Chemical industry weekly news roundup, 19 Oct

This week in CW:

Chemical companies start to report third quarter earnings. Saudi Arabian producers report mixed third quarter results, while European companies report mostly losses—including AkzoNobel and Yara International. American producers, including Sensient Technologies; Honeywell; Cytec and PPG, reported higher earnings.

Several executive changes were announced this week. Ferro’s electronics, color and glass vp is departing in order to reduce corporate costs. An AkzoNobel board member responsible for performance coatings will step down in 2013, and Syngenta appoints its next chairman. Air Products’ CFO will retire in February and the founder of KMG Chemicals is retiring as well.

Air Products is exiting the polyurethane intermediates business, shutting its Pasadena plant and selling the related contacts and assets. The company took a $35-million charge related to the exit in its fiscal fourth quarter.

Ecolab is selling its vehicle-care business, which makes cleaning and maintenance products for cars and trucks, to Zep, an Atlanta-based maker of cleaning and sanitizing products, for $120 million. The deal is expected to close later this year.

IFF says it is investing more than $50 million to expand its existing flavors facility at Gebze, Turkey to support developing markets in Europe, Africa and the Mideast. The first phase of the manufacturing expansion is expected to be complete in the second quarter of 2013.

Around the Web:

A team of researchers from the University of Florida chemistry department have developed a new technique for growing new materials from nanorods, according to the University of Florida news. The study shows that thermodynamic forces can be used to manipulate growth of nanoparticles into superparticles with unexpected precision.

The Telegraph says Air Fuel Synthesis, an British company, has developed air capture technology to create synthetic petro using only air and electricity. Experts say the technology could be a game-changer for the world’s energy crisis and climate change.

An article published in ZME Science says scientists are flocking to more developed countries for advanced research systems, and American researchers are increasingly recruiting talent from overseas.

Oxford University says a new series of radiocarbon measurements taken from preserved layers of sediment left undisturbed for over 10,000 years from a lake in Japan will give scientists a more accurate benchmark for dating materials.