These past ten years in the Tarragona petrochemical industry have been marked by progress in decarbonizing plants, with the goal of reaching zero emissions by 2050, as required by the European Union. However, the path to climate neutrality is still unclear, and while a few years ago green hydrogen was considered the great panacea, chemical companies are now urging the government to expedite regulations to enable the use of low-carbon hydrogen and the storage of CO₂ to ensure their competitiveness against countries with less stringent regulations. The electrification of Tarragona's chemical plants will mean doubling or tripling the energy consumption of the Tarragona petrochemical industry in the coming years, and the major challenge is improving the region's infrastructure, with more hectares of photovoltaic energy or more wind turbines. High-voltage power lines are also needed to carry Aragon's green energy.

A new way of thinking about chemical design that has made it possible to manufacture tailor-made materials with unprecedented functions has been recognized with this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The laureates are Susumu Kitagawa of Kyoto University in Japan; Richard Robson of the University of Melbourne in Britain; and Omar M. Yaghi of Jordan at the University of California.

The multinational fragrance company Eurofragance inaugurated this Wednesday the new facilities of its production center in Rubí (Vallès Occidental), which it has expanded with an investment of ten million euros, according to the company in a statement.

Some 150,000 people in five municipalities in the Garraf and Baix Penedès regions were confined for more than seven hours this Saturday due to a fire that devastated a swimming pool chemical company. The flames produced a large cloud of smoke containing hydrochloric acid particles, forcing restrictions on movement in Vilanova i la Geltrú, the Roquetas de San Pedro de Ribes area, Cubelles, Cunit, and Calafell from 5:30 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. While emergency services worked to extinguish the fire, residents were unable to leave their homes and had to close doors and windows to avoid the toxic cloud. Businesses were closed, and all scheduled activities were canceled. Once it was determined that there was no risk to the public, the government lifted the restriction. Air monitoring indicates that there are no more suspended chlorine residues in the area, and the Generalitat Fire Department expects to extinguish the fire in the next few hours.

One of the shady streets that meet Avinyó Street in Barcelona's Gothic Quarter is Carrer de n'Arai. It's not very long and only houses a souvenir shop, a couple of tapas bars, a franchise of a Greek restaurant and a pet supply store. But in 1946, the scene was different. It was in this part of the city that one of the most recognizable fragrances in the world of cosmetics was made, Nenuco cologne. Behind the master formula was Ramon Horta, an industrial engineer from the city, a member of the UGT and who during the Civil War was named director general of the War Industry of the Generalitat of the time. Until 1968, when he died, he made the elixir almost by hand. He didn't make a fortune, but the little bottles of Nenuco allowed him to live well.

The multinational BASF has not had to shut down any of its plants in Spain for the moment due to the high price of energy. However, it does not rule out having to do so "if things continue to worsen", as the director of the German chemical company in the Iberian Peninsula, Carles Navarro, admitted Tuesday. The company's top executive indicated that in the last year the cost of electricity at the Tarragona plant, the company's main plant in Spain, had multiplied by 5.5.