Join our email mailing list
|
Evonik reorganizes colorants business
Evonik Industries AG’s coatings and additives business unit is reorganizing its colorants business to position itself to compete in the international market. Under the new model, market responsibility will be exercised in the future at the local level, while central marketing, technology and operation functions will be globally aligned.
With this new matrix organization, we’re creating a workable model for the future to strengthen our position sustainably in the colorants market,” said Has-Peter Schaufler, head of the colorants business unit.
The new coatings and additives business unit comprises five different business lines, including adhesive resins and colorants, to which the colorants business belongs The business unit offers a wide range of raw materials for the coatings and adhesives industries, including environmentally friendly and VOC-free products.
Clariant Brazil awarded top supplier
For the fourth consecutive year, the pigments and additives division of Clariant has received several supplier awards in Brazil. At the 12th Annual Paint and Pintura Awards, Clariant was selected among the ten leading suppliers as best supplier of the year for organic pigments and best supplier of the year for pigment dispersions. Clariant also won the Master Company award, which is the result of an independent survey among 70 companies in Brazil.
Waterborne Symposium issues call for papers
The School of Polymers and High Performance Materials at the University of Southern Mississippi has issued a call for papers for presentation at the 36th annual meeting of The Waterborne Symposium, “Advances in Sustainable Coatings Technologies.” The School is soliciting papers related to new and emerging technologies and markets in the field of advanced coatings systems, including waterborne, high-solids, powder and radiation-curable coatings systems; stimuli-responsive and smart coating systems; renewable raw materials for coatings; and high-throughput methodologies for formulation. Title, abstract and author’s names should be submitted by e-mail (the template is posted on the web at www.psrc.usm.edu.com/waterborne) no later than August 14, to water borne@usm.edu.
Rohm and Haas begins operations at Mexico plant
Rohm and Haas began operations at its new high technology plant in Querétaro, Mexico. The plant is the first facility in Latin America to operate under its 21st Century Manufacturing principles guaranteeing best standard levels of efficiency and productivity.
Rohm and Haas’ main goal with this investment is to develop a high performance center of technology and services, by increasing its presence in Mexico, Andean countries, Central America and the Caribbean. Mexico represents one of the largest economies in Latin America and is a priority marketplace for Rohm and Haas. The company expects growth between 10-15% in the region.
Atlas to move lab to Chicago
Atlas Material Testing Technology is constructing a new weathering Center of Excellence at Atlas world headquarters in Chicago, IL. In addition, Atlas’ accelerated weathering laboratory in Miami will be relocated to Chicago. Construction on the new 4,000 square feet facility is expected to be completed by the end of the third quarter 2008.
Rockwood Holdings to acquire Holliday Pigments
Rockwood Holdings, Inc. has reached an agreement with Yule Catto and Co. plc to purchase Holliday Pigments, a global manufacturer of technical grade ultramarine and manganese violet pigments. The purchase price is approximately €46 million.
Holliday Pigments manufactures inorganic ultramarine pigments for a wide range of applications, including coatings, inks, plastics and cosmetics. When the transaction is completed, the business, including Holliday’s manufacturing and R&D headquarters in Comines, France, will become part of Rockwood Color Pigments. In 2007 Holliday Pigments posted EBITDA of €6.0 million and sales of €34.7 million.
“The addition of Holliday Pigments is an excellent fit for us,” said Seifi Ghasemi, Rockwood’s chairman and CEO. “It is a business with strong technical leadership and excellent growth prospects in diverse markets. This is an excellent bolt-on acquisition for Rockwood and an important addition to the Rockwood Color Pigments product line.”
The transaction is subject to regulatory clearances. It is expected to be completed during the third quarter.
SCG-Dow Group breaks ground on propylene oxide plant
The SCG-Dow Group, a joint venture between Dow and The Siam Cement Group (SCG), has broken ground on a propylene oxide (PO) facility in Thailand. The world-scale plant, located within the Asia Industrial Estates site near Map Ta Phut, will have capacity of 390 kilotons per year of propylene oxide via the hydrogen peroxide to propylene oxide (HPPO) technology jointly developed by Dow and BASF. The PO plant, which will also include propylene glycol manufacturing, is expected to come online in 2011.
Gelest doubles production capacity
Gelest Inc. recently completed the final phase of a multi-year project to double the capacity of its Morrisville, PA headquarters and product plant. The expansion was necessitated by the increased demand for specialty silane and metal organic molecules used in variety of applications.
The plant expansion more than doubles reactor capacity and adds new capability in ultra high viscosity polymerization and micro-particle size modification. Quality control and bulk storage have also been expanded to meet the new capacity. The expansion increases the size of the plant to 55,000 square feet, leaving space for additional expansion in the future.
SSCT issues call for papers
The Southern Society of Coatings Technology (SSCT) has issued a call for papers for their upcoming 2009 Annual Meeting and Technical Conference, March 15-18 at the King and Price Beach and Golf Resort in St. Simons Island, GA. The emphasis of the 2009 SSCT Technical Conference is to further promote green technology and the theme of the meeting is “On the Seas of Green Formulating.” With continuing emphasis on lower VOC coatings, expansion of water-based technology and emerging technologies to promote the green movement, this forum will provide chemical manufacturers an opportunity to introduce and present their new and emerging technologies. For further information contact Lloyd Beale, Kohl Marketing, (727) 430-2915; e-mail: lbeale@tampabay.rr.com.
In brief
Dow Chemical recently celebrated the start-up of a new phenolic ethers plant in Freeport, TX...Oxea has signed an agreement to form a joint venture with Shenyang Zhangming to produce carboxylic acids in China...Sartomer’s interactive corporate overview is available online at www.sartomer.com/corporateoverview/index.htm and can be downloaded as a PDF...Evonik Industries has expanded the silica capacity to 40,000 tons per year at its joint venture Egesil AS in Adapazari, near Izmit, Turkey...Dow has declared force majeure for several Versene chelant products...Sun Chemical’s consulting division has launched partnerships with Environ, Radius Solutions and SBTI...Michelman has acquired Raleigh, NC-based Hydrosize Technologies, Inc., a manufacturer of a variety of coatings including sizings, film formers, fixatives, binders as well as resins for the coatings and composite industries...PolyOne Corp., a manufacturer of polymers, has renamed the company’s vinyl business segment, Geon Performance Polymers.
Pricing changes
BASF:
Effective immediately—15-20% increase for triphenylphosphine and 2-mercaptoethanol; July 1—$0.12/dry lb. increase for all Butofan medium solids styrene-butadiene latex products and Styrofan and Styronal styrene-butadiene latex products sold in the U.S. and Canada.
Cytec:
effective immediately—up to 20% increase for its Aerosol surfactants products; 6% increase for its Cylink monomer range of cross-linking products; up tp 20% increase for PTZ Phenothiazine; 10% increase for its Superfloc resin amine products; July 15—$0.07/lb. increase on all Crylcoat powder coating resins in North America.
Dianal America:
July 14—7-12% increase on grades of acrylic and styrene/acrylic polymers.
Dow:
July 1—$220/MT increase for a variety of acrylic acid and esters; $0.05/lb. increase for liquids and $0.10/lb. increase for powders for all grades of Versene chelating agents.
Eliokem:
Aug. 4—up to 5% increase for its entire range of coatings resins.
Evonik:
Effective immediately—up to 25% increase for its Degalan coatings resins and PVC modifier products.
Huber:
July 1—8-12% increase for its specialty grade silica and silicates; 5-10% increase for its industrial calcium carbonate grades.
Oxea:
July 1—$0.05/lb. increase in North America, $110/MT increase in South and Central America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East for i/n butyl acetate, n-propyl acetate and n-propanol; €50/MT for i/n butyl acetate, EU150/MT increase n-propyl acetate and €75/MT increase for n-propanol in Europe.
Nuplex Resins:
July 7—5-11% increase for all solvent- and waterborne products in North America.
Sartomer:
July 1—6-12% increase for its acrylate and methacrylate monomers and oligomers in the Americas.
Tronox:
July 1—$0.06/lb. increase for all Tronox titanium dioxide grades sold in North America; Aug. 1—$200/per ton increase for all titanium dioxide grades in Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East; $150/ton increase for all titanium dioxide grades in the Asia-Pacific region.
Troy:
July 1—up to 20% increase on preservatives and additives. |
|
