BASF strengthens position
in S. America
BASF will invest in a world-scale production site for acrylic acid, butyl acrylate
and superabsorbent polymers (SAP) in
Camaçari, Bahia, Brazil. It will be the first
acrylic acid and superabsorbents plant in
South America. With an investment volume of more than €500 million, it is the
largest investment in BASF’s century-long
history in South America.
In addition, BASF will start to produce
2-ethyl-hexyl acrylate, an important raw
material for the adhesives and special
coatings industries, in its existing chemical complex in Guaratinguetá, São Paulo.
This will be the first plant for this product in South America.
With the new acrylic acid complex,
BASF aims to ensure the supply for important products as: superabsorbents for
diapers, acrylic resins for coatings, textiles and adhesives and products for civil
construction.
The Camaçari location is being chosen
based on the availability of raw materials
(propylene) and utilities provided by
Braskem S.A., the major chemical company in Brazil and the strategic supplier
for BASF in this project.
The construction of the new acrylic
acid complex will start in 2011. Production is expected to begin in the fourth
quarter of 2014. The production for 2-
ethyl-hexyl acrylate in Guaratinguetá is
expected to start in 2015 on the basis of
acrylic acid produced in Camaçari.
Acrylic acid is an important precursor
in the value chain of super-absorbent
polymers, the active component of baby
diapers and other hygiene products.
Acrylic esters, the most important derivatives of acrylic acid, are used to produce
adhesive raw materials, construction
chemicals and architectural coatings such
as Suvinil, BASF’s decorative coatings
brand in South America and the leader in
the premium segment in Brazil.
Celanese Emulsions
opens technology center
in Florence, KY
The Emulsion Polymers business of
Celanese Corporation has moved its application technology group in the Americas to
a state-of-the-art facility in the greater
Cincinnati area. Celanese Emulsions will
join technology teams from Ticona, the engineering polymers business of Celanese,
and Celanese EVA Performance Polymers
at the site in Florence, Kentucky.
“Creating a joint polymer technology
facility enables us to leverage our knowledge and application expertise across all
three businesses to drive our innovation
programs and deliver technical solutions
to our customers,” said Phillip McDivitt,
general manager.
“Celanese Emulsion Polymers is investing in both facilities and people to
sharpen our focus on customers and the
industries they serve in the Americas. The
new location is central to both our customer base and our manufacturing facilities, enabling us to improve our technical
service and accelerate new product development,” said McDivitt.
The targeted completion for the transition from the Houston Technology Center (HTC) to the Ticona site in Florence is
October 2011.
Addmaster attends reception
at Buckingham Palace
Addmaster (UK) Ltd’s managing director
Paul Morris attended a recent function at
Buckingham Palace as a winner of a 2011
Queens Award for Enterprise.
At the reception, The Queen and The
Duke of Edinburgh greeted guests in the
State Rooms, which form the nucleus of
the working Palace and are used regularly
by The Queen and members of the Royal
Family for official and State entertaining.
The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise are
awarded to businesses for outstanding
achievement in International Trade, Innovation and Sustainable Development. Each
year Her Majesty The Queen makes the
Awards on the advice of the Prime Minister,
who is assisted by an Advisory Committee
that includes representatives of Government, industry and commerce, and the
trade unions. They are announced annually
on 21st April, The Queen’s Birthday.
“It was an amazing experience to meet
the Queen and Prince Phillip which really
reinforced how much Addmaster had
grown in only 11 years,” said Morris.
Also in attendance were the Duke of
Gloucester and the Duke of Kent
and other dignitaries such as
Vince Cable, the Government’s
Business Secretary as well as
leaders of UK business.
“In my rough estimation there was in
excess of £ 50 billion pounds of UK enter-
prise at the event which shows just how
important the Queens Awards’ recogni-
tion is to UK companies.”
Addmaster was a Queens Award re-
cipient after showing strong export
growth in its Biomaster antimicrobial
products, which are now seen as a market
leader in its field and sold throughout its
worldwide distributor network.
ACC proposes new system to
prioritize chemicals for review
The American Chemistry Council (ACC)
has proposed a comprehensive, scientifically
based prioritization system that could be
used by the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) to determine which chemicals
warrant additional review and assessment.
“As outlined in ACC’s principles for
modernizing the Toxic Substances Control
Act (TSCA), establishing a clear and scien-
tifically sound prioritization process is key
to creating a world-class chemical manage-
ment system,” said ACC President and CEO
Cal Dooley. “We believe the prioritization
tool we’re proposing today will help EPA
evaluate chemicals more efficiently and ef-
fectively and improve public confidence in
the agency’s regulation of chemicals.”
According to the ACC, the 35-year-old
TSCA law does not dictate a process to
utilize the information currently available
to prioritize chemicals for review. Without
a system in place, EPA may be wasting
time, energy and resources gathering and
analyzing data on chemicals that are al-
ready well understood or that are unlikely
to pose a significant risk to public health
or the environment.
ACC’s approach evaluates chemicals
against transparent, consistent and scientific criteria that take into account both
hazard and exposure. Chemicals are given
a score based on the criteria and then
ranked based on their scores and the
agency’s best professional scientific judgment. The rankings would then be used to
determine which chemicals should be re-
