Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals News

First shipment this month

By: Mariaan Webb 16th March 2007 The 34 000-bbl/d Oryx gas-to-liquid (GTL) plant that South African petrochemicals giant Sasol commissioned in Qatar early this year is expected to start contributing to the firm’s earnings in the 2007 financial year. →

Plant-hire firm plays its part in refinery shutdown

24th March 2006 Rand-Air, a South African plant-hire company in the Atlas Copco Group, supplied compressed air and on-site generators during the shutdown of Engen’s Durban plant in October 2005, as the refinery made the conversion to the clean fuels project. →

Local company appointed exclusive distributor for British firm

24th March 2006 Johannesburg company Filteg Solutions has been appointed as the exclusive distributor for KnitMesh products into the industrial environment, including the chemical and petrochemical industries. →

Prospects for the chemicals industry are bright

By: Amy Heydenrych 24th March 2006 The South African Chemical and Allied Industries Association (CAIA) notes that the prospects for the chemicals industry are bright, although the sector is not without its challenges. Director of information resources Dr Mike Booth reports that the industry is performing well and is contributing... →

Industry commits to improve chemicals management

24th March 2006 In Dubai in February this year, the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) announced the launch of two new initiatives – the Responsible Care Global Charter and the Global Product Strategy – aimed at further elevating the global chemical industry’s commitment to... →

Firm wins multimillion rand facilities management contract

24th March 2006 South Africa’s leading asset-maintenance company, Pragma, has landed a five-year contract with petrochemical giant Shell SA marketing for the maintenance and management of its retail facilities and assets. →

New opaque polymer technology launched

24th March 2006 The Rohm & Haas range of specialty chemicals includes Ropaque Ultra-E opaque polymers that offer excellent opacity contribution, owing to inherent light-scattering technology. ? →

New products add to company’s repertoire

24th March 2006 South African company Bearing Man has introduced to new products to its distribution repertoire to serve the chemical industry. →

New enviro-friendly solvent product for industrial cleaning market

By: Amy Heydenrych 24th March 2006 Early this year, an innovative environment-safe solvent product was launched to the industrial cleaning market. →

Sulphur specialist thinks zinc

By: Amy Heydenrych 24th March 2006 Local sulphur specialist Chemical Initiatives has been awarded a five-year contract to supply sulphur to Skorpion Zinc, a company in the Anglo Base Metals stable. →

Mobile container handling system improves safety

24th March 2006 Specialist in materials-handling equipment for empty and loaded conainers in shipping, road, rail and air applications, Big Lift Trucks, has launched a new mobile container-handling system that also ensures the safe handling, transportation and storage of hazardous and nonhazardous substances. →

Chemicals company undertakes two major Coega developments

By: Amy Heydenrych 24th March 2006 South African company Straits Chemicals is in the foundational stages of two major developments in the Coega area. ? →

Leading speciality chemicals company seals BEE deal

By: Amy Heydenrych 24th March 2006 Diverse specialty chemicals supplier Henkel South Africa has concluded the company’s black economic-empowerment (BEE) initiative that commenced in 2004. →

South African company represents four new products

24th March 2006 South African company Labotec is supplying a number of international products under its brand. →

New process plant for petrochemicals giant

24th March 2006 Structural steel fabricator Cosira International has been appointed to fabricate all structural steel components, including equipment support steelwork and pipe rack steelwork, for Sasol’s new 1-octene process plant in Secunda. →

Vapour combustion systems aid in pollution control

By: Amy Heydenrych 24th March 2006 Driven by the global concern regarding hazardous organic pollution in industrial and urban areas, South African company Explochem is providing a product that has been proved to reduce harmful emissions. →

The perfect answer to loose screws

25th March 2005 Henkel Loctite, of Germany, has recently launched a new range of threadlockers and threadsealants to be used in maintenance and repair work in car workshops and various sectors of industry, including the chemical and petrochemical sectors. →

New generation of crude oil distillation systems

25th March 2005 For a number of years now, there have been no new developments or fundamental enhancements in equipment used for laboratory crude oil distillation in compliance with ASTM standards D-2892, D-5236 and D-1160. →

Not all acrylic binders are equal

25th March 2005 “In recent years the paint market has been flooded with many 100% acrylic binders purporting to offer outstanding performance in all kinds of exterior applications,” says Rohm & Haas South Africa MD Forbes Merrigan. →

Project Turbo receives secondary cooling pumps

25th March 2005 Gauteng-based APE Pumps has completed manufacture of the first six of ten split-case secondary cooling pumps for Project Turbo. →

Petrochemical project for welding machine specialist

By: abdul cook 25th March 2005 Port Elizabeth-based Fabinox Projects is taking delivery of three more Orbital welding machines, increasing its total Orbital equipment to seven. →

Local pipes launched in the US

By: abdul cook 25th March 2005 The middle of January saw the first delivery of about 2 500 m of Petroplas pipes to the US – marking the export launch of a South African designed and manufactured product despite the unfavourable rand/dollar exchange rate. →

Safety torches operate in potentially-explosive conditions

By: abdul cook 25th March 2005 Gauteng-based Denver Technical Products have introduced one of the first ATEX directive compliant safety lights to South Africa. →

Chemical incubator facilitates novel projects

By: abdul cook 25th March 2005 Port Elizabeth-based Chemin has been involved in more than forty projects since inception, receiving more than 150 expressions of interest. →

Toxicity-testing device to target mining sector

By: abdul cook 25th March 2005 A new field-based method to measure toxicity was introduced to South Africa earlier this month. →

Chemical wizardry beats polyurethane shortage

25th March 2005 South African manufacturers of a wide variety of goods based upon polyurethane chemicals are facing pressure as a result of a worldwide shortage of component chemicals such as isocyanates and polyols. →

R30-million water upgrading plant for refinery

25th March 2005 A leading water and energy solutions company in Southern Africa, ImproChem, has started construction of a R30-million wastewater upgrading facility at Caltex Refinery in Milnerton, Cape Town. →

Software package improves operations at refineries

By: abdul cook 25th March 2005 An innovative means to unify all of AspenTech’s products and capabilities into a single cohesive system was introduced late last year by the company. →

Online process sulphur analyser new to SA

By: abdul cook 25th March 2005 Three analysers that can accurately measure and analyse information in the chemical and petrochemicals industries have been introduced by OEN Enterprises. →

Oil refineries reduce emissions

By: zeena isaacs 26th March 2004 In the nine years between 1992 and 2001 oilrefineries have increased their capacity by 32%, from 513 000 barrels of fuel a day to 676 000 barrels a day. →

Third-party verification improves Responsible Care credibility

By: zeena isaacs 26th March 2004 The Chemical and Allied Industries’ Association (Caia) reports that it plans to implement an external auditing system for its Responsible Care (RC) signatories by the second half of this year. →

Chemical company’s growth goals outlined

By: zeena isaacs 26th March 2004 Chemicals manufacturer and supplier Chemical Initiatives is in the process of implementing a significant growth strategy to increase its competitiveness in the South African chemical industry. →

Chemicals firm sets up blending plants in Africa

26th March 2004 Leading manufacturer of industrial, hygiene and environmentally-acceptable chemicals, South Africa Fine and Industrial Chemicals, (Safic), has set up secondary blending plants in Africa. →

Construction chemicals help to waterproof hotel

26th March 2004 Products supplied by abe Construction Chemicals played important interior and exterior roles in the construction of the new five-star Arabella Sheraton Grand Hotel on the foreshore of Cape Town. →

Tukkies patents biofouling monitor

26th March 2004 Biofilm is a significant problem in meeting the ever-increasing food-safety requirements that stakeholders in the food and beverage (F&B) industry demand and what the consumer requires from their F&B products. →

Plasticiser allows two hours of concrete workability

26th March 2004 A plasticiser providing unprecedented two-hour long workability of concrete, called Chrysoplast Omega 101, has been launched by Chryso South Africa. →

Birthday celebrations marked by accreditation announcement

26th March 2004 Well-established chemicals, additives and food ingredients supplier, Carst & Walker, is proud to announce its 70th birthday this year. →