scale-up bridges the gap between
laboratory and full-scale production of products within the
development cycle, enhancing
the company’s ability to deliver developmental polymers in customizable quantities in record time. It will reduce reliance
upon Kraton’s commercial manufacturing plants for test runs, resulting in fewer
type changes and improved utilization of
its manufacturing facilities.
Clariant and Ashland
Complete Sale of ASK
Chemicals JV to Rhône
Clariant and Ashland Inc. have completed the sale of their joint venture ASK
Chemicals, headquartered in Hilden,
Germany, to investment funds affiliated
with Rhône, a London and New York-based private equity investment firm. The
enterprise value of the transaction before
debt and assumed liabilities amounts to
CHF 310 million (€257 million). After
adjustments for debt and assumed liabilities, total pre-tax proceeds to the sellers
will be approximately CHF 180 million
(€149 million), which includes CHF
155 million (€128 million) in cash and a
CHF 25 million (€ 21 million) buyer note.
Proceeds will be split evenly between
Ashland and Clariant under terms of the
50/50 joint venture.
Eastman Chemical Issues
2014 Sustainability Report
Eastman Chemical Company has released
its 2014 sustainability report, “Moving
forward together.” The comprehensive,
GRI-compliant report provides a review
of the company’s sustainability strategy,
progress, advancements and goals.
“Sustainability is at the heart of
Eastman’s growth platform.” said
Godefroy Motte, senior vice president and chief sustainability officer for
Eastman. “We strive to be good stewards
of our company, our communities and
the world. This report reflects the efforts
of the men and women of Eastman embedding Sustainability in their actions to
create value - now and for future genera-tions. We have made progress on our
sustainability journey, but we know our
work is never complete.”
Hybrid Plastics Expands
Capacity
Hybrid Plastics will expand its manufacturing capacity and workforce to meet
increased demand of its line of POSS molecules. The expansion will increase the
company’s capability of producing liquid
POSS by five times its current volume.
POSS is a chemical that bridges the gap
between ceramic and organic materials
to form a single molecular composition. It
helps improve product performance of standard chemical additives. POSS comes in a
variety of forms: powders, polymer pellets
and now liquid. While the liquid form represents the top-selling form of POSS, Hybrid
Plastics’ current facility was designed to only
manufacture POSS in solid forms.
“When we built our first facility in
2009, we did not have liquid POSS avail-
able,” said Joe Lichtenhan, president of
Hybrid Plastics. “We have since intro-
duced this new product line of POSS, and
it has been well-received by several indus-
tries like personal care, coatings, paints
and oil and gas.”
Lichtenhan said the increased production
of liquid POSS will carry benefits for both
oil and gas production and national defense.
Hybrid Plastics’ expansion represents
a multi-million dollar capital investment and will increase employment at
the Hattiesburg, Mississippi-based plant
from 20 employees to 30. The project is
expected to be completed by late 2014.
Alpek and BASF Sign
Agreements Regarding EPS
& PU Business
Alpek, S.A.B. de C.V. and BASF have
signed agreements concerning the EPS (
expandable polystyrene) and PU (
polyurethane) business activities of their Polioles
joint venture in Mexico, and BASF’s EPS
business in North and South America, excluding BASF’s Neopor (grey EPS) business.
Alpek will acquire all of Polioles’ EPS
business activities, including its EPS pro-
duction site in Altamira, Mexico. BASF
will acquire Polioles’ PU business activi-
ties, including selected assets in its Lerma
facility as well as all marketing and sell-
ing rights for PU systems, isocyanates and
polyols. Under the agreements, Alpek
will also acquire BASF’s EPS business
activities in North and South America,
including BASF’s EPS sales and distri-
bution channels in North and South
America, BASF’s EPS production facili-
ties in Guaratinguetá, Brazil, and General
Lagos, Argentina and BASF’s EPS foam
parts business in Chile (Aislapol, S.A.).
The combined capacity of all EPS
production facilities that Alpek will acquire is approximately 230,000 metric
tons per year.
Ferro to Supply Functional
Coatings and Color
Solutions in Turkey
Ferro Corporation has acquired certain
commercial assets of a reseller of Ferro
porcelain enamel products in Turkey in order to enhance direct marketing and sales
opportunities. Ferro porcelain enamel sales
to this entity in 2013 were approximately
$6 million. Based on this level of business,
Ferro estimates that the acquisition will
generate approximately $1.5 million of
incremental sales and gross profit. Terms
of the transaction were not disclosed. The
investment in Turkey is a first step toward
expanding sales in this fast-growing market, the company stated.
Evonik Builds Dispersant
Plant in Essen
Evonik Industries is building a new
production plant for polymer dispersants at the Goldschmidtstrasse site in
Essen, Germany. The specialty chemicals
company is investing an amount in the
doubledigit- million-euro range and is tripling its global capacity for polymer dispersants. Plans call for startup in the first
quarter of 2015.
Polymer dispersants are mainly used
in water-based systems in paints and
printing inks and in high-solid systems
with a low proportion of solvent.
“The product group of polymer dispersants is developing in an extremely attractive way,” said Ulrich Küsthardt, head
of the Coatings and Additives Business
Unit of Evonik. “With our expanded
capacity, we want to serve this growing
market. For our customers, we are a competent innovation partner; offering outstanding solutions for functional coatings
and paints.” CW
