Business Concentrates MATERIALS
▸ Mitsui Chemicals expands in the U.S. Mitsui Chemicals will build a 6,000-metric-ton-per-year line at its Ohio subsidiary Advanced Composites to produce Milastomer, a thermoplastic elastomer made from olefinic rubber and resin. Milastomer can replace polyvinyl chloride and vulcanized rubber in applications including car interiors. Separately, Mitsui bought a 30% stake in B9Creations, a South Dakota-based producer of three-dimensional printers used in the jewelry industry. The Japanese firm plans to use B9Creations technology in the dental market. In 2013, Mitsui paid $576 million for Heraeus’s dental materials business.—JEAN-FRANÇOIS TREMBLAY
Aerospace growth leads to composites alliances Hexcel and Arkema will collaborate in the development of composite tapes, while Toray Industries has agreed to buy a Dutch manufacturer of carbon fiber preimpregnated with adhesive, known as prepreg. Both moves are aimed at increasing the chemical firms’ positioning in the aircraft materials market. At an R&D facility planned for France, the Hexcel-Arkema alliance will harness Hexcel’s composites expertise to develop carbon-fiber-based tapes that incorporate Arkema’s polyetherketoneketone polymers. Meanwhile, Toray is paying $1.15 billion for TenCate Advanced Composites, a company that specializes in carbon fiber prepreg for the production of small and medium aircraft. Toray, the world’s largest carbon fiber producer, already supplies the material to the large aircraft makers Boeing and Airbus. The TenCate acquisition will expand Toray’s client base and product development capabilities, the Japanese firm says.—JEAN-FRANÇOIS TREMBLAY
POLYMERS
PETROCHEMICALS
▸ Partnership formed for phthalate substitute
▸ Borealis to study Kazakh cracker Austrian polyolefins maker Borealis has signed an agreement with United Chemical, an arm of the Samruk-Kazyna Sovereign Wealth Fund, to study building an ethylene and polyethylene complex in Kazakhstan. Total output would be 1.25 million metric tons per year. A feasibility study will wrap up a year from now, and an investment decision is set for 2020. The partners are also collaborating on a polypropylene plant in the country. Over the past decade, two large chemical firms, LyondellBasell Industries and LG Chem, both pursued chemical complexes in Kazakhstan only to walk away before sinking steel into the ground.—ALEX TULLO
BIOBASED MATERIALS
▸ Wacker makes vinyl acetate from cellulose Wacker Chemie has developed a process for making vinyl acetate, a key ingredient in its polymer dispersions, from cellulosic materials. Wacker first converts cellulose into ethanol in a fermentation step featuring engineered bacteria. It then dehydrates the ethanol into ethylene, a key building block for vinyl acetate. The firm is now contemplating commercial-
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C&EN | CEN.ACS.ORG | APRIL 2, 2018
Vinyl acetate-based polymers are used in many applications, including paint. ization. “We have not decided when we will have bigger-scale production, but we are looking at this seriously,” says Theo Mayer, innovation director for Wacker Polymers.—ALEX SCOTT
POLYMERS
▸ Plaskolite buys a Covestro business Columbus, Ohio-based plastic sheet maker Plaskolite has acquired the Sheffield, Mass., polycarbonate sheet operations of Covestro for a price in the high-double-digit millions. The business had 2017 sales of $170 million. Covestro says the sheet business is no longer a strategic fit and that it will sell its sheet operations in Europe and Asia as well. Plaskolite, which makes a variety of thermoplastic sheets used in windows and doors, bought the cast acrylic sheet business of Lucite International in February.—MARC REISCH
Two German chemical companies, Oxea and Oxxynova, are joining to produce dioctyl terephthalate, a substitute for orthophthalate plasticizers, known endocrine disruptors. Under the pact, Oxea will provide the precursor 2-ethylhexanol to Oxxynova, which will react it with dimethyl terephthalate at its site in Steyerberg, Germany. The partners plan to make up to 60,000 metric tons per year of dioctyl terephthalate.—MICHAEL MCCOY
SPECIALTY CHEMICALS
▸ Givaudan buys more natural ingredients Swiss flavor and fragrance maker Givaudan has agreed to acquire Naturex, a maker of natural food, nutrition, and personal care ingredients, for about $1.6 billion. Naturex, which is based in Avignon, France, had sales of $502 million in 2017, employs 1,700 people, and operates 16 production sites globally. Givaudan says the acquisition will boost its portfolio of plant extracts and natural ingredients. The firm has made other natural ingredient acquisitions in the past few years, including Spicetec and Activ International, both in the U.S., and Brazil-based Centroflora Nutra.—MARC REISCH
C R E D I T: S H UT T E RSTO CK
SPECIALTY CHEMICALS
