Lanxess designs a reverse osmosis system for real conditions
COLOGNE, GERMANY: Lanxess AG is continuously carrying out R&D in the field of water treatment, to ensure that the design process of reverse osmosis systems is even more successful in the future. Experts from the company presented the latest results – allowing an even better description of the separation behaviour of reverse osmosis (RO) membranes under realistic application conditions. The behaviour of RO membranes is determined under realistic service conditions by a large number of parameters. Read More
BASF construction chemicals used to build world’s largest solar plant
OUARZAZATE, MOROCCO: BASF said that its construction chemicals are used in the construction of the concentrated solar power system in the Noor solar complex, Morocco, North Africa. Several BASF products were used in the construction of this project such as concrete admixtures, grout, mortars, sealants, and joint water-resistant sealants. The requirements for the construction of the world’s largest solar plant were varied and very specific. The material had to conform to construction specifications. Read More
Benedict’s reagent test for Monosaccharides
In the college days, all of us might have done simple chemistry tests. Generally, chemical tests use reagents to indicate the presence of a specific chemical in an unknown solution. The reagents which are used in the chemical test can cause a unique reaction to occur based on the chemical it reacts with, allowing one to know what chemically is the solution. All these tests are done with excitement and fun, without knowing exact principle and procedure. One of those chemistry tests is Benedict’s reagent test. Read More
Hydrochloric Acid Test for Carbonate
Hydrochloric acid is known as spirits of salt or acidum salis and its formula is HCl. Other name for HCl is muriatic acid. In muriatic acid Muriatic means pertaining to brine or salt. HCl is a strong acid, highly corrosive with many industrial applications. Hydrochloric acid is found naturally in gastric acid. Hydrochloric acid used in the manufacture of other industrial chemicals like phosphoric acid, chlorine dioxide, ammonium chloride, fertilisers, dyes. HCl is used as a refining ore in the production of tin and tantalum. Read More
Lung cancer patients may one day be able to breathe a sigh of relief because of a new potential treatment for the disease. Kansas State University’s Masaaki Tamura is collaborating on a National Institutes of Health-funded research project for a therapeutic compound that would be administered directly to the lungs in aerosol form. “The standard treatments for lung cancer include chemotherapy, radiation and surgery,” said Tamura, who is an associate professor of anatomy and physiology in the College of Veterinary. 
Presently, the Indian chemical industry is showing tremendous resilience in adverse global conditions. The exports are set to witness growth in value and volume terms as compared to last year. These were some of the key points of discussion at the Chemexcil export awards function, held in Mumbai, India on 24 March. The Indian chemical industry is expected to reach $226 billion by 2020, from $147 billion in 2015, said Nirmala Sitharaman, minister for commerce and industry, who was also the chief guest at the Chemexcil. 
MUNICH/ BURGHAUSEN, GERMANY: Wacker Biosolutions, the life sciences and biotechnology division of Wacker Group, is expanding its integrated ketene production at its Burghausen site, Germany. The company is building a further reactor for the manufacture of isopropenyl acetate (IPA) with an annual capacity of 2,500 metric tonnes. IPA is an important starting material for acetylacetone (AcAc), which is used in numerous applications, ranging from life sciences products through to construction and automotive applications. 
DARMSTADT, GERMANY: Merck said that it has sold its biosimilars business to Fresenius Kabi AG, a pharmaceutical company in Germany and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Fresenius SE & Co KGaA healthcare group. The decision to divest biosimilars is aligned with Merck’s strategy for its healthcare business sector to focus on its pipeline of innovative medicines. According to the terms agreed to the transaction, Merck will receive an upfront payment of €170 million, milestone payments of up to €500 million. 
NEW HAVEN, US: Discovered more than 100 years ago, black phosphorus was soon forgotten when there was no seeming use for it. In what may prove to be one of the great comeback stories of electrical engineering, it now stands to play a crucial role in the future of electronic and optoelectronic devices. A Recent discovery by Yale University research team tells that the material could possibly replace silicon as the primary material for electronics. The team’s research, led by Fengnian Xia, associate professor of engineering. 
An anti-reflective coating is an optical coating that is applied on any lens surface or optical element to reduce the reflection. In a typical imaging system, this improves efficiency as much less light is lost. While the primary benefit is the reduced reflection itself, an anti-reflective coating on something like a pair of spectacles helps make the wearer’s eyes more visible, aiding eye contact, according to a report by Future Market Insights. It also helps reduce the glint from a covert viewer’s telescopic sight or binoculars. 
NEW DELHI, INDIA: Patients may end up with drugs that “may not be effective at all” if doctors were made to prescribe only generic medicines as indicated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, according to pharma industry body IPA. The Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) said that due to the nature of the current off-patent medicines market in India if such a step were to be followed, the choice of products will be shifted from doctors to chemists, not patients. Elaborating on the challenges, IPA secretary general. 
LEHIGH VALLEY, US: Air Products and Chemicals Inc said that INOX Air Products Ltd its joint venture (JV) in India, will build six new air separation units (ASU) which will serve the growing on-site and merchant liquid industrial gases market in India. The six plants are scheduled to come onstream during the course of 2018 and 2019. In building these six new plants, INOX Air Products’ industrial gas market presence in India will continue to grow, and further strengthens the already established leadership position. 
Focused on ‘Futuristic Polyurethanes,’ – theme for 2017, the Indian Polyurethane Association (IPuA) organised its 5th PU TECH Exhibition and Conference in Greater Noida, Delhi, India, from 8 to 10 March. The Indian Polyurethane Industry is a rapidly growing industry which has registered double-digit growth over the past five years and is expected to double every four years in the coming decade. India is expected to become the second largest polyurethane market in the Asia Pacific Rim, IPuA said. 
PERSTORP, SWEDEN: Perstorp has obtained independent expert opinion advising that its Pevalen non-phthalate polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plasticiser can be used in important food contact applications in US. The advice, from an international law firm that has expert knowledge in food contact legislation, said that Pevalen is suitable for use at levels up to 32 percent in PVC intended to produce conveyor belts and gloves used in meat and poultry processing facilities, as well as in tablecloths. Pevalen (chemical name pentaerythritol tetravalerate, PETV). 
The paint and coatings industry has been aggressively trying to make its products environmental friendly with low HAPs and VOC emissions but with high durability and better finish. Powder coating fits all these parameters to become one of the most sought after technology in the industry. Globally, one of the major challenges of the paints and coatings industry has been to manage and minimise the amount of toxins, wastes and air emissions in the entire life cycle without compromising the look and feel of every coat of paint. 
Organic food, defined by how it cannot be made rather than how it can be made, must be produced without the use of sewer-sludge fertilizers, most synthetic 
Growth in the Brazilian Chemical sector, which has been strong in the last decade has been impacted by the slowdown in the economy, political challenges. There has been a consistent decline in the growth of the chemical sector which was once anticipated to grow close to double digits. Irrespective of this, the industry size is still large enough, with a strong outlook in the long term (10 years horizon). This sector today accounts for around 2.5 percent of the GDP, the fourth largest contributor of the industrial economy. 
The stone monuments of Italy’s Certosa di Bologna cemetery have stood for more than two centuries as symbols of peace and eternity. But even stone does not last forever. So Enrico Sassoni, a visiting postdoctoral research associate in Princeton’s department of civil and environmental engineering, is working to protect the marble monuments and even make them stronger. “In spite of being apparently very durable, marble is actually sensitive to several deterioration processes,” Sassoni said. “Environmental temperature. 
Corrosion is a destructive force that will cause significant disruption to any steel structure left unprotected and so the need to protect assets when the stakes are high is vitally important. Perhaps none more so than in the potentially dangerous environments that exist in the oil and gas sector. In 2000, the Khazzan natural gas field was discovered in the Omani Governorate of Ad Dhahirah and is now the largest new upstream project in the Sultanate. Located around 350 km south-west of Muscat, construction began. 
MASSACHUSETTS, US: When the Deepwater Horizon oil rig suffered a catastrophic explosion and blowout on 21 April 2010, leading to the worst oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry, the well’s operators thought they would be able to block the leak within a few weeks. On May 9, they succeeded in lowering a 125-tonne containment dome over the broken wellhead. If that measure had worked, it would have funnelled the leaking oil into a pipe that carried it to a tanker ship above, thus preventing the ongoing. 
Have you ever noticed soft, fluffy, porous and foam nature of doughs? Even we might have observed in the batters [Batter is nothing but a liquid mixture of one or more flours made with ground grains or soaked grains that are ground]. But did you know the reasons or the agents behind this dough texture? The key ingredient which is responsible for this nature of dough/batter is a 
RICHLAND, US: When a molecule of water comes in for a landing on the common catalyst titanium oxide, it sometimes breaks up and forms a pair of molecule fragments known as hydroxyls. But scientists had not been able to show how often the breakup happened. Now, researchers have determined that water is only slightly more likely to stay in one piece as it binds to the catalyst surface than it is to form the hydroxyl pairs. The result — water’s advantage is so small — might surprise some chemists. 
MASSACHUSETTS, US: Severe water shortages already affect many regions around the world, and are expected to get much worse as the population grows and the climate heats up. But a new technology developed by scientists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of California at Berkeley could provide a novel way of obtaining clean, fresh water almost anywhere on Earth, by drawing water directly from moisture in the air even in the driest of locations. Technologies exist for extracting water. 
The global automotive coatings market size was valued at $22 billion in 2015 and is predicted to grow significantly over the forecast period owing to the increasing vehicle production. The industry is projected to foresee significant growth as these products enhance the appearance and durability of automobiles and protect them from harsh environmental conditions including acid rain, extreme temperature, UV radiation, and foreign particles, according to a report by Grand View Research Inc. Increasing automobile production. 
In an interview Pylin Sarobol, a research and development materials scientist and engineer in the Materials Science Center at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico with Chemical Today Magazine talks in depth about using aerosol deposition technique in ceramic coatings and how this technology can bridge the mesoscale gap between two established technologies – thin films and thermal spray coating technology. We are currently making advances on a solid-state deposition of thick films, using the room-temperature. 
STANFORD, US: Engineers at Stanford University, researchers at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and SUNCAT are leading a multi-year effort to produce nitrogen-based fertilisers (growth booster) in a sustainable way, by inventing a solar-powered chemistry technology that can make this fertiliser right on the farm and apply it directly to crops, drip irrigation style. “Our team is developing a fertiliser production process that can feed the world in an environmentally sustainable way,” said chemical engineer Jens Norskov. 
During the Demonetisation move in the country, the Mysore, India-based company Mysore Paints and Varnish Ltd (MPVL), which is run by the Karnataka government, supplied indelible ink (voter’s ink) to the banks. In an interview, Siddalingappa Pujari, Managing Director of MPVL with Chemical Today Magazine discusses the latest development in the indelible ink market and also growth potential of the company. The knowledge and demands of the people are undergoing a sea change. Customers are now asking. 
In an interview, Richard Jenkins, Global Group President, Coating Resins Business, Arkema with Chemical Today Magazine discusses at length about the way the architectural coatings industry is changing to keep up with consumer demands. The industry is also witnessing growing potential from sectors such as industrial and marine markets. In the architectural coatings segment, housing and construction trends drive the market. We begin to see regional differences based on the state of each economy. 
CHAMPAIGN, US: In the fight against disease, many weapons in the medicinal arsenal have been plundered from bacteria themselves. Using CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology, researchers have now uncovered even more potential treasure hidden in silent genes. A new study from researchers at the University of Illinois and colleagues at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) in Singapore used CRISPR technology to turn on unexpressed, or “silent,” gene clusters in Streptomyces. 
REINACH, SWITZERLAND: Archroma said that it has launched Cartaspers PLH liquid, a single-product breakthrough enabling easy and highly effective control of pitch and stickies deposition especially in soft water pulp and papermaking environments. Pulp mill tests already report easier application, better performance and significant cost savings compared to alternative deposit control systems. Pitch, occurring from natural resins in virgin pulp, and stickies in recycled paper fibres, pose a major challenge. 
Globally, one of the major challenges of the paints and coatings industry has been to minimise the amount of toxins, wastes and air emissions in the entire life cycle without compromising the exterior look and feel. The paint and coatings industry has been aggressively trying to make its products environmental friendly with low hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions but with high durability and better finish. Becoming one of the most sought after technology in the industry. 
PARSIPPANY, US: Evonik Corporation said that its Peraclean 22 CW was recently approved for use in meat and poultry processing by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Peraclean 22 CW, a peracetic acid, is an environmentally friendly, antimicrobial agent approved for use in a number of intervention points including both online and offline reprocessing spray, wash, rinse, chiller or scald, and other process water for whole or cut meat and poultry carcasses. 
ISELIN/ RENO, US: BASF said that it has signed an agreement to sell its bleaching clay and mineral adsorbents businesses to EP Minerals, a worldwide leader in industrial minerals. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2017. The bleaching clay and mineral adsorbents businesses are currently part of the process catalysts business unit of BASF’s global catalysts division. The selling includes a production site and a clay mine in Mississippi (US), and the mineral rights sublease associated with a mine in Arizona. 
The reaction is named after eminent scientist Rolf Appel. Rolf Appel was an inorganic chemist who contributed his important work to the organophosphorus chemistry field. The Appel reaction is a type of organic reaction, which converts alcohol into an alkyl chloride by using chemical materials like triphenylphosphine and 
Limonene is a phytochemical which falls in the class of monoterpenes and cyclo terpene. Limonene name derived from the citrus fruit i.e., lemon and it is abundantly found in other plant sources like cherries, spearmint, dill, garlic, celery, maize, rosemary, ginger, basil, etc. This phytochemical generally occurs in two optically active forms, l-limonene and 
WALLDORF, GERMANY/ NEW YORK, US: Accenture PLC (ACN) and SAP SE (SAP) have planned to expand their collaboration on SAP S/4HANA to develop a digital industry platform that will help chemical companies advance a new era of digital transformation. SAP S/4HANA is a real-time enterprise resource management suite for digital business. Co-developed by Accenture and SAP under their SAP S/4HANA collaboration, SAP S/4HANA chemicals is an innovative re-launch of SAP best practices for chemicals and SAP business. 
DAMASCUS, SYRIA: At least 70 people have been killed in a suspected chemical attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun in north-western Syria. And more than hundreds suffered symptoms reliable with reaction to a nerve agent after what the opposition and Western powers said was a Syrian government air strike on the area. The Syrian military denied using any chemical agents, while its ally Russia said an air strike hit a rebel depot full of chemical munitions. Activists and witnesses said warplanes. 
MUTTENZ, SWITZERLAND: Clariant has officially opened a new bleaching earth production site for its functional minerals business unit in Gresik, Indonesia. The new production site supplements Clariant’s existing manufacturing capacity and expands its footprint in the emerging Asia-Pacific region. Clariant’s business unit functional minerals supplies customers worldwide with speciality products based on bentonite. Following the continuing success of its Tonsil bleaching earth, it initiated a global capacity expansion plan. 
LONDON, UK: BASF is launching its first palm progress report. As one of the leading global processors, BASF is presenting its roadmap for sustainable palm, its collaboration along the value chain and the progress it is making in driving physical transformation in oleo derivatives. One of BASF’s key renewable raw materials is palm kernel oil and its primary derivatives which are mainly used for the production of ingredients for the cosmetics, detergents and cleaners’ industries, as well as in human nutrition. 
In today’s world, youngsters are more focused on grooming and improving their appearance. To enhance their personality, across the world youngsters are using more of skin brightening, skin whitening creams or lotions. Added to this, the changing lifestyles of consumers, increasing incomes and rising importance of beautification, has helped grow the global cosmetic skin care market. The skin care market is also seeing the use of natural active ingredients based cosmetics, as a way to connect better with the environment-conscious consumers. 
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