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 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’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 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 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 BASF to build Acrylic Acid and SAP complex at Camaçari, Brazil BASF has announced to investment in a world-scale acrylic acid, butyl acrylate, and superabsorbent polymers (SAP) manufacturing complex in Brazil. The investment would be BASF’s largest in South America. The company has selected the Camaçari, Bahia, site for the investment. The complex, which…
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…
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 BASF to build Acrylic Acid and SAP complex at Camaçari, Brazil BASF has announced to investment in a world-scale acrylic acid, butyl acrylate, and superabsorbent polymers (SAP) manufacturing complex in Brazil. The investment would be BASF’s largest in South America. The company has selected the Camaçari, Bahia, site for the investment. The complex, which…
AMERICAS Polypropylene resin prices drop sharply North American polypropylene resin prices have dropped an average of 14 cents per pound since Oct. 1, while polyethylene prices have taken a smaller, 3-cent drop since then as well. The PP price drop ends a two-month period in which prices were flat. Prices for the material had reduced…