Companies making headlines

American Colors, Sandusky, OH, has completed an expansion and renovation program at the company's Sandusky facility. The program includes a move of sales and administrative offices to allow for expansion of the company's technical and research departments, and the expansion and upgrading of manufacturing operations.

BASF Coatings, Münster, Germany, said it has been designated coatings-system supplier for a new auto-production plant in Changchun, China, operated by FAW-VW, a joint venture of the FAW Group and the Volkswagen Group. BASF Coatings said it will supply all four paint coats for the plant, including electrocoat, primer, basecoat and clearcoat.

Charles Ross and Son Co., Hauppauge, NY, announced the launch of a website focusing on its high-speed dispersers. The site, located at www.dispersers.com, provides background information on the company, a selection guide, technical articles, photographs of mixers, literature, links to technical publications and other information.

Cognis GmbH & Co. KG, Dusseldorf, Germany, said the German Chemical Industry Association has made Cognis' Disponil AFX surfactants product line the only nominee for the association's 2004 "Deutscher Umweltpreis" environmental award. The products offer an alternative to nonylphenolethoxylates (NPEs) in polymerization processes for latexes and plastics, Cognis said. European Union legislation that becomes effective in 2005 will prohibit the use of NPEs in most applications where they can come into contact with water, the company said. The products are described as highly concentrated modified fatty alcohol ethoxylates, with suggested uses that include a range of emulsion polymerization processes.

International Specialty Products Inc. (ISP), Wayne, NJ, appointed Dar-Tech Inc., Cleveland, sales representative for ISP's BIOTREND industrial biocides in all of Ohio, parts of Michigan and Indiana, and areas south and west of Chicago. The action is an expansion of Dar-Tech's existing sales territory of northern Ohio, western New York and northwestern Pennsylvania. ISP also announced an expansion of the sales territory of T.H. Hilson Co., Wheaton, IL, for ISP's BIOTREND industrial-biocides products to include Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, northern Illinois and the Chicago area. T.H. Hilson's existing sales territory includes southern Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska.

MicroBlend Technologies, Gilbert, AZ, announced a licensing agreement with DuPont Titanium Technologies, Wilmington, DE, under which DuPont's material-science expertise will be incorporated into MicroBlend paint products. In addition, certain MicroBlend products will be "co-branded" with the DuPont brand logo. MicroBlend is a paint-technology sales and marketing company and is the developer of a patented point-of-sale paint system that allows on-demand processing and dispensing of latex paints.