MARKETS

Ras Laffan Olefins Set to Start This Month

Operations at the Ras Laffan Olefins Co. (RLOC) ethylene unit in Ras Laffan, Qatar are expected to start this month, according to Chevron, parent of one of the joint venture partners in the project....

Study Predicts Widespread Company Failures Will Precede Solar Market Boom

The volume of solar installations will grow at a 23% annual rate from 2010 to 2015, but revenue will grow by just 14%, as prices fall due to remaining overcapacity, says market research firm Lux Research (New York)....

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Basic Chemicals

Four Injured in Explosion at Cristal Global's U.K. TiO2 Plant

Four people have been injured following an explosion at the Stallingborough, U.K. manufacturing plant of titanium dioxide (TiO2) producer Cristal Global (Cristal; Yanbu, Saudi Arabia). A reactor tank ruptured today at 00:30 local time releasing a cloud of...

Petrochemicals

Outage at Eastman's TX Facility Expected to Impact First-Quarter Earnings

Eastman Chemical says its Longview, TX olefins complex will be down following an equipment breakage that has interrupted production of certain products and intermediates. The company expects the outage to cut first-quarter 2010 earnings per share by about 20...

Inorganic Chemicals

Dow Corning Acquires Silicon Assets

Dow Corning says it has acquired the Brazilian operations of Globe Specialty Metals (GSM; New York), including two chemical-grade silicon manufacturing assets, for $175 million, and also acquired a 49% interest in GSM's silicon metal manufacturing operation at Alloy, WV for an undisclosed sum....

Plastics

Researchers Find Greener Way to Process PET Fibers

Researchers at the University of Torino in Italy found that treating polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fibers with a low-temperature, partially ionized gas increased the fibers' affinity for water....

Specialty Chemicals

Kemira and VTT to Establish Water Treatment Research Center

Kemira and The Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) will establish a Center of Water Efficiency Excellence in Finland, which will focus on developing new technology to enhance water usage and recycling. The center's goal is to "develop unique...

Fine Chemicals/Biotech

Lonza Forms Alliance and Acquires Stake in U.S. Drug Discovery Tech Firm

Lonza says it has signed an agreement with drug discovery technology company Odyssey Thera (San Ramon, CA) to make Odyssey Thera’s proprietary protein-fragment complementation assay (PCA) technology, and Odyssey Thera has granted to Lonza an option to...

Industrial Gases

Praxair Issues $400 Million in Debt at 1.75% (Updated)

Praxair has issued $400 million in new debt securities due in 2012, the company announced today. The debt carries an interest rate of 1.75%. The current debt issue is expected to close on November 16. Praxair's long-term debt is rated A2 by Moody's, and A by...

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