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Cytec Industries has begun a formal sale process for its coating resins business, the US-based specialty materials company said on Monday. Cytec does not intend to give further updates on the sale process until a transaction is announced, which is estimated to occur later in 2012.
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Georgia Gulf has agreed to collaborate with Segetis to offer a new flexible vinyl compound based on Javelin technology bio-plasticizers from Segetis. This is the second collaboration to develop bio-based flexible polyvinyl chloride (PVC) compounds announced in 2012 by Georgia Gulf, the company noted.
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Albemarle said Thursday that it plans to exit its existing phosphorous flame retardants business, citing a need to restructure its business portfolio and address underperforming assets. Production at both facilities will cease upon completion of customer contracts, according to the company.
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Nalco announced the construction of a new dry polymer production facility at the company’s complex in Garyville, La. Construction of the facility is expected to be completed in December 2012. The plant is expected add 22 full-time positions to the company’s current Garyville workforce of 235 employees.
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PFB Corp. has agreed to acquire performance styrenics business of Canada’s NOVA Chemicals, including the expandable polystyrene (EPS) and ARCEL resin products. PFB says the acquisition will underpin a vertically-integrated, construction-materials focused product offering in the US.
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Eastman Chemical has completed the retrofit and startup of its non-phthalate plasticizer manufacturing facility in Texas City, Texas. Eastman, which purchased the former Sterling Chemicals plant in mid-2011, said further capacity additions were possible with minimal investment.
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BASF on Thursday struck a deal to buy the polyamide (PA) polymer business of Mazzaferro Group in Brazil. The deal includes the site and production facilities for the PA 6 product range, as well as engineering plastics compounds at São Bernardo do Campo in the metropolitan area of São Paulo.
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Most of the Middle Eastern countries are looking to expand further into downstream petrochemicals as opposed to exporting the building blocks.
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The boom in oil and gas is creating both demand side (e.g., pipe mills, oilfield machinery) and supply-side (e.g., chemicals, fertilizers, direct iron reduction) opportunities.
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Proper moisture removal from the polymerization-reaction medium is key to successfully operating a HDPE plant designed on low-pressure, slurry-process technology.
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The two new polyethylene facilities on the Texas Gulf coast will each have a capacity of 500,000 tpy and use Chevron Phillips Chemical’s proprietary loop slurry technology. A front-end engineering and design (FEED) agreement was reached with Jacobs to design the polyethylene facilities.
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The Veracruz ethylene and polyethylene (PE) complex in Mexico, a joint venture between Brazil’s Braskem and Mexico’s Grupo Idesa, will use hyper compressor and booster compressor technologies from GE. The GE technologies will be key elements of the low-density polyethylene (LPDE) plant.
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The new Texas cracker is part of a plan to further connect US operations with low-cost feedstocks available from increasing US shale gas supply, says CEO Andrew Liveris.
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The performance products division of Huntsman will expand manufacturing capacity of specialty amines used as polyurethane catalysts at manufacturing facilities in Petfurdo, Hungary and in Barcelona, Spain. Financial details of the expansion, which will increase outut by 25%, were not disclosed.
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Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co. (MGC) says it is expanding polyacetal (POM) production at its joint-venture facility in South Korea, increasing its production by 35,000 tpy. The construction of the new facility will start in the first quarter of 2012 and will be completed in the fourth quarter of 2013.
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Bayer MaterialScience has agreed to acquire the polycarbonate sheet business of Arkema, which includes the company’s Tuffak line of products used in such markets as aerospace, transportation and heavy equipment. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
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BASF has chosen Fluor as its engineering partner for chemicals capital projects across North America. The deal includes include conceptual and front-end engineering and design (FEED), detailed engineering, procurement, project management and construction management services.
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BASF will invest €150 million to set up a new chemical production site at Dahej, located on the west coast of India in Gujarat. The start of production is planned for 2014. The project will be financed by BASF India Ltd. through internal accruals and loans.
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Chevron Phillips will build the world’s largest on-purpose 1-hexene plant, capable of producing up to 250,000 tpy (551,000,000 lbs) at its Cedar Bayou chemical complex in Baytown, Texas. The project is anticipated to start up during the first quarter of 2014. Costs were not disclosed.
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Dow will shut down three insulation products plants as well as idle a plant in Terneuzen, The Netherlands. The company is also closing its TDI plant in Camaçari, Brazil.