Mitsui Chemicals announced that it has entered into a materials sector-based partnership agreement with Plug and Play, a Silicon Valley-based firm that supports the growth of startups.

Clariant announced the successful startup of its Catofin catalyst at Hengli Group’s new mixed-feed dehydrogenation plant in Dalian, China. The new unit combines propane dehydrogenation (PDH) with iso-butane dehydrogenation (BDH) process technologies, and it will produce over one million tons of olefins per year — becoming the world’s largest plant using Catofin catalyst technology.

The the diverse application possibilities of Augmented Reality (AR) shall now help to service and maintain vacuum pumps. While executing tasks, service technicians obtain useful additional information and graphical documentation, partly in 3D.

Syngas specialist GTL.F1, a joint venture of Statoil (Norway), PetroSA (South Africa) and Lurgi (Germany) have concluded technology developement for Fischer-Tropsch process technology and recently opened the licensing phase. GTL.F1 develops and licenses proprietary technologies for GTL investments. Norwegian venture partner Statoil will now withdraw from company ownership.

Ready-To-Use sterilization goes Robotic: The Robotic Pulsed Light Sterilizer by Italian manufacturer Steriline is the first machine to bring the benefits of pulsed light technology to the pharmaceutical sector.

Merck generated strong net sales growth in the second quarter of 2019, primarily on an organic basis. Ebitda pre grew very strongly and was also driven by organic performance. The science and technology company also confirmed its full-year forecast for 2019.

The German chemical industry association 'Verband der Chemischen Industrie e.V.' (VCI) has reported that production in the German chemical pharmaceutical industry rose by 4.5 % compared to the previous year, and turnover increased by 15.5 % to approximately 247 billion dollars (220 billion euros) due to the significant increase in producer prices (+ 8.5 %). The VCI also predicts that production is expected to increase by 2 % and the turnover by 5 % to 260 billion dollars (231 billion euros) in 2022.

Svante along with the University of Calgary have developed a scalable metal-organic framework (MOF) sorbent – Calgary Framework 20 (CALF-20) that captures CO2 with high capacity and at a low cost by making use of rapid solid adsorption and low temperature steam.

Saudi Aramco and Reliance Industries Ltd have entered into a non-binding Letter of Intent and the deal is expected to possess an enterprise value of 75 billion dollars. The transaction is claimed to be one of the largest foreign investments in India.

The 12-month contract aims to support Total and Socar’s exploration & production activities in Azerbaijan. It is also expected to support the activity in the Absheron natural gas field, located in the Caspian Sea.