Chemical Week back issues from October 2003:
Bayer-Sumitomo JV to close TDI plant.(Brief Article)
Oct 01, 2003 ... Sumika Bayer Urethane (SBU; Amagasaki, Japan), a 60-40 joint venture between Bayer Polymers and Sumitomo Chemical, says it will cease prediction of toluene diisocyanate (TDI) next March and close its 14.00-0m.t./year TDI unit at Niihama. Japan. Bayer says closing the plant, the smallest of ...
Eka to close plant in Oregon.(Brief Article)
Oct 01, 2003 ... Eka Chemicals, the pulp and paper chemicals unit of Akzo Nobel, says it will close its Albany, OR plant by March 31, 2004. Equipment at the site used to ...
IMC's COO resigns unexpectedly.(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003 ... IMC Global says its president and COO John J. Ferguson has resigned "to pursue other interests." IMC says it does not plan to fill the ...
Rockwood buys pigments firm.(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003 ... Rockwood Specialties' pigments division says it has acquired Smart Landscape Colors (Bromont, PQ) for an undisclosed amount. Rockwood says the deal part of an out-of-court settlement between the two ...
Chemir acquires pharma service firm.(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003 ... Pharmaceutical services firm Chemir (St. Louis) says it has acquired Guidelines Integrated Services (Miramar, FL), a provider of services for ...
Prosecutors call former Stolt lawyer to testify in price fixing case.(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003 ... The Department of Justice (DOJ) has called Paul O'Brien, the former general counsel of Stolt-Nielsen Transportation Group (SNTG), to appear before a grand jury in Philadelphia to help DOJ decide whether to lift the immunity it granted SNTG for cooperating with an investigation into alleged ...
TPI plans to resume debt interest payments.(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003 ... Government-appointed administrators of Thai Petrochemical Industry's (TPI) debt restructuring were hoping to resume interest payments to the company's creditors by the end of last month. Interest payments were suspended last April, when the Central Bankruptcy Court (Bangkok) dismissed ...
Vopak to sell gas shipping unit.(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003 ... Barge operator Reederei Jaegers (Duisburg, Germany) has agreed to acquire most of the assets of chemical gases and liquefied petroleum gas shipping company Chemgas (Rotterdam) from Vopak for about 45 million [euro] ($50 million). The deal is expected to close by year-end but will be ...
Clariant quits sodium hydrosulfite.(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003 ... Clariant says it will exit the sodium hydrosulfite business, closing its plant at Widnes, U.K. by year-end with the loss of 61 jobs. Silox (Engis, Belgium), an affiliate of Prayon-Rupel, has agreed to supply the plant's customers following the closure, and will ...
Celanese makes board appointments.(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003 ... Celanese has appointed chief' operating officer and board member David Weidman as vice chairman. The company says the move is "related to" the planned retirement of Celanese chairman Claudio Sender in October 2004, although it declined to confirm ...
Looking for a recovery.(viewpoint)
Oct 05, 2003; ... Has the hike in U.S. natural gas prices earlier this year permanently worsened the prospects for the U.S. petrochemical industry? Some diametrically opposing views were expressed on the sector's short- to medium-term outlook at CW's and Nexant Chem Systems' World Petrochemical Trade ...
Littlejohn & Co. to acquire GE Superabrasives.(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003 ... Littlejotm & Co. (New York) says it has reached a deal to acquire GE Superabrasives (Worthington, OH), a maker of synthetic diamonds, cubic boron nitride, and polycrystalline products, for an undisclosed amount. GE Superabrasives is the world's largest producer of synthetic diamonds with ...
Huntsman looks for new sources of natural gas.(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003 ... Huntsman is looking to establish direct purchasing relations with natural gas and gas liquids suppliers for its U.S. operations, says CEO Peter Huntsman. "We are Wing to align ourselves with a natural gas producer," Huntsman says. "If you look at the return a natural gas driller makes and ...
Sale of ABB's oil, gas, and petchems unit imminent?(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003 ... ABB is close to selling its oil, gas, and petrochemicals (OGP) unit, excluding OGP's ABB Lummus Global engineering and construction arm, according to media reports. Jurgen Dormann, ABB president and CEO, reportedly told a Swiss newspaper that ABB would sell OGP in a matter of days or ...
Explosion rocks Sigma-Aldrich facility in Ohio.(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003 ... Sigma-Aldrich says a tank containing nitric oxide exploded at its Miamisburg, OH facility on September 21, injuring one employee. Approximately 2,000 nearby residents were evacuated, but they were allowed to return home the following day. The company says certain parts of the facility were ...
MTBE liability relief expected to pass congress.(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003 ... Industry groups and lawmakers say they expect a provision to be included in the final energy bill that would provide liability relief for producers who face liability for groundwater contamination caused by methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) leaking from storage tanks. Lawmakers were still ...
DuPont to add flourochemical in China.(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003 ... DuPont says it will invest up to $100 million to build a fluorochemical and fluoropolymer complex at Changshu, China. The investment includes ...
Brazil to lift ban on GM crops.(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003 ... Brazil's vice president Jose Alencar said last week that he will issue a decree to till the ban on genatically modified (GM) crops in time for Brazil's October planting season. Brazil Is the world's number-two soybean producer, after the U.S., and ...
Equity firm buys storage operator.(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003 ... One Equity Partners (OEP), a subsidiary of Bank One (Chicago), has agreed to acquire 130-million [euro]/year ($143 million) chemical storage company LBC Group (Pads) from Fimalac (Paris). Terms were not disclosed. The deal is expected to ...
Chlorine leak kills two in Pakistan.(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003 ... Two residents died and a number of others were taken ill following a chlorine leak at the Kala Shah Kakoo, Pakistan site of Ittehad Chemicals (Lahore. Pakistan) on September 24, sources say. Ittehad operates chlor-alkali and chlorine derivatives ...
Germany agrees to emissions allocations.(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003 ... The German government, as well as leading energy companies and trade unions, say they have agreed in principle on the allocation of emissions allowances for a European Union (EU) emissions trading system that is due to start in 2005. Each ...
Advisory panel urges action to boost gas production.(top of the week)
Oct 05, 2003; ... The National Petroleum Council (NPC; Washington) urged Congress and the Bush Administration to act more aggressively to correct "conflicting policies that favor natural gas usage, but hinder its supply," in a report issued last week. NPC is a privately funded federal advisory committee of ...
Democrats threaten to block EPA appointment.(United States/Americas)
Oct 05, 2003; ... Democratic senators Hillary Clinton (NY), John Edwards (NC), and Joseph Lieberman (CT) said last week that they would block President Bush's nomination of Utah Governor Mike Leavitt (R.) as EPA administrator unless the White House responds to requests for information about the ...
Judge says suit can proceed against producers of GM seeds.(United States/Americas)(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003; ... A federal judge has ruled that an antitrust suit may proceed against four companies accused of fixing the price of certain genetically modified (GM) seeds, according to a Reuters report. Rodney Sippel, U.S. District Court judge in St. Louis dismissed a number of claims in the case, but ...
Abandoned dyes plant slated for cleanup.(United States/Americas)(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003; ... State and local officials are investigating the site of an abandoned pigments and dyes plant at Jersey City, NJ after firefighters found drums filled with unspecified chemicals, some of which were thought to be leaking, according to local press reports. The facility is owned by privately ...
Fuller, Omnova post weak quarterly results ...(United States/Americas)
Oct 05, 2003; ... H.B. Fuller and Omnova Solutions posted weak results for their most recent fiscal quarter, setting the stage for a poor third-quarter earnings season, analysts say. The companies cited rising raw material costs and the slower-than-expected pickup in the economy. Chemical firms including ...
... Rohm and Haas issues earnings warning.(United States/Americas)(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003; ... Rohm and Haas (R&H) is the latest company to warn that it will not meet analysts' third-quarter earnings targets. The company expects earnings to be 40 cts 44 cts/share ($88.9 million-$100 million) compared to analysts' consensus estimates of 45 cts/share, reported by First Call (Boston) ....
Air products names new chiefs for chemicals and gases.(United States/Americas)(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003; ... Air Products (AP) says Andrew Cummins and Robert Gadomski, the respective leaders of its chemicals and gases businesses, will retire this year. AP has appointed John McGlade to succeed Cummins as group v.p./chemicals. McGlade was most recently v.p./chemicals group business division. The ...
Study finds high levels of PBDEs in U.S. women.(United States/Americas)
Oct 05, 2003; ... A study by the Environmental Working Group (EWG: Washington) has found that U.S. women have up to 75 times higher levels of the flame retardants polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in their breast milk than the average levels present in European women. The European Union (EU) has ...
3M reorganizes R&D effort.(United States/Americas)(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003; ... 3M says it is moving 400 members of its corporate R&D staff at St. Paul, MN into the R&D organizations of its seven business units. The remaining 500 employees of its corporate technology center will focus on advanced materials research. 3M says it has a total of 6,500 employees in R&D and ...
Corrections.(United States/Americas)(Correction Notice)
Oct 05, 2003 ... In "PG Makers Announce an Increase" (CW, Sept. 17, p. 44), Equistar Chemicals was incorrectly identified as a producer of propylene glycol (PG). Equistar's parent, Lyondell Chemical makes PG. ...
Huntsman completes $375-million bond offering.(United States/Americas)(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003; ... Huntsman says it has completed a $375-million bond offering. The company says it will use $310 million of the proceeds to reduce bank debt and pay expenses, and will use the remainder to increase its liquidity. The seven-year bonds carry an interest rate of 11.875%. Credit Suisse First ...
Brussels waters down reach testing program.(Europe/Mideast)
Oct 05, 2003; ... The European Commission has bowed to government and industry pressure, and made a series of amendments to water down its proposed European Union chemical policy. A leaked copy of the latest draft reveals that proposals to test polymers tinder the policy's Reach program have been all but ...
BASF buys DSM's animal feed enzymes.(Europe/Mideast)(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003; ... BASF has confirmed CW's exclusive report that it will buy DSM's share of the companies' phytase animal feed enzymes partnership (CW, Aug. 20, p. 4). DSM is required to exit the operation to secure antitrust approval for the company's purchase of Roche's vitamins and fine chemicals business ...
Blast hits Lenzing lyocell plant.(Europe/Mideast)(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003 ... An explosion and fire struck Lenzing's lyocell fiber plant at Heiligenkreuz, Austria on September 23. The blast injured four workers and resulted in 5 million [euro]-7 million [euro] ($5.5 million-$7.7 million) of damage, Lenzing says. It occurred while the lyocell plant was being ...
Messer opens filling station in Spain.(Europe/Mideast)(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003 ... Messer Griesheim rays it has opened a cylinder gases filling station at Tarragona, Spain ....
Bayer in talks to join BASF-Huntsman isocyanates jv.(Asia/Pacific)
Oct 05, 2003; ... Bayer Polymers is negotiating to take a stake in a previously announced $1.1-billion methylene di-para-phenylene isocyanate (MDI) joint venture involving BASF, Huntsman Polyurethanes, and four Chinese companies at Caojing, near Shanghai, CW has learned. Bayer would delay a separate project ...
Shanghai Huayi plans major expansion.(Asia/Pacific)
Oct 05, 2003; ... Shanghai Huayi (Group) Co. plans to increase its sales from about Rmb20 billion/year ($2.4 billion), to Rmb66 billion/year, by 2010, through investments in Shanghai, elsewhere in China, and possibly overseas, says chairman Zhang Peizhang. Speaking at CW's recent China conference in ...
China plans methyl bromide phaseout.(Asia/Pacific)(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003 ... The Chinese government says it has drafted an action program for phasing out production and consumption of methyl bromide. China has agreed to cut consumption and production of methyl bromide 20% by 2005, compared with average levels ...
Jilin A-shares resume trading.(Asia/Pacific)(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003 ... Jilin Chemical Industrial's (Jilin, China) class-A shares resumed trading on the Shenzhen, China stock exchange on September 25, following a five-month suspension. The stock exchange ...
BP acetic acid plan would rival Celanese project.(Asia/Pacific)
Oct 05, 2003; ... BP says it is considering building an acetic acid plant at Nanjing, China. BP's proposal would have to compete with an acetic project at Nanjing that was announced earlier this year by Celanese, sources say. Steve Welch, v.p./Asia petrochemicals at BE included the Nanjing acetic plant in a ...
Singapore firm studies PVC project in China.(Asia/Pacific)(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003; ... Singpu Chemicals (Singapore) says it is studying plans to build a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant at Taixing, China. The project would be completed in 2005-06 and be funded partly by proceeds from a recent initial public offering of shares on the Singapore stock exchange, Singpu says (CW, ...
DuPont licenses BDO technology to China.(new construction projects)(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003 ... DuPont says it has signed an agreement to provide its acetylene-based butanediol (BDO) technology to Sichuan Tianhua Co. (Luzhou, China) for a plant at Luzhou with capacity for 25,000 m.t.-30,000 m.t./year. It is the first time DuPont has licensed the BDO technology to a third party ....
Technip confirms PVC award in China.(new construction projects)(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003 ... Technip says it has received a contract worth $50 million from Cangzhou Cang Hua Chemical Industry (CCI; Cangzhou, China) to build a previously announced vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) complex at Cangzhou (CW, April 24, ...
Indorama plans PTA plant in Thailand.(new construction projects)(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003 ... Indorama Synthetics (Jakarta), Indonesia's largest producer of polyester, says it plans to build a 600,000 m.t./year purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant at Map Ta Phut, Thailand. Construction is ...
Linde to build hydrogen plant in Hungary.(new construction projects)(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003 ... Linde says it will invest about 30 million [euro] to build a hydrogen and carbon monoxide (CO) plant at Kazincbarcika, Hungary, to supply BorsodChem's chemical complex. The project follows signing of a 15-year contract under which ...
Air Liquide builds air separation plant in Italy.(new construction projects)
Oct 05, 2003 ... Air Liquide says it will build an air separation plant at ENI's Sannazzaro, Italy refinery. The unit will have capacity for 1,550 m.t./day of oxygen, and is due to be completed in 2005. Air Liquide recently signed a 15-year ...
Major rayon unit planned at Nanjing.(new construction projects)(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003 ... A group comprising Nanjing Textile Industry Group (Nanjing, China), Nanjing Chemical Fiber Corp. (Nanjing), and several undisclosed foreign investors have joined forces to build a ...
Sumatec awarded fertilizer expansion in Malaysia.(new construction projects)(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003 ... Sumatec Resources (Kuala Lumpur) says it has won a contract from Asean Bintulu Fertilizer (Bintulu, Malaysia), part of the Petronas group, to expand a urea plant at Bintulu by 25%, to 2,250 ...
Samsung-Atofina confirms Daesan expansion plan.(new construction projects)(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003 ... Samsung-Atofina has confirmed previously reported plans to expand its petrochemical complex at Daesan, Korea (CW, April 16, p. 18). The company says it plans to expand the complex's 640,000-m.t./year styrene plant ...
NPC to build Petchem complex alone after Shell and Basell pull out.(new construction projects)(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003; ... National Petrochemical Co. (NPC; Tehran) says it will go it alone with a petrochemicals complex at Bandar Imam, Iran, after Shell and Basell confirmed last week that they had dropped out of the project (CW, June 4, p. 12). "Following completion of a feasibility study NPC, Shell, ...
Lubrizol: fueling growth with acquisitions.
Oct 05, 2003; ... Lubrizol's (Wickliffe, OH) core products--lubricant additives for the transportation market--have fueled much of its growth for the past 75 years, but a slowdown in that business has prompted the company to find a new direction for profitability, Lubrizol has been expanding in the last ...
'Chaotic Mixing' improves properties of blends.(Polymers)
Oct 05, 2003; ... Researchers at Clemson University (Clemson, SC) say they have developed a "chaotic mixing" process that can improve the performance of plastic blends, and produce materials with a desired set of properties from cheaper plastics. The work is based on the theory of chaotic advection, the ...
Teijin develops self-coloring fiber.(Research)(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003; ... Tijin says it has developed an iridescent color-changing fiber based on a nanoscale nylon-polyester laminate, which it is promoting for use in textile applications, and for use as a light-reflecting pigment in cut-fiber and powder form. Teijin says the fiber, clubbed Morphotex, mimics the ...
Cargill-Materia bioprocessing deal.(innovation)(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003 ... Cargill says it has formed an agreement with Materia (Pasadena, CA) under which the companies will develop products from renewable resources using Materia's olefin metathesis process. Cargill will fund research and will ...
BASF separates using Basil.(innovation)(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003 ... BASF says it has developed an system to remove acid from a reaction mixture by a liquid-phase separation using an undisclosed ionic liquid. The system, biphasic acid scavenging using ionic liquids (Basil, generates no solid waste ...
Sasol starts [C.sub.5] isomerization unit.(innovation)(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003 ... Sasol has started up a plant at Secunda, South Africa that is toe first to use a Iso-5, a catalytic [C.sub.5] isomerization process developed by ...
Dow Corning gets a good return.(information technology)(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003 ... Dow Corning has achieved a 163% return on investment (ROI) on its SAP human resources (HR software, according to a study by Gartner Consulting (Stamford, CT) commissioned by SAP. Dow Corning will save approximately $53.7 million in total by 2008, 10 years after its implementation of mySAP ...
SpecialChem launches coatings site.(information technology)(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003 ... SpecialChem, an online technical information and t services hub for polymer additives, master-batches, and adhesives raw materials, has launched a platform for paints, coatings, and inks manufacturers. SpecialChem has contracts ...
CIDX post cybersecurity guidelines.(information technology)(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003 ... The Chemical Industry Data Exchange (CIDX; Arlington, VA) says it has published guidelines to evaluate nine methodologies for measuring cybersecurity vulnerability. Blair Moore, systems manager at ...
EPA approves Pavilion software.(information technology)(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003 ... Pavilion Technologies (Austin) says its predictive emissions mentoring software has been approved by EPA to help users comply with air ...
i2 withdraws Nasdaq appeal.(information technology)(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003 ... Enterprise software vendor i2 Technologies (Dallas) says it has withdrawn its appeal of Nasdaq's decision to delist its common stock. Nasdaq ...
Eastman unit launches EH&S outsourcing business.(Strategies)(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003; ... Ariel Research (McLean, VA), an Eastman Chemical subsidiary that provides research data for environment, health, and safety (EH&S) management, says it has launched an EH&S outsourcing business. Ariel says its services now include producing and distributing hazard communication documents, ...
Oracle's sales climb, but new licenses drop.(Software)(Brief Article)
Oct 05, 2003; ... ERP vendor Oracle (Redwood City, CA) reported a 28% jump in operating income, to $440 million, for its first fiscal quarter, ended August 31, in line with analysts' estimates. Sales rose 2%, to $2.1 billion. New software license sales dropped 7%, to $525 million, but that was offset by a ...
Wacker and Julich collaborate in chiral chemicals.(Strategies)
Oct 05, 2003; ... Wacker Specialties and Julich Fine Chemicals (Julich, Germany) say they have agreed to collaborate in the development of chiral chemicals using biotechnology. The deal is centered around the conversion of biocatalytic ketones to chiral alcohols, which are key building blocks for the ...