Finance

Not all polymers are useful and/or processable in their natural form. Thus, functional chemicals are added to polymer resins to facilitate processing and to enhance, extend, or otherwise modify the properties of the plastic products manufactured from polymer resins. Such plastic additives represent a $4.6-billion business in the U.S.

Many living in the Rust Belt — the northeastern region of the U.S. that experienced significant de-industrialization during the 1970s through the 2000s — got an up-close look at the decline in manufacturing in the U.S. In the wake of the Great...

The U.S. chemical industry’s incremental capital investments to capitalize on the benefits offered by domestic shale gas will reach $71.7 billion by 2020.

Drop-in biofuels — so named because they can be blended with current fuels in any proportion without modifying existing infrastructure — for the transportation sector have attracted increasing attention. In general, these liquid fuels offer several advantages over first-generation biofuels...

New investments in industry and raw materials, as well as the modernization of infrastructures and industry practices, can help to reverse México's growing trade deficit and restore the health of its chemical industry.

The chemical industry will experience moderate annual growth over the next few years — ranging between 2.2% and 4.6% through 2017. The higher growth rate accounts for new investments announced in response to the abundant supply of shale-based...

The American Chemistry Council (ACC) has launched a new set of indexes covering nearly 30 segments of the U.S. specialty chemicals market. (The first, which dealt with plastic additives, was discussed in the July issue, p. 13.) This is the first set...