Shale gas fuels North America's chemical industry dreams: Nova Chemicals has begun using ethane from the Marcellus shales as a feedstock for its freshly revamped cracker at Corunna, Ontario...

Food and beverage packaging drives the demand for inks and coatings: More than half of the global demand comes from these demanding branches. But what are the major trends that shape tomorrow’s inks and coatings market? And which companies are likely to take the lion’s share? A recent report provides valuable insights…

Lanxess announced the capacity expansion for the industrial chemical benzyl alcohol for the global market by around 30 %.

Whether major project or container factory: What is decisive is the networking — What does chemical production of tomorrow look like? While the mega plants score with their scaling effects in giant proportions, the modular plant scores in flexibility thanks to the construction kit principle. Container modules against projects worth billions — an unequal battle. But perhaps on closer look David and Goliath are not really so different?

They are made to work everywhere and still vary widely in size and application: fittings that ensure safety in the oil and gas industries, channel fluids through chemical plants, control the supply and drainage of water, gas or highly corrosive media or regulate the correct flow in the beverage industry.

Located in Louisiana, the complex includes a 1.5-million-tonne-per-year ethane cracker plant which comprises of six downstream chemical units and associated utilities. Under the joint venture, Fluor and Technip will also carry out performance testing for the world-scale complex.

Lanxess announces major milestone for the world's biggest Nd-PBR plant in Singapore: The German based specialty chemicals company celbrated the groundbreaking for its new 140,000 metric tons/year rubber production on Jurong Island. Lanxess plans to invest some € 200 million in the site.

Lanxess ion exchangers are being used for brine purification in chlor-alkali electrolysis in India. The Lewatit MDS TP 208 ion exchanger protects highly sensitive electrolysis membranes and its fine beads enhance the brine treatment process.

The EU’s revised Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC specifies that machine controls should be designed to ensure that they do not present hazards. This requirement is not new — it also appeared in the previous (1998) version of the Directive — but what is new is how this safety is to be achieved. Engineers dealing with mechanical design and plant construction are now caught between two new safety standards, EN ISO 13849 and EN IEC 61508, both of which require quantitative risk analysis.

The expansion deals with increasing the production capacity of organic peroxides in Mahad, India. The move is expected to boost capacity by 80 per cent and support the growing demand from the Middle East as well as the local market.