Intermediates and more
ChemSpec Europe 2005: Europe’s largest fine and specialty chemicals event

ChemSpec Europe, by the organizer’s own account Europe’s biggest trade show for fine and specialty chemicals, opens for visitors on 22–23 June at Messe Düsseldorf, Germany. Over 400 companies from Europe, the US and the rest of the world will be taking part.

At this year’s ChemSpec Europe exhibitors will display their latest products and services in specialty and fine chemicals, active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), pharmaceutical intermediates, dyes and pigments, agrochemical intermediates, water treatment chemicals, coating additives, catalysts, enzymes and more.
The event is backed by industry associations including the UK’s Chemical
Industries Association (CIA), the British Association for Chemical Specialities (BACS), the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) and the British Chemical Distributors and Traders Association (BCDTA).
ChemSource – contract manufacturing and services expo
IBC Life Sciences is organizing a two-day conference as part of ChemSpec Europe. Also taking place at the same time is ChemSource, Europe’s number one contract manufacturing and services expo. As part of ChemSource, the RSC is holding a half-day symposium on high-throughput experimentation and a half-day masterclass on scale-up.
Among the hundreds of exhibitors at ChemSpec Europe, BASF (stand C1) will be displaying the world’s largest range of intermediates. The group offers more than 600 products, notably amines, diols, polyalcohols and acids, made on plants at 15 sites around the world. BASF recently added three new products to its Uvinul range of light stabilizers for plastics: a benzotriazole and two HALS (hindered amine light stabilizer) products. BASF’s Inorganics Division focuses on higher-value reagents for life sciences and other applications. Products include boron compounds, alcoholates and strong bases, Lewis acids, hydroxylamine derivatives and alkali metals.

Bayer Industry Services (G13 & G17) will be at ChemSpec Europe to show off Bayer’s expertise in biotechnology, catalysts, contract manufacture and custom synthesis, and to promote its chemical parks. The company owns Germany’s largest network of chemical parks, at Leverkusen, Dormagen, Krefeld-Uerdingen and Brunsbüttel, employing around 45,000 people in more than 400 production and pilot plants. The chemical park in Leverkusen now has 35 tenants, of whom the newest is international gasket and packing manufacturer Teadit.
Three divisions of Clariant (G21) are of interest to ChemSpec Europe visitors: Life Science Chemicals (LSC, formerly Clariant’s electronic materials business), Pharmaceutical Fine Chemicals (PFC) and Specialty Fine Chemicals (SFC). Following restructuring, the SFC division offers intermediates and actives from around the world, including low-cost sources in India and Brazil. Key technologies are Grignard reagents, halogenation and oxidation. Dr. Hubert Bader, head of Clariant Custom Synthesis, notes that the company also has extensive contract manufacturing experience and facilities.
Acetyls, emulsions, polyvinyl alcohol, acetyl derivatives, solvents,
polyols and olefin derivatives are the specialties of Celanese Chemicals (C13), which has more than 5,000 employees in many countries throughout the world. In polyol and olefin derivatives, the company offers a broad range of aliphatic carboxyl acids and anhydrides, alkyl amines, olefin derivatives such as aldehydes, acetals,
alcohols and esters, and polyols.
ChemSite (G13 and G17) is one of the largest European chemical park clusters, offering investors 220 hectares at six sites in the Ruhr region of Germany. All boast excellent transport links and a comprehensive infrastructure for raw materials, energy, and other services. The ChemSite locations in Marl, Gelsenkirchen and Castrop-Rauxel are ideal for petrochemical manufacturers, while research centers and downstream processors may prefer ChemSite’s greenfield Dorsten/Marl Industrial Park.
Five chemical park operators – one stand
For the first time at a trade show, five German chemical park operators—ChemSite, ChemCologne (Rhineland), CeChemNet (central Germany), BASF and Bayer Industry Services—are sharing a stand to promote their services. “We are not competing with one another but with other production sites around the globe,” says Prof. Horst-Dieter Schüddemage, Chairman of the Chemical Parks/Sites Group of the German Chemical Industry Association (VCI).
Showing off its solutions for life sciences, with a focus on food and agrochemicals, is DSM Fine Chemicals (E13). The company lists more than 60 products, especially glyoxylic acid, fumaric acid, benzoic acid, sodium benzoate, benzaldehyde, iodine and potassium iodide. Recent news includes a plan to increase vitamin C production at the DSM Nutritional Products site in Dalry/Scotland, and to close a bulk vitamin C plant in Belvidere/USA. DSM has also bought a share of Oryxe Energy International (Irvine/USA), which manufactures additives to reduce combustion emissions from fossil fuels. A key component of the additives is Isomixtene, a proprietary product manufactured by DSM.
DuPont (E30), a world leader in fluorinated chemicals, is represented at ChemSpec Europe through its fluorointermediates business, though the group supplies a wide range of other specialty chemicals and contract manufacturing services. Fluorine typically imparts chemical resistance, thermal stability, and low surface energy, notes the company, and also improves efficacy and selectivity in pharmaceuticals. DuPont is offering royalty-free access to its patents and technology for reducing emissions, notably of PFOA, from fluoropolymer manufacture.
The Fine Chemicals Business Unit at Lanxess (B13) offers a range of advanced intermediates, plus contract manufacture. Safe and environment-friendly processes are available to handle challenging reagents such as phosgene, azides, cyanides, methylnitrile and hydrogen at pressures up to 300 bar and temperatures up to 300 °C. Lanxess has expertise in classical organic reactions such as halogenation, nitration and Friedel-Crafts, low-temperature organometallic chemistry (down to –110 °C), fluorine chemistry, and homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis.
Manufacturing services for the life sciences industry
Lonza (H6) operates 18 production and R&D facilities in eight countries. Lonza Custom Manufacturing offers the life science industry R&D and manufacturing services for chemicals, intermediates, active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and biologics, from clinical to commercial quantities. The company also has a broad catalogue of organic intermediates for applications such as pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, vitamins, food, animal feed, dyes and pigments, adhesives and fragrances. Antimicrobial agents, polymer intermediates, unsaturated polyester resins, compounds and composites are
other Lonza products.
At the heart of Rhodia’s fine organics business is Rhodia Perfumery, Performance & Agro (C21), a business unit dedicated to flavors and fragrances, performance specialty chemicals including inhibitors, acid catalysts, imaging products and antiozonants, agrochemicals and fluorinated consumer products. Rhodia PPA has recently refocused its business portfolio around three “product trees”: diphenols (including catechol, hydroquinone, vanillin, ethylvanillin and IBCH); trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) and fluorination; and salicylates. Rhodia PPA is currently building a 12,000 tons/year diphenols plant in China. Solvay Chemicals (F10) is one of three divisions making up the s7.9 billion Solvay group, alongside plastics and pharmaceuticals. Its specialty chemicals products include biocides, electronic chemicals, general chemicals, detergents, and products for oilfields and mining, paper and pulp, and water treatment. A major investment by Solvay Solexis at its Spinetta Marengo site in Italy will increase production of two fluoropolymers: Algoflon PTFE fine powders and Hyflon PFA/MFA, used to insulate network cables. Solvay Solexis is part of Solvay’s Specialty Polymers Strategic Business Unit. The expansions are scheduled for startup in 2007