US scientists presented renewable PET

(plastemart) -- A low-cost, high-yield process for making polyethylene terephthalate (PET) by a team led by a University of Massachusetts chemical engineer.

You can mix our renewable chemical with the petroleum-based material and the consumer would not be able to tell the difference," said Paul J. Dauenhauer, an assistant professor of chemical engineering, who led the team of researchers from UMass and University of Delaware.

Their findings were recently published in the journal ACS Catalysis. The new process transforms glucose, a simple sugar derived from such things as grasses and trees, into paraxylene. As per the team leader, a complete cost analysis and process design is still one to two years away.

But the process has significant benefits over competing technologies- the process can achieve 75% yield of p-xylene, while competing technologies only achieve yields below 20%.
MRC

The Belgium-based Solvay published financial achievements of Jan-Mar 2012

(chemmonitor) -- The Brussels-headquartered Belgium company Solvay S.A. unveiled its financial results of January-March 2012.
The company's REBITDA dropped by about 9% year on year, in Q1 2012, and demonstrated a 47% hike, if compared to October-December 2011.

Solvay's net sales from January through March reached about EUR 3.2 million. The figure rose by 8.1% year on year and by around 3%, as opposed to Q1 of the last year.

The Belgium chemical company showed a snug increase in its business through Q1, 2012.

mrcplast. com

Omsk-Polymer may be eventually sold in June


(chemmonitor) -- The Russia-based company Omsk- Polymer, engaged in the production of polystyrene and its downstream products, was put up for tender for the fourth time at an initial price of around RUB 1.1 billion (USD 36 million).

However, potential buyers did not demonstrate any interest. As a result, the price was lowered to RUB 995 (USD 32) million, VAT not included.

Omsk Chemical Company is one of the industry leaders in polystyrene production in the Russian Federation and the CIS. Production volume has grown to 60,000 tons annually. Omsk Chemical Company supplies polystyrene to a number of chemical and light industrial enterprises.

Omsk Chemical Company is one of the biggest producers of polystyrene film, disposable tableware and packaging. The company is one of the largest suppliers of disposable utensils and packaging in the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belorussia, and the Baltic States.

MRC

Lightning sparks fire at Dow coatings plant in US

(hydrocarbonprocessing) -- Dow Chemical said an early Wednesday lightning strike hit two storage tanks holding ethyl acetate and butyl acetate at its Bristol coatings plant near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The lightning strike led to a fire, which was safely extinguished by a combination of on-site emergency response along with local area fire companies.

"Material that escaped the tanks is contained in surround dikes with no anticipated impact to the community," Dow said in a statement.

The fire broke out at 3:35 a.m. local time at the Bristol plant. Employees at the site were evacuated and none were injured, Dow said.

However, a member of the Bristol fire department suffered a heart attack and died shortly afterwards, according to media reports.

MRC

First PVC resin plant to be built In Ethiopia

(2merkato) -- The Endowment Fund for Rehabilitation of Tigray is building the first PVC resin plant in Ethiopia with a capital investment of seven billion birr. The plant will manufacture other industrial chemicals as well as PVC resin.

The plant will be constructed in Tigray Regional State near on a 48 hectare plot of land which has large deposits of limestone. It is expected that the plant will have the potential production capacity of 60,000 tons employing a method of production that is known as the limestone to calcium carbide to acetylene route.

It is expected that the plant will save foreign currency and help enhance domestic manufacturing dependant on industrial chemicals said Girma Alemu, Finance Manager of Oromia Pipe Factory plc.
MRC