Dow Water & Process Solutions opened the Global water technology development center

(BUSINESS WIRE) -- Dow Water & Process Solutions, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company, celebrated the grand opening of the Global Water Technology Development Center at the Dow facilities in a ceremony June 9 in Tarragona, Spain. The state-of-the-art center is designed to accelerate the commercialization of Dow's technologies that make possible the production of clean water.

⌠This center represents a significant investment for Dow. It's a one-of-a-kind facility staffed with leading industry experts to meet one of the world's most pressing needs - clean water, said Ian Barbour, general manager, Dow Water & Process Solutions. ⌠The central location is ideal to support our customers in the region and gives us access to the wide variety of water sources, including waste water and seawater, to support product development and performance testing in real world conditions.

The Global Water Technology Development Center was funded through a USD 15 million Dow investment, along with grant subsidies from Spain's Ministry of Science and Innovation for research programs in this area, which is in line with the Spanish government's commitment to research and development in the field of sustainable water supplies.

MRC

(Detroit Free Press) -- Electric vehicles will find more buyers in China and Europe than in the U.S. over the coming decade, mainly because fuel efficiency of conventional gas engines is improving faster and at a lower cost than automakers expected, according to a new study by Boston Consulting Group.

⌠Electric cars will undoubtedly play an increasingly large role in many countries' plans as energy independence and environmental concerns intensify, said Xavier Mosquet, global leader of Boston Consulting Group's automotive practice. ⌠But they will gain only modest ground up to 2020.

The BCG study clashes with a separate study released by the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor that estimates that automakers will spend an additional USD 3.700 to 9.000 per vehicle to achieve government fuel economy standard of between 47 and 62 miles per gallon by 2025.

About 13% of consumers in China say they are willing to pay a premium of USD 4.500 to 6000 for a green vehicle. That compares with 9% of Europeans and just 6% of Americans. BCG expects that electric vehicles (hybrids, plug-ins and battery-only cars) will represent 7% of China's new light vehicle sales in 2020, versus 8% in Europe and 2% of North American new car sales.

MRC

(Lanxess) -- German specialty chemicals company and synthetic rubber pioneer Lanxess has received the Michelin Supplier Award 2010 from Michelin SCA, Clermont-Ferrand, France. With this accolade, awarded by the global tire corporation for the first time this year, the Michelin Executive Committee wants to recognize partners that have helped the company in a special way to achieve its high quality goals, and that are exemplary in meeting Michelin's high standards.

⌠We consider it a great honor to be one of the winners of the first Michelin Supplier Award, said Dr. Joachim Grub, head of the Lanxess Performance Butadiene Rubbers business unit, at the official award ceremony in France on June 15, 2011.

⌠Tire industry experts rightfully view Michelin as one of the major technology leaders in the field. The company stands for innovation and sustainable mobility, Grub continued. ⌠And both of these keywords relate closely to the capabilities of modern, high-performance synthetic rubber, such as neodymium-polybutadiene rubber (Nd-BR). Lanxess is the only supplier to produce this critical rubber raw material in three global regions. Furthermore, Lanxess not only markets the material, it also works to advance it to an even higher level and, more importantly, to tailor it to the specific needs of demanding partners such as Michelin.

Lanxess is a leading specialty chemicals company with sales of EUR 7.1 billion in 2010 and currently around 15,500 employees in 30 countries. The company is at present represented at 46 production sites worldwide. The core business of Lanxess is the development, manufacturing and marketing of plastics, rubber, intermediates and specialty chemicals.

MRC

(ICIS) -- The US Senate on Thursday voted to end a USD 6 bln (EUR 4.26 bln) annual subsidy for corn ethanol. In a 73-27 vote the Senate approved an amendment that would kill the 45 cent/gal taxpayer subsidy for ethanol blended into the nation's gasolines.

The amendment also would end the 54 cent/gal tariff on US imports of foreign bio-ethanol, which has long protected domestic corn ethanol producers from competition. With the vote, the bipartisan amendment was attached to a larger bill, S-782, the Economic Development Revitalisation Act, a small-business development measure.

That legislation was expected to pass in the Senate, but approval by the US House of Representatives is not certain with the anti-ethanol measure attached.

There is strong support in the House for the ethanol subsidy, which supports ethanol production and corn farms in more than a dozen US Midwestern states.

MRC

(ICIS) -- The European naphtha cargo range fell by USD 29/tonne (EUR 21/tonne) due to lower Brent crude prices on Thursday morning. At 10.00 GMT, the naphtha range was assessed at USD 928-936/tonne CIF (cost, insurance & freight) NWE (northwest Europe), with August Brent crude at USD 113.55/bbl and the July crack spread at minus USD 8.75/bbl.

This compares with a range of USD 957-965/tonne CIF NWE at 3.30 GMT on the afternoon of 15 June, when August Brent was at USD 117.80/bbl and the crack spread at minus USD 9.60/bbl.

The naphtha market has been oversupplied in recent weeks and a fall in prices may lead to expectations of increased demand. However, today's price drop has so far had little effect.

With downstream products priced in euros, the current exchange rate means that the impact of the crude price drop on petrochemical values is not sufficient to instigate demand for naphtha, the source said.

Furthermore, buyers are said to be waiting for July contract prices to be settled for products such as ethylene (C2) and propylene (C3) before purchasing further quantities of naphtha.

MRC