“Global demand patterns for organic
peroxides are trending away from mature markets in Europe and becoming
increasingly concentrated in Asia and
North America,” said Werner Fuhrmann,
AkzoNobel executive committee member
responsible for the Specialty Chemicals
business.
At the publication of its half-yearly results on July 18, AkzoNobel announced
a step-up in restructuring activities to
increase savings in 2014 and beyond,
over and above the existing €500 million Performance Improvement Program
which will be completed by the end of
2013, a year early.
“The organic peroxides market
also faces over-capacity,” continued
Fuhrmann. “Consolidating production
and following demand will lead to lower
costs to serve our customers, improving
our competitiveness and performance.”
AkzoNobel does not expect the plans
to have any impact on existing custom-
ers. To ensure a smooth transition of the
product lines to the other facilities and
other transitional activities, including fa-
cilitating the personnel concerned in find-
ing new employment, the planned process
of phasing out production at the site will
be carried out over a three-year period.
AkzoNobel is consulting with the employee works councils and labor unions.
GranBio and Rhodia Partner
to Build Biomass-based
n-Butanol Plant in Brazil
GranBio, a Brazilian biotechnology company, and Rhodia, a Solvay Group company, have signed an agreement to create a
partnership to produce bio n-butanol. Bio
n-butanol is made from sugar cane straw
and bagasse, the same raw material that
is used to manufacture second-generation
ethanol and which is abundant in Brazil.
Under the partnership, the companies
plan to build the world’s first biomass-based n-butanol plant in Brazil, which
will enter into operation in 2015. Both
companies will benefit from agreements
that each of them has already made with
companies that own the technology.
The project is a key step for GranBio
and Rhodia in the manufacturing of
chemicals made from renewable sources.
An essential chemical in the production
of acrylates and methacrylates, n-butanol
is widely used in the paint and solvent
industries.
McCullough and Associates
Receives Bayer 2012 Straco
Award
McCullough & Associates was awarded
Bayer CAS Distributor StraCo Award
for 2012. The award, which stands for
“Strategic Conference,” defines the strategic product line areas targeted by the
Bayer CAS group to drive the future
growth and success of the division. The
criteria for this award includes overall
sales growth, growth of specific StraCo
product line areas and adding new customers to the Bayer portfolio. This is
McCullough’s fourth StraCo Award since
2007.
EVOQUE Technology from
Dow Coating Materials
Wins R&D 100 Award
Dow Coating Materials announced
that “R&D Magazine” recognized its
EVOQUE Technology as a R&D 100
Award Winner for 2013. A panel of independent judges and the editors of “R&D
Magazine” annually award excellence in
innovation by selecting the top 100 products that represent leading technologies
introduced in the previous year.
IMCD Acquires Paceco
Industrial Supplies in
Singapore
IMCD Group B.V. has acquired
Singapore-based Paceco Industrial
Supplies Pte. Ltd., a distributor of
engineering and speciality plastics.
Established in 1985, the company is active in Singapore, China and Malaysia
and currently employs 28 staff who will
all transfer to IMCD. George Chong, one
of the company’s two founders, will remain the managing director.
DuPont Expands Integrated
Science Capabilities at India
Knowledge Center
Expanding its integrated science capa-
bilities at the DuPont Knowledge Center
in Hyderabad, India, DuPont opened
an Application Development
Center focused on integrating
advanced material science with
other scientific disciplines for the
automotive industry, enabling solutions
for light-weighting, engine performance,
comfort and safety. These capabilities
also are relevant to other industries such
as railways, electrical/electronic compo-
nents, food processing, agriculture, irriga-
tion, textile and more. At the Application
Development Center, DuPont’s integrated
science brings value-added solutions to
customers in these industries enabling
better, safer and sustainable products for
consumers.
The new Application Development
Center at the DuPont Knowledge Center
(DKC) houses thermoplastic and elastomer
processing and testing equipment and leverages existing analytic equipment shared
with several DuPont science disciplines. It
complements the manufacturing facilities
in Savli, Gujarat, and the DuPont India
Innovation Center in Pune. It expands their
capabilities to support predictive engineering, including computer-aided engineering
(CAE), 3D surface computer-aided design
(CAD), mold-flow, warpage, structural, impact and NVH (noise, vibration, harshness)
analysis. By connecting with DuPont scientists and engineers at key automotive-based
laboratory sites in the U.S. and Europe, this
new center can build on the current predictive engineering power of CAE capabilities
with speed-to-market excellence to advance
the growing market in India.position as
China’s leading gelcoats supplier.”
Sun Chemical Performance
Pigments Opens Plant in
Brazil
Sun Chemical Performance Pigments has
opened a pigment dispersions manufacturing facility and on-site technical service lab in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Outfitted with customized manufacturing equipment, the Rio de Janeiro
plant was developed to create aqueous
pigment dispersions that meet the specific
needs of the region.
With the opening of the facility, Sun Chemical also introduced its new
Aquadisperse family of waterborne pigment
dispersions for the deco coatings market.
