The Everchem Specialty Chemical Hot Deals blast has gone out today. This list contains specially priced surplus and distressed urethane raw materials. Check out the blast here and subscribe if it is of interest to you: http://eepurl.com/dA0Ab
The Everchem Specialty Chemical Hot Deals blast has gone out today. This list contains specially priced surplus and distressed urethane raw materials. Check out the blast here and subscribe if it is of interest to you: http://eepurl.com/dA0Ab
07 April 2011 18:46 [Source: ICIS news]
HOUSTON (ICIS)--A new group of buyers has sued flexible polyurethane (PU) foam producers, potentially expanding the price-fixing lawsuit to thousands of consumers and hotels, but the lawyer representing the group had no immediate comment on Thursday.
The new group suing the producers represent consumers who bought mattresses, sofas, carpet padding and other products made with flexible foam, they said in the lawsuit.
Among the group is The Parker Co, the purchasing agent for Met 2 Hotel. Met 2 Hotel owns the JW Marriott Marquis hotel in Miami, Florida.
Because Parker and the others were end users who did not acquire the foam directly from the producers, they are called indirect purchasers.
The so-called direct purchasers have already sued the foam producers. They bought the foam directly from the producers and used it to make mattresses and other products.
They and the indirect purchasers accuse the PU foam producers of fixing prices and allocating market, and both are seeking class-action status.
The indirect purchasers did not estimate the possible size of their class.
However, they said it could number in the thousands. The indirect buyers could come from 31 states as well as the District of Columbia.
They would have bought PU-foam products from 1 January 1999. Damages could exceed $5m (€3.5m), the buyers said.
Marvin Miller, the interim lead counsel for the indirect buyers, did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
The indirect purchasers suing the producers are Parker, Greg Beastrom, Marjean Coddon, Susan Gomez, Joseph Jasinski, Henry Johs, Joseph Lord, Kirsten Luenz, Kory Pentland, Jonathan Rizzo, Catherine Wilkinson and Jeffrey Williams
The producers being sued are Carpenter, Flexible Foam Products, FXI-Foamex Innovations, Future Foam, Hickory Springs Manufacturing, Inoac, Leggett & Platt, Mohawk Industries, Otto Bock Polyurethane Technologies, Plastomer, Scottdel, Valle Foam, Vitafoam and the Woodbridge Group.
Leggett and Otto Bock have both denied the allegations made in the direct-purchaser lawsuit, which were also brought up in the indirect lawsuit.
Many of the foam producers being sued have filed their own price-fixing lawsuits against producers of polyether polyols and toluene di-isocyanate (TDI), the feedstock used to make foam.
The litigation is pending in the US District Court of Kentucky.
http://www.icis.com/Articles/2011/04/07/9450558/new-group-of-pu-foam-buyers-sue-producers-in-us-price-fixing-case.html
Enterprise Products Partners declared force majeure on polymer-grade propylene due to feedstock concerns stemming from recent refinery outages in Texas, as per Platts. The declaration could last through May, although no allocations were presently in effect.
Power outages idled the BP, Marathon, and Valero refineries in Texas City, Texas, on Monday night and early Tuesday morning, triggering a shelter-in-place declaration that lasted through mid-day Tuesday. At least two refineries - Valero's and Marathon's - were reported to be in restart mode as of Tuesday afternoon, but it was unclear when all three would be running at full speeds.
Such uncertainty prompted Enterprise to declare the force majeure. Enterprise's declaration could provide further upward pressure to already record-high spot and contract propylene values, as RGP has been in very short supply.
http://www.pu366.com/News_View.asp?NewsID=19908&KindDetailID=8
TDI Market is About to Warm up in May with Intensified Maintenances
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2011-4-29
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ICIS now officially opens its annual Innovation Awards, which is handled by co-blogger and colleague John Baker. This year, the award has a new category called Best Innovation for Sustainability sponsored by Dutch chemical firm DSM.
This category intends to recognize companies that have been innovative in their approach to embracing sustainability practices in product development and production to ensure long-term business continuity and environment quality (I am quoting John's words here...).
I had an interview a couple of weeks ago with Bayer MaterialScience's chief administrative officer Robert Kumpf who is also the head of Bayer North American Corporate Sustainability Community Council. He talked about sustainability-related development programs at BMS here in the US as well as some of the company's innovative new products and processs related to sustainability. I should have told him to try entering this year's ICIS Innovation Awards.
As like other corporate strategies, Bayer's sustainability challenge is to balance between economics, environment and social responsibility (you might have hear it as People, Planet, Profit in another sustainability language). Corporate social responsibility and innovation are two major aspects in the company's sustainability strategies especially for Bayer MaterialScience, said Kumpf.
"The biggest contribution that chemical companies, in general, and Bayer, in particular, can give is in the area of carbon abatement and reducing energy use. If you're a chemicals/materials company like us, we can do an awful lot to reduce carbon emissions and energy use," said Kumpf.
He noted the US carbon footprint -- at 7.1 gigaton -- is mostly coming from manufacturing facilities, vehicles, and buildings (commercial and home). Kumpf said Bayer MaterialScience has a wide range of product portfolio and technologies ranging from insulating materials such as polyurethane foams, energy-saving lighting elements such as LEDs, and chemical processing that can significantly contributes to energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions.
The green blog is actually familiar with Bayer MaterialScience's EcoCommercial Building program, which the company launched in late 2009. The program aims to raise awareness among key players in the construction industry of the significant potential of developing zero-emissions public and commercial building using integrated energy and material solutions.
Possible solutions, according to Bayer, include PU systems for floor coatings; long-life light emitting diode indoor and outdoor lighting systems; PU insulation for roofs, walls and floors, polycarbonate (PC) sheets for roofing constructions, glazing, skylights and facades; PU sealing systems; and solvent-free adhesives.
The blog's attention, however, is more fascinated by some of BMS's new chemical processing technologies. Kumpf cited as examples the company's pilot project in Germany, which produces polyurethanes using carbon dioxide as feedstock; a new chlorine plant in Germany that uses a technology called "oxygen depolarized cathode", which reduces electricity consumption by up to 30% lower than standard membrane technology; and its toluene diisocyanate (TDI) plant in China, which features a gas phase process that enables energy saving of up to 60% compared with conventional TDI plant of the same size. The plant started in late 2008.
According to Kumpf, the new TDI process uses up to 80% less solvent and cut investment costs by some 20%. BMS is replacing its existing TDI plants in Germany with the new process. For the chlorine technology, BMS said it expects to reduce 250,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents using the process by 2020.
Kumpf also noted internal sustainability initiatives in the US. The company said it has started training programs on sustainability thinking for its employees.
"We try to embed sustainability thinking into the minds of our own employees, which are the source of our innovation," said Kumpf. "Even simple activities such as recycling, saving energy use and reducing material waste go a long way."
Kumpf did not disclose how much the company profited from its sustainability strategies.
Among Bayer's businesses, Bayer MaterialScience, by the way, is responsible for around 80% of the company's energy consumption. BMS aims to reduce its emissions by 25% by 2020, according to Bayer's sustainability report.
From 2012, the group also wants to cut greenhouse gases by 350,000 tonnes/year using a global energy management system called STURCTese introduced in 2008. The system is expected to be implemented in BMS's 60 most energy-intensive production facilities by next year, which could generate an average energy savings of around 10%.
http://www.icis.com/blogs/green-chemicals/2011/04/green-innovation-at-bayer-mate.html
Pittsburgh, PA, April 29, 2011 --(PR.com)-- While capped polyurethane prepolymers have been used for many years to flexibilize epoxy resins, they can also be reacted with multifunctional amines to create products with useful properties without the addition of epoxy resins. The polymerization of several amines with two capped prepolymers was the subject of a recent technical presentation by a Bayer MaterialScience LLC scientist at the Adhesive and Sealant Council’s (ASC) Spring Convention and Expo held in Tampa, Fla.
Jay Johnston, senior development specialist, presented “Capped Prepolymers as Alternate Routes to Polyurethane Coatings, Adhesives and Sealants” as part of Education Track 2: Technical and Government Regulations.
During his presentation, Johnston explained how capped polyurethane prepolymers can be utilized for additional purposes beyond their standard usage to flexibilize epoxy resins. While this traditional application has reduced brittleness, increased elongation and flexibility, and improved toughness and impact resistance of many epoxy coating formulations, capped polyurethane prepolymers can also be used to create products with useful properties without the addition of epoxy resins. In order for this to occur, Johnston explained, the capped polyurethane prepolymers are reacted with multifunctional amines to produce polyurea elastomers.
“By reacting capped prepolymers with blocked amines, formulators are also able to manufacture one-component, moisture-curing elastomers,” said Johnston. He continued, “The resulting elastomers contain low volatile organic compound (VOC) levels and do not bubble when encountering wet environments.”
Johnston also discussed several two-component adhesive and sealant starting point formulations.
http://www.pr.com/press-release/317028
http://totopereira.blogspot.com/2010/04/nuclear-arsenals-us-and-russian_09.html
USA![]() | RUSSIA![]() |
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Intercontinental ballistic missile | |||||
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Name | No. | Warheads | Name | No. | Warheads |
Minuteman* | 450 | 550 | SS-18 (Satan) | 50 | 500 |
SS-19 (Stiletto) | 60 | 360 | |||
SS-25 (Sickle) | 150 | 150 | |||
SS-27 (Topol)* | 71 | 80 | |||
SUBTOTAL | 450 | 550 | 331 | 1,990 | |
Submarine-launched ballistic missiles |
|||||
![]() |
![]() |
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Name | No. | Warheads | Name | No. | Warheads |
Trident | 288 | 1,152 | SS-N-18 M1 (Stingray) | 64 | 192 |
SS-N-23* (Skiff & Sineva) |
96 | 384 | |||
SUBTOTAL | 288 | 1,152 | 144 | 576 | |
Bombers |
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![]() |
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Name | No. | Warheads | Name | No. | Warheads |
B52 Stratofortress | 44 | 350 | Tu-95 (Bear) | 62 | 682 |
B-2A Spirit* | 16 | 150 | Tu-160 (Blackjack)* | 13 | 156 |
SUBTOTAL | 60 | 500 | 75 | 838 | |
Nonstrategic (short-range) forces |
|||||
![]() |
![]() |
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Name | No. | Warheads | Name | No. | Warheads |
Tomahawk* cruise missile | 325 | 100 | 53T6 (Gazelle) | 68 | 68 |
B61 bombs | 400 | SA-10 (Grumble)* | 1,900 | 630 | |
Bombers/fighters | 524 | 650 | |||
Subs/Ships/Air | 700 | ||||
SUBTOTAL | 325 | 500 | 1,492 | 2,000 | |
TOTAL | 1,123 | 2,702 | 2,042 |
4,600
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Alabama officials estimated that up to 25% of the poultry houses in the state were destroyed or damaged Wednesday by the tornado outbreak, likely killing millions of birds.
Government officials in Alabama, the No.3 chicken-producing state behind Arkansas and Georgia, said Thursday that preliminary reports indicate that about 200 poultry houses were destroyed and another 180 were damaged by the fierce storms.
Alabama agricultural officials were having a difficult time gauging the damage because many rural roads were impassable Thursday. Likewise, electric power was out and telephone systems were down in many areas.
"We do anticipate the number of poultry mortalities to be substantial and we are currently working with poultry companies along with their growers to determine all damages," said Dr. Tony Frazier, Alabama's State Veterinarian.
Chicken farming is a multibillion-dollar industry in Alabama, where a typical poultry house contains about 20,000 birds.
The Alabama Poultry and Egg Association estimated that five million chickens probably died in the tornadoes, which slammed the northern part of the state, where the industry is centered. That alone isn't enough to disrupt chicken supplies nationally. The state usually produces about 21.5 million chickens in a week. The U.S. produces roughly nine billion chickens annually.
Industry officials caution that Alabama's bird losses could swell if many farmers aren't able to quickly re-establish water supplies. The tornadoes damaged many rural water systems.
"Power outages and loss of drinking water could worsen an already critical situation for poultry producers and meat processors," said John McMillan, commissioner of the Alabama Department of Agriculture & Industries, in a statement.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704330404576291314033332864.html?mod=e2tw
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