The American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com) reported that U.S. specialty chemicals market volumes ended the first quarter on a strong note, rising 0.6 percent in March. This follows a similar 0.6 percent gain in February. Volumes have generally…
The Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB), a leading economic indicator created by the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com), marked the second quarter by posting a robust 5.6 percent year-over-year gain, suggesting continued growth through year-end 2017. The barometer posted…
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) has signed an agreement to acquire ZedX, Inc. (Bellefonte, Pa.; www.zedxinc.com), a leader in the development of digital agricultural intelligence. The acquisition is expected to be completed within four weeks. ZedX’s expertise lies in the…
Lanxess AG (Cologne, Germany; www.lanxess.com) announced plans to further strengthen its integrated production complex for polyamide and precursors for plastics in Antwerp. With an investment of roughly €25 million in 2017, the specialty chemicals company will primarily implement measures to…
Wacker Biosolutions, the life sciences and biotechnology division of the Wacker Group (Munich, Germany; www.wacker.com), is strengthening its integrated ketene production at its Burghausen site in Germany. The company is building a further reactor for the manufacture of isopropenyl acetate…
Aspen Technology, Inc. (Bedford, Mass.; www.aspentech.com) announced that it has acquired rights to Operator Training Simulator (OTS) framework software from Inprocess Technology and Consulting Group of Barcelona, Spain. Inprocess, developer of the OTS software, is a consulting service company supplying technological services to owner-operators…
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) has signed an agreement to acquire Grupo Thermotek, a leading waterproofing systems supplier based in Monterrey, NL, Mexico. The transaction is subject to approval by relevant authorities and is expected to close by mid-2017. Both…
GE Additive (www.geadditive.com) is establishing a “Customer Experience Center” in Munich, Germany – the first of several GE Additive centers planned worldwide to accelerate the use of additive manufacturing. The Munich center will allow current and potential customers to experience…
Virent, Inc. (Madison, Wis.; www.virent.com) announced the appointment of Stacey Orlandi as the company’s chief executive officer. Orlandi will lead efforts to commercialize Virent’s technology for the large scale production of renewable fuels and chemicals and replace Lee Edwards, who…
Arkema (Colombes, France; www.arkema.com) has just successfully brought onstream new Kynar polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) capacities on its Changshu platform near Shanghai. With this 25% increase in its production capacities in China, Arkema, which runs PVDF production plants on 3 continents…