BASF's rise to becoming a global battery giant takes the next step: The world's biggest chemical company opens its first manufacturing facility dedicated to commercial-scale production of advanced cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries in Elyria/Ohio, USA...

Air Liquide has acquired 100 % stake in H2V Normandy (now called Normand’Hy) and with this development the company aims to build a 200 MW PEM electrolyzer in Port-Jérôme, France for the production of renewable hydrogen which will be used for industrial and heavy mobility applications. The firm will connect the electrolyzer to its hydrogen pipeline network in Normandy, which will lead to the development of the world’s first low-carbon hydrogen network.

Carbon Recycling International and Johnson Matthey (JM) have signed a long-term exclusive catalyst supply agreement under which JM will supply its Katalco (TM) methanol catalysts to CRI’s Emissions-To-Liquids (ETL)-based methanol plants in order to produce sustainable methanol from CO2.

The energy storage developer Glidepath has begun construction on the Prospect Storage facility. Located roughly 50 miles south of Houston, Prospect Storage is a utility-scale, distribution-connected standalone battery storage project. The 10 MW/10 MWh facility will serve the Ercot (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) market for energy and ancillary services.

LyondellBasell has successfully started up a new 320 KT per year Hostalen Advanced Cascade Process (ACP) high density polyethylene (HDPE) plant at Münchsmünster, Germany.

To support the growth of electronics and renewable energy customers at the Sama Jaya High Tech Park in Kuching, Malaysia, Linde has started up a new air separation unit (ASU) which will supply high purity nitrogen to multiple customers in the region. The new plant will make use of Linde’s latest technology which provides 30 % better power efficiency and can reduce GHG emissions by more than 6,000 tons per year.

The Korean firm SK E&C won the front end engineering & design contract for Ineos’ 750 ktpa facility in Belgium. The scheduled plant is expected to be energy as well as carbon efficient and aims to provide Europe with a sustainable industry.

MMEX Resources plans to build a 50,000-barrel per day (bpd) crude oil refinery in the Permian Basin of West Texas. The $ 450 million project would be the fourth refinery in the Permian, which is currently home to 300,000 bpd of refining capacity.

Exxon Mobil has called for engineering, procurement and construction contract bids with an aim to capture up to 1 million metric tons of CO2 annually at its LaBarge, Wyoming facility in the USA. The proposed 400-million-dollar expansion project is expected to commence operations by 2025.

In March 2017 the privately run industrial gases provider, Messer, opened a 150,000 tons CO2 recovery plant in Nanjing, China, making the company the biggest provider of CO2 in China.