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BASF commissions 54-MW PEM water electrolyzer at Ludwigshafen, Germany

Germany’s largest proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer has gone into operation at BASF’s (www.basf.com) Ludwigshafen site. Designed to produce zero-carbon hydrogen, the electrolyzer has a connected load of 54 megawatts and the capacity to supply the main plant with up…

ABB and Charbone sign MoU for green hydrogen production

ABB (Zurich, Switzerland; www.abb.com) and Charbone Hydrogen Corporation (Brossard, Que., Canada; www.charbone.com) – an integrated green hydrogen production company based in Montreal, Canada – have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreement to collaborate on the development of up to…

KBR and ISU advance lithium sulfide technology to commercial scale

KBR Inc. (Houston, Tex.; www.kbr.com) and ISU Specialty Chemical Co. Ltd. (Seoul, South Korea; www.isuchemical.com) have advanced their PureLi2SSM lithium sulfide technology to commercial scale, following the successful operation of the Onsan pilot plant in Ulsan, Republic of Korea. Under the…

2025 CEPCI updates: January (prelim.) and December 2024 (final)

The preliminary value for the CE Plant Cost Index (CEPCI) for January 2025 (most recent available) rose slightly compared to the previous month’s value. The final value for December 2024 was downwardly revised by a small margin. For the first…

Wacker to replace fossil coal with biogenic carbon for production of silicon

  Wacker Chemie AG (Munich, Germany; www.wacker.com) is to start replacing coal with biogenic carbon for its silicon production in Holla, Norway. A long-term supply contract to this effect has been signed with Aymium. In Holla, Norway, WACKER currently uses…

Business News: March 2025

Plant Watch LG Chem set to commence production of bio-based acrylic acid February 13, 2025 — LG Chem Ltd. (Seoul, South Korea; www.lgchem.com) will commence the production of bio-based acrylic acid in the second quarter of 2025, with plans to…

Executive Insights: Wacker Chemical Corporation

In this exclusive interview, Christoph Kowitz, president and CEO of Wacker Chemical Corporation, offers his perspective on the goals, challenges and accomplishments of the company, as well as the challenges faced by the chemical process industries Christoph Kowitz is the…

AGAE Technologies Announces Production of Rhamnolipid Biosurfactant From a Full-Scale Manufacturing Plant in Asia

AGAE Technologies (Corvallis; Ore.; www.agaetech.com), a U.S.-based leader in rhamnolipid production and technology, with its partners, has officially opened the largest retrofitted manufacturing plant complex in Asia. This manufacturing complex, covering 41,000 square feet, has the capacity to produce over…

Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Energy awards feedstock allocation for joint LyondellBasell/Sipchem project

Sipchem (Sahara International Petrochemical Company; Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia; www.sipchem.com) and LyondellBasell (LYB; Houston, Tex.; www.lyondellbasell.com) have been awarded a feedstock allocation from the Ministry of Energy of Saudi Arabia supporting a joint feasibility study for a world-scale mixed feed…

KBR Awarded PMC Contract to Oversee Development of Fertilizer Project in Angola

KBR (Houston, Tex.; www.kbr.com) announced Feb. 26 that it has been awarded a contract for Project Management Consultancy (PMC) services by AMUFERT to support the development of its fertilizer plant in Soyo, Angola. As part of this transformative $2 billion project, KBR…