Solvay has inaugurated a new blowing agent production unit in Rosignano, Italy. This project is expected to revolutionize the plastic foaming industry.

BASF has commenced operations of its prototype metal refinery for battery recycling in Schwarzheide, Germany. The plant aims to optimize innovative battery recycling technology as well as optimize the processing of end-of-life lithium-ion batteries and battery production scrap.

Linde under its subsidiary White Martins has plans to build, own and operate a second electrolyzer to produce green hydrogen in Brazil. On completion, the plant is expected to supply green hydrogen to glass manufacturer Cebrace to reduce emissions from their glass melting furnaces.

Leading biopharmaceutical firm Celltrion has selected Wood to expand its Songdo biopharma manufacturing hub in Incheon, South Korea. Wood will provide detailed engineering design for a new facility that will increase manufacturing capacity of biological medicines by eight million liquid vials annually.

Messer has built a nitrogen production plant for Harman Becker Automotive System Manufacturer in Székesfehérvár, Hungary. The energy-efficient and remote-controlled plant is expected to meet the nitrogen demand of the audio and infotainment manufacturer.

KBR has won a contract to license its phenol technology for a 250 KTA phenol plant at Sabic's Fujian Petrochemical Complex in China. The project is expected to be complete in FY 2026.

Fortescue has selected KBR’s green ammonia technology for its Holmaneset green energy project in Norway. Under the terms of the contract, KBR will provide technology license, proprietary engineering design, and Feed support engineering services for the project.

The same developments happening in the rest of the world are also reshaping laboratories: the increasing use of technology, digital tools and, of course, robots and artificial intelligence (AI). All these trends often go hand in hand with a greater awareness of environmental issues. In this trend report, we present a summary of the fruits these developments are already bearing and will bear in the future.

The chemical industry is in crisis, but pump and valve manufacturers are confident in the circumstances. Despite all the crises - after all, there will always be pumping. Read on to find out which three megatrends are now set to boost fluidics...

What do the trend topics of circular economy, battery production and plant proteins have in common? They challenge the creativity of process engineers, and they follow the global megatrends of resource scarcity, mobility, nutrition and climate protection. Where the focus in the past decade was on new chemical processes and digital technologies, now it is the turn of mechanical process engineering.