DSM Engineering Plastics to sell Yparex adhesives business to RESIN

(DSM) -- DSM Engineering Plastics has reached an agreement for the sale of its Yparex adhesives business to RESIN (Products & Technology) B.V., a Netherlands-based compounding company. The sale is expected to close in Q1 2011, subject to regulatory and other customary approvals and notifications.

The Yparex business produces adhesive tie-layer resins that are extrudable maleic anhydride-(MaH)-modified and functionalized polyolefin compounds. These are used in numerous industrial applications such as sanitary and heating pipes, floor and wall heating (or cooling), copper and steel pipe coating, film applications, cables and cladding panels.

The Yparex business will be positioned as an independent company, headquartered on Chemelot Campus in Geleen, NL and its current four employees will transfer to the new owner.

MRC

(Plastemart) -- Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. plans to flare gas at its Port Arthur site in Texas because its customer Valero Energy Corp., (which uses the fuel) will shut units for maintenance, according to a filing with state regulators. ⌠Valero is planning to shut down all but 3 or 4 of its operating units starting today, according to the filing with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The filing didn't say which plants would be idled.

MRC

(Plastemart) -- Bayer MaterialScience has now inaugurated its Colour Competence and Design Center in Greater Noida, near New Delhi. This new center provides products and solutions for polycarbonate compounds, ranging from color matching and small-scale production, to the broad range of technical services to support injection-molding and compounding processes. This enables customers to adapt quickly to fast-evolving trends, and explore new options for color, surfaces, geometries and design, while leveraging Bayer MaterialScience's global expertise and extensive know-how of the local markets.

MRC

(Plastics News) -- Texas environmental officials searched Shintech Inc.'s PVC plant in Freeport, Texas, on Jan. 26 after receiving a complaint that the plant allegedly was emptying unsafe wastewater into the nearby Brazos River.

Officials seized numerous items from the plant during the search, including log books, wastewater reports and personnel files. The plant ranks as North America's largest PVC production facility, with annual capacity of more than 3 billion pounds.

In a Jan. 28 news release, officials with Houston-based Shintech said that the firm ⌠continues to cooperate with authorities in their investigation of certain aspects of our Freeport manufacturing operations.

The search warrant was issued after an investigator with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality met with four individuals ≈ a former employee and three others ⌠closely associated with Shintech ≈ who claimed that plant management had bypassed pH and turbidity meters, allowing untreated wastewater to discharge into a channel that led to the Brazos River.

MRC

(PLASTICS NEWS) -- Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. LP will pay a fine of more than $400,000 for alleged violations at the firm's petrochemicals plant in Baytown, Texas.

Chevron Phillips -- based in The Woodlands -- was assessed the $422,320 fine for excess emissions from a flare and improper maintenance of monitoring equipment at the site, which is known as the Cedar Bayou plant. The fine was issued by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

A spokeswoman with the Austin, Texas-based TCEQ said that Chevron Phillips did not appeal the fine. Chevron Phillips officials could not be reached for comment.

The firm makes polyethylene, ethylene, propylene and other petrochemical products at the site, which ranks as the largest of its 34 facilities.

MRC