Maire Tecnimont’s license company Stamicarbon has been selected as the licensor for the first urea production facility in Sub-Saharan Africa. Under the terms of the contract, the company will deliver the Process Design Package for the Front-End Engineering and Design for a 4000 mtpd melt and granulation plant.

SEA Vision Group has developed a new AI-based lipstick inspection system. Through the automation of processes still largely carried out by humans, this solution aims to improve the packaging of a product currently considered one of the world’s bestselling cosmetics.

In the production of chemical compounds, the success of each individual reaction depends on numerous parameters. It is not always possible, even for experienced chemists, to predict whether a reaction will take place and how well it will work. In order to remedy this situation, chemists and computer scientists from the University of Münster have now developed a tool based on artificial intelligence. The study has been published in the journal ‘Chem’.

Fluor has been awarded a front-end engineering and design contract by Swedish sodium-ion battery maker Altris for the world’s first industrial-scale sodium-ion battery production facility in Sandviken, Sweden. Feed completion is scheduled for early 2024.

Under a long-term agreement, Linde will supply clean hydrogen and nitrogen to OCI’s 1.1 million ton per annum blue ammonia plant. Located in the U.S. Gulf Coast, the project is claimed to be the first greenfield blue ammonia facility of this scale to come onstream in the U.S.

Shorter planning and construction times, more flexible utilization options through rapid modifications, and everything as energy-efficient as possible: The Enpro initiative (Energy Efficiency and Process Acceleration for the Chemical Industry) is opening up interesting options for the process industries with its various development projects. New designs for pumps also offer undreamed-of opportunities, as the first modular concepts and the Hector project show. We explain how tomorrow’s pumps may be both modular and energy-efficient.

With an aim to support the growing polymer industry in China, Nouryon intends to expand its capacity of organic peroxide at its Ningbo plant in the country. Organic peroxides can be used to improve the properties of recycled polypropylene.

India Oil Corporation Ltd has awarded a project management consultancy contract to Mc Dermott for a Maleic Anhydride unit at its Panipat Refinery and Petrochemical Complex near New Delhi, India. It is claimed to be India's first mega-scale MAH plant to manufacture chemical products.

Fluid Components International has introduced the advanced FS10i Series compressed air flow meters which helps to improve productivity as well as the overall process quality. The compressed air flow meters are also capable of reducing system energy costs.

Lyondell Basell's proprietary Moretec molecular recycling technology is based on chemical recycling but it also includes a catalyst-based approach. The technology aims to return post-consumer plastic waste back to its molecular form and use it as feedstock for the production of new plastic materials. Currently, the company has set up a pilot plant in Italy to advance its technology towards commercial scale.