I ndustry News
Rohm and Haas opens Asia technical lab
Rohm and Haas Company has opened
a new Southeast Asia Technical
Laboratory in Singapore. The lab supports Rohm and Haas’ latest efforts to
bring new technology to the
Southeast Asia market.
“Rohm and Haas has been adapting
its technology to meet local needs for
decades,” said Bruce Hoechner, vice
president and general manager for
the paint and coatings materials business in the Asia-Pacific region. “In
recent years, we have been investing
more and more in our research and
technical capabilities in the region to
support our customers. This new lab
in Singapore ensures that we can continue the success of our customers,
and of Rohm and Haas, for years to
come.”
ARKEMA OPENS 2-ETHYL HEXYL
ACRYLATE PRODUCTION UNIT
Arkema will open a new 2-ethyl hexyl
acrylate production unit at its
Carling site in France to keep up
with the strong growth of the acrylic
esters market. Due to come on
stream in the fall of 2009, this 50,000
metric ton production unit will use a
new process developed by Arkema’s
R&D and process department. With
two world-scale production sites, in
Carling, Moselle, France and
Bayport, TX in the U.S., Arkema is a
supplier in the acrylics sector for
paint and coatings, water treatment,
paper and textile.
IMERYS ACQUIRES MICA BUSINESS
FROM ZEMEX MINERALS GROUP
Imerys has acquired Kings Mountain
Minerals Inc. and Suzorite Mining Inc.
from Zemex Minerals Group Inc. These
companies have two plant sites totaling 100 employees, one located in
Kings Mountain, NC that mines and
produces muscovite mica, the second,
located in Boucherville, Quebec, mines
and produces phlogopite mica. Terms of
the deal were not disclosed.
LANXESS TO USE RAW MATERIAL
FOR ENERGY GENERATION
Lanxess AG is building a cogenera-tion plant at its Brazilian site in
Porto Felize for the combined generation of steam and electricity. The new
plant, which will have a capacity of
4. 5 MW, will operate using bagasse,
the fibrous components of sugar cane
that are left over from sugar production. Through the use of this renewable, environmentally friendly raw
material, energy consumption
becomes carbon dioxide (C02) neutral.
When the the power plant becomes
operational, Lanxess will be able to
almost entirely eliminate its output of
CO2 at this site. Annual climate gas
emissions will be approximately
44,000 metric tons less than in 2002.
PRICING CHANGES
Cytec: Sept. 15—3-6% increase for Crylcoat
powder coatings resins, Additol additives and
Modaflow flow agents in North and South
America; $0.10-$0.60/lb. increase for Cymel,
Melmac, Beckamine and Uformite amino resins.
Dianal America: Oct. 13—up to 10% increase
for resin products.
Dow Chemical: Aug. 1—$0.05/lb. increase in
North America, $100/MT in Latin America and
Asia and €50/MT in Europe for vinyl acetate
monomer.
Evonik: Oct. 1—10% increase for Vestanat in
Asia.
Nuplex: Oct. 30—$0.10/lb. increase for all
acrylic resins in North America.
Oxea: Oct. 1—$90/MT increase in the Americas
and Asia and €60/MT increase in Europe for
mono-n-butylamine; $90/MT increase in the
IN BRIEF
Evonik Specialty Resins has been
renamed: the adhesion resins business will now be known as Tego
AddBond and synthetic resins will
now be known as Tego
VariPlus...The Dow Chemical
Company has declared force
majeure for its ethyleneamine highers sourced from the U.S. Gulf Coast
due to the impact of Hurricane
Ike....Evonik Industries has developed a new manufacturing process
for methyl methacrylate (MMA)
under the name Aveneer...Cray
Valley will implement an 80% global sales control on all Wingtack
products...DSM NeoResins plans to
invest € 10 million in its facility in
Parets, Spain to expand its waterborne polyurethane capacity by
more than 10 kilotons...Oxea has
signed an agreement to form a joint
venture with Chengxing Group to
build an amines plant in China. CW
Americas and Asia and €60/MT increase in
Europe for di-n-butylamine; $90/MT increase in
the Americas and Asia and €60/MT increase in
Europe for tri-n-butylamine; and $200/MT in the
Americas and Asia and €140/MT increase in
Europe for mono-isopropylamine.
Rohm and Haas: Oct. 1—up to 12% increase
for all its acrylic and styrene-acrylic emulsions
and additives in Australia and New Zealand.
Southern Clay: Oct. 1—5-15% increase for
Claytone and Tixogel organoclay additives.
Tronox: Oct. 1—$150/ton increase for all titani-
um dioxide grades in Latin America.
DISTRIBUTOR APPOINTMENTS
Eastman Chemical Co. has appointed
Univar Canada Ltd. as its exclusive distributor
for its domestic and imported LTL hydrocarbon
resin business.
