Blue Star PBT plant set to open in 2007
NANTONG, CHINA - Chinese engineering resin maker Blue Star New Chemical Materials Co. Ltd. plans to open a polybutylene terephthalate plant in Nantong next year.
Blue Star is publicly traded but also part of state-owned China National Blue Star (Group) Corp. in Beijing. The PBT plant is slated to open in the third quarter, with production capacity of 160 million pounds per year.
Frankfurt, Germany-based Zimmer AG is building the plant, which will use a low-pressure polyester polycondensation process to produce the PBT.
PBT is used in the automotive and electronics industry. Blue Star claims it is China's largest maker of bisphenol-A and organo-silicone. The firm said its products were used in China's first human space flight, in 2003.
Velsicol, Youji form manufacturing JV
WUHAN, CHINA - U.S. plasticizer maker Velsicol Chemical Corp. and Chinese chemical manufacturer Wuhan Youji Industries Co. Ltd. have formed a joint venture in China.
The operation will be Velsicol's first production site in Asia.
The Aug. 30 announcement said the venture will make plasticizers and benzoate esters in Wuhan. Velsicol, of Rosemont, Ill., claims it is the world's largest maker of polymeric plasticizers. Wuhan Youji makes organic chemicals.
Velsicol will be majority partner. The firm did not did not disclose production details.
Velsicol said expanding its plastic additives business has been a key goal of its new owner, New York private equity firm Arsenal Capital Partners, which acquired the firm in October.
Velsicol also has manufacturing sites in Chestertown, Md.; Memphis and Chattanooga, Tenn.; and in Estonia.
Reichhold strikes up deal with Czech firm
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. - Reichhold Inc. has sealed a long-term deal with Czech Republic chemicals firm Spolchemie AS, under which Spolchemie is supplying Reichhold's East and West European composite customers with unsaturated polyester resins and gel coats.
Spolchemie, of Ústí nad Labem, makes the products at a plant in Ust¡ that opened in February. The site serves customers of Research Triangle Park-based Reichhold.
Reichhold and Spolchemie have marketed polyester resins jointly in the region for 15 years. Spolchemie's investment in a new polyester resins line was justified by rapid growth in Eastern European business for Reichhold, the companies said.
Spolchemie has formed a subsidiary, Polyspol sro, to operate the polyester/alkyd resins line.
Egeplast Werner buys Solvay technology
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - Chemical manufacturer Solvay SA said it has sold pipe-strengthening technology to Greven, Germany-based polyethylene pipe extruder Egeplast Werner Strumann GmbH & Co. KG.
The trademarked HexelOne reinforced-pipe technology is designed for high-resistance applications calling for pipe with diameters of 7-40 inches.
The price of the deal was undisclosed.
Solvay engineers developed the process at the company's research and technology campus in Neder-over-Heembeek, Belgium. Solvay is based in Brussels.
``We believe that Egeplast is in the best position to realize the technology's full potential, '' said Leopold Demiddeleer, Solvay's new business development director, in a news release.
Clariant, Baihe enter into pigment venture
HANGZHOU, CHINA - Clariant International Ltd. has opened a joint venture pigment plant in Hangzhou in a deal with local producer Hangzhou Baihe Chemical Co. Ltd.
The firms did not disclose details, other than to say the factory has ``substantial'' capacity.
The venture will make red and yellow pigments, providing local production to the growing number of international plants in China as well as to Chinese producers.
Privately held Hangzhou Baihe has annual sales of $60 million. Clariant of Muttenz, Switzerland, will handle marketing and sales.