Industry: Specialty polymers

Former Dow scientist convicted of selling trade secrets A former Dow Chemical Co. scientist has been convicted of selling information on production of Tyrin-brand chlorinated polyethylene to Chinese firms. Wen Chyu Liu – also known as David Liou – was convicted by a jury in U.S. District Court in Baton Rouge on Feb, 6 and […]

AMERICAS Dow to complete closure of two VCM units this year Dow Chemical will close two vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) production lines this year. Dow will shut down a production unit at its Freeport, TX VCM facility in the first quarter of 2011. A second VCM unit at the company’s Plaquemine, LA complex will cease […]

Hyundai awarded US$169 mln project to build XLPE unit by Borouge Borouge has awarded a US$169 mln contract to Hyundai Engineering and Construction of South Korea to build a cross-linkable polyethylene (XLPE) unit at its petrochemical plant in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi. With an annual capacity of 80,000 tonnes, the unit is an added-value complement to […]

AMERICAS Mexichem buying AlphaGary for USD 300 million Mexichem SAB de CV is paying USD 300 million to buy compounder AlphaGary Corp. from Rockwood Holdings Inc. AlphaGary is the largest division in Rockwood’s specialty compounds segment and it develops high-technology compounds for niche applications. It has multinational clients in such sectors as communications cables, disposable […]

AMERICAS Sasol to build a co-monomer plant at Lake Charles Sasol will build the world’s first commercial ethylene tetramerization unit designed to produce more than 100 KTA of combined octene-1 and hexene-1 co-monomers at its Lake Charles, LA complex. The unit will use Sasol’s proprietary technology converting ethylene to octene-1 and hexene-1. Construction is scheduled […]

AMERICAS Nova selling its stake in Ineos Nova joint venture Nova Chemical Corporation has sold its 50 percent stake in the Ineos-Nova polystyrene joint venture to its partner Ineos Group for an undisclosed price. Nova confirmed the sale on November 12 in its third-quarter earnings report. Nova and Ineos already had a similar JV in […]

AMERICAS LyondellBasell’s profit was boosted by strong polyolefin demand LyondellBasell announced a third-quarter net income of USD 467 million, compared to a net loss of USD 651 million in the third quarter of 2009, driven by increased demand for polyolefins and higher selling prices for ethylene. Globally, LBI’s olefins and polyolefins results have been approximately […]

AMERICAS DAK Americas buying Eastman’s PET business for USD 600 million Eastman Chemical Co. has agreed to sell its integrated PTA and PET resin business to DAK Americas LLC, owned by Alpek, a division of Mexican conglomerate Alfa SAB de CV, for USD 600 million in cash. The transaction is expected to be completed in […]

AMERICAS LyondellBasell approved for NYSE listing LyondellBasell’s shares of its common stock are expected to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on October 14. Class A ordinary shares will trade under the symbol LYB and Class B ordinary shares under the LYB.B symbol. The company was de-listed from the NYSE after the […]

AMERICAS Braskem plans Polypropylene upgrade Braskem America will invest USD 40 million in its U.S. polypropylene business through 2011, upgrading facilities’ infrastructure, and integrating business processes with parent company Braskem. Braskem has allocated more than USD 35 million for upgrading manufacturing assets, and USD 15 million of that will go to the company’s La Porte, […]

AMERICAS DuPont and Invista settle polymers lawsuits DuPont and Koch Industries subsidiary, Invista have signed a settlement agreement resolving three existing lawsuits between the companies – concerning polymers technology, adiponitrile (ADN) technology, and disputes related to existing supply agreements. DuPont filed a lawsuit against Invista in 2008 alleging that Invista infringed upon DuPont patents and […]

COAL Sinopec to build coal-based MTO project in China China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec), the second largest oil and natural gas producer in China entered an agreement with the government of Hebi city in China’s central Henan province to jointly develop a 1.8 million ton per year coal-based methanol to olefin (MTO) project. Sinopec […]