Researchers at the University of Konstanz presented a new way of obtaining polyester from fats and oils, more specifically, from castor oil. A well-known and chemically established building block that can be obtained from castor oil is Undecenol.

KBR has secured a Front-End Engineering Design contract from the BUA Group for its new refinery in Nigeria. The upcoming facility will support fuel production for Nigeria's domestic and regional markets, thus reducing the country’s dependence on imports.

Goudsmit Magnetics recently launched a rotating Cleanflow magnetic separator suitable for installation in free-fall lines in a continuous process. Cleaning takes place without stopping the product flow - an explicit request from a customer who wanted to recycle cans of milk powder in a continuous process.

Lyondell Basell, one of the world's largest plastics, chemical and refining companies, has selected its La Porte, Texas, manufacturing complex as the site for a new High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) Plant.

Lanxess inaugurates a new production line at its largest site in Leverkusen for the production of the Lewatit brand of weak acid cation (WAC) exchange resins, as well as bringing a new food-grade filling and packing system into operation. The crisis ridded spacility chemicals company had invested some € 10 million in the expansion process ince April 2013.

Basf announced that it will gradually reduce its caprolactam production in Europe by 100,000 metric tons to 400,000 metric tons over the next 18 months. In Ludwigshafen, parts of the caprolactam production as well as plants producing the precursors anolone and oleum will be closed.

Borealis, a company specialised in polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers, plans to replace the automation of its production plant in Porvoo, Finland with new technology from Metso: The automation renewals are based on long-term life-cycle plans, developed by both companies.

Technip Energies has declared the launch of BlueH2 by T.Entm which is the company’s full suite of deeply-decarbonized and affordable solutions for hydrogen production. The green solutions prove useful for refining, ammonia production as well as support diverse industries such as steel, cement, power, olefins and LNG.

Envirogear has announced that its G Series Internal Gear Pumps are now available with jacketing. Specifically designed to enhance the G Series Pump’s temperature control and stability, these new jacketed pumps are perfectly suited to handle a variety of challenging applications such as carbolic acid, liquid sulfur, roofing manufacturing, general chemicals, bitumen, paint, chocolate, molasses, waxes and heavy fuel oil.

In line with company’s ‘Solvay One Planet’ strategy, the firm has plans to phase out the use of coal at its soda ash facility in Rheinberg, Germany. For this purpose, the company has commissioned its maiden biomass boiler and intends to develop a second biomass boiler, which will make Rheinberg the first soda ash plant in the world to be powered primarily by renewable energy.