guangdong, China. The total investment is estimated to reach up to $ 10 billion and will be implemented in phases.

Researchers at the University of Konstanz presented a new way of obtaining polyester from fats and oils, more specifically, from castor oil. A well-known and chemically established building block that can be obtained from castor oil is Undecenol.

Lyondell Basell, one of the world's largest plastics, chemical and refining companies, has selected its La Porte, Texas, manufacturing complex as the site for a new High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) Plant.

Lanxess inaugurates a new production line at its largest site in Leverkusen for the production of the Lewatit brand of weak acid cation (WAC) exchange resins, as well as bringing a new food-grade filling and packing system into operation. The crisis ridded spacility chemicals company had invested some € 10 million in the expansion process ince April 2013.

Basf announced that it will gradually reduce its caprolactam production in Europe by 100,000 metric tons to 400,000 metric tons over the next 18 months. In Ludwigshafen, parts of the caprolactam production as well as plants producing the precursors anolone and oleum will be closed.