A contract for a waste acid treatment system for a new toluene di-isocyanate plant to be built in northwest China was awarded to De Dietrich Process Systems. The order, which is reportedly the thermal equipment maker’s largest in the company history, comes on the heels of a successful exhibition at Achema.

Under the deal, De Dietrich will deliver a waste acid treatment system for the toluene di-isocyanate plant. (TDI is used in the manufacture of polyurethane.) The Chinese government, which has significantly tightened the country's environmental standards, was reportedly impressed by De Dietrich's efficient effluent treatment and purification processes.

The project, which is scheduled for completion in 2017, will be the largest ever undertaken by De Dietrich and will further strengthen China as the group’s largest source of sales.

De Dietrich also has been selected to deliver a complete pilot unit for reportedly the first company in Bangladesh to ever begin manufacturing active pharmaceutical ingredients (API). The project comprises six reactor units, a solvent-treatment system, a heating and cooling unit, and automated systems.

In related pharmaceutical news, De Dietrich will build a complete antihistamine production plant in Spain. This turnkey project will include the production building itself, all the necessary reaction and separation equipment, and all the associated equipment. Production of the first batches will begin in one year's time.

Back in its home country of France, De Dietrich has just signed a green-chemistry partnership agreement to equip a research platform for the production of chemical molecules from renewable oilseed crops.