Plant engineering is making a small comeback in Europe. But how viable is the trend? — In 2018, European investment projects saw a mini-boom: 134 new plants in the first eight months show the potential in the industry. But now, thanks to trade conflicts, the Brexit and oil price rises, growth is coming to a standstill —  is chemistry running out of steam?

The larger the reaction vessel, the quicker products can be made – or so you might think. Microreactors show just how wrong that assumption is: in fact, they can be used to produce explosive materials – nitroglycerine, for instance – around ten times faster than in conventional vessels, and much more safely as well. At the ACHEMA trade fair, held June 18-22 in Frankfurt, researchers demonstrate microreactors they use for a very broad range of chemical processes...

Scientists from Exxon Mobil and the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a new technology that could significantly reduce the amount of energy and emissions associated with manufacturing plastics. Results of the research were published in the peer-reviewed journal Science.

Total introduces a new range of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) Circular Compounds with high levels of recycled content to its packaging segment customers.

With a capacity of producing 75,000 tonnes per year, the new plant will be making use of renewable and non-GMO sugarcane from Thailand to produce a range of Luminy PLA resins.

Many of the innovative pump models introduced by SPX Flow are specifically designed to address challenges faced by the chemical, petrochemical, power and oil industries. The specialised pumps offer numerous benefits such as increased efficiency, enhanced reliability, reduced installation footprint, reduced weight, protection against leakages and high metering accuracy.

Invista plans to add 40,000 tons of nylon 6,6 polymer capacity at its current 150,000-ton polymer plant at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park (SCIP). Construction is targeted for mid-2019 and production would begin in 2020.

The Dow Chemical Company announced new low capital intensity, high return investments in its upstream and downstream silicones franchise to accelerate innovation and support global customers’ demand in high growth markets, such as high performance building, home and personal care, electrical and industrial, consumer goods and components assembly.

The scope of work includes engineering, procurement, fabrication, and construction of the HDPE plant. Capable of producing 625,000 tonnes per year, the facility is expected to be complete by 2021.

Process and/or safety engineers and managers need to clearly understand, plan and execute future emergency relief system design work for plant projects, such as Process Hazard Analyses (PHA), unit expansions, debottlenecking studies etc. This article focuses on the usefulness of Design of Emergency Relief Systems (DERS), Hazard and Operability (HAZOP) and Safety Integrity Level (SIL) tools.