Protection against bird flu
DuPont has been asked by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to provide 75,000 DuPont Tychem disposable garments to be worn by USDA workers while handling infected game and poultry.  DuPont Tychem protects against a range of chemicals and is worn in a variety of industries including environmental cleanup operations, hazardous response and waste management.

Arrests made
Immigration officials arrested as many as 25 illegal aliens working as contract employees at a chemical production site in Memphis, Tennessee.  The arrests were part of an ongoing federal antiterrorism security campaign aimed at protecting critical infrastructure sites including airports, defense installations, shipyards and chemical plants.  Arkema, Dow and Lucite all have presence at the site, but it was not clear for whom the men were working.  Those arrested had used fraudulent documents and had made false statements to gain employment.

Regulations may be tightened
Canada is looking to tighten its regulation of the sale and handling of ammonium nitrate (AN) after a recent arrest of 17 terrorist suspects in Toronto.  The suspects were about to acquire 3 tons of AN, three times as much was used in the 1995 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma bombing the killed 168 people.  The Canadian Fertilizer Institute (CFI) is tightening its code of practice to better address security risks in Canada’s AN supply chain, but access for agricultural and industrial purposes will be maintained.

Specialty catlysts bulk up
W.R. Grace & Co. will bulk up in specialty catalysts, buying up assets to broaden and complement its product offerings in the fast-growing business.  The company recently acquired Basell’s polyolefin custom catalyst manufacturing assets in Edison, New Jersey, and will integrate them into its Grace Davison silica and catalysts segment.

Titanium dioxide to be exported
Kerala Minerals and Metals Ltd. (KMML) is targeting exporting 18,000 tons of titanium dioxide pigment during the current fiscal year compared to the 12,000 tons exported in 2005-2006.  The company has heavy demand from overseas, especially from the United States, Germany, South Africa, China and Spain.

Targeting overseas acquisitions
Praj Industries Ltd., a global leader in setting up alcohol and ethanol plants, is looking overseas to further its operations.  Praj is looking to acquire small- or medium-scale engineering companies in the United States, Canada and European Union.

Gas plants
Praxair India will build two cryogenic air separation plants, each with a capacity of 700 tons/day to meet Tata Steel’s gas requirements in Jamshedpur.  This is the second contract awarded by Tata Steel to Praxair for the supply of gas to the Jamshedpur steel plant.  The new plants will meet oxygen, nitrogen and argon requirements as well as the growing demand for liquid gases from customers in eastern and northern India.  The plants will be commissioned by early 2008.

Aluminum smelter
The Aditya Birla group company, Hindalco, has signed a deal with the Madhya Pradesh government for a Rs. 7,700-crore Greenfield aluminum smelter plant in Sidhi.  The Greenfield project entails putting up a 325 ton/year aluminum smelter, a 750-megawatt captive power plant and jointly owned captive coal mines.  The new plant should take at least four years to complete its first phase.  Aluminum for the smelters will come from the Utkal aluminum project in Orissa.

Investment
Aceto will build or buy a facility in India to house analytical laboratories, logistics and quality control and assurance.  This will expand Aceto’s current Indian sourcing and regulatory staff of 10 to include graduate-level analytical chemists and pharmacologists.  In addition, the company formed Aceto Pharam, a wholly owned subsidiary, to market finished dosage-form pharmaceuticals, both chemical and biopharmaceutical, under its own brand.