Praj Industries and Gevo jointly announced that Gevo’s proprietary isobutanol technology will now be available for licensing to processors of sugar cane juice and molasses.

Mitsui Chemicals and Prime Polymer announced that the expansion of production capacities has been completed and started up.

Fine chemicals specialist Cabb announced that the group will be strategically realigning its production in Southeast Asia.

Ingersoll Rand has launched a full range of Peristaltic Hose pumps in India. The new product line expands Ingersoll Rand’s existing Arotm positive displacement pump portfolio that includes air-operated diaphragm and piston pumps enabling high levels of reliability, efficiency and productivity.

Uhde Inventa-Fischer has been awarded a contract by Micro Polypet, an Indian joint venture comprising the chemical companies RLG Group and Action Petrochem, to build a plant for the production of high-quality PET for bottling and packaging applications. The plant, which will be located in Panipat, India, will have a production capacity of 216,000 tonnes per year.

Hygiene is an absolute priority for the food industry. The tough hygiene and safety requirements also apply to electrical components used in food processing equipment. It is particularly important for components, e.g. cables, to be resistant to chemicals, aggressive acidic and alkaline industrial cleaning agents as well as other physical and thermal stresses, as they are prone to failure otherwise.

Showa Denko Gas Products has announced the construction of a new plant to produce liquefied carbon dioxide (CO2) gas in Showa Denko’s Oita Petrochemical Complex located in Oita City, Oita Prefecture.

Sumitomo Chemical will license its technology of manufacturing propylene oxide (PO) in connection with a large petrochemical project implemented by PTT Global Chemical Public Company (PTTGC) in Thailand.

Japan — the Country of the Rising Sun? For the petrochemical industry, this is a thing of the past. While China is boasting with huge downstream projects, Japan is discussing plant closures and consolidations. Only cooperations could stop the downward trend, industry insiders believe.

Wacker opens a new, jointly operated, sales office in Chennai India together with Indian Metroark.