Clariant has plans to take over the leading provider of high value ingredients for the cosmetics and personal care industry Lucas Meyer Cosmetics from International Flavors & Fragrances. The deal is expected to strengthen Clariant’s position as a specialty chemical company and its footprint in North America.

Stamicarbon has been awarded the contracts by Shandong Lianmeng Chemical Company. Located in China, the firm’s grassroots urea melt and prilling plant will make use of Stamicarbon’s Ultra-Low Energy design.

PROCESS Worldwide brings to you the ‘Top 10 plant engineering projects of December 2023’ from all over the world. Right from Ørsted starting work on Denmark’s first carbon capture project to Fluor securing two contracts for the world’s first net-zero ethylene cracker and derivatives complex, find out all the projects making headlines here

Sumitomo Chemical has already begun the construction of a pilot facility in Japan to demonstrate a new environmentally-friendly process for producing propylene directly from ethanol. The pilot unit is expected to be completed by the first half of 2025.

In the chemical industry, research facilities create the link between laboratory development and industrial-scale production. Flexible plants comprising multiple areas are sites of innovation and testing, acting as stepping stones for subsequent scale-up. When Evonik Industries was looking to modernize such a plant at the Wolfgang Industrial Park in Hanau, Germany, it was the perfect place to use Simatic PCS neo, the completely web-based process control system from Siemens.

Japanese diversified global manufacturer Asahi Kasei has made an investment in Ionomr Innovations, a Canadian start-up that manufactures anion exchange membrane (AEM).

Galp has awarded engineering, procurement services and construction management contracts to Technip Energies for an advanced biofuels unit and a green hydrogen unit for its Sines refinery in Portugal.

For the first time in Spain, Cepsa has successfully produced circular phenol and acetone from waste single use plastics. 300 tons of waste plastic were recycled to carry out this first test.

Dow has awarded Fluor with two contracts for developing the world’s first net-zero scope 1 and 2 emissions integrated ethylene cracker and derivatives complex in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, Canada. The scope of work includes engineering, procurement and construction management for a new ethylene cracker unit and for the associated utilities, power and infrastructure facilities. It also includes the expansion and retrofit of Dow’s existing manufacturing facilities.

The German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action and the State of Rhineland-Palatinate have approved up to 124.3 million euros in funding for BASF’s 54-MW water electrolysis plant. The PEM electrolyzer is expected to produce up to 8,000 metric tons of hydrogen every year.