Covestro has put into operation a pilot plant at its Leverkusen site in Germany which is capable of producing the aniline chemical entirely based on plant biomass instead of petroleum. This is a landmark move for the industry and aims at reducing CO2 footprint.

Lummus Technology and Citroniq Chemicals have entered into licensing and engineering agreements for the development of green polypropylene plants in the U.S. The first unit is expected to produce 400kta of bio-polypropylene.

Kemira has successfully completed the divestment of its Oil & Gas related portfolio to Sterling Specialty Chemicals, a US subsidiary of Artek Group. The move is in line with the company’s strategy of focusing on its core businesses and accelerating its profitable growth strategy.

The overall global market for industrial valves is expected to rise in the coming years. Valve manufacturers have introduced various kinds of valves for diverse applications and industries this year. PROCESS Worldwide highlights some of the latest solutions in this space.

Solvay has plans to expand operations at its Resolest and Solval units which are dedicated to recycling residues from the flue gas cleaning process by using the Solvair solution. With this move, the company intends to enhance the circularity in flue gas treatment.

Toray Composite Materials America has successfully commissioned the upgraded carbon fiber production line at its Decatur, Alabama facility in the US. The upgrade is expected to double the production capacity of the Torayca T1100 carbon fiber.

Arkema has obtained the certification for its acrylic acid and ester production facility located in Taixing, Jiangsu Province, China. The project is claimed to be the first acrylic monomers plant in China to receive the ISCC+ certification.

Under a black mass purchase agreement signed between both the parties, BASF and Stena Recycling will work together to develop improved black mass production processes in order to achieve high recovery rates for metals to support closed loop solutions for the European electric vehicle battery market.

Exxonmobil’s advanced fluid bed Methanol-to-Gasoline technology has been chosen by Aramco for the development of a synthetic fuel demonstration plant in Neom’s Hydrogen Innovation and Development Center in Saudi Arabia.

Nouryon has successfully completed 50 % of its capacity expansion for colloidal silica products at its manufacturing facility in Wisconsin, USA. With this move, the company aims to expand its global colloidal silica manufacturing footprint.