Latest News
Repsol investing over €800 million in the Ecoplant renewable methanol project
Repsol S.A. (Madrid, Spain) has announced plans to invest in the Ecoplant, a pioneering project in Europe to transform urban waste into renewable fuels and circular products, adding a solution for reducing CO2 emissions in the transport sector, while at…
Moeve announces €600-million investment to develop 30 biomethane plants in Spain
Moeve (formerly Cepsa; Madrid, Spain) announced an ambitious €600-million investment plan for the construction, together with its partners, of up to 30 new biomethane plants by 2030, which the company projects throughout Spain, with Andalusia, Catalonia, and Galicia being among…
Rio Tinto and Hydro partner on carbon-capture technologies for aluminum smelters
Rio Tinto plc (London) and Norsk Hydro ASA (Oslo, Norway) will join forces to identify and evaluate available carbon capture technologies for future implementation in the aluminum electrolysis process. The companies have signed a partnership agreement that provides for the…
Sumitomo Chemical acquires full ownership of two agricultural subsidiaries in Europe
Sumitomo Chemical Co. (Tokyo, Japan) has acquired all shares of Philagro Holding, S.A. (Philagro), its France-based consolidated subsidiary engaged in sales of crop protection products. In addition, Sumitomo Chemical is to acquire all shares of another of its consolidated subsidiary,…
Covestro launches digitalized lifecycle-assessment tool for over 50,000 products
Covestro AG (Leverkusen, Germany) has announced a new digitalization strategy that is focusing on more data-centric business management to achieve digital transformation and to offer its customers transparency for its products. Covestro's climate impact from the manufacture of its products…
Stamicarbon awarded contract to upgrade urea plant in China
MAIRE S.p.A. (Milan) announced that NEXTCHEM, through its subsidiary Stamicarbon, the nitrogen fertilizer technology licensor, has been selected to provide the Process Design Package to upgrade the Hulunbeier New Gold Chemical Co., Ltd.’s urea plant in Hulunbuir (China), leveraging on…
Pilot project planned for thermocatalytic ethanol-to-butene process
In December 2024, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL; Richland, Wash.; www.pnnl.gov) announced a three-year collaborative project with vehicle-tire manufacturer Bridgestone (Tokyo, Japan; www.bridgestone.com) to scale up a thermocatalytic process for converting renewably derived ethanol to n-butene. Conventionally, n-butene is…
Focus On: Laboratory Equipment
Monitoring capabilities for shared laboratory spaces This product, launched as part of this company’s Dashboard solution (photo), is designed to add alerting capabilities to centrally located devices within a shared laboratory space, such as a cleanroom. The product introduces visual…
Flow chemistry yields a more sustainable route to isocyanates
The wide range of performance properties of polyurethane foams makes them essential in many consumer goods. Thus, there is much effort going into creating a more environmentally friendly production process for polyurethane’s main building blocks, polyols and isocyanates. While much…
Business News: February 2025
Plant Watch Messer to construct $70-million air-separation unit in Arkansas January 15, 2025 — Messer Group GmbH (Bad Soden, Germany; www.messergroup.com) has announced a strategic investment of over $70 million to construct a state-of-the-art air separation unit (ASU) in Berryville,…