BASF offers a new solution for phenol-free thermal receipt paper

(BASF) -- Every thermal paper contains a color developer as a key component in a chemical system designed to produce an image or record upon the application of heat. For many years Bisphenol A (BPA) was widely used as a color developer but recently there have been many concerns raised regarding its toxicological properties and therefore its suitability for use in thermal paper. As a result of these concerns, a number of retail companies are now looking for BPA- and phenol-free thermal receipt papers.


As a leading global manufacturer of Paper Chemicals, BASF has a range of high quality products that are used in the manufacture of thermal paper. At a time when alternatives to BPA are being requested by end users of thermal paper, BASF has gone one step further and offers Pergafast 201, a proprietary color developer that is not only an alternative to BPA, but is also non-phenolic. Because of this two-fold benefit, the product more than meets the demand from the industry.


High image stability of this new product class enables a wide range of applications such as tickets, tags, labels and bank statements where such properties are essential.


MRC

(Reuters) - Japan's Tonen Chemical Corp restarted its 491 KTa naphtha cracker in Kawasaki, south of Tokyo, on Thursday morning after roughly two weeks of shutdown, its parent TonenGeneral Sekiyu KK said. The cracker had been shut since June 10 due to a problem, a TonenGeneral spokeswoman said. Tonen Chemical is the petrochemical unit of TonenGeneral Sekiyu.

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(Arabian Oil and Gas) -- Swiss firm Transocean, which lost it's Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, has laid the blame for the explosion and subsequent spill largely at the feet of BP.

In an extensive report, which in parts diverges from US government analyses of the disaster, Transocean acknowledges some failings but what it describes at "the incident it states, was caused by ⌠a succession of interrelated well design, construction and temporary abandonment decisions that compromised the integrity of the well and compounded the risk of failure.

"Temporary abadonment" effectively blames BP as it is a process of plugging a well after initial drilling so that new equipment can be brought in to complete the well in order for production to begin; the report states that BP engineers produced at least five such plans for the well from April 12 to April 20, the day of the blast.

An investigation by the US Coast Guard released in April criticised Transocean and found that the halting of the spill was complicated by ⌠numerous system deficiencies, and acts and omissions by the company and its crew on the rig, according to the Financial Times.

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(Arabain Oil and Gas) -- The International Energy Agency (IEA) is considering whether to add it's oil stocks to the market in a bid to reduce oil prices, according to Reuters. "The IEA can do what it wants, there is no shortage in the market. If they want to release stocks it will be as a mechanism to bring down prices not to fill any supply shortage," an IEA official, who declined to be named, told Reuters.

The agency, which represents 28 oil-consumer nations, is considering a rare release of emergency reserves if leading Opec member Saudi Arabia cannot pump enough to fill the gap left by the stoppage of Libya supplies.

In its 37-year history the IEA has released stocks only twice to fill lost supplies - in 1990 when Iraq invaded Kuwait and in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina when it released mostly refined products from Europe for the United States.

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(ICIS) -- Newly independent US-based chemical distributor Nexeo Solutions will first focus on developing its business model and proposition rather than on mergers and acquisitions (M&A), its chief executive said on Thursday.

⌠We are very excited to be a stand-alone company focused exclusively on distribution and will spend 100% of our time, talent and resources on getting our value proposition right - using service as a differentiator, said CEO David Bradley. ⌠We will first focus on developing this differentiated model before undertaking major M&A, he added.

Nexeo Solutions launched on 1 April after the former Ashland Distribution business was acquired by global private equity firm TPG Capital for USD 979m (EUR 685m). While M&A will initially be on the back burner in terms of focus, Bradley did not rule out deals altogether.


Nexeo had 2010 sales of USD 3.4bn, and it operates in three markets - chemicals, plastics and composites. A key element of its business model will be differentiating its service offering, Bradley said.

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