The trend to increased specialization and higher-potency active ingredients creates the need for hermetically sealed process flows. Government regulations are also becoming stricter. To an increasing extent, the production process will have to be designed as a containment system. Containment (at least in the pharmaceutical industry) is nothing new. It is actually a long-term trend. Nevertheless, expertise in this field is not evenly distributed.

Because of low crude oil prices, times are hard for bio-based chemicals as they can rarely compete with their fossil counterparts pricewise and cannot even play a trump card in the matter of climate change. Nevertheless, industry and academia are developing bio-based processes fervently and with the prerequisite that the products must not be more expensive than conventional ones.

Chemical companies continue to build new plants. Between 2005 and 2015, global investment in the chemical industry increased by nearly a factor of three and currently stands at more than $ 200 billion. But this rapidly growing market also has growing challenges. This Achema trend reports sheds some light on current mega-projects and the impact this development has on engineering companies.

Hydrogen specialist Air Products breaks ground for a world-scale steam methane reformer (SMR) at Covestro’s Baytown facility in Texas. The already sold-out site shall be connected to world’s largest hydrogen plant and pipeline system…

Kuraray, PTT Global Chemical, and Sumitomo, on July 11, 2018, held an opening ceremony for a joint venture company, Kuraray GC Advanced Materials in Thailand.

Lanxess is strengthening its commitment to Brazil with three major new investments totaling roughly € 30 million, which will create more than 100 jobs. The investments will support the growing trend toward green mobility in the Latin American country. Lanxess’ high-tech materials will offer innovative solutions to the growing local automotive market.

Germany-based Evonik Industries will build a new production plant for hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in Jilin Province in northeastern China. The Group invests more than one hundred million Euro.

BASF has increased its global annual capacity for the production of the chemical intermediate PolyTHF (chemical name: polytetra­methylene ether glycol – PTMEG) from 185,000 metric tons to 250,000 metric tons. The company has continuously developed and expanded its production processes.

BASF has opened its first production plant for dispersions in South Africa located at Umbogintwini Industrial Complex in Durban. With this new production facility BASF will serve its customers in the fast growing South African and Sub-Saharan African coatings and construction industry with acrylic dispersions based on state-of-the-art technologies.

BASF has opened its first production plant for concrete admixtures in Russia located at its existing site in the Podolsk District of the Moscow Region. With this new production facility BASF will serve its customers in the Russian construction industry with a wide range of concrete admixtures.