Under the chemical industry’s ‘Together for Sustainability’ initiative, the sector has agreed on a global guideline for calculating product carbon footprints. The new guideline aims to provide specific calculation instructions for emissions from ‘cradle-to-gate’ for chemicals and will also assist companies to compare and evaluate the climate impact of their products.

LG Chem and ADM have entered into an agreement to establish two new joint ventures focusing on LA (lactic acid) and PLA (poly lactic acid). The first joint venture ‘Greenwise Lactic’ will produce 150,000 tons of high-purity corn-based lactic acid every year while the second one ‘LG Chem Illinois Biochem’ will use Greenwise Lactic’s lactic acid to produce 75,000 tons of bioplastics annually.

Digital pumps are here to stay: A recent study shows that the market for digital and connected pumps could nearly double in size within the next decade. But which trends and developments drive the market and what to expect of the next decade?

Honeywell has completed the engineering assessment in Malaysia for Chemone Group’s Pengerang Energy Complex (PEC) Greenfield Integrated Condensate Splitter & Aromatic Complex. The project is expected to produce 2.3 million tonnes per annum of aromatics.

Inosim has introduced Version 13 of its Process Simulation Software which offers Inosim Bicon. This enables one to better analyze the complex, dynamic behavior of the production plant and its interdependent processes. The latest version also comes with the Inosim Foresight system which forecasts the future state of a plant, based on high-precision digital twins.

Avient has plans to divest its Distribution business to an affiliate of H.I.G. Capital for 950 million dollars in cash. The firm has also signed a definitive agreement for the deal; however, it is subject to the satisfaction of regulatory requirements and other customary closing conditions.

PPG has plans to double the production capacity of its powder coatings plant in San Juan del Rio, Mexico. The move will help the company to manufacture new, innovative powder coatings products that are currently supplied from the U.S.

With this deal, Ineos Phenol will add more than 1 million tonnes of production capacity annually to its existing chemical business. This includes cumene (410 ktpa), phenol (310 ktpa), acetone (185 ktpa), alpha-methylstyrene (20 ktpa) and bisphenol A (150 ktpa).

Dow and Mura Technology have plans to build Europe’s largest advanced recycling plant for plastics at Dow's Böhlen site in Germany. The project is expected to deliver approximately 120 KTA of advanced recycling capacity. This is one of the many series of plants that are being planned to be built across the U.S. and Europe.

Circularise and ISCC have announced a joint project under which numerous companies will test a pilot blockchain-based digital system with certification procedures to validate sustainability claims in the chemicals sector.