French specialty chemicals company, Arkema has completed the acquisition of ArrMaz, a global leader in specialty surfactants for crop nutrition, mining chemicals, and infrastructure.

Sanyo Chemical Industries, Ltd. (Thailand) announced the expansion of its production facility for permanent antistatic agents, which is scheduled to operate from April 2021, with a view to meeting the rising demand from Thailand.

The global biodiesel market is projected to reach USD 41.18 billion by 2021, at a CAGR of 3.8% from 2016 to 2021. Biodiesel is a used as a fuel in pure form B100 or by forming blends with conventional petroleum diesel. These blends include B2, B5, and B20 that contain 2%, 5%, and 20% biodiesel, respectively. Biodiesel is environmental-friendly, non-toxic, and readily biodegradable fuel, as it is produced from natural elements such as vegetable oils, animal fats, and greases. It finds usage in end-use industries, such as automotive, power generation, marine, railway, agriculture, and mining. The growing demand for biodiesel from these end-use industries is expected to lead to its increased demand in the biodiesel market.

BASF SE (Germany) is planning to invest USD 10 billion in China to build a new plant for engineering plastics – a strategic move to further strengthen its leading position in the polymers market as the customers producing next-gen automotive, electronics, and electrical products turn to high-performance materials manufacturers for their specific needs. China is the leading market for electric vehicles (EVs), electronics, and electrical products as the country is a key supplier of components as well as end products to the world. The customers in these industries are turning to companies such as BASF to address industry trends such as vehicle electrification, lightweighting, electrical energy saving solutions, and miniaturization of electronic devices.

Refrigerants are defined as chemicals that act as a heat transfer medium in cooling equipment. They function on the principle of transferring heat by absorbing heat at low temperature and pressure and releasing it at high temperature and pressure. The market for refrigerants is expected to exhibit steady growth throughout the forecast period. The market in the developed economies of Europe and North America is expected to witness slow growth due to changing trends regarding restriction in the use of fluorocarbons under regulations of the Montreal Protocol. Hydrocarbons (HC) refrigerants are expected to gain importance in North America due to the rapid shift from fluorocarbons to HC-based refrigerants. The market in several growing economies of Asia-Pacific and the Middle East & Africa is expected to witness high growth owing to increasing spending power, growth in infrastructure industry, and growth of manufacturing of consumer appliances.

Carbon fiber was first discovered in the 1970’s when extensive research was happening to find alternative materials for metals. Initially, carbon fibers were not widely accepted due to its limited compression strength and high price. However, today, a lot of developments have been made on carbon fiber, and its use is extensive in various end-use industries such as aerospace & defense, automotive, sporting goods, wind energy, marine, civil engineering, pipe & tank, electrical & electronics, oil & gas, 3D printing, high-speed rail, hydrogen gas storage, and others. Carbon fiber is a long, thin strand of material made from carbon. The carbon content is more than 90% for standard modulus industrial grade and almost 100% for high modulus aerospace grade.  Carbon fiber is produced from raw materials such as PAN, pitch, rayon, or other organic fibers.

The pressing need of the transportation industry to produce lightweight vehicles with superior functional capabilities is driving the lightweight metal alloys penetration in the industry. CAFÉ regulations and growing demand for electric vehicles are pushing the automakers to adopt lightweight solutions. Aluminum and magnesium alloys are the most commonly used lightweight metals, followed by titanium and beryllium. Lightweight material can drastically reduce the overall weight of the vehicle, reduce CO2 emissions, improve fuel consumption, and are completely recyclable.

Water is vital for both industrial and municipal use. The technology for water treatment in the industrial sector differs fundamentally from that in the municipal sector as functions vary as per specific needs of each sector. In the industrial sector, demand for water treatment varies between industries and location of the establishment. Highly customized and integrative technologies are used in treating water in the industrial sector. On the other hand, municipal water treatment requires established techniques and processes to purify water and fulfill public demand.

Nouryon (formerly, AkzoNobel Specialty Chemicals) to double production capacity of organic peroxides at its Los Reyes site, Mexico to meet increased customer demand for polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polyolefin in North America. The expansion is planned to be completed by the first half of 2020.

“Tesla is setting up a new factory in China to expand its market share in this geography, with the promotion of model 3 and model y in this market. This is expected to increase the demand for lithium-ion battery, which would infuse growth in the Battery Packaging market.