Chemical Update

KMG Chemicals, Inc. (NASDAQ: KMGB), a global provider of specialty chemicals in niche markets, recently announced that it entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the High-Purity Process Chemicals ("HPPC") business from Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) for $74.6 million, which includes $27.5 million for working capital and accrued liabilities. With revenues of approximately $90 million in the 12 months ended September 30, 2007, the HPPC business is the largest U.S. supplier to semiconductor manufacturers of high purity process chemicals used to clean, etch, and otherwise prepare the surface of semiconductor products. The Company will finance the transaction with cash on hand and senior bank debt.

Neal Butler, President and CEO of KMG, commented, "We expect this transaction to close on or about December 31, 2007, approximately half-way through our current fiscal year. On that timeline, and taking into account the significant integration costs, the HPPC business should be immediately accretive to earnings, contributing towards our stated goal of double digit EPS growth for fiscal 2008. The acquisition will contribute in a much more significant way for the complete fiscal 2009, particularly post-integration."

The acquisition includes a state-of-the-art production facility and warehouse in Pueblo, CO. Built in 1998, this 215,000 square foot facility sits on a 38-acre industrial site that was previously undeveloped. Also included in the acquisition, but subject to compliance with certain applicable regulatory requirements that should entail a period of approximately four weeks, are a manufacturing facility and warehouse near Milan, Italy supplying HPPC products to European manufacturers.

Mr. Butler continued, "We are extremely enthusiastic about this acquisition, which essentially doubles the size of our Company. This niche segment of the electronic chemicals market is a perfect fit for KMG's business model, and we believe this opens the door for additional quality acquisitions in the future that will meet KMG's criteria. We look forward to working with Air Products towards the successful close and smooth integration of this business. Air Products will provide transitional services to assure that the high level of customer service they have provided to their HPPC customers continues as we integrate the business into KMG. There are approximately 165 Air Products employees associated with this business. We are very impressed with the operation and plan to employ essentially all of those employees. It will be a seamless transition to the customers."

Mike Hilton, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Electronics and Performance Materials, Air Products, stated, "We believe KMG has a clear commitment to customer satisfaction. We will work closely with the KMG team to ensure a smooth transition for HPPC customers and employees."

High-purity process chemicals are basic and custom-performance blends of acids and solvents used in the manufacture of semiconductors. Customers use the chemicals in their manufacturing process to etch and clean the wafer at each production layer. These chemicals remove unwanted residue at very specific rates. The typical application is in the form of chemical baths or spray on devices.

KMG Chemicals, Inc., through its subsidiaries, produces and distributes specialty chemicals to niche markets. The Company grows by acquiring and managing stable chemical product lines and businesses with established production processes. Its wholly owned subsidiary, KMG Bernuth, Inc. is a global provider of products to the wood treating and agricultural industries. For more information, visit the Company's web site at www.kmgchemicals.com.

Japanese Firm Sumika Polymer Compounds America to Build Production Plant in

Japanese Firm Sumika Polymer Compounds America to Build Production Plant in Griffin, Georgia

Two major Japanese chemical companies recently announced that they are forming a joint venture to be located in Griffin, Ga. The new venture, called Sumika Polymer Compounds America, Inc. (SPCA), will create 50 jobs in a plastic manufacturing facility supplying automotive parts.

SPCA will manufacture polypropylene compounds for the automotive industry. The company plans to build a 90,000 square foot facility on a 30-acre site at the Hudson Industrial Park in Griffin. The joint venture facility between Sumitomo Chemical and Toyo Ink Group, both based in Tokyo, is expected to be online in early 2009.

“This project in Griffin is a vital step for the global expansion of our plastics business, not only for the joint venture itself, but also for the parent companies,” said Teruhiko Doi, the newly appointed President of SPCA. “In Georgia, there are many factors that attract manufacturers like us to locate our facilities here: its position as one of the major automobile producing regions, not to mention the presence of efficient infrastructure in Griffin. We are grateful to state and local officials for their extensive support.”

Sumitomo Chemical includes 100 companies operating around the world in six business sectors: basic chemicals, petrochemicals and plastics, fine chemicals, IT-related chemicals, agricultural chemicals and pharmaceuticals.

The Toyo Ink Group, headed by Tokyo-based parent Toyo Ink Mfg. Co., Ltd., consists of 26 companies in Japan and 47 companies from 16 countries around the world. It is a leading manufacturer and supplier of a variety of chemical products based on its unique color materials, adhesives and resins technologies accumulated over a century of manufacturing expertise in pigments and printing inks.

Eastman Continues Transformation of Calhoun County, S.C., Site

Eastman Continues Transformation of Calhoun County, S.C. Site

Eastman Chemical Company recently said it is continuing capital investments of approximately $100 million to transform and reinvest in its Calhoun County, S.C., facility.

Supporting previously announced strategic growth efforts for both specialty copolyesters and polyethylene teraphthalate (PET) product lines, the company disclosed this expenditure encompassing a number of projects. Projects include the conversion of an existing polymer line to add specialty copolyester production to the site, transformation from dimethyl teraphthalate (DMT) to purified terephthalic acid (PTA) production to create an integrated PTA-based polymer site, and infrastructure investments. Also included are projects aimed at increasing the capacity of the site's IntegRex™ technology polymer production by at least 50%. The projects are currently underway and expected to be completed in 2008.

"These investments will be used for a variety of projects including the important work of upgrading our infrastructure," said Gregory O. Nelson, executive vice president and head of Eastman's polymers business group. "They will also allow us to continue the transformation of our South Carolina site through the expansion of specialty copolyester manufacturing there as well as fuel strategic growth for the company by extending the use of our proprietary IntegRex™ technology."

Nelson noted the site began operation in 1967 as a manufacturer of polyester textile fibers. During the early 80's, the site became one of the earliest producers of PET resin for carbonated soft drink bottles. In the late 80's, the site ceased fiber production and was fully converted to the manufacture of PET resin for packaging applications. The site remains one of the world's largest PET resin manufacturing facilities.

Eastman manufactures and markets chemicals, fibers and plastics worldwide. It provides key differentiated coatings, adhesives and specialty plastics products; is one of the world’s largest producers of PET polymers for packaging; and is a major supplier of cellulose acetate fibers. Founded in 1920 and headquartered in Kingsport, Tenn., Eastman is a FORTUNE 500 company with 2006 sales of $7.5 billion and approximately 11,000 employees.

Eastman Chemical Involved in Two Industrial Gasification Projects on the US Gulf C

Eastman Chemical Involved in Two Industrial Gasification Projects on the U.S. Gulf Coast

Eastman Chemical Co. has announced involvement in two industrial gasification projects on the U.S. Gulf Coast. Eastman will be the developer, operator, co-investor and customer of a new $1.6 billion project slated for Beaumont, Texas. In Louisiana, Eastman is the operator, co-investor and customer in the Faustina Hydrogen Products LLC project in St. James Parish.

The Beaumont plant, which is expected to be online in 2011, will produce low-cost intermediate chemicals, such as methanol, hydrogen and ammonia. The St. James Parish facility will use petroleum coke and high-sulfur coal as feedstocks to make anhydrous ammonia for agriculture, methanol, sulfur and industrial-grade carbon dioxide. It is expected to be online in 2010.

Shaw Group and Hoku Materials to Perform Services for Idaho Polysilicon Plant

The Shaw Group Inc.'s Energy & Chemicals Group has a contract with Hoku Materials Inc. to perform engineering, procurement and construction management services for a 2,000-metric-tpy polysilicon manufacturing plant in Pocatello, Idaho. The total installed cost target of the project, scheduled for completion in May 2009, is $260 million.

Carbon Fiber Suppliers Announce Expansions

Hexcel Corp. (Stamford, Conn.) announced that it will expand its carbon fiber production capacity through the addition of new carbon fiber lines and a new precursor line. The construction will be completed within two years, increasing Hexcel’s carbon fiber production nameplate capacity by approximately 70 percent to about 16 million lb. The expansion, says Hexcel, is needed to meet existing customer forecasts in commercial aerospace, space and defense and strategic industrial applications (such as the recently announced contract for rotor tubes for the American Centrifuge Plant). Cost of the expansion, says David Berges, chairman and CEO, will be about $180 million.

Toho Tenax America (Rockwood, Tenn.), a subsidiary of Japan-based chemical company Teijin, has announced plans for a $23 million expansion of its Rockwood carbon fiber manufacturing plant. Toho Tenax reports that it is retooling the plant to stay competitive in the carbon fiber market.

Zoltek Cos. Inc. (St. Louis, Mo.) has announced the purchase of Guadalajara, Mexico-based Crysel acrylic fiber manufacturing assets of Cydsa, a large publicly traded Mexican chemical and industrial company. Zoltek plans to retool and modify the newly acquired facility to supply Zoltek’s North American operations with low-cost precursor, the principal raw material used in the manufacture of carbon fiber. Zoltek expects the facility will serve as a site for additional carbon fiber production lines supporting Zoltek’s goal of achieving $500 million in annual sales of its high-performance commercial grade carbon fibers by fiscal year 2011. Zoltek will invest approximately $100 million to purchase the facility, retool and modify the plant to produce acrylic precursor and to install the initial carbon fiber manufacturing facility. With Zoltek’s current expansion project in Hungary, scheduled for completion by the end of calendar year 2007, and the completion of the initial phase of the Mexican expansion, Zoltek estimates it will have an annual capacity to produce 40,000 tons of precursor, 13,050 tons of carbon fiber and 4,500 tons of oxidized acrylic fibers.

Cytec Industries Inc. (West Paterson, N.J.) is doubling the capacity at its Carolina chemical plant to meet demand for carbon-fiber in The Boeing Co.’s 787 Dreamliner production, chief executive David Lilley said. At an analyst conference in early October, Lilley said Cytec supplies the advanced composite materials used in carbon fiber to Boeing subcontractors, which indirectly makes the aircraft company one of its biggest customers. Aerospace makes up about 20 percent of Cytec revenue, and production of the Boeing 787 could help grow Cytec’s top line by 10 percent a year, Lilley said.

Diversified Receives Conditional Approval for the Acquisition of CFR Chemicals

Diversified Industries Ltd. ("Diversified") (TSX VENTURE: DVS) announced the TSX Venture Exchange ("Exchange") has granted conditional acceptance for the acquisition by Diversified of 40 percent of the issued and outstanding shares of CFR Chemicals ("CFR"). The closing of the transaction is anticipated to be completed by the end of October, at which time shares for the Company will resume trading under the same symbol DVS/TSX.V.

"Diversified also plans to exercise its option to purchase an additional 10 percent of the issued shares of CFR after closing, giving the company 50 percent ownership interest in CFR. Diversified also has an option to purchase the remaining 50 percent from the other major shareholder of CFR which is exercisable within the next three years, giving Diversified 100 percent ownership in CFR," says Stephen Davis, President/CEO of Diversified.

CFR is a supplier of both commodity and specialty chemicals primarily to the oil and gas industry. In addition, CFR offers services including rail transloading, storage of various chemical products in its bulk tank facilities and custom blending of various chemicals. CFR owns 40 storage tanks of various sizes throughout the province of Alberta, including 35,000 bbls of bulk tank storage situated at its main operating plant located on 22 acres near Sylvan Lake, west of Red Deer, in central Alberta. As part of CFR's growth strategy, management searches for and exploits opportunities in the chemicals market that give CFR competitive advantages. CFR maintains an ongoing investment in research, development and marketing of new and unique chemical products. CFR's revenues for the most recently completed financial year ended October 31, 2006 surpassed $8 million, and revenue for the following 12 months is expected to reach $12 million.

Kuwait's United Industries Plans $300mn Chemical Plant

Kuwait's United Industries Co (UIC), a unit of major holdings firm Kuwait Projects Co, plans to build a $300 million chemical plant in Kuwait, an executive close to the deal said recently.

UIC plans to develop the 400,000 tonne-a-year plant in joint venture with Industrial Bank of Kuwait (IBK).

"We expect to go to the design stage within three months and complete construction by 2010," an executive said.

The plant, located at the Shuaiba Industrial area, will produce purified terephthalic acid (PTA), a raw material used for the manufacture of polyster.

"We are trying to squeeze the raw materials as the internal rate of return is declining," said the executive.

The PTA will be exported primarily to the Asian markets.

IBK will sell part of its stake in the project at a later stage. Shares in the project company may also be sold to the public within three years, the executive said.

Singapore to Complete Condensate-based Aromatics Complex 2011

Singapore to Complete Condensate-based Aromatics Complex in 2011

Singapore expects to complete in 2011 a condensate-based aromatics complex at Jurong Island which will produce paraxylene, orthoxylene, benzene, and petroleum products, privately owned Jurong Aromatics Corp. said recently.

The $2 billion project, to be managed by Jurong Aromatics, will have the capacity to produce 800,000 mt/year of paraxylene, 200,000 mt/year of orthoxylene, 450,000 mt/year of benzene and 2.5 million mt/year collectively of diesel, light naphtha, LPG, jet fuel and kerosene.

UOP LLC said recently that Jurong Aromatics Corp. hired the Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE:HON) unit to help develop the chemical plant in Singapore. UOP will supply technology, basic engineering services and equipment for the Jurong Island facility. UOP said the plant will be one of the largest privately-owned petrochemical facilities in the city-state. UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, licenses technologies for oil and chemical processing. Financial terms of the project were not disclosed.

AMRI Opens New Research Facility in Hyderabad, India

AMRI recently opened a new 50,000 square foot research and development centre at the Shapoorji Pallonji Biotech Park in Hyderabad, India. The new R&D center, located near AMRI’s existing chemistry facilities in Hyderabad in the ICICI Knowledge Park, will provide additional space for AMRI’s laboratory-scale Indian operations.

The new facility includes laboratories for conducting early stage research such as custom chemical synthesis and analytical chemistry. Additional scale up laboratories for preparing both preclinical and clinical trial supply active ingredients are expected to open later this year and 2008, respectively. Those larger laboratories will be used to develop efficient methods to produce active pharmaceutical ingredients and intermediates.

The new Hyderabad facility also is equipped with extensive environmental controls and a state-of-the-art wastewater treatment unit. AMRI has invested approximately U.S. $8 million in construction and equipment.

During this first phase of expansion, the new R&D centre will add approximately 100 employees to AMRI’s operations in the ICICI Knowledge Park, which currently has 35 scientists. Additionally, infrastructure has been added at the new site to allow a second facility to be added in the future, which would more than double employee headcount. Rajesh Shenoy, Ph.D., director of AMRI’s Hyderabad operations, will oversee these facilities.

“In addition to expanding our capabilities in India, this new state-of-the-art research facility increases our capacity to provide customers with a flexible range of drug discovery and development services out of Asia—all with the same quality they have come to expect from AMRI around the world,” said Dr. Thomas E. D’Ambra, chairman, president and CEO. “Moreover, as we increase our presence in Asia, AMRI is proud to be contributing to improving work practices for employee opportunities within our industry, as well as setting a high standard and positive example of environmental stewardship.”

The opening of the new Hyderabad facility marks another milestone in the company’s global expansion. In July, AMRI completed the acquisition of two pharmaceutical manufacturing sites, along with additional land for expansion, in Aurangabad and Navi Mumbai, India.

DuPont Posts Higher Profit

Chemical maker DuPont Co. reported its third-quarter profit rose more than 8 percent as higher corn and soybean seed sales in Latin America offset weakness in the U.S. housing and auto markets.

DuPont, the largest U.S. chemical company by market capitalization, also raised its full-year earnings outlook, as it expects overseas sales growth to continue to outweigh lower demand in the United States.

Quarterly profit increased to $526 million, or 56 cents a share, from $485 million, or 52 cents a share, a year earlier. Sales rose almost 6 percent to $6.68 billion.

Dow Reports Third Quarter Results

Dow Chemical Co. reports third-quarter sales for the three months ended September 30 were $13.6 billion, 10 percent higher than the same period in 2006 and a new quarterly record for the Company, with double-digit increases in Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America.

However, net income fell 21 percent to $403 million as the U.S. housing slump reduced demand for latex and pipe-making materials and a change in German law boosted tax expenses.

Profit before tax for the third quarter of 2007 was $1.1 billion, compared with $670 million in 2006. These amounts included a $59 million pretax charge in the current quarter for purchased in-process research and development related to recent acquisitions, and pretax charges totaling $579 million for restructuring activities in the same period last year.

Dow reported earnings of $0.42 per share, which included a significant unfavorable tax impact related to a change in German tax law and the charge for purchased in-process research and development referenced above. Earnings for the quarter also reflected a higher underlying tax rate than seen in recent quarters.

Year over year, volume improved 5 percent, the strongest growth since the third quarter of 2004, with particularly robust demand in Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America.

Compared with the same quarter last year, Dow reported price increases in every geographic area and across all operating segments, outpacing an increase of almost $400 million in feedstock and energy costs.

Equity earnings for the quarter were $296 million – down compared with the record $317 million posted in the same period last year.

Lyondell Chemical Q3 Profit Surges; Sales and Other Operating Revenues Up

Lyondell Chemical Q3 Profit, Sales and Other Operating Revenues Up

Lyondell Chemical Company (LYO) announced third quarter net income of $206 million or 78 cents per share, up from $57 million or 22 cents per share a year ago. Income from continuing operations for the quarter was $206 million or 78 cents per share, compared to $61 million or 23 cents per share in the prior year quarter.

Sales and other operating revenues for the quarter rose to $7.4 billion from $5.8 billion in the last year quarter.

NOVA Chemicals Report Record Olefins/Polyolefins

NOVA Chemicals Report Record Olefins/Polyolefins Performance and Strong Outlook

NOVA Chemicals Corporation (NOVA Chemicals) reported net income of U.S. $97 million ($1.16 per share diluted) for the third quarter of 2007. Net income for the third quarter compares to net income of $80 million ($0.96 per share diluted) for the second quarter of 2007 and a net loss of $24 million ($0.29 loss per share) for the third quarter of 2006, which included charges of $92 million ($1.12 per share diluted) related to restructuring and insurance wind-up costs.

The Olefins/Polyolefins business unit reported record EBITDA of $280 million in the third quarter, up from $228 million in the second quarter. The Alberta Advantage averaged a record 21¢ per pound in the third quarter, up from 13¢ per pound in the second quarter, and has expanded further in October.

“We believe the very strong third quarter market conditions for our Olefins/Polyolefins business will continue into the fourth quarter and well beyond” said Jeff Lipton, NOVA Chemicals’ President and CEO. “We are experiencing strong domestic and export demand and improving margins due to price increases that exceed feedstock cost changes.”

During the third quarter, the expanded INEOS NOVA styrenics Joint Venture was approved by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and commenced operations on Oct. 1, 2007. In addition, the INEOS NOVA Joint Venture agreed to acquire the exclusive production rights to Sterling Chemicals’ Texas City, Texas styrene monomer asset.

"The combination of the formation of the expanded Joint Venture and the agreement with Sterling creates a strong foundation for further cost reductions in our styrenics business. We also expect market conditions in Europe to recover from a weak summer holiday period,” said Jeff Lipton.

Akzo Nobel Reports Drop in Earnings

Dutch chemical, coatings and pharmaceutical company Akzo Nobel reported that its third-quarter profit fell 10 percent, in part because of gains reported last year.

It also said that its merger and acquisition plans, including the shedding of its health unit and the purchase of the British paint giant Imperial Chemicals Industries, were on track.

The company, based in Amsterdam, said third-quarter net profit was 281 million euros ($400 million), down from 313 million euros a year earlier, when Akzo Nobel reported a gain of 65 million euros and charges relating to restructuring and impairments.

Since Akzo Nobel agreed to sell Organon BioSciences to Schering-Plough in March, it is reporting Organon BioSciences results as discontinued operations in the profit and loss account.

Akzo Nobel, the world’s biggest coatings company by market share, reported a 2 percent increase in third-quarter sales from continuing operations, to 2.6 billion euros ($3.7 billion), from 2.55 billion euros.

The company said that demand in the North American decorative and industrial paint market, which supplies the residential construction industry, had softened.

Demand has also softened in the Asian-export-driven business, which includes coatings for kitchen cabinets and other household furniture, the chief financial officer, Rob Frohn, said in a news conference.

Analysts said the company’s results were in line, but noted that organic growth at the decoratives business was slightly weaker than expected.

Saudi Basic Industries Reports Net Profit Increase of 42 percent for First Nine

Saudi Basic Industries Reports Net Profit Increase of 42 percent for First Nine Months of 2007

The Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) has reported a net profit of SAR 20.2 billion for the first nine months of 2007, an increase of 42 percent, compared to the SAR 14.2 billion net profit in the same period last year. For the third quarter (3Q) of 2007, the company reported a profit of SAR 7.4 billion, an increase of 37 percent over the 3Q-2006 profit of SAR 5.4 billion and an increase of 14 percent over the 2Q-2007 profit of SAR 6.5 billion.

The President of the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu and SABIC Chairman, Prince Saud Ibn Abdullah Ibn Thunayan Al-Saud said: "The company reported a SAR 29.6 billion operating profit for the last nine months of 2007 compared to SAR 21.6 billion in the same period last year, an increase of 37 percent. The profit per share price for the current period amounts to SAR 8.06 versus SAR 5.67 in the same period last year”.

SABIC Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mohamed Al-Mady said: "Higher profits in the first nine months of 2007 reflect the improvement in the prices of most key products in line with the increase of productivity as a result of the added capacities from a number of expansion projects going on-stream. These included the ethylene glycol plant at Jubail United Petrochemical company (UNITED), the reinforced steel plant at the Saudi Iron & Steel Company (HADEED), and urea and ammonia plants at Saudi Arabian Fertilizer Company (SAFCO. In addition we added production from the SABIC UK Company following the acquisition of Huntman’s European base chemicals and polymers business in the United Kingdom at the end of 2006.”

“SABIC’s total production during the first nine months of 2007 stood at 40.9 million metric tons, compared with 36.3 MMT in the same period last year, an increase of 13 percent. Sales rose to 32.6 MMT compared with 28.9 MMT in the same period last year, an increase of 13 percent. Revenues were SAR 86.5 billion, an increase of 36 percent over the revenues generated in the same period last year," said Al-Mady.

Corporate consolidated financial statements for the third quarter included the results of SABIC Innovative Plastics Company (SIP), which was established at the end of August 2007 after the completion of the purchase of GE Plastics for US$ 11.6 billion. The full costs of finance will be charged to the new company.

Gulf Coast Region to Maintain Leading Role in Chemical Processing Industry in 2008

Industrial Info Resources, Sugar Land, Texas, states owners of chemical plants along the United States' Gulf Coast region will easily lead spending for the Chemical Processing Industry (CPI) in 2008 with almost four times the total spending of the closest follower. Capital and maintenance spending planned for the CPI next year in this region exceeds $4.7 billion, as identified in Industrial Info's North American Project Database. With the help of plans by a few CPI plant owners, the level of spending for 2008 in the Gulf Coast grows substantially over the $2.3 billion identified for 2007 at this time last year.

Rowan University Helps to Green Pharmaceutical Industry

Working under U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grants of more than $200,000, Rowan University’s College of Engineering (Glassboro, N.J.) is expanding its work in “green engineering” with several regional pharmaceutical companies. Green engineering is the design, commercialization and use of processes and products that are feasible and economical while minimizing the generation of pollution and risk to human health and the environment.

Led by project director Dr. C. Stewart Slater, a Rowan chemical engineering professor, with co-directors and chemical engineering professors Drs. Mariano Savelski, Brian Lefebvre and Robert Hesketh, the project team is composed of faculty, undergraduate and graduate students from Rowan and engineers from pharmaceutical firms.

In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY), Novartis (NYSE: NVS), and another with whom the University is negotiating, a Rowan chemical engineering clinic team is developing green engineering designs and practices to test within these companies. This project has received $132,967 from the EPA.

According to Dr. Thomas J. Blacklock, vice president of Chemical and Analytical Development at Novartis, the project the Rowan faculty and students have been working on is proceeding smoothly, and the EPA grant will enable further progress in this important area.

“There are environmental issues everywhere,” Blacklock said. “The cost of raw materials is increasing rapidly as they are mostly linked to petroleum. Responsible waste disposal is often more costly than the raw materials. Anything we can do to reduce waste and increase efficiency makes good environmental and economic sense. This is the essence of green.” Blacklock believes Rowan University’s College of Engineering, with its many talented students and faculty, “has a very bright future.”

The work is a continuation of other efforts by Rowan chemical engineering students and faculty. A 2005 EPA grant of $26,813 funded a partnership between Rowan Engineering and Bristol-Myers Squibb to study drug process improvements and develop a solvent selection software tool. This collaboration continues with the new grant.

“The students working with Bristol-Myers Squibb are looking at advanced membrane technology for solvent recovery from waste streams in a cancer drug process,” Slater said. “Typically, the amount of solvent used to manufacture a drug is more than 100 times the weight of the actual medicine itself. Rowan is investigating the potential to integrate pervaporation membrane systems into the production operation.”

Pervaporation membrane systems act like advanced filtration systems to separate chemicals or organic solvents from water. An example involves purifying a waste solvent from a manufacturing step that normally would be disposed of by incineration, a move that could save money and reduce carbon dioxide emissions since energy is not required to make fresh solvent.

“The solvent pervaporation project can be viewed as broadly applicable to green processing practices in the pharmaceutical industry overall,” said Dr. Lori Spangler, principal scientist, Bristol-Myers Squibb. “It is more than just analyzing one specific project. Many projects require the use of dry solvents and or the drying of process streams. This project may provide generally applicable tools and technologies that can be used on many processes.”

Because of their leadership as change agents in the field, the Rowan team members presented their work at the Green Chemistry and Engineering conference in Washington, D.C., in June.

And, Savelski and Slater have been appointed by the EPA to a Pharmaceutical Sector Stewardship steering committee to help identify pollution prevention challenges and opportunities in pharmaceutical manufacture. They are planning to present at an EPA seminar in New York City on some of their approaches to partnerships between university and industry in advancing green manufacturing strategies.

Rowan faculty also will chair a topical conference at the 2008 American Institute of Chemical Engineers annual meeting to be held in Philadelphia. They currently are working with engineers from GlaxoSmithKline, of King of Prussia, Pa., and Johnson & Johnson, of New Brunswick, in planning the sessions. According to Savelski, “This forum will allow the exchange of new concepts and ideas between the stakeholders from industry, academia and government.” The EPA awarded this project $75,000.

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