The main demand drivers behind this market scenario are the strong demand from Asian countries and further development of the international gas trade, according to the international Energy Agency (IEA).

Aalborg Energie Technik assists Solvay in replacing a coal-fired boiler plant with a new AET Biomass Boiler. The 90 MWt plant is to be installed in Rheinberg, Germany, were it will help the company lowering the CO2 emissions by 190,000 tonnes/year.

De Lille Oxygen has opted for two Ecos units. One is located at their customer’s site for flexible over-the-fence delivery of CO. The other will deliver on-demand CO for the rest of their customers from the company’s headquarter in Columbus, Ohio.

Clear View Hydrogen is a complete connected plant service that leverages the power of continuous upload of data to offer plant owners improved asset utilisation, energy savings, and less unplanned downtime. Based on a stream of comprehensive data from the plant, modelling and analytical software proactively alerts plant personnel of operational issues and continually suggests optimisation opportunities.

The project has been awarded by Anwil and will be responsible for producing 1,265 metric tonnes of nitric acid and 1,200 tonnes of ammonium nitrate per day. Thyssenkrupp’s patented Envi NOx process will be used to remove green house gases from nitric acid production.

The efforts of both the specialised companies will enable the diversion of polystyrene waste from landfills by converting it back into valuable polymers and monomer building blocks. In addition to this, Green Mantra’s secondary product from the polystyrene depolymerisation process is expected to be evaluated for use as a raw material by Ineos Styrolution for its polystyrene resin production.

Nouryon and other firms based at Chemical Park Delfzijl in the Netherlands will save up to 100,000 tons of CO2 emissions per year through the increased use of sustainable steam. The company will use the additional supply to make its salt production at the Delfzijl site more sustainable.

Bilfinger and Ineos are expanding their cooperation. Alongside industrial services in Germany, the Mannheim-based company will in future also be providing services to the chemicals company in Belgium.

The advantages of flexible automation solutions have long been talked about, and now it comes down to putting them into practice. In doing so, the aim is to link the respective smart modules in such a way that the overall plant runs in harmony. ABB shows that it has mastered all the parts in the orchestra.

A plant revamp is much more than just a scheduled shutdown: Done right, it can become the perfect solution to re-establish competitiveness and comply with regulations and market demands — As good as new or even better: Plant revamping to achieve capacity increase, modernization to conform to ever changing regulations or product diversification can put an established production site back on top of the competition. But such delicate rejuvenation projects require dedicated specialists. With the right partners, a production plant can stay forever feasible …