Industry News
AkzoNobel starts-up Ningbo plant
AkzoNobel has started production at its
€275 million chelates facility located in
Ningbo, China. The start-up of the
Ningbo facility means that AkzoNobel is
now the only major producer of chelates
with plants in Europe, North America
and Asia. New ethylene amines and ethylene oxide factories are also due to begin
production at the site in 2010, followed
by an organic peroxides facility. The new
plant, which will help to optimize the
company’s global supply chain, will produce most of the basic chelates in
AkzoNobel’s Dissolvine product range.
and Bluestar New Chemical Materials,
have signed an agreement to expand the
fumed silica capacity at the companies’
joint venture plant in Jiangxi Province,
China. The Jiangxi site will have the
near-term potential to produce up to
20,000 metric tons of fumed silica and
will manufacture a wide range of prod-
ucts for multiple applications. The
expansion will in its first stage increase
the Jiangxi fumed silica capacity from
5,000 metric tons per year to more than
15,000 metric tons by the end of 2011.
Commissioning will be staged, with
incremental capacities coming on stream
during 2010. The project will produce
fumed silica using Cabot’s world-class
manufacturing technology and utilizing
the methyltrichlorosilane byproduct
from Bluestar’s silicones monomer pro-
duction. Bluestar’s Xinhuo plant will
then recycle the hydrogen chloride
byproduct from the production of fumed
silica as the raw material in the manu-
facturing of methyl chloride for their sil-
icones monomer production.
TRUST CHEM OPENS ORGANIC
PIGMENTS WAREHOUSE
Hangzhou, China-based Trust Chem
Group opened its European warehouse
in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. From
this 4,000 square meter hub, an extensive range of organic pigments will be
supplied to the European market. The
Rotterdam warehouse will be operated by
Forvision|Fritom, a full service logistic
provider. Like Trust Chem, the Fritom
group is a family-owned company, with customer service being the driving force of both
companies. Many customers, including
dispersion houses, asked Trust Chem to
invest in a European supply, and this
new facility enables their pigment needs
to be met. From the new European warehouse, distribution quantities of organic
pigments will be supplied especially, to
the coatings and masterbatch industry
as well as to the distributor network.
Transportation will be carried out by
Fritom trucks. Fritom operates an established European distribution network,
owning a fleet of more than 1,000 trucks
and 96,000 square meter warehouses.
LANXESS STREAMLINES
GLOBAL PRODUCTION NETWORK
Lanxess AG has taken further steps
to streamline its global production
network and reduce operating costs
in the face of the economic crisis and
competitive business environment.
CABOT EXPANDS FUMED
SILICA FACILITY IN CHINA
Cabot Corporation and China National
Bluestar Co. Ltd. have announced that
Cabot (China) Ltd., a subsidiary of Cabot
DSM AND NOVOMER TO DEVELOP CO2-BASED RESIN FOR COATINGS
Netherlands-based Royal DSM N.V., and Novomer Inc., Waltham, MA/USA,
have signed an agreement to jointly develop a coating resin using carbon dioxide (CO2) as a raw material. This development agreement follows a cooperation
agreement and an investment by DSM Venturing in Novomer in 2007. The
joint development project will utilize the broad variety of DSM's technologies
and market access, in combination with the CO2 polymerization technology of
Novomer. The chemistry and process technology for producing polymers from
CO2 and propylene oxide (PO) will be developed by Novomer, while DSM will
convert the polymers into resins and formulate them for target applications
such as coatings, adhesives and graphic arts.
According to DSM, initial results are encouraging and suggest that this project might lead to completely new and improved application properties in coatings. Given the fact that up to 50% by weight of CO2 is used as raw material,
the production of these resins will result in an improved carbon footprint. The
process is also expected to be highly efficient, enabling the replacement of conventional resins in a number of coating applications.
Polycarbonate resins are widely known because of their performance and
resistances and theoretically could find use in many types of coatings.
Commercial use of conventional types has however always been limited due
to their cost position and some weaknesses that are inherent in these products. The new CO2-based aliphatic polycarbonates to be developed by DSM
and Novomer could potentially resolve these weaknesses.
“DSM and Novomer are looking to develop the first polymer in more than a
decade to enter the mainstream of the coating industry,” said Rob van Leen,
chief innovation officer, DSM. “This development can lead to a breakthrough
that could change the coating industry. Besides cost issues, these innovative
coating resins also address environmental and performance issues.”
