Bayer has announced a package of measures for climate protection and new sustainability targets starting in 2020. In line with the UN goals for sustainable development and the Paris Climate Agreement, the company has set itself ambitious targets to be achieved by 2030.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awards the Nobel Prize for Chemistry 2019 to John B. Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino for the development of lithium-ion batteries.

Fluor’s maiden lithium mine project in Nevada is expected to extract and process ore to produce 20,200 tonnes of lithium carbonate and 173,000 tonnes of boric acid every year.

Hinduja Group’s Hinduja National Power Corporation Ltd (HNPCL) is setting up a greenfield 1,040 MW coal fired thermal mega power plant in the Visakhapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh.

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation announced that it will conduct a field test of its Ozone Backwashing Energy-Saving Membrane Bioreactor (Eco-MBR).

Under the Planning (Wales) Act 2015, this is the maiden project to receive planning permission as a Development of National Significance process. The project will be carried out on a cost reimbursable basis by Fluor’s integrated engineering team in Farnborough and at the Pembroke Refinery.

Recognised as Spark, the King Salman Energy Park is being developed with an aim to establish Saudi Arabia as an international energy hub. The park will look into diverse segments such as exploration, production, refining, petrochemicals, conventional power, water production and treatment.

With the rise in electric vehicles across the globe, the company will be expanding its annual production capacity of formulated electrolyte at its current Yokkaichi plant in Japan.

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.

The chemical plants aim at establishing a high-performance synthetic resin manufacturing and sales business for Kuraray, PTTGC and Sumitomo Corporation. With the rise in global demand for chemical products, Japanese chemical manufacuturers are expanding their production capacity in locations where petroleum and chemical products are price competitive.