Chemical Week articles from November 2005

Chemical Week archives from November 2005

Getting ACC into shape.(American Chemistry Council)
November 30, 2005... Jack N. Gerard, recently appointed president and CEO of ACC, put his stamp on the organization last week with a major restructuring that has involved the elimination of about 20% of its staff, as part of an effort to strengthen ACC's lobbying...

Dow ends PO, PG force majeure ...(Dow Chemical Co., propylene oxide and propylene glycols)(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Dow Chemical says it has ended force majeure and related volume allocation for propylene oxide (PO) and propylene glycols (PG). The company declared force majeure on September 1 due to disruptions to transportation logistics and raw material...

... Solutia lifts force majeure on nylon.(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Solutia says that it has ended force majeure declaration on certain products within its nylon operations. Raw material and utility supply limitations caused by recent hurricanes have been "sufficiently alleviated," Solutia says. "While our...

Honeywell completes UOP acquisition, names new UOP CEO.(Carlos A. Cabrera appointed)(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Honeywell says it has completed the acquisition of Dow Chemical's 50% stake in UOP, giving Honeywell full ownership (CW, Oct. 12, p. 10) . The purchase price was $865.2 million, Dow says. Honeywell also announced the appointment of Carlos A....

Georgia-Pacific buys stake in china plant.(Kolon Chemical acquired)(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Georgia-Pacific says it has agreed to buy a 33% stake in a phenolic resin plant in Suzhou, China owned by Kolon Chemical (Kolon, South Korea) for $3 million. The deal will create a new joint venture, Kolon GP Chemical (Suzhou),...

Monsanto wins patent dispute against Bayer.(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... A jury has ruled that Monsanto did not infringe on Bayer CropScience's patent related to an insect-protection technology in corn. The U.S. District Court in St. Louis also ruled that Bayer's patent is invalid. The five-year patent dispute...

DuPont acquires air pollution control firm.(Belco Technologies)(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... DuPont's chemical solutions enterprise division says it plans to acquire Belco Technologies (Parsippany, N J), a supplier of air pollution control systems for oil refiners. Terms were not disclosed. Belco, a provider of technology for sulfur...

Airgas raises financial targets.(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Airgas says it has increased its 2008 sales target for itss fiscal year ending March 31, 2008, from $3 billion to $3.3 billion, and return on capital target from 11%-12%, to 12%. A strong price environment and the company's "discipline in...

Chemtura boosts PAO in Canada.(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Chemtura has announced a 15% capacity increase in high-viscosity, polyalpha-olefin (PAO) production at its Elmira, ON facility for completion in second-quarter 2006. Total capacity was not disclosed. Polyalpha-olefins are used in petroleum...

Hercules closes Florida R&D center.(Hercules Chemical Company Inc. to close customer applications laboratory )(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Hercules says it will close its Jacksonville, FL R&D and customer applications laboratory and consolidate those functions at its Wilmington, DE facility. Hercules says it will also build a customer applications facility at Wilmington to house...

Terra idles methanol plant.(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Terra Industries says it has idled its Woodward, OK methanol plant for mechanical repairs and catalyst changes. Terra says it will not restart the facility until mid-December at the earliest, citing "high natural gas costs, the seasonal lull...

Arkema boosts stabilizer capacity.(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Arkema says it has debottlenecked its methyl tin heat stabilizer plant at its Carrollton, KY facility and increased capacity by an unspecified amount. The debottlenecking affects Arkema's Thermolite brand heat stabilizers, grades 190, 161,...

U.K., Germany agree on deal to ease reach burden on industry.(Registration, Evaluation, and Authorisation of Chemicals)(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... The U.K. government, current holder of the European Union (EU) presidency, has agreed to consider German government proposals for reducing the burden to industry of the EU's proposed Registration, Evaluation, and Authorisation of Chemicals...

Merck KGaA chairman resigns abruptly.(Bernhard Scheuble resigns)(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Bernhard Scheuble has resigned as chairman of Merck KGaA "with mutual agreement and with immediate effect," the company says. Merck declined to comment further, but analysts say that since the company's financial performance is strong,...

Shell closes U.K. polyols and ethoxylates plants.(Shell Chemicals U.K. Ltd.)(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Shell Chemicals says it will close its polyols and ethoxylates plants at Carrington, U.K. in mid-2007. The company will focus European production of polyols at its Pernis, the Netherlands polyols plant, which will be expanded. It will...

Europe details sustainable chemistry strategy.(EuropaBio)(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... SusChem, a forum jointly initiated by Cefic, European biotechnology industry association EuropaBio (Brussels), and the European Commission, has launched a 20-year research strategy aimed at making the chemical industry more sustainable. The...

UN approves Rhodia emissions plan.(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Rhodia says it has received United Nations (UN) approval for a previously announced plan to cut carbon dioxide (C[O.sub.2]) emissions at the company's Onsan, Korea plant (CW,, Oct. 12, p. 9). Approval allows Rhodia to sell emission credits to...

Dow unveils antimicrobial for bird flu pathogen.(Dow Chemical Co. introduced Glutex )(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Dow Chemical says it has introduced a novel antimicrobial product, Glutex, based on glutaraldehyde, for sanitization and disinfection markets including farm disinfection and hand washes. Glutex has been demonstrated to kill the bird flu...

Degussa forms China silanes jv.(Degussa AG, Rizhao Lanxing Chemical Industry Co.)(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Degussa says it has agreed to take a 50% stake in a joint venture to manufacture sulfur-functional silanes for rubber applications, at Lanshan-Rizhao, China. Rizhao Lanxing Chemical Industry Co. (Lanshan-Rizhao) will hold 40% of the iv, and...

Kemira to be Russia's paints leader.(Tikkurila Coatings Ltd. to acquire Kraski Teks )(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Tikkurila, a Kemira subsidiary, says it has agreed to acquire $70-million/year decorative paints producer Kraski Teks (St. Petersburg, Russia) for $40 million. Tikkurila says the deal will make it the leading paints company in Russia. Kraski...

DSM makes board appointment.(Nico Gerardu appointed)(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... DSM has appointed Nico Gerardu to its board, effective March 29, 2006. He will replace Chris Goppelsroeder, who will leave DSM "for personal reasons" on that date, the company says. Gerardu is currently director of the DSM Anti-lnfectives...

No reclassification for TBBPA.(tetrabromobisphenol A)(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... The European Union's Scientific Committee on Health and Environmental Risks has determined that the flame retardant tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) poses a low risk to human health, and is not subject to reclassification of its use. The...

Wacker changes its status.(Wacker-Chemie GmbH)(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Wacker-Chemie has, as expected, changed its corporate status from private limited company (GmbH) to stock corporation (AG) (CW, Oct. 19, p. 15). The move could eventually lead to Wacker being listed on the stock exchange via an initial public...

New Jersey adopts strict plant safety measures.(chemical plant security)
November 30, 2005... New Jersey says it has become the first state to require enforceable chemical plant security practices, including a mandatory review of inherently safer technology at certain plants. "Certain New Jersey industries are more vulnerable to...

ACC announces major reorganization.(top of the week)
November 30, 2005... ACC announced a major reorganization last week that includes the departure of five senior executives and 35 other staff members, about 20% of the total. The changes are part of an expected restructuring by president and CEO Jack N. Gerard,...

Draft chemical security bill excludes IST.(inherently safer technology)(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Chemical plants that fail to comply with federally mandated security laws could be shut down by the Homeland Security Department, according to a Senate plan drafted by senators Jon Corzine (D., NJ) and Susan Collins (R., ME) and obtained by...

Ferro names Kirsch as CEO after sudden death of Ortino.(James F. Kitsch, Hector R. Ortino)(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Ferro says it has named president and COO James F. Kitsch as CEO of the company, effective immediately. Kirsch's appointment following the sudden death last week of Hector R. Ortino, Ferro's chairman and CEO since 1999. Ortino died of natural...

DuPont, EPA settle PFOA civil suit.(E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co., Environmental Protection Agency, Toxic Substances Control Act)(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... DuPont and EPA's Office of Civil Enforcement have reached a settlement in a civil suit filed by EPA against DuPont in July 2004, alleging that the company did not report information about worker exposure to perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). ...

Huntsman to buy out minority partner.(Huntsman Advanced Materials from SISU Capital)(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Huntsman Corp. says it plans to acquire a 9.7% minority interest in Huntsman Advanced Materials (Everberg, Belgium), for approximately $125 million, from affiliates of SISU Capital (London). The transaction is expected to close by year-end.

Chemtura restarts EPDM production.(ethylene propylene diene monomer)(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Chemtura says it has restarted production at an ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) production unit that was damaged by a fire on October 19. Two other EPDM units at the site were not affected by the fire, the company says.

Chevron to boost LNG capacity.(liquefied natural gas)(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Chevron says it announced it has exercised its option to increase its share of capacity at Cheniere Energy's planned liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at Sabine Pass, TX from approximately 700 million cu ft/day to 1 billion cu ft/ day....

BASF sees favorable conditions in North America.
November 30, 2005... The outlook for the North American economy and chemical industry is positive for 2006, Klaus Peter Lobbe, chairman and CEO of BASF Corp. told attend ees in the keynote address at CW's Second Annual Chemical Industry Global Outlook 2006...

PIRG seeks federal inquiry for 'phthalate-free' labels.(Public Interest Research Group)(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... The Public Interest Research Group (PIRG, Washington) has asked FTC and Consumer Product Safety Commission (CSPC; Washington) to investigate the accuracy of "phthalate-free" labels on some toys and baby products. PIRG says it commissioned a...

Kerr-McGee completes Tronox IPO.(initial public offering)
November 30, 2005... Kerr-McGee has completed the initial public offering (IPO) of 17.5 million shares of Tronox, its chemicals subsidiary. The IPO was priced at $14/share, at the low end of the expected $14-$16/share offering price. That range was cut from an...

Westlake files to sell Chao family shares.(Westlake Chemical Corp., TTWF)(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Westlake Chemical says it has filed a registration statement with the SEC that would permit the sale of up to $750 million in debt and/or equity securities. The amendment would enable the possible sale of up to 10 million shares held by TTWF,...

Merck restructuring will lead to more outsourcing.(Merck and Company Inc.)
November 30, 2005... Merck & Co. says it will shut five of its 31 manufacturing facilities worldwide and reduce operations at a number of other sites as part of a major restructuring that is likely to result in an increase in outsourcing to fine chemical makers....

Solutia buys out partner in Mexican PVB JV.(polyvinyl butyral joint venture)(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Solutia says it has agreed to acquire the 51% stake it did not already own in Quimica M (Puebla, Mexico), a polyvinyl butyral (PVB) interlayers joint venture with glass maker Vitro Plan (Mexico City). Solutia will pay $19.6 million for the...

Agrium acquires Nu-Gro unit; Royster-Clerk deal falters.(Spectrum Brands Corp.)(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Agrium has agreed to acquire the Nu-Gro controlled-release fertilizer technology and professional products business of Spectrum Brands (Atlanta) for $86 million. Nu-Gro has sales of about $80 million/year. The deal is expected to close in...

Fuji buys Arch's stake in Planar Solutions.(Fujifilm Electronic Materials, Arch Chemicals)(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Arch Chemicals says it has signed an agreement to sell its 50% stake in Planar Solutions, a chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) slurries joint venture with Wacker Chemical, to Fujifilm Electronic Materials (North Kingstown, RI). Fujifilm...

Linde reorganizes; creates new unit.(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Linde Gas says it is undertaking an organizational restructuring. Jack Brull, senior v.p./industrial gas sales will lead a sales team composed of industrial gas sales, customer service and branch operations in the U.S. and the Caribbean....

Mineral Technologies patent upheld.(litigation case with Omya AG)(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Minerals Technologies says it has settled a dispute with Omya (Oftringen, Switzerland) involving pending commercial and patent litigation. The agreement upholds Minerals Technologies' proprietary technology for acid-stabilized calcium...

Albemarle raises global FCC prices.(fluid catalytic cracking catalysts)(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Albemarle says it will increase prices of its fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) catalysts by $400/m.t. worldwide, effective immediately, or as contracts allow. "This price increase is necessary in order to restore margins to a level where the...

Personal care plant closures.(Beiersdorf AG)(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Beiersdorf (Hamburg), the maker of Nivea-brand skin cream, says it plans to cut production plants in Europe. The company did not provide details, but reports say it is expected to eliminate about 1,100 jobs in Europe, reports say. The move...

Siltronic expands wafer production in Germany.(Wacker-Chemie GmbH)(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Wacker Chemie's Siltronic silicon wafers unit says it plans to invest a total of 136 million [euro] ($159 million) to expand 300-millimeter (mm) wafer production at its Burghausen and Freiberg, Germany sites. About 60% of the investment...

Dubai firm offers $5.7 billion for P&O.(Thunder FZE, Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co.)(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Thunder FZE, a subsidiary of Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corp. (Dubai), has made a 3.3 billion [pounds sterling] ($5.7 billion) cash offer to acquire Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation (P&O; London). The offer price represents a premium...

Berlac acquires Lanxess's color pastes unit.(Lanxess sales iSL-Chemie )(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Berlac (Sissach, Switzerland), a maker of lacquers, says it has acquired iSL-Chemie (Kurten, Germany) from Lanxess for about C20 million ($23.4 million), iSL-Chemie produces color pastes and specialty coatings for plastics. The business...

Sabic to decide soon on cracker; propylene pipeline hits snags.(SABIC EuroPetrochemicals B.V.)
November 30, 2005... Sabic Europe (Sittard, the Netherlands) has confirmed that it will make a final decision in the first quarter of 2006 on a previously announced petro chemicals expansion project that involves construction of a naphtha cracker (CW, Sept....

Rhodia share issue to raise 604 million [euro].(EUROPE/MIDEAST)(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Rhodia has launched a 604-million [euro] ($709 million) share issue to shore up its balance sheet and improve liquidity. Proceeds will "allow Rhodia to strengthen its financial structure by reducing debt, and to finance its industrial...

Fatal Chinese explosion causes political, environmental fall-out.(ASIA/PACIFIC)
November 30, 2005... A90-kilometer (kin) long slick containing 100 m.t. of benzene, as well as nitrobenzene and other related chemicals, is easing its way down the Songhua River through northeastern China toward Russia, leaving major pollution damage in its wake...

Novolen licenses metallocene PP catalyst to borealis.(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Novolen, an ABB Lummus Global-Equistar Chemicals joint venture, says it has agreed on a licensing deal under which Novolen will supply its metallocene single-site polypropylene (PP) catalyst system to Borealis. Novolen says it is the first...

Lonza adds malic acid capacity in Italy.(Lonza Polymer Intermediates to expand )(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Lonza Polymer Intermediates, a division of Lonza, says it plans to expand capacity of malic acid at Scanzorosciate, Italy by 50%, to 12,000 m.t./year. The company says it plans to complete the expansion by the end of 2006. Financial details...

KBR to supply technology for ethylene hike in Indonesia.(Chandra Asri P.T. in expansion )(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... KBR says it has been selected by PT Chandra Asri to supply technology for an expansion of Chandra Asri's naphtha cracker at Anyer, Indonesia. KBR will supply its Selective Cracking Optimum Recovery (Score) technology for a liquid cracking...

Mitsubishi gas proceeds with brunet methanol unit.(Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company Inc.'s joint venture with Brunei National Petroleum Co. and Itochu Company Ltd.)(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Mitsubishi Gas Chemical (MGC) is going ahead with a previously announced methanol joint venture in Brunei. MGC says it has signed an agreement to establish a 50-25-25 jv with Brunei National Petroleum Co. (Bandar Seri Begawan) and Itochu. The...

DuPont advances Ti[O.sub.2] investment in China.(E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. to titanium dioxide plant)
November 30, 2005... DuPont says it has signed an agreement with the city of Dongying, China to build a titanium dioxide (Ti[O.sub.2]) plant in the city's economic development zone for completion in 2010. DuPont announced last spring that it was in talks to build...

ADM plans polyols unit using renewable feedstock.(Archer Daniels Midland Co. to build renewable plant)(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) says it plans to build a polyols plant that will use renewable carbohydrate-based and/or glycerol-based feedstocks to produce propylene glycol and ethylene glycol. The company says it is in the process of site...

Lucite selects foster wheeler to build Singapore MMA plant.(Lucite International, Foster Wheeler USA Corp.)(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Lucite International says it has appointed Foster Wheeler as the engineering contractor on Lucite's previously announced project to build a methyl methacrylate (MMA) plant at Jurong Island, Singapore (CW,, June 22, p. 16). Financial terms...

Lummus-Toyo consortium lands shell Singapore cracker.(Shell Eastern Petroleum Private Ltd. awrds contract to ABB Lummus Global Inc., Toyo Engineering Corp.)
November 30, 2005... Shell Eastern Petroleum (Singapore), a Shell subsidiary, says it has awarded contracts for basic design and engineering to a consortium of ABB Lummus Global and Toyo Engineering, for a previously announced ethylene plant at Shell's Bukom...

Household and personal care: awash in new rules.(Cover Story)
November 30, 2005... Recent regulations affecting household and personal care products are posing major challenges to chemical suppliers. There are a host of regulations under consideration in Europe and in the U.S., as well as at the United Nations (U.N.) that...

Degussa thinks big in nanomaterials.(invests in nanotronics science to business center)
November 30, 2005... Degussa says it has invested 100 million [euro] in the past four years in R&D for nanomaterials, and its first commercial products for electronics are now under development (CW, Aug. 3, p. 21). The company recently opened a 50-million [euro]...

Business is looking up: optimism among firms at CPhI 2005.(pharmaceuticals & fine chemicals)(Nicholas Piramal India Ltd. acquired Avecia Pharmaceuticals, including Torcan Chemical (Toronto) and a 25% share in Reaxa)(Siegfried AG. restructure)(CPhI pharma intermediates exhibition)
November 30, 2005... Fine chemicals and pharma custom manufacturing players attending the CPhI pharma intermediates exhibition, held last month in Madrid, say they are more optimistic than in previous years about business prospects. The industry is beginning to...

Degussa distributes for Suparna.(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Degussa has agreed to be a distributor for fine chemicals manufacturer Suparna Chemicals' (Mumbai) potassium- and sodium-based alkoxides and solutions outside India, Suparna says. Financial terms were not disclosed. Suparna will continue to...

Roche eases grip on Tamiflu.(Roche Holding Ltd. not to oppose the plans by government )(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Roche says it will not oppose plans by the government of the Philippines to authorize manufacture of a generic version of Roche's antiviral drug Tamiflu, to enable the country to stockpile the drug in case of an outbreak among its human...

Hexion makes an offer for Akzo's inks and adhesives unit.(Hexion Specialty Chemicals to acquire Akzo Nobel's global ink )
November 30, 2005... Hexion Specialty Chemicals says it has offered to purchase Akzo Nobel's global ink and adhesive resins business for 88 million [euro] ($104.5 million). Akzo says it has accepted the offer. Akzo recently told CW that it had received "large...

PolyOne to close U.K. plant.(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... PolyOne says it will phase out its Manchester, U.K. plastic color additives plant by the end of first-quarter 2006. The closure is part of a plan to reduce costs and align capacity with market demand, the company says. PolyOne says it will...

Paper chemical firms hike prices.(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... BASF says it has raised prices for its paper process chemicals in Europe by 5%-7%, effective November 14. Ciba Specialty Chemicals says it raised its paper chemical prices in Europe by up to 30%, effective November 1. Akzo Nobel's Eka...

Rohm and Haas raises prices.(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Rohm and Haas (R&H) has announced several price increases as part of its plan to raise prices across the board (CW, Oct. 5, p. 38). R&H says its prices for its hydride chemicals in Europe rose 4%-6%, effective November 15. The company says it...

Price hikes slow down.(Petrochemical feedstock prices effect polymers)
November 30, 2005... Recent sharp increases in polymer prices are showing signs of slowing down as feedstock prices ease and supply improves. Polyethylene (PE) producers have pushed back increases of 5 cts-7 cts/lb that were effective November 15, to December 1....

Lanxess scales back commodity ABS offerings.(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Lanxess says it will end production of certain commodity grades of its Lustran acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) at Domagen, Germany. The company previously announced plant consolidation that will concentrate production of ABS at its...

ExxonMobil resumes normal operations at Chalmette.(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... ExxonMobil says that Chalmette Refining, a 50-50 joint venture of ExxonMobil and PDVSA, completed a sequenced startup process in late November and is now operating normally. The refinery, located at Chalmette, LA, had shut down operations on...

Thai PTA startup.(Mitsui Chemical Co.)(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Siam Mitsui PTA (Bangkok), a joint venture of Mitsui Chemicals and Siam Cement (Bangkok), has brought a 500,000-m.t./year purified terephthalic acid (PTA) line onstream at Map Ta Phut, Thailand, Mitsui says. The new line is the third at the...

Arkema brings on EVA plant.(ethylene-vinyl acetate plant)(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Arkema says it has commissioned a high-content ethylene-vinyl acetate (HC EVA) plant at its Balan facility at Ain, France. The company did not disclose capacity details, but says the plant has capacity to supply 35% of the European HC EVA...

Basic chemical price watch.(Lenzing AG increases cellulose fiber prices )(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Lenzing (Lenzing, Austria) says it will increase cellulose fiber prices by at least 5% in the beginning of first-quarter 2006. The increase applies to non-woven and textile fibers, Lenzing says. The company cites rising feedstock and energy...

UV/EB cures many production ailments.(ultraviolet light or electron beam )
November 30, 2005... The advantages of curing a product using either ultraviolet (UV) light or an electron beam (EB) have been well-documented, particularly when used with manufactured products that include adhesives, coatings and inks on surfaces sensitive to...

A Rad Technology.(ADHESIVES)(Ultraviolet cured adhesives and volatile organic compounds)
November 30, 2005... Technology advances help UV/EB-curable adhesives expand into new applications. With its reduced level of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), ease of handling, high performance and flow characteristics said to be better than solvent- and...

Tale of the tape.(ultraviolet cured coatings)
November 30, 2005... The latest UV/EB-curable pressure sensitive adhesives (PSAs) offer a value-added alternative to traditional bonding systems. RadTech research indicates recent trends in the tape and label markets are opening up opportunities for UV/EB PSAs....

UV-cured coatings for plastics evolves from curiosity to reality.(ultraviolet )
November 30, 2005... Until recently, the use of radiation curing in the plastics industry was limited by inferior adhesion compared to solventborne systems and the challenge of curing UV coatings applied to three-dimensional components. Today, observers say the...

Shedding light on UV/EB coatings.(ultraviolet/electron beam)
November 30, 2005... Suppliers have reportedly increased their selection of products that manufacturers can use to design radiation-cured coatings. Previous raw materials specified for such applications were generally designed for a quick cure for fast line...

UV curable products.(WHAT'S NEW)(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Cytec's research scientists are developing the next generation of UV curable products for food packaging, automotive coatings, and optoelectronic applications. Cytec offers a full range of radcure products and photoinitiators for UV/EB inks...

Energy curable oligomers.(WHAT'S NEW)(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Ashland Specialty Chemical's energy curable oligomers exhibit outstanding cure and can be designed with a broad range of performance properties, These resins are inherently photoactive, reducing or eliminating the need for photoinitiators....

Rad curing technology conference.(WHAT'S NEW)
November 30, 2005... Join more than 3,000 leaders in ultraviolet (UV) and electron beam (EB) technology in Chicago from April 24 to 26, 2006, at the e15: UV & EB TECHNOLOGY EXPO & CONFERENCE. There will be more than 100 presentations at the conference reporting...

Technical booklet.(WHAT'S NEW)(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Sartomer Co. has released the sixth volume in its technical booklet series, "Coating Concepts." The new 16-page booklet provides formulators with detailed study findings and performance data on various ultraviolet (UV)-cure topics, such as...

UV lamps.(WHAT'S NEW)(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Fusion UV Systems announced that it was granted U.S. patent 6,908,586 B1, "Free Radical Polymerization Method Having Reduced Premature Termination, Apparatus for Performing the Method, and Product Formed Thereby." The patent supports the...

Cytec technical support.(WHAT'S NEW)(Brief Article)
November 30, 2005... Cytec provides responsive service and expert technical support on a consistent global basis. As a unique service, Cytec offers customers the ability to trial inks and coatings on in-house printing presses and coating applications equipment....

Commentary.(cw price report)
November 30, 2005... Increased supply is dragging down petrochemical prices despite an upturn in feedstock prices in the U.S. Ethylene spot prices have fallen by 6 cts-8 cts/lb in the past two weeks. Propylene spot prices have softened by 8 cts-10 cts/lb from...