Industry News
Chemical Industry News
Plant status: China’s Zhenhua Petrochemical restarts PDH unit
SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Here is a plant status report: Name: Zhenhua Petrochemical Location: Dongying, Shandong, China Product: Propylene Capacity (tonne/year): 750,000 Event start: Around mid-August Event...
Asia TiO2 indicative prices stable despite price hike
SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Titanium dioxide (TiO2) spot indicative prices in Asia were stable so far on Friday. Buy indications remained around mid-$1,800s/tonne FOB (free on board) China, close to the...
Researchers turn coffee and plastic waste into climate solution
Researchers at the University of Sharjah have patented a groundbreaking technology designed to capture carbon dioxide (CO₂) from industrial processes before it is released into the atmosphere. The patent, filed in March 2025 and published
Smarter battery tech knows whether your EV will make it home
Current battery management systems might report a car is 40% charged but drivers have to guess whether they can go 100 kilometers over hills with the heater running. Engineers at the University of California, Riverside
TRUCKING: Trade group urges US congressional leaders to boost licensing standards
HOUSTON (ICIS)--The American Trucking Associations (ATA), a trade group for the industry, urged legislators to enhance training, testing and licensing standards for commercial driver’s license...
Chemical profile: Europe TiO2
Uses Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is used as a white powder pigment because of its brightness. It is used in paints and coatings, plastics, papers, inks, fibers, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, and...
Chemical profile: US Methanol
Uses Methanol is one of the top five chemicals shipped around the world and is used mainly to make three derivatives: formaldehyde, methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) and acetic acid. Methanol is...
NYMEX: US gas futures dip following storage report release
US natural gas futures slid on 9 October, despite the latest storage report showing a smaller surplus above the five-year average The November ’25 front-month contract settled at $3.269/MMBtu, down...
Lion Elastomers’ Orange facility to cease operations
HOUSTON (ICIS)--Synthetic rubber producer Lion Elastomers plans to cease operations at its Orange, Texas site by year's end, the company said. According to the letter released by Lion, the decision...
Plant status: AmSty US Hanging Rock PS facility enters planned turnaround
HOUSTON (ICIS)--Here is a plant status report: Name: Americas Styrenics (AmSty) Location: Hanging Rock, Ohio, US Product: Polystyrene (PS), high impact polystyrene (HIPS) (Estimate) Capacity...
Meet the three scientists who have just won the Nobel prize in chemistry
Learn about the lives of newly minted chemistry Nobel laureates Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar Yaghi
Plant status: China’s Wanhua Petrochemical restarts its No 4 PO plant
SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Here is a plant status report: Name: Wanhua Petrochemical Location: Yantai, Shandong province, China Product: Propylene oxide (PO) Capacity (tonnes/year): 600,000 Event start:...
Are temperatures or wind speeds more important to European gas and power prices this winter? – ICIS White Paper
Are temperatures or wind speeds more important to European energy prices this winter? ICIS analysts modelled eight weather scenarios for differing temperature and wind speeds to assess the potential...
Plant status: China’s Inner Mongolia Sanwei shuts BDO plants
SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Here is a plant status report: Name: Inner Mongolia Sanwei Location: Wuhai, Inner Mongolia, China Product: 1,4-butanediol (BDO) Capacity (tonnes/year): 300,000 (No 1 & No 2）...
China BPA average plant run rate rises further to 74.7% on operational ramp-up
SINGAPORE (ICIS)--China’s bisphenol A (BPA) plants posted an average run rate at 74.7% in the week ended 30 September 2025, up by 2.4 percentage points from the last reporting period, ICIS data...
Plant status: China’s Guotai Xinhua to shut BDO plants
SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Here is a plant status report: Name: Xinjiang Guotai Xinhua Mining Location: Xinjiang, China Product: 1,4-butanediol (BDO) Capacity (tonnes/year): 200,000 (No 1 & No 2) Event...
China petrochemical futures reopen lower on weak sentiment
SINGAPORE (ICIS)--China’s petrochemical futures are down across the board on 9 October as markets reopened after the country’s eight-day holiday break. At 11:30 China time (3:30 GMT), futures...
BASF completes the sale of its Brazilian decorative paints business to Sherwin-Williams
The sale of BASF’s Brazilian decorative paints business to Sherwin-Williams was completed on October 1, 2025, following the approval of the transaction by the relevant Brazilian competition authority at the end of August 2025. On
Data for a better vanadium flow
Vanadium is a critical raw material. The metal can be used to build so-called redox flow batteries, which store electricity more permanently than lithium-ion batteries. This makes them an important building block for the energy
BLOG: Why China Will Push to Complete Self-sufficiency in All Petchems
SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Click here to see the latest blog post on Asian Chemical Connections by John Richardson. One of the most compelling books I’ve read on China is Breakneck: China’s Quest to...