Latest News
Offtake agreement inked for system that produces methanol from stranded methane economically
In late August, technology developer Emvolon, a spinout company from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT; Cambridge, Mass.; www.mit.edu), signed an offtake agreement with Freepoint Commodities LLC (www.freepoint.com) for methanol produced commercially via Emvolon’s technology starting in spring 2027. The…
Business News: October 2026
Plant Watch Evonik breaks ground on €80-million biotechnology expansion in Slovakia September 14, 2026 — Evonik Industries AG (Essen, Germany; www.evonik.com) has broken ground on a new biotechnology expansion project at its Fermas site in Slovakia, part of the €80-million…
These “self-driving” bioreactor sensors are forging new fermentation frontiers
Ubiquitous in biomanufacturing, fermentation processes are complex and unpredictable when compared to traditional chemical-processing operations. From changing cell-growth rates to drifts in environmental conditions, typical control approaches can only react to predetermined setpoints rather than reliably maximize product output. A…
Protein-binding process supports selective rare-earth element separation
Isolating and purifying rare-earth elements (REEs) is extremely challenging and energy-intensive due to the difficulty in separating chemically similar REE ions. Traditional separation methods require solvent extraction or chelating agents and produce large volumes of hazardous waste, all with little…
Toray Industries develops first solvent-based recycling technology for recovering PPS from waste
Toray Industries, Inc. (Tokyo, Japan; www.toray.com) announced that it has developed what it believes is the industry’s first solvent-based recycling technology to recover polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) from waste materials. The technology selectively dissolves and separates PPS from the materials while…
Air Liquide invests 170 million euros to supply ultra-high-purity gases to semiconductor manufacturer in Japan
Air Liquide (Paris, France; www.airliquide.com) today announced a new investment of more than 170 million euros to supply ultra-high purity gases to a leading semiconductor manufacturer in Japan. Under a long-term agreement, the Group will support the expansion of its…
Westlake to close PVC plant in Cologne, Germany
Westlake Corp. (Houston, Texas; www.westlake.com) announced today that, in light of challenging market conditions, the Company is taking action to improve profitability by closing its polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant in Cologne, Germany. Chemical production in Europe continues to face difficult conditions, including…
Gen-H Energy and Hycamite sign MoU for power project in Finland based on methane pyrolysis
GEN-H Energy SL (Madrid, Spain; www.gen-h.com) is planning a 200–300-megawatt balancing power project in Kotka, Finland, where electricity will be generated from natural gas without carbon dioxide emissions. Hycamite (Kokkola, Finland; www.hycamite.com) equipment – based on methane pyrolysis – will…
Environmental Controls Can Reduce Operating Costs, Not Just Emissions
For a long time, air-pollution control equipment was budgeted the way a company budgets for fire insurance: a necessary cost with no expectation of a return. That framing is outdated, and for a growing number of manufacturers, it is costing…
This platform supports transferable, scalable analytical workflows for bioprocesses
This company's Tunable Laser Near-Infrared (TL-NIR) bioprocessing platform combines a common hardware foundation with software-enabled analytical workflows, including TALOS™ rapid protein quantitation and ATLAS® multi-analyte quantitation. It is available as an at-line or in-line system, both of which support multiple…