Sumitomo Chemical Company and Shimane University aim to accelerate their joint research on synthesising methanol from carbon dioxide in the background of growing climate change concerns. Together, they also intend to promote the use of carbon cycle chemistry.

Lanxess and Saudi Aramco plan to establish a joint venture for synthetic rubber. The speciality chemicals company and Saudi Aramco subsidiary, Aramco Overseas Company, will each hold a 50 % interest in the joint venture, with annual sales of approximately three billion Euro in 2014.

Under the new consortium, Veolia is expected to dismantle used batteries and extract the active metals while Solvay will optimise the extraction and purification of critical metals as well as transform them into high-purity raw materials for new batteries.

Innovation needs space and an optimal environment in which to develop. That’s why the Glatt Innovation Center in Binzen, Germany, is more than just a building — it’s a communication platform that is open to new people and ideas. Development Manager Jochen Thies explains more in this interview with PROCESS Worldwide.

Under the R&D partnership, Clariant and Tianjin University will focus on the future development and commercialisation of new catalytic solutions in the Chinese market. Together, both the firms will also form the ‘Clariant-TJU Academy’ to support budding students and scientists.

The ‘Westküste 100’ project in Germany has received funding confirmation from the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy. The mega project is claimed to be the first large-scale hydrogen project in the country.

The new high-tech production site will produce the Catofin catalyst for propane dehydrogenation which is used in the production of olefins. The move is expected to strengthen Clariant’s position in China and also support the country’s petrochemicals industry.

Neste has plans to restructure its refinery operations in Porvoo and Naantali, Finland due to the declining demand for fossil oil products and growing demand for renewable energy solutions in the near future.

With this acquisition, Sanofi aims to further strengthen its core R&D areas of autoimmune and allergic diseases. The move will also provide full control of the brain-penetrant BTK inhibitor SAR442168 in multiple sclerosis which is expected to make commercialisation more efficient and eliminate royalty payments in the future.

A global survey conducted by Yokogawa has revealed that process industry companies are accelerating investment in industrial autonomy in the background of the current Covid-19 pandemic. Cyber security (51 %), cloud, analytics, and big data (47 %), and artificial intelligence (42 %) are three vital areas in which companies are planning significant investment over the next three years.