Ineos Styrolution, Covestro and many other leading companies as well as associations such as the Circular Plastics Alliance and the Alliance to End Plastic Waste are undertaking massive initiatives to solve the ‘plastic’ issue which is a threat to our environment.

Mitsubishi Chemical’s subsidiaries have signed a strategic agreement with Shen Yang Qiushi Agricultural Science and Technology Development to grow fruits and vegetables indoors. With this move, the company aims at enhancing its plant factory business in China.

Endress+Hauser has announced the acquisition of US company Kaiser Optical Systems. The Swiss process automation specialist has signed an agreement with parent company Rockwell Collins. The transaction is expected to be completed in the next months. With this acquisition Endress+Hauser will strenghten its analytical offering with Raman technology.

Neal Gutterson, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Corteva Agriscience has announced his plans to retire from the company towards the latter half of 2020. However, he will continue to lead the firm until a new successor has been appointed.

With an aim to meet the growing global demand, Solvay has plans to increase its soda ash and sodium bicarbonate production capacity by 600 kilo tonnes in the USA and 200 kilo tonnes in Bulgaria respectively.

Arlanxeo has successfully completed turnaround of its CR plant in Germany, allowing for an annual production of up to 70,000 metric tonnes of CR. In France, the firm owns the largest NBR facility in the world and is currently undergoing modernisation.

Thyssenkrupp is building a new integrated chemical complex in Hungary. The foundation stone for the polyol production facility was laid on September 27, 2019 in Tiszaújváros.

The new JV company Fertiglobe is expected to be the largest export-focused nitrogen fertiliser platform across the world as well as the largest producer in the MENA region with a production capacity of 5 million tonnes of urea and 1.5 million tonnes of merchant ammonia.

How can the share of bio-based raw materials used in the European chemical industry be increased to 25 % by 2030? As conclusion of its two-year work, the EU project Road To Bio has published a roadmap that outlines how this goal could be achieved. Based on the analysis of nine product groups, the roadmap identifies opportunities, challenges and actions across industry, policy and civil society to advance the replacement of fossil products by bio-based products.

The consortium aims to produce base chemicals and also significantly reduce carbon emissions. Leading companies such as BASF, Borealis, BP, Lyondell Basell, Sabic and Total are part of this new Group.