AkzoNobel expanded Mexico operations

(Coatings World) -- AkzoNobel invested in a new powder coating manufacturing plant in Apodaca (suburb of Monterrey, Mexico). The new 85,000 square foot facility will include manufacturing, warehousing, research and development labs, administrative offices and a quality control laboratory. The project was approved by Akzo's board in mid-September, and construction began early December with completion expected to take up to eight months.

The site will allow the company to more than double its powder coatings business in Mexico and Central America over the next several years.

The new facility was deemed necessary, as AkzoNobel rapidly approaches the capacity limits of the current manufacturing facility in Monterrey. The company will continue to produce its products in the existing manufacturing facility during the construction phase of the new manufacturing plant, which is expected to be fully operational in the third quarter of 2011.

MRC

(PRW) -- Borealis has revealed its involvement in the front grill of PSA's Peugeot 206+, in which a colour compounded polypropylene grade was used to eliminate the need for painting.

PSA selected Borealis' Daplen EH104E-0515, which contains a metallic pigment that provides the same effect the car maker was looking for without the painting process.

The Daplen compound was suited to the application, because ⌠the use of an in-mass metallic colour for aesthetical parts requires a high-flow material in order to reduce the weld lines to a minimum, said Thomas Rothmayer, senior application development engineer of Borealis' Mobility Business Unit.

MRC

(BASF) -- BASF successfully completed its acquisition of CRI/Criterion's global styrene catalysts business. As part of this agreement, BASF has acquired CRI/Criterion's customer list, contracts and exclusive and non-exclusive licenses for intellectual property, including applicable patents and know-how in the field of styrene catalysts, as well as CRI/Criterion's styrene catalysts inventory. There were no plant assets associated with the deal.

BASF previously announced the signing of this purchase agreement via a news release issued on November 29, 2010.

BASF's Catalysts division is the world's leading supplier of environmental and process catalysts. The group offers exceptional expertise in the development of technologies that protect the air, produce the fuels and ensure efficient production of a wide variety of chemicals, plastics and other products.

MRC

(Arabian Oil and Gas) -- Borouge's Innovation Centre is set to start operations at the end of 2011, with all the work progressing as scheduled according to Hu Wei, vice president of the pipe business at Borouge. Speaking on the sidelines of ArabPlast in Dubai, Wei said that US$70 million Innovation Centre is on track to start up at the end of 2011 and the company started the process of hiring talented people from all across the world/

The company said earlier that more than 50 international researchers and engineers will focus on innovations for compounding as well as innovative plastics solutions for the pipe, automotive and advanced packaging industries in close cooperation and partnership with Borouge's customers throughout the value chain.

Borouge will also establish a training centre for the Gulf Plastic Pipes Academy (GPPA) alongside the Innovation Centre in Abu Dhabi, thereby fulfilling its commitment to improving standards and the application of polyolefins for high quality pipe systems.

MRC

(PRW) -- DuPont announced on 9 January that it had entered into an agreement to buy Danish enzyme and specialty food ingredients company Danisco for $6.3bn (┬4.8bn). If the deal goes through, US-based DuPont would pay $5.8bn (┬4.4bn) in cash and assume $500m (┬383m) of Danisco's net debt. DuPont said the acquisition would give it a leadership position in products that address global food challenges and that reduce fossil fuel consumption.

Chairman and CEO Ellen Kullman said biotechnology and specialty food ingredients ⌠have the potential to change the landscape of industries, such as substituting renewable materials for fossil fuel processes.

DuPont and Danisco's Genencor enzymes division already worked together to develop Sorona, a biodegradable polyester.

Bio-based plastics have grown to play an important part in DuPont's plastics portfolio. At K 2010, DuPont highlighted its progress in developing renewable products for the plastics industry, which it said reduced its dependence on fossil fuels and increased the efficiency of its energy use.

MRC