Several leading chemical and energy companies including Exxon Mobil, Total and BASF announced their planned investments in the Port of Antwerp

Amacell, a specialist for flexible insulation foams, announced that it will build a new manufacturing facility in Bahrain. The new plant at the Bahrain International Investment Park (BIIP) will produce elastomeric rubber insulation for the US $ 3 billion heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) market in the GCC states.

Praxair (China) Investment Company, in a joint venture with Chongqing Chemical and Pharmaceutical Holding Group Company (CCPHC), will supply oxygen, nitrogen and clean dry air to a major integrated chemical production complex in Chongqing (Changshou) Chemical Industrial Park.

The plants will be built at BASF’s Verbund site in Zhanjiang, China and are expected to cater to the global demand for engineering plastics and TPU. The company has plans to invest 10 billion dollars in the Verbund site.

As part of its five-year investment to boost capacity and operational excellence within its global plastics additives business, BASF has awarded Emerson a multi-million-dollar contract to modernize automation software and controllers at its specialty chemical production facility in Lampertheim, Germany. These enhancements are to help the world’s largest chemical manufacturer increase production flexibility and enhance operations.

In applications such as pH determination, process analytics is securely in the driving seat. As yet unexploited potential, in contrast, is still slumbering in spectroscopy. A solution is promised by new data analysis methods as well as the integration of analysis equipment into control systems.

BASF 3D Printing Solutions is to provide innovative additive manufacturing materials to Paxis LLC for their new WAV technology. This is currently in development and is designed to meet the needs of additive manufacturing users.

BASF has signed a definitive agreement to sell its manufacturing facility for natural fish oils, medium-concentrated omega-3s, and customized bottled fish oil in Brattvåg, Norway, to Marine Ingredients, a leading manufacturer of quality marine-based ingredients and customized products.

BASF intends to build an additional production plant for sodium methylate in South America. Argentina is the planned location for the second plant with an annual capacity of about 60,000 metric tons.

The board of the Namur, the association of Germany’s automation users in the process industry has appointed Heinrich Engelhard as the new general manager of the organisation. Despite a negative business climate in late 2012, the industry remains cautiously optimistic…