Chemical Week articles from October 2011

Chemical Week archives from October 2011

Insights into compliance.(CHEMWEEK.COM)
October 24, 2011... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] CW will host a free webcast November 2 at 10 a.m. EST on new opportunities in compliance and sustainability, featuring key insights from our survey (p.31) of over 200 industry executives conducted with CSC (Falls...

CPhI: upbeat amidst change.(CHEMWEEK.COM)
October 24, 2011... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Pharma and fine chemicals executives at CPhI, held during the past week in Frankfurt, told CW that their businesses are growing, but expressed concern about products coming off patent. They also predicted a coming...

Live earnings.(CHEMWEEK.COM)
October 24, 2011... Check chemweek.com all week to get the latest earnings stories as third-quarter results come in. chemweek.com/home

Rentech IPO.(CHEMWEEK.COM)
October 24, 2011... Rentich Nitrogen Partners has announced plans for an IPO worth roughly $300 million. chemweek.com/people_and_business

Cobalt/Rhodia takeaways.(CHEMWEEK.COM)
October 24, 2011... CW's Rebecca Coons chats with Cobalt CFO Steven Shevick about an n-butanol deal with Rhodia. chemweek.com/chem_ideas

Biotech incubator in Paris.(CHEMWEEK.COM)
October 24, 2011... Biocitech, owner of a life sciences technology park, is setting up an incubator for the biotech industry in Paris. chemweek.com/innovation

Most read stories online.(Chemweek 24/7)
October 24, 2011... As of CW press time on Oct. 27 1. Ferro Misses Estimates, Cuts 2011 Forecast 2. Schulman Posts Gain, But Drops 2012 Guidance on Limited Visibility 3. Solutia Tops Streets View 4. Nitrogen Fertilizer Business to IPO 5. CPhI 2011:...

World is flat, earnings are up.(VIEWPOINT)(financial news)(Financial report)(Brief article)
October 24, 2011... Volumes have flattened in the third quarter but chemical makers have still managed to post higher earnings as prices and revenue continue to rise. BASF's chemical operations and DuPont reported volume growth of 1%, while Dow Chemical and PPG...

Rentech Nitrogen IPO.
October 24, 2011... Rentech Nitrogen Partners, the nitrogen fertilizer arm of Rentech Inc, is planning an IPO worth up to $362 million, the company says. The nitrogen business is planning to offer 15,000,000 shares at $19-$21/ share. Rentech Inc. will own about 60%...

Farnesene JV planned.(Amyris Biotechnologies Inc. contract with ETH Bioenergia )(Brief article)
October 24, 2011... Synthetic biology firm Amyris (Emeryville, CA) says it has signed an agreement with Brazilian ethanol producer ETH Bioenergia (Sao Paulo) to form a joint venture for the development of renewable farnesene. The parties expect to begin production...

PolyOne forms Saudi jv.(E.A. Juffali and Brothers acquired with Polyone Corp.,)(Brief article)
October 24, 2011... PolyOne has agreed to form a color concentrates joint venture E.A. Juffali & Brothers. The jv will be based at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and will be 51% owned by PolyOne. PolyOne says the jv will invest approximately $14 million over the next...

Kemira sells [H.sub.2][O.sub.2] plant.(Kemira Chemicals Inc. acquired with Hydrogen peroxide plants)(Brief article)
October 24, 2011... Kemira has signed a contract to sell its hydrogen peroxide ([H.sub.2][O.sub.2]) plant based at Maitland, ON to Evonik Industries. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Evonik is the second largest global producer of [H.sub.2][O.sub.2],...

Orascom eyes nitrogen fertilizer jv in Brazil.
October 24, 2011... EBX Group (Rio de Janeiro) and Orascom Construction Industries (OCI; Cairo) have announced plans to develop an integrated nitrogen-based fertilizer complex in Brazil. The complex would be built in the Acu Superport, which is being developed by...

Cytec plans to double phosphine capacity.
October 24, 2011... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Cytec Industries says it will invest $125 million at its Welland, ON site to double its posphpine capacity by early 2014. "Demand for phosphine gas and derivative products is expected to remain strong and grow between...

Invista moves forward with nylon plant in China.(Financial report)(Brief article)
October 24, 2011... Invista says it has started permitting and engineering work for the first phase of its planned nylon 6,6 intermediates and polymer project at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park (CW, March 7/14, p. 45). Groundbreaking is expected in early 2013....

FMC buys natural colors maker in Chile.(FMC Corp. acquired with South Pole Biogroup (Santiago, Chile))(Brief article)
October 24, 2011... FMC says it will acquire South Pole Biogroup (Santiago, Chile) a natural color and specialty nutrition ingredients manufacturer. The acquisition further expands FMC's portfolio of naturally sourced specialty products used in the food, beverage,...

Lanxess to expand EPDM finishing at Orange, TX.(LANXESS Corp.)(ethylene-propylene-diene monomer )(Brief article)
October 24, 2011... Lanxess says it will expand finishing technology for ethylene-propylene-diene monomer (EPDM) rubber at its Orange, TX facility. The company says it will spend about $7 million on the project, which is expected to be completed in the...

Chemicals businesses at oil majors report mixed earnings.
October 24, 2011... ExxonMobil Chemical reported third-quarter net income of $1 billion, down 18% from the year-ago quarter. Sales volumes of 6.2 million m.t. were down 5% from the year-ago quarter. The company does not break out sales figures. Improved margins...

Lonza completes arch deal, lists on Singapore stock exchange.(Lonza AG acquired with Arch Chemicals Inc.)(Brief article)
October 24, 2011... Lonza has completed the previously announced acquisition of Arch Chemicals for $1.4 billion, or $47.20/share. Lonza says it owned more than 90% of Arch's outstanding shares on October 20, and closed the deal through a short-form merger effective...

Ineos reports a decline in third-quarter Ebitda.(financial news)(Financial report)(Brief article)
October 24, 2011... Ineos says that, "based on unaudited management information," its third-quarter 2011 Ebitda was 371 million [euro] ($516 million). The figure is 20% lower than Ebitda posted by Ineos in the third quarter of 2010 and 36% below the company's...

Yule Catto buys aqueous polymers producer.(Quality Polymer Sdn. Bhd. acquired with Yule Catto and Company PLC)(Brief article)
October 24, 2011... Yule Catto (Harlow, U.K.) has acquired Quality Polymer (Pasir Gudaug, Malaysia), a producer of aqueous polymers, from Nippon Paint Malaysia for 10 million [pounds sterling] ($16 million). The acquisition allows Yule Catto to expand its Southeast...

ICL buys SQM out of specialty fertilizer jv.(Israel Chemicals Ltd. acquired with SQM's (Santiago) )(Brief article)
October 24, 2011... ICL (Tel Aviv) has agreed to acquire SQM's (Santiago) 50% stake in the companies' Nutrisi Holdings joint venture. ICL will be the sole owner of Belgium-based Nutrisi on completion of the transaction. Nutrisi and Yara International each own 50%...

Brenntag jv acquires assets in South Africa.(Brenntag AG acquired with Crest Chemical Industries Ltd.)(Brief article)
October 24, 2011... Crest Chemicals (Midrand, South Africa), a chemical distribution joint venture between Brenntag and AECI (Johannesburg), has acquired certain assets of WK Croxton (Pietermaritzburg, South Africa), an importer of caustic soda into South Africa....

Buchele moves to Kemira.(appointment of Wolfgang Buchele as president and chief executive officer at Kemira Agro Oy)(Brief article)
October 24, 2011... Kemira has appointed Wolfgang Buchele as its next president and CEO, effective April 1, 2012. He will succeed Harri Kerminen who will retire on that day. Kerminen led Kemira through a major transformation into a water chemistry company. Buchele...

ChemChina-MAI deal.(China National Chemical Engineering Corp. acquired with Makhteshim-Agan Industries Ltd.)(Brief article)
October 24, 2011... China National Chemical Corp. (ChemChina; Beijing) has completed the previously announced acquisition of a 60% stake in Makhteshim Agan Industries (MAI; Tel Aviv). MAI's shares are delisted from the stock exchange and the company becomes a 60-40...

Orica names next CEO.(appointment of Ian Smith as managing director and Chief executive officer at Orica Ltd., )(Brief article)
October 24, 2011... Orica (Melbourne) says it has appointed Ian Smith to succeed Graeme Liebelt as managing director and CEO of the company, starting on February 27, 2012. Liebelt is due to retire from Orica on March 31, 2012. Smith was CEO of Newcrest Mining...

Third-quarter earnings are solid as growth slows.(TOP OF THE WEEK)(Financial report)
October 24, 2011... Basic and diversified chemical firms reported solid third-quarter earnings despite slowing global growth. "We see ongoing volatility in the pace of global economic recovery, and consequently are prepared for jagged economic conditions over...

Prices boost specialty earnings, but slowdown fears grow.(BUSINESS & FINANCE NEWS: UNITED STATES/AMERICAS)
October 24, 2011... Higher prices helped most specialty chemical firms notch third-quarter gains, and nearly all beat analysts' estimates, which had been lowered as the third quarter progressed. Many producers, however, noted caution among customers and weakening...

LyondellBasell to buy back debt, pay special dividend.(BUSINESS & FINANCE NEWS: UNITED STATES/AMERICAS)(Brief article)
October 24, 2011... Sitting on a $6-billion cash pile, LyondellBasell has launched a tender offer to buy back about $2.8 billion in debt due 2017 and 2018, and pay a special dividend to shareholders of up to $2.6 billion. The debt, denominated mostly in dollars...

Cytec may sell struggling coating resins business.(BUSINESS & FINANCE NEWS: UNITED STATES/AMERICAS)(Cytec Industries Inc. acquired with UCB Chemicals Corp.)
October 24, 2011... Cytec Industries says it is "reviewing all options" for its $1.4-billion coating resins business. Most of the coating resins business, which accounted for 52% of Cytec's sales in 2010, was acquired with the purchase UCB's surface specialties...

Kinder Morgan acquisition creates pipeline giant.(BUSINESS & FINANCE NEWS: UNITED STATES/AMERICAS)(Kinder Morgan acquired with E1 Paso Corporation )
October 24, 2011... In a deal that will create the largest natural gas pipeline operator in the U.S., Kinder Morgan (KMI; Houston) has agreed to buy competitor E1 Paso Corporation (Houston) for $38 billion, including El Paso debt. The total cash and equity...

Enterprise starts up fifth NGL fractionator at Mont Belvieu, TX.(BUSINESS & FINANCE NEWS: UNITED STATES/AMERICAS)
October 24, 2011... Enterprise Products Partners has started commercial operations of its fifth natural gas liquids (NGL) fractionator at Mont Belvieu, TX, three months ahead of schedule. The fractionator is operating in excess of its nameplate capacity of 75,000...

Saltigo builds potent API plant in the U.S.(BUSINESS & FINANCE NEWS: UNITED STATES/AMERICAS)(Brief article)
October 24, 2011... Saltigo says it will build new production capacities for potent active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) at its Redmond, WA site to supply the North American pharmaceutical industry. Potent and highly potent APIs of categories III and IV, as...

Crop protection firms cultivate biopesticide partnerships.(BUSINESS & FINANCE NEWS: UNITED STATES/AMERICAS)
October 24, 2011... Growing demand for biobased solutions for the agriculture industry is evident in the recent uptick in partnerships and licensing deals, many of which included some of the biggest names in crop protection. Consumer preferences, government support...

DuPont sues Monsanto for infringing seed technology.(BUSINESS & FINANCE NEWS: UNITED STATES/AMERICAS)
October 24, 2011... DuPont has filed suit against Monsanto, alleging Monsanto infringed on DuPont's seed production technique that "increases seed corn vigor to improve germination under stress." The patent specifically covers defoliation at a particular stage in...

Rhodia and Cobalt Planning N-Butanol Biorefineries in Latin America
October 24, 2011... Cobalt Technologies (Mountain View, CA), a company commercializing biobased n-butanol as a renewable chemical and fuel, says it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Rhodia to develop n-butanol refineries based on bagasse throughout...

DuPont bid for majority Stake in Pannar seed denied.(BUSINESS & FINANCE NEWS: UNITED STATES/AMERICAS)(E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. acquired with Pannar Seed )(Brief article)
October 24, 2011... DuPont says the South African Competition Tribunal (Johannesburg) has rejected its bid to buy a majority stake in Pannar Seed (Greytown, South Africa), Africa's largest seed firm. The tribunal upheld a prior Competition Commission decision made...

BASF beats estimates, remains positive for rest of the year.(BUSINESS & FINANCE NEWS: EUROPE/MIDEAST)(BASF Corp.'s financial news)(Financial report)
October 24, 2011... BASF reported higher third-quarter revenues and, excluding the effect of an interruption to the company's oil production in Libya, it increased operating results (Ebit). The company expects worldwide growth in GDP, and in industrial and chemical...

Bayer reports higher sales and earnings, confirms full-year outlook.(BUSINESS & FINANCE NEWS: EUROPE/MIDEAST)(Financial report)
October 24, 2011... Emerging markets made a key contribution to Bayer's third-quarter sales and earnings growth, chairman Marijn Dekkers says. A substantial increase in earnings at the Bayer HealthCare and Bayer CropScience subgroups was "another highlight." But...

Third-quarter sales rise but raw material costs dent profits.(BUSINESS & FINANCE NEWS: EUROPE/MIDEAST)(financial news)(Financial report)
October 24, 2011... Leading Europe-based chemical manufacturers posted higher sales for the third quarter of 2011 compared with the corresponding period of 2010, although most companies confirm that the worsening global economic climate has started to affect their...

PTT affiliates complete merger, creating PTT Global Chemical.(BUSINESS & FINANCE NEWS: ASIA/PACIFIC)(PTT Chemical)(Brief article)
October 24, 2011... PTT Chemical, and PTT Aromatics and Refining--each company an affiliate of energy firm PTT (Bangkok)--have completed their previously announced merger to create PTT Global Chemical. The merged entity is "Thailand's largest and Asia's leading...

China slaps antidumping duties on caprolactam from the U.S. and EU.(BUSINESS & FINANCE NEWS: ASIA/PACIFIC)
October 24, 2011... The Ministry of Commerce (Mofcom; Beijing) says that China has imposed antidumping duties on imports of caprolactam from the U.S. and European Union (EU), for five years starting October 22, 2011. An antidumping investigation was launched in...

China's biggest producer of rare earths suspends production for one month.(BUSINESS & FINANCE NEWS: ASIA/PACIFIC)(Brief article)
October 24, 2011... Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Rare-Earth Hi-Tech Co. (Baotou, China), the world's biggest producer of rare earths, says it suspended rare earth smelting and separation work for one month, starting October 19. The move is intended to shore up rare...

GE and Penrice Soda to build brine pilot plant.(BUSINESS & FINANCE NEWS: ASIA/PACIFIC)(Penrice Soda Products Proprietary Ltd.)(Brief article)
October 24, 2011... GE and Penrice Soda Holdings (Osborne, Australia) have reached an agreement with coal-seam gas producer QGC (Brisbane, Australia) to design, build, and operate a brine pilot plant (BPP) at Penrice's chemical works at Osborne. The GE-Penrice BPP...

Sipchem starts work on new expansion phase.(NEW CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS)(POSCO Engineering & Construction Company Ltd. contract with Saudi International Petrochemical Co.)
October 24, 2011... Saudi International Petrochemical Co. (Sipchem; AI Khobar, Saudi Arabia) has begun construction work on phase III of a previously announced in vestment program at Jubail, Saudi Arabia to build several manufacturing facilities with a combined...

Cepsa breaks ground on phenol-acetone complex in China.(NEW CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS)(Compania Espanola de Petroleos S.A.)(Brief article)
October 24, 2011... Cepsa (Madrid) has held a groundbreaking ceremony for a previously announced phenol-acetone project at Shanghai. The plant will be built in the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park at Caojing, and it will have capacity for 250,000 m.t./year of phenol...

Ineos awarded another PP contract in China.(NEW CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS)(Ineos PLC contract with SINOPEC Maoming Petrochemical Corporation Zhonghe Chemical Plastics Company Ltd.)(Brief article)
October 24, 2011... Ineos says it has been awarded a contract to license the company's Innovene polypropylene (PP) technology to Sinopec Maoming Co., a Sinopec subsidiary. The technology will be used in a 200,000-m.t./year PP plant at Siuopec Maoming's complex at...

Arkema awards contract for Clear Lake investment to Jacobs.(NEW CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS)
October 24, 2011... Arkema has awarded a contract to Jacobs Engineering to provide engineering, procurement, and construction management services for two previously announced projects at Arkema's Clear Lake, TX facility. The main project will enhance the...

Badger Licensing to provide cumene technology to China.(NEW CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS)(Badger Licensing contract with Lihuayi Weiyuan Chemical )(Brief article)
October 24, 2011... Badger Licensing has been awarded a contract by Lihuayi Weiyuan Chemical to provide technology for a 300,O00-m.t./year cumene plant at Dongying, China. Badger's contract includes technology license, engineering, start-up services, and training....

PetroChina, Shell, and QP sign framework agreement.(NEW CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS)(China National Petroleum Corp. contract with Qatar Petroleum Corp.)(Brief article)
October 24, 2011... China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC; Beijing), the parent of PetroChina, says that CNPC, Shell, and Qatar Petroleum (QP) have signed a cooperation framework agreement with the municipal government of Taizhou, China to build jointly a previously...

Latin America: profiting from the upturn.(Cover story)
October 24, 2011... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Emerging markets are experiencing a reversal of fortune as growth slows in developed regions and investors increasingly rely on areas with lower-cost raw materials and rapid population growth. Since 2008 some projects...

Dow stakes claim on Brazil biopolymers.
October 24, 2011... Dow Chemical's recently announced joint venture with Mitsui & Co. (Tokyo) to revive Dow's plans for a world-scale biopolymers plant at Santa Vitoria marks Dow's largest investment in Brazil to date. Dow's green polyethylene (PE) project had...

Sustainability: focus shifts from cost reduction to profit optimization.(COVER STORY)
October 24, 2011... Leading chemical makers continue to save costs through resource-efficiency programs, but they are also focusing increasingly on the development of sustainability-advantaged products. A new trend is also emerging, in which companies and their...

Costs increases persist, but relief may be on horizon.(PAINTS & COATINGS)
October 24, 2011... Higher prices helped buoy third-quarter paints and coatings earnings amid continued weakness in construction markets and overall consumer caution, but raw material pressure continued to be a common theme. Paintmakers are optimistic margins will...

BWA stays on strategy as part of Berwind portfolio.(WATER TREATMENT)(BWA Water Technologies acquired with Berwind Corp.)
October 24, 2011... BWA Water Technologies officials say the firm's acquisition by Berwind Corp. (Philadelphia) last June will not alter business strategy. The family-held investment group acquired BWA Water Additives (Manchester, UK), a maker of antiscalants,...

Business booms for Kraton Performance Polymers.(PLASTICS)
October 24, 2011... Kraton Performance Polymers, the originator of styrenic block copolyers (SBCs), continues to see growth across key product lines. Kraton was bought from Shell Chemical by private equity firm Ripplewood Holdings (New York) in 2001, and later sold...

CW75 stock performance.
October 24, 2011... The CW75 index was essentially flat for the week ended October 25 as third-quarter earnings reports largely met or exceeded expectations. Broader indexes for the most part ended the week where they started as well. The MSCI Global Index was up...

Altana shows resilience: leadership and innovation underpin robust performance.(COMPANIES)(Company overview)
October 24, 2011... Altana (Wesel, Germany), a privately owned specialty chemicals company, made a spectacular recovery from the 2008-09 economic crisis and registered huge increases in earnings and sales in 2010. The company maintained the improvement in the first...

Manufacturing bucks trend.(VITAL STATISTICS--KEY CHANGES)(Statistical table)
October 24, 2011... The third, and more or less final, estimate for the growth in U.S. GDP during the second quarter came in at 1.3%, compared with the second estimate of 1% and the initial compilation of 1.3%. Although the rate of expansion is slow, it remains...

PPG Industries.(VITAL STATISTICS--KEY CHANGES)(appointment of Diane Kappas as vice president at PPG Industries Inc.,)(Brief article)
October 24, 2011... PPG Industries has named Diane Kappas v.p./ environment, health and safety, effective October 1. Kappas succeeds John Richter, who has been named v.p./operations, coatings Asia-Pacific. Kappas joined PPG in 1986 and has held a variety of...

Dow Corning.(VITAL STATISTICS--KEY CHANGES)(appointment of Anton Van Beek as general manager )(Brief article)
October 24, 2011... Dew Corning has named Anton Van Beek general manager/Europe, Middle East and Africa. He succeeds Martin Sutcliffe, who has moved into the company's corporate commercial organization. Van Beek was most recently business manager/ performance...

Solazyme.(VITAL STATISTICS--KEY CHANGES)(appointment of Jeffrey Webster as chief operating officer at Solazyme Inc.,)(Brief article)
October 24, 2011... Solazyme, a renewable chemicals firm, has named Jeffrey Webster CO0. Webster was most recently group v.p. and general manager/renewable products business at Tyson Foods, where he was responsible for the construction of a commercial scale...

Avantor Performance Materials.(VITAL STATISTICS--KEY CHANGES)(appointment of Robert Ferguson as executive vice president at Avantor Performance Materials )(Brief article)
October 24, 2011... Avantor Performance Materials has named Robert Ferguson executive v.p./electronic materials and Northeast Asia. He will be responsible for expanding sales and customer support in Northeast Asia, as well as the company's global electronic...

Grace Matthews.(VITAL STATISTICS--KEY CHANGES)(appointment of Ben Scharff as managing director at Grace Matthews)(Brief article)
October 24, 2011... Grace Matthews, an investment bank, has named Ben Scharff managing director. Scharff has worked in chemicals M&A for over 15 years and has worked on transactions in a variety of sectors, including coatings, adhesives, plastics and polymers,...

PotashCorp.(VITAL STATISTICS--KEY CHANGES)(appointment of Grandy Gerald as board of director at Potash Corp. )(Brief article)
October 24, 2011... PotashCorp has named Gerald Grandey to its board of directors, effective September 9. Grandey is a former CEO of Cameco Corporation, a uranium mining company. He is also a director of Canadian Oil Sands Limited and Sandspring Resources, and a...

H.B Fuller.(VITAL STATISTICS--KEY CHANGES)(appointment of Joan Schuller as vice president at H.B. Fuller Co.,)(Brief article)
October 24, 2011... H.B Fuller has named Joan Schuller v.p./Asia Pacific, effective November 28. Schuller was most recently v.p. and general manager/coating materials, North America for Dow Advanced Materials. She joined Dow with the acquisition of Rohm and Haas in...

PolyOne.(VITAL STATISTICS--KEY CHANGES)(appointment of Gregory Golf and William Wulfsohn as chief executive officer at PolyOne Corp.,)(Brief article)
October 24, 2011... PolyOne has elected Gregory Golf,, CEO of Tesoro Corporation, and William Wulfsohn, CEO of Carpenter Technology Corporation, to its board of directors, which now has eleven members.

Most read stories online.(Chemweek 24 7)
October 17, 2011... As of CW press time on Thurs., Oct 13 1. Evonik Industries to Build Isophorone, Isophorone Diamine Complex in China 2. UOP Licenses Propane Dehydrogenation and Isobutane Technology to Yantai Wanhua 3. Arkema Inaugurates Plants at...

Live from CPhI.(CHEMWEEK.COM)
October 17, 2011... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Come visit CW's Booth 42A39 at CPhI 2011 in Frankfurt. We will be reporting live from the pharmaceutical ingredients industry's annual conference, with interviews, breaking news and analysis straight from the show...

Chemical finance digest.(CHEMWEEK.COM)
October 17, 2011... A weekly look at industry finance news including M&A, debt and equity, and macroeconomic news. chemweek.com/chem_ideas

Recycling de-icer cuts emissions.(CHEMWEEK.COM)
October 17, 2011... Recycling PG-based airport de-icer can substantially cut carbon dioxide emissions. chemweek.com/sust ainability

Energy efficiency savings.(CHEMWEEK.COM)
October 17, 2011... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] There remains plenty of 'low-hanging fruit' in energy efficiency that can save chemical companies large amounts of money, even millions of dollars annually, speakers at a CW webcast said late last month. There's still...

Dow Chemical on IYC.(CHEMWEEK.COM)
October 17, 2011... Dow Chemical's Katie Hunt talks to CW about the importance of the International Year of Chemistry. chemweek.com/sustainability

Adding substances to reach.(CHEMWEEK.COM)
October 17, 2011... Giles Chappell, a Brussels-based attorney, discusses the challenges of adding new substances to Reach. chemweek.com/chem_ideas

Fine chemicals.(VIEWPOINT)(Viewpoint essay)(Brief article)
October 17, 2011... Our cover story this week assesses recovery in the fine chemicals industry as the sector readies for the CPhI meeting in Frankfurt later this month (p, 21). The outlook for contract manufacturers looks promising despite cost pressures and...

Albemarle ups share buy.(Brief article)
October 17, 2011... Albemarle has increased the size of its share repurchase program to 5 million shares, and raised its quarterly dividend to 17.5 ct/share, the company says. The dividend is payable on January 1 of next year, and the annualized dividend now totals...

PolyOne plans buyback.(Brief article)
October 17, 2011... PolyOne has more than doubled the size of its share repurchase program, by 5.25 million to 10 million, the company says. The figure represents 11% of PolyOne's outstanding common stock. The company had previously had 4.75 million shares...

Sumitomo adds capacity.(Sumitomo Chemical Company Ltd.)(Brief article)
October 17, 2011... Sumitomo Chemical says it will invest [yen]4 billion ($52 million) to double the production capacity of its facilities for compound semiconductor materials at Sodegaura, Japan. Compound semiconductors generally have characteristics such as...

Lanxess buys phthalate-free plasticizer maker.(Brief article)
October 17, 2011... Lanxess has acquired Unitex Chemical (Greensboro, NC), a maker of phthalate-free plasticizers and other specialty chemicals including flame retardants, the company says. Unitex recorded about $30 million in sales last year. Terms of the deal...

KMG earnings fall 65% on rising costs.(KMG Chemicals Inc.)(Brief article)
October 17, 2011... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] KMG Chemicals reported net income of $1.2 million for its fiscal fourth quarter ended July 31, down 650 from the same period last year, as the company's electronic chemicals business was hit by raw material cost...

LyondellBasell names Karyn Ovelmen CFO.
October 17, 2011... LyondellBasell has appointed Karyn Ovelmen executive v.p. and CFO, replacing Kent Potter who has informed the company of his intent to retire. Potter will continue to serve as the principal financial officer until after the company's next...

Evonik Industries to build isophorone and isophorone diamine complex in China.(Brief article)
October 17, 2011... Evonik Industries has announced plans to build a world scale complex producing isophorone and isophorone diamine at its Caojing site, near Shanghai. The company will invest more than 100 million [euro] in the project, which is due for completion...

EU expects to exceed Kyoto target for emission reductions.(European Union)(Brief article)
October 17, 2011... The 15 European Union (EU) countries that originally signed the Kyoto Protocol on climate change remain on course to meet, and most likely exceed, their target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 8% by 2012, compared with 1990 levels, which was...

UOP licenses propane dehydro to Wanhua.(Brief article)
October 17, 2011... Yantai Wanhua Polyurethanes (Yantai, China) has licensed UOP technology to produce propylene and isohutane at its complex at Yantai. The planned facility will use UOP's C3 Oleflex technology to produce 750,000 m.t./year of propylene from propane...