Company News

03 August 1998 00:00  [Source: ICB Americas]

Millennium in TiO2 Turnaround

Millennium Inorganic Chemicals says the capacity expansion at its Stallingborough, UK, facility is on schedule to come on January 1, 1999. The project will boost the chloride-process siteÕs rutile TiO2 capacity from 109,000 metric tons per year to 150,000 metric tons. The company has scheduled a five-week shutdown at the plant to implement tie-ins along with annual maintenance.

ÒWe have been planning for this shutdown for the past year,Ó says Stuart Esler, director of European sales and marketing. The company adds that it has been building inventories so it can supply customers without interruption.Bayer to Shut Houston RubberBayer will shutter and decommission its Houston polychloroprene facility as a result of a plan that will consolidate production of its Baypren products at its Dormagen, Germany, plant. Bayer cites reduced global consumption and says that having one major production facility in Germany will use the companyÕs resources more efficiently.

Bayer acquired the unit, along with maleic anhydride capacity, when it bought the Houston plant from Denka Chemical in 1988. It shut down the siteÕs maleic anhydride capacity last year and consolidated those operations at its complex in Baytown, Tex.

ABB Lands Fina-BASF Contract

Fina Inc. and BASF Corporation have awarded the turnkey contract for their Port Arthur, Tex., liquids feed olefin steam cracker to ABB Lummus Global for $600 million. The deal includes process technology and licensing, detailed engineering, procurement of equipment and material, construction and commissioning services.

Plans for the cracker, announced in May and scheduled to start up during the fourth quarter of 2000, call for the largest single-train olefins facility in the world, with an annual nameplate of 1.9 billion pounds of ethylene and 1.9 billion pounds of propylene (CMR, 5/18/98, pg. 1). Construction of the new plant, which will use ABBÕs Ethylene 2000 design, will begin in September, according to the company.

Rhodia Expands Nashville Site

Rhodia Inc. is completing a 1,000-short-ton expansion of its sodium hypophosphate operations in Nashville, Tenn., the second phase of a $6.7 million project at the site. The investment, which began in December 1996 with a $2 million investment, has already added 1,500 tons of capacity at the facility.

Primarily used for electroless nickel plating, sodium hypophosphate is also used as a reducing agent and antioxidant in resin manufacturing and as a raw material for hypophosphorous acid. In addition, Rhodia manufactures phosphoric acid, food phosphates and phosphorous intermediates in Nashville. Rhodia is also expanding the plantÕs production of sodium aluminum phosphate, a leavening ingredient used by the baking industry, by 15 percent.Goodrich Buys Textile Chems

BFGoodrich Company has strengthened its position in textile chemicals by buying Clark Chemical, a Cartersville, Ga., producer of chemicals for fabric preparation and finishing. The acquired firm posted $6.9 million in sales last year.

Clark will be integrated into the textile performance chemicals division of BFGoodrich Performance MaterialsÕs textile and coatings group, following in the footsteps of other recent BFGoodrich textile chemical acquisitions, including Freedom Textile Chemicals and C.H. Patrick & Co.

Nalco Grows in Middle MarketNalco Chemical Company has purchased the water treatment chemicals business of Inland Aqua-Tech, improving its profile in the middle market of the water treatment sector.

Spokane, Wash.-based Inland Aqua-Tech supplies water treatment products and services to middle-market customers, such as textile plants, computer chip manufacturers, food and beverage plants, hospitals, office buildings and light industrial businesses.

For the latest chemical news, data and analysis that directly impacts your business sign up for a free trial to ICIS news - the breaking online news service for the global chemical industry.

Get the facts and analysis behind the headlines from our market leading weekly magazine: sign up to a free trial to ICIS Chemical Business.

Printer Friendly