Ashland to sell elastomers business to Lion Copolymer Holdings

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ashland Inc. and Lion Copolymer Holdings, LLC, announced they have reached a definitive agreement under which Lion Copolymer will purchase Ashland's elastomers business based in Port Neches, Texas, said the producer in its press release.

The transaction is expected to close by December 31, 2014, contingent on certain customary regulatory approvals and standard closing conditions. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The elastomers business accounted for approximately 17 percent of Ashland Performance Materials' USD1.6 billion in sales for the trailing 12 months ended June 30, 2014. This business, which primarily serves the North American replacement tire market, was acquired by Ashland as part of the International Specialty Products transaction in August 2011. Ashland operates a 250-person manufacturing facility in Port Neches that serves elastomers customers.

As MRC wrote before, Ashland Inc. and Clariant announced they have completed the previously announced sale of their joint venture, ASK Chemicals GmbH headquartered in Hilden, Germany, to investment funds affiliated with Rhone, a London and New York-based private equity investment firm.

Ashland Distribution is one of the leading distributors of thermoplastics for the automotive industry. It has partnered Borealis since 1996, and markets its PE and PP products for the automotive, high-quality packaging and infrastructure segments to more than 3,000 customers in Europe.

Lion Copolymer is a synthetic rubber manufacturer with world-class production facilities in Geismar, Louisiana. Lion Copolymer's ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) products are used in a wide variety of applications that require superior heat, ozone and chemical resistance, excellent long-term aging and outstanding weathering. Applications include automotive weather seals and hoses, industrial and consumer hoses, weather seals, molded goods, wire and cable insulations, window profiles, roof sheeting, thermoplastic elastomers, conveyor belts, seals, footwear, and printing rolls and viscosity modifiers for lubricants.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Elasto Sweden AB has announced plans to invest in a new thermoplastic elastomers (TPE) production line at their facility in Amal, Sweden, as per GV.

The plans include twin screw technology, advanced raw material controls, supporting sub-systems and analytics equipment. The new line is expected to come on stream in 2015.

Managing Director Kjell Fagerstrom commented, "We have a proud history of delivering unique and high-quality products to critical applications in the medical and consumer markets. This is possible due to the high standards we operate to; be it revolutionary new products, advanced compounding processes, in-the-field support or the quality assurance and testing to know our products perform as they should. We challenge ourselves to operate the World’s cleanest TPE factory. This investment is part of our on-going commitment to supply leading quality TPE products and the highest levels of support to our growing medical customer base".

Elasto Sweden was - according to its own words - the first European TPE compounder to be awarded the ISO 13485 certification for the development, manufacture, marketing and sales of TPEs compounds for the medical device industry. The compounds are offered under the Mediprene brand.

As MRC wrote before, Elasto Muller Kunststoffe had installed a new line at the group's site in Lichtenfels, Germany, which came on-stream in early 2013 and increased TPE production by 4,600 tonnes per annum, bringing the capacity of the group to more than 55,000 tonnes.

Elasto Muller Kunststoffe supports the thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) market with a sophisticated and innovative product range developed by highly qualified material experts. The company's products combine the performance of thermoset rubbers with the processing ease of plastics to deliver enhanced design possibilities to a diverse range of markets, including automotive, medical, caps and closures, construction, toy and household. ELASTO is part of the compounding business area of HEXPOL, one of the world's leading polymer groups.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- DuPont Co. said a USD500 million bet on producing ethanol from corn crop waste, singled out by activist investor Nelson Peltz as lavish, will pay off as companies such as Procter & Gamble Co. add to demand for renewable chemicals and fuels, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

"This plant will make money," William Feehery, president of the industrial biosciences unit, said in an interview at the World Conference on Fabric & Home Care in Montreux, Switzerland. "We put a lot of time and R&D money into this."

The third-largest US chemical company is investing in building a biorefinery in Nevada, Iowa, that will be completed in the coming months, and on research and development for enzymes to break down corn waste into ethanol. DuPont will supply cellulosic ethanol to Procter & Gamble’s Tide Coldwater liquid laundry detergent, the first commercial scale-up of its kind.

The company is still a number of years away from being able to license as many as five new future plants, though the P&G contract shows the product will have additional industrial uses outside of gasoline replacement, for which it was originally developed. The Tide Coldwater detergent has sales of USD100 million in North America.

As MRC wrote before, DuPont Packaging & Industrial Polymers announced its intent to continue to increase production capacity of its ethylene copolymers assets at its Texas manufacturing facilities to meet growing market demand. Plans include a series of investments totalling over USD100 mln to be completed over the next 3 to 4 years.

DuPont is an American chemical company that was founded in July, 1802. The company manufactures a wide range of chemical products, leading extensive innovative research in this field. The company is the inventor of many unique plastics and other materials, including neoprene, nylon, Teflon, Kevlar, Mylar, Tyvek, etc. DuPont was the developer and main producer of Freon used in the production of refrigeration equipment.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Resinas Olot SL (Resol) recently selected PolyOne’s OnForce LFT long fiber solutions to replace the aluminum legs on its award-winning Vela table, as per the company's press release.

This innovative solution helped Resol to win two international awards recognizing the inventive design and use of engineering thermoplastics.

"PolyOne is very pleased to work with Resol, helping them explore new possibilities in design and manufacturing and play a part in the success of the Vela table," said Holger Kronimus, vice president Europe and general manager, Specialty Engineered Materials, Europe for PolyOne. "It is exciting to see Resol win these awards and it reinforces our focus on working closely with our customers to enable them to develop truly innovative and unique products."

Working with PolyOne to transition from metal to plastic helped Resol increase its design options, lower overall weight and reduce manufacturing complexity, PolyOne was also able to help Resol achieve excellent aesthetics with molded-in color while eliminating the cost and hassles of painting.

Awards for the Vela table include the German Design Council’s Interior Innovation Award 2014, and the International Interior Design Association (IIDA) Best of Category award in its 2014 Product Design Competition.

As MRC reported earlier, in June 2014, PolyOne Corporation, a premier global provider of specialized polymer materials, services and solutions, presented its specialty portfolio for automotive interiors to designers and engineers at the 2014 WardsAuto Interiors conference. These advanced technologies, including soft-touch materials as well as colorants and special effects, enable customers to design new features that boost consumer appeal and reduce manufacturing complexity.

Based in Girona, Spain, the Resol furniture company includes Resinas Olot, a leading global manufacturer of plastic furniture for outdoor, office and residential use, and Plasfur by Resol, which offers injection molding and manufacturing services to customers in various industries.

PolyOne Corporation, with 2013 revenues of USD3.8 billion, is a global provider of specialized polymer materials, services, and solutions. PolyOne is a provider of specialized polymer materials, services and solutions with operations in specialty polymer formulations, color and additive systems, polymer distribution and specialty vinyl resins.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp (FCFC) is in plans to restart its No. 3 aromatics plant, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Taiwan informed that the plant is planned to be restarted in end-October 2014. It was shut on September 15, 2014 for maintenance turnaround.

Located at Mailiao in Taiwan, the plant has a benzene capacity of 520,000 mt/year, toluene capacity of 210,000 mt/year and isomer xylene (IX) capacity of 100,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed before, in August 2014, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued three final GHG Prevention of Significant Deterioration construction permits for the Formosa Plastics facility in Point Comfort, Texas.
Formosa is expanding its chemical complex, located near Victoria, and taking three actions with its turbines unit, olefins unit and low-density polyethylene (LDPE) unit.

Formosa Petrochemical is involved primarily in the business of refining crude oil, selling refined petroleum products and producing and selling olefins (including ethylene, propylene, butadiene and BTX) from its naphtha cracking operations. Formosa Petrochemical is also the largest olefins producer in Taiwan and its olefins products are mostly sold to companies within the Formosa Group. Among the company's chemical products are paraxylene (PX), phenyl ethylene, acetone and pure terephthalic acid (PTA). The company's plastic products include acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) resins, polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP) and panlite (PC).
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