Abstracts:Japanese fine chemicals company DIC Corporation has completed the acquisition of BASF's global pigments business, known as BASF Colors & Effects (BCE). The purchase price on a cash and debt-free basis is €1.15 billion.

Abstracts:Clariant is offering a range of ‘OK compost INDUSTRIAL’ certified pigments which can be used to colour plastic packaging and products intended to be compostable. The certification was awarded by the TÜV Austria.

Abstracts:Colors & Effects® has announced that its inorganic black pigment Sicopal® Black K 0098 FK is now confirmed for US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) condition of use J for microwaveable and oven ready food packaging. This follows its initial FDA compliance confirmation for conditions of use A-H in 2020 (Additives for Polymers ,November 2020, pages 2-3).

Abstracts:Graphene specialist NanoXplore has entered into a multiyear agreement to supply its GrapheneBlack™ products to US compounder Techmer PM, LLC. Techmer PM will formulate and engineer the Canadian firm's GrapheneBlack graphene powder into graphene-enhanced plastic compounds that it will market to a variety of industries.

Abstracts:German companies Brüggemann and GRAFE have developed the eOrange colour masterbatch for polyamides to meet increasing use of the colour RAL2003 in e-mobility applications.

Abstracts:Complex inorganic colour pigments (CICPs) manufacturer Shepherd Color is introducing Chromium Oxide Green 30C659 for applications in high-performance coatings and in plastics and engineering polymers, especially thin films and fibres.

Abstracts:US companies Techmer PM LLC and Cupron Inc. have agreed a deal to expand their partnership related to Cupron's patented, copper-based antimicrobial technology. Compounder Techmer PM will now act as Cupron's primary technology partner, manufacturer, and sales and marketing representative for a wide range of market applications.

Abstracts:Parx Materials reports new test results which demonstrate that its Saniconcentrate™ antimicrobial additive technology can withstand over 1,000 cycles in the dishwasher across a period of four years, representing a breakthrough for touch surfaces in food contact applications.

Abstracts:Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics (IBP) in Germany have developed a process which enables high-quality carbon black to be recovered from waste tyres for reuse in tyres and other rubber products, as well as colourants for plastics.

Abstracts:US compounder Techmer PM reports that it is possible to produce to produce non-halogenated, highly transparent polyethylene (PE) films using its custom non-halogenated flame retardant (FR) products PM116050 and PM117000.