A 20 million dollar investment has been announced by Akzo Nobel to increase and improve production at two of its sites in France. Around 30 new jobs will be created.

Achema, the international trade fair for process industries is expected to be held from June 10 – 14, 2024 in Frankfurt, Germany. The main highlights of this edition are five ‘Innovation Themes’ and a special show on hydrogen.

Shell Nederland and Shell Overseas Investments, subsidiaries of Shell, have taken the final investment decision to build Holland Hydrogen I, which will be Europe’s largest renewable hydrogen plant once operational in 2025.

Clariant and Lummus have been selected by Fujian Meide to supply the Catofin technology as well as the propane dehydrogenation (PDH) technology respectively for the mega project in China. The new unit is expected to produce 900,000 metric tons of propylene every year and is scheduled to begin operations in 2023.

The Orlen Południe plant in Poland converts glycerol into renewable propylene glycol with the help of BASF’s technology. Air Liquide Engineering & Construction provided the license, basic engineering, and proprietary equipment for the new plant and also combined its expertise with the BASF technology.

The UAE and France have plans to launch a bilateral program under which both the firms will combine their expertise to develop opportunities in order to decarbonize hard-to-abate industries including clean hydrogen solutions for mobility. The program will be launched in the background of the Cop28 climate change conference which will be held in Dubai this year.

The chemical industry is leading the hydrogen race — no wonder that the light gas is also capturing the imagination at Achema. The mysterious green molecule of endless possibilities plays a decisive role at the leading trade fair for chemistry, the event organizers at Dechema believe.

Lonza has announced that its current CEO Pierre-Alain Ruffieux will be leaving the company by September end and that Albert M. Baehny, Chairman has been chosen as CEO on an ad interim basis until a permanent CEO has been appointed.

Under an agreement signed between both the parties, Neste will supply more than 1,000,000 tons of sustainable aviation fuel to the Air France-KLM airline over a period of eight years. Claimed to be one of the largest SAF agreements of its kind in the aviation industry, the sustainable fuel is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80 % as compared to the traditional fossil jet fuel.

The rise of drones or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the chemical and chemical processing industry has helped plant operators to monitor critical infrastructure, undertake better informed decisions and achieve accurate, efficient and quick results without putting their personnel at risk.