Arkema and CEA to set up two new joint laboratories

(Arkema) -- Arkema and CEA are to extend their existing collaboration in photovoltaics to the field of micro-electronics and organic electronics by setting up two joint research laboratories. These public-private mixed laboratories will enable the development of new ultra high performance materials and their integration within manufacturing processes in growth areas of the electronics sector in France.

Both laboratories will pool Arkema's expertise in the design and production of high performance polymers with the competences of CEA researchers in the design and processes involved in the development of electronic components.

As part of its collaboration with Leti, Arkema will draw on its expertise in polymer nanostructuring to produce new materials designed to optimize the performances of silicon components and significantly reduce their manufacturing costs in next generation integrated circuits.

As part of its collaboration with Liten, Arkema, which markets a group of leading technical polymers (fluorinated, piezoelectric, nanostructured thermoplastic polymers), will be able to meet the technological challenges of the large-area printed electronics sector (flexible screens, intelligent packaging and textiles, photovoltaic panels), such as lifetime of the systems, cost of manufacture, and integration of several functions onto a single support.

MRC

(bloomberg) -- Acron, a Russian fertilizer producer, said profit more than tripled last year as prices and output increased. Borrowings jumped 20 %.

Net income advanced to 18.3 billion rubles (USD622 million) from 5.58 billion rubles a year earlier, the Velikiy Novgorod- based company said in a statement. Net debt rose to 31.8 billion rubles (USD1.14 billion) from 28.3 billion rubles, exceeding a USD1.03 billion estimate from Russian bank VTB Capital.

"Acron's results came in mixed, said Kevin Whyte, an analyst at VTB Capital in Moscow. ⌠While the company was expected to benefit from higher fertilizer prices, the higher- than-expected increase in costs and net debt was a negative surprise."

Acron, which produces nitrogen fertilizers, has borrowed funds to expand as it diversifies into phosphates and potash. The company obtained a USD1.1 billion loan from state development bank VEB for its Talitsky potash project last year. It also earmarked USD400 million to build an ammonia plant in Velikiy Novgorod and last month opened a new USD95 million urea factory.

MRC

(news.szenergy) -- China intends to increase its annual capacity of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) to about 6.6 million tons from 4.7 million tonnes per year in H1 2012. New units producing PET are predicted to go on stream in April-May.

Some Chinese companies plan to start new PET lines. China Resource Chemicals (Huarun) will add three new lines with a combined capacity of 900,000 tpa this year. Two of these lines are being built at the company's existing plant in Changzhou and the other line is being built as part of a new plant in Zhuhai, China.

Each of the new lines will be able to produce 300,000 tpa of PET. The new plant in Zhuhai and one of the new lines in Changzhou were scheduled to start production by mid-April, while the second new line in Changzhou is expected to start production in early May. The company will become the largest PET producer inside China once these new capacities are installed, with the company's annual production capacity set to reach 1.3 mln tons.

MRC

(Reuters) -- The Delhi-based company is in advanced negotiations with at least two overseas firms in Europe and the United States.

Max India is looking to divest its polypropylene business for an enterprise value of about Rs 800 crore as part of plans to exit its non-core business.

The Delhi-based company is in advanced negotiations with at least two overseas firms in Europe and the United States to sell its polypropylene films business. The transaction is expected to close sometime this quarter.

Polypropylene business is expected to have contributed about Rs 700 crore in revenue in the year ended March 31.

MRC

(zawya) -- The Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu is planning to construct two PlasChem Parks in Jubail and Yanbu Industrial Cities II to provide numerous industrial services such as products packaging to all new refineries, petrochemical, and downstream plants to be built in those areas.

PlasChem Parks are to attract the plastic downstream conversion industries, to house the downstream chemical manufacturers, and to provide common services & facilities.

The parks will generate more employment (up to 6 times) than the upstream industry, making low investments, compared to upstream petrochemical investments. They will bridge the economic gap between petrochemicals and the key demand sectors (automotive, packaging, and construction), and provide easy access to European and Asian end markets.

MRC