Uhde Inventa-Fischer has been awarded a major contract from the Polish chemical group Grupa Azoty to build a polyamide 6 plant. The multiline plant will be built at the company’s headquarters in Tarnow, Poland, and will have a total capacity of 80,000 metric tons per year of polyamide 6 for film applications and engineering plastics.

Sartorius Stedim Biotech (SSB) has recently announced the launch of its new Sartocheck 5 Plus filter integrity tester. Designed for use in downstream processing, this new integrity tester is the latest development in the established line of Sartocheck units already recognised throughout the pharmaceutical industry.

Shin-Etsu Chemical announced plans to double the production capacity of rare earth magnets in Vietnam’s Hai Phong Province.

Halliburton has launched a new chemical reaction plant in Saudi Arabia which is claimed to be the first of its kind in the country. Situated at the PlasChem Park in Jubail, the plant manufactures a broad range of chemicals for the oil and gas value chain as well as other diverse industries.

Total’s Synova aims to produce 40,000 tonnes of recycled polypropylene per year by 2021 to meet the growing demands for high-performance recycled materials from the automobile sector. The move is in line with the company’s ambition of becoming a responsible energy major.

Rentschler Biotechnologie announces the investment of €24m to build a Twin system with two 3,000 L stainless steel bioreactors mainly targeting market supply at the company’s site in Laupheim, Germany. The Twin system should be operational in early 2017.

Arkema has recently brought on stream a new 90,000-tonne acrylic acid reactor at its Texas site in the USA. The move aims to support the growth of the company’s customers in North America dealing in the superabsorbents, paints, adhesives and water treatment markets.

The seed fund has been initiated by Merck to encourage start-ups in China and to foster innovations in health and life sciences. The company will make this hefty investment through its corporate strategic venture arm, M Ventures.

Mc Dermott has won a contract by Saudi Aramco and Total to provide license, basic engineering package, extended basic engineering, training, technical services and supply of proprietary equipment for one of the largest mixed feed crackers across the globe.

A detailed report by Aurora Energy Research focuses on a potential short-term scenario wherein Europe will stop the supply of Russian gas flowing to Europe in winter 2022-23 owing to the country’s invasion of Ukraine.