Power Drive: Chemical Sector to Benefit from Fragmentation of Energy Supply through 2060
Automotive batteries, biofuels, and solar energy, are three renewable energy segments that can provide significant opportunities for the chemicals sector through 2060, according to a new report by Ingo Schröter, principal for consulting firm A.T. Kearney in Germany, and the European Chemical...

BASF's 2009 Energy Efficiency Measures to Yield Annual Savings of $53 Million
Energy efficiency measures implemented by BASF in 2009 are set to make annual energy savings for the company totalling €39 million ($53 million), the company says. The savings are detailed in the firm’s 2009 annual report which is due...

Pessimism Pervades Lead up to Next Round of Climate Negotiations
The first round of formal United Nations (U.N.) climate change negotiations will take place in April in Bonn, Germany surrounded by pessimism. Connie Hedegaard, European Commissioner for climate change, and the Danish minister at the helm for much of the failed Copenhagen climate summit...

Unilever Extends Collaboration to Make Personal Care Products from Algae
Unilever and biotech start-up Solazyme (South San Francisco, CA) say they have extended a collaboration to develop cost effective oils for personal care products derived from algae. The agreement follows the culmination of a year-long collaboration between Solazyme and Unilever, in which Solazyme’s...

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)....

IBM, Stanford Report Organocatalyst Breakthrough
Discovery could have implications in the production of biodegradeable plastics and recycling of common PET, the researchers say....

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....

SusChem Builds Relations with Downstream Sectors on Sustainable Production
The European chemical industry is building closer relations with downstream sectors on sustainability issues, says the European Union’s (EU) Technology Platform for Sustainable Chemistry (SusChem), which hosted a meeting on sustainable technologies during the past week in Luxembourg. SusChem, a joint...

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 toxic titanium tetrachloride into the local area. The...

Cefic Selects U.S. University to Develop HazChem Tests
The University of North Texas (UNT; DentonTX) has been awarded grants totaling $120,000 to develop toxicology tests relating to the aquatic environment, for Cefic, the European Chemical Industry Council (Brussels) and the International Life Sciences Institute (Washington, DC). Cefic is seeking to build...