On 14 September 2018, the American Chemistry Council (ACC) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced a new Alliance designed to foster safer and more healthful American workplaces operating with diisocyanate chemicals along the polyurethane value chain. Three groups from ACC will lead the work with OSHA: the Center for the Polyurethanes Industry (CPI) and the Diisocyanates (DII) and Aliphatic Diisocyanates (ADI) panels.

According to the news portal “BusinessKorea”, a consortium led by the Korean construction material producer KCC Corporation will acquire the US-based company Momentive Performance Materials, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of silicone, quarts and ceramics, for approximately USD 3 billion.

The German company Pultex GmbH, Simmerath, and the Dutch company Prokol Polymers & Compounds BV, Helmond, have jointly developed the non-combustible coating system FireGuard Pro 200 based on a polyaspartic resin.

Sabic, in a notice to Tadawul (Saudi stock exchange), said it has completed all regulatory approvals in relation to the acquisition of a 24.99% equity interest in Clariant.

On 12 September 2018, Mol Group announced that it has signed engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts with thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions AG for the implementation of a polyether polyol complex in Tiszaújváros, Hungary. The EPC contracts cover the entire technical scope of the Polyol Project apart from certain elements mainly relating to project management, site integration and infrastructural costs and commissioning of the assets, said the company.

According to the Luxembourg-based company OCSiAl, its graphene nanotubes have demonstrated their ability to impart permanent and homogeneous anti-static properties to polyurethane materials, overcoming previous difficulties with nanotube dispersion in PU systems. The recently developed nanotube-based concentrate Tuball Matrix 202 has already built up a solid track record in applications such as industrial rollers and castors, PU shoes, printing rollers and cleaning pigs, said the company.

The 11th edition of JEC Asia will take place from 14 – 16 November 2018 at the COEX Center in Seoul, South Korea. According to the organiser JEC Group, after the record-breaking figures of the 2017 edition, that marked the move of JEC Asia from Singapore to Seoul, the event is returning to the capital city of the Republic of Korea with a strong programme, not only on the exhibition floor, but also in the conference sessions.

Brenntag North America, Inc., part of the Brenntag Group, has been appointed as the exclusive distributor of Valirex catalysts for unsaturated polyester resins (UPR) and Valikat catalysts for polyurethanes from Umicore Specialty Materials Brugge NV in the USA and Canada.

Saip Equipment announced that it will exhibit for the first time at Iran Plast 2018 (hall 27, stand 1), which will be held from 24 – 27 September 2018 at the Tehran International Permanent Fairground, in Tehran, Iran. The event is one of the largest and most important exhibitions in Iran in the fields of raw materials, machinery and moulds, auxiliaries and services for the plastics and rubber industries. Saip will share a stand with Sitco Company, its agent in Iran.