Christopher L. Jahn has been selected to become the next president and CEO of the American Chemistry Council (ACC), effective late October 2019. Jahn currently serves as president and CEO of The Fertilizer Institute (TFI) and will succeed Cal Dooley, who has led ACC since 2008. Dooley announced his retirement in April 2018.

Perstorp announced that it has obtained FCN 001967 (Food Contact Notification) from the FDA for the use of Pevalen as a plasticiser in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) polymers for use in repeated‐use food contact articles.

The K 2019 trade fair for plastics and rubber will take place from 16 – 23 October 2019 in Düsseldorf, Germany, where the VDMA Plastics and Rubber Machinery Association will be focusing on the recycling sector. A series of interviews will shed light on why it is doing this and the significance of the "Circular Economy" for member companies of the association. In the first contribution, Ulrich Reifenhäuser, Chairman of the Board of Management of the trade association, gives his views on the subject. The amount of plastic waste is growing steadily worldwide. In order to use resources sustainably, waste has to be given a value, it ought to be recycled and not disposed of, as is still the case in many countries around the world. Ulrich Reifenhäuser is convinced that there is a need for a comprehensive change of awareness in society. The end consumers need to be educated and informed. At the same time, an appropriate political framework has to be provided. Mechanical engineering supports resource-efficient production and recycling technologies, but brand owners also play a key role in promoting the acceptance of products made from recycled materials.

BASF has announced the following changes in its management team: Raimar Jahn, President, Performance Materials, BASF Belgium Coordination Center Comm. V., Waterloo, will retire effective 31 August 2019.

KraussMaffei Berstorff announced that it will build a new plant for extrusion technology in Hanover-Laatzen, Germany. At the beginning of June 2019, the company signed a rental contract with committee reservation with the company VGP, a project developer for commercial real estate, thus firing the starting shot for the approximately 55,000 m2 production hall and office complex. Work for the plant on the 80,000 m2 area in the Laatzen / Rethen Ost business park should be completed by the end of 2022. The new location will have a state-of-the-art TechCenter, production and office facilities, and provide space for up to 750 employees.

On the day prior to the Chinaplas 2019 opening, a newly released Salary Survey found that German and Austrian machinery manufacturers in the plastics and rubber industry saw the staff size of their Chinese entities grow steadily over the last six years. Similarly to 2017, the majority of respondents have a staff size of above 100 employees, up from 10 – 50 employees in 2013 and 2015.

LyondellBasell announced that it has ended discussions with Odebrecht S.A. concerning the potential acquisition of Braskem. Odebrecht S.A. is the controlling shareholder of São Paulo-based Braskem.

Duqm Refinery and Petrochemicals Industries Co. (DRPIC) has awarded a front-end engineering design (FEED) contract to Wood for a planned petrochemicals facility in the Special Economic Zone Authority at Duqm (SEZAD) in Oman. The project, the second phase of DRPIC's integrated refinery and petrochemical complex, will include a mixed feed steam cracker with a production capacity of 1.6 million t/y of ethylene; production units for hydrogen, syngas, methanol, and other petrochemicals, and associated facilities. Wood's scope of work, to be delivered by its capital projects teams based in Oman and the UK, will begin immediately. Completion is planned for the third quarter of 2020.

Wacker said it has inaugurated a new silicone elastomers production line at its Zhangjiagang site in China, "significantly" expanding its global production capacity for high consistency silicone rubber (HCR). The expansion, which involved a "lower double digit million investment," will support the company's future growth path in China and improve the availability of HCR in the Asia-Pacific region, Wacker noted.

Thermoset customers in France, Italy, the UK and Ireland will have improved access to products from Nouryon through an expanded partnership with distributor Gazechim Group.