Keeping products in the economic cycle for as long as possible, closing material cycles, avoiding waste (including CO2) — awareness is now wide spread that the Circular Economy is more than “just” recycling. However, the extent of the transformation is only gradually becoming apparent. At Dechema’a Tutzing Symposium, the consensus was: if you really want to implement the Circular Economy, you have think big.

The introduction of robotics into manufacturing plants benefits both products and staff, delivering greater operational flexibility, safety, quality and process efficiency compared to what traditional mechanical solutions allow. However, the price to achieve this is a reduction in production rates.

Electrolysis is said to be particularly good at load control and can therefore respond flexibly to fluctuating energy flows. But it's not quite that simple: a pilot project is being launched in Japan to test flexible hydrogen production.

Six key take aways from Parenteral Drug Association’s (PDA) recent workshop have been summarized by the author. The association intends to host a number of workshops to educate and help the industry implement the revision of the new Annex 1: ‘Manufacture of Sterile Products’.

Enablers of production – Same old in the “pump halls”? Not this time! If the production of tomorrow wants to truly unleash its efficiency potentials, pump experts are challenged. In fact, the largest exhibitor group at Achema is more innovative and digital than ever before.

Successful integration of green hydrogen into production networks – Compact electrolysis plants, powered by green electricity, could help to solve the issue of energy storage, providing power and raw materials available for a wide range of applications. But setting up a container plant is not enough: Sahll the decentralized H2 production become a success, it needs to be suitably integrated and connected. Is the energy transition a matter of plant planning and design?

Lanxess has introduced three new weak acid cation (WAC) resins along with two weak base anion exchange resins in its Lewatit product portfolio. The new WAC resins consist of renewable raw materials.

The recent report titled ‘2022 Chemical Industry Outlook’ by Deloitte highlights 5 key trends in the U.S. chemical industry. Right from adopting digital technologies to undertaking sustainability measures such as the implementation of e-crackers, advanced chemical recycling, green hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, the report elaborates on the current trends that are set to transform the industry like never before.

Any review of China’s chemical industry in 2021 is dominated by the two big issues the industry had to wrestle with: climate neutrality and Corona. These are the same issues that will dominate the year 2022. The industry as a whole in the People’s Republic is facing enormous challenges and changes — while at the same time there are great growth opportunities for certain sectors. However, the ongoing global epidemic, including in China, continues to create uncertainty.

The 4th ‘China International Import Expo (CIIE)’ showed where the chemical industry in China is heading. At the beginning of November, while climate negotiations were taking place in Glasgow, keywords such as ‘low carbon,’ ‘green,’ or ‘circular economy’ also dominated the presentations of Chinese and international chemical companies at the Expo in Shanghai.