Paint India calls itself serious business for the coatings industry. In 2010, the top-reported reason for attending was “look for new suppliers.” With Taminco’s portfolio of outstanding, cost-effective, multi-functional and environmentally friendly amine additives – including zero-VOC Vantex®-T – I am sure Christian’s trip will be a success!

Customers in the western United States, including Oklahoma and Texas, are now served by TCR Industries of La Palma, CA. TCR has partnered with Taminco for a number of years. Expanding their territory was just one way we could show TCR how much we appreciate their hard work. It was also a perfect opportunity for us to really enhance Taminco’s customer service efforts.

Customers in the eastern half of the country are now served by the TH Hilson company, based in the Chicago area. TH Hilson has been a preferred distributor of specialty chemical materials more than 30 years, and a trusted partner with Taminco for the past several years. We have come to expect amazing results from TH Hilson, and we are confident that our customers in Hilson’s expanded territory can expect great things from their new distributors. If you want to get to know the folks at TH Hilson a little better, why not check out their page on Facebook. Visit www.facebook.com/th.hilson, and be sure to tell them Mike sent you!

If you weren’t able to attend my presentation this week at the 18th International Colloquium Tribology conference in Esslingen, Germany, I have posted my slides from the presentation above.

You can download the complete paper, The Use of Adducts of N-Alkylalkanolamines (AAA’s) with Alkenyl Succinic Anhydrides (ASA’s), AAA carboxamines and structurally unique AAA’s as Emlusifiers in Metalworking Fluids, by visiting our sister site, SpecialtyAmines.com.

We have blogged, talked and presented on the important topic of determining the best method of VOC determination for more than a year, and Taminco’s approach continues to attract attention.

Many industries are becoming increasingly concerned about volatile materials which evaporate into the atmosphere during storage, use and disposal of the chemical products they use. In many areas, this tendency for evaporation is being quantified in terms of the VOC (volatile organic chemical) content. New government regulations designed to curb VOC emissions are rapidly appearing, and some of these new laws have created significant challenges in the area of VOC analysis. Before reliable enforcement of VOC regulations can occur, accurate and precise methods for the determination of the VOC content of commercial products must be developed. In addition, a clear definition of a VOC threshold needs to be set.

So begins a brief (37-page) discussion of the best method for establishing VOC threshold, prepared by Kurt Buyse, Dane Jones and myself. This paper is available for immediate download by clicking here.

A complete description of the relative volatility of organic compounds requires a detailed understanding of how vapor pressure changes as a function of temperature. The comprehensive physical chemistry of vapor pressure is too detailed to review in anything less than a full textbook, but the attached paper covers the basics of those issues that are most relevant to volatility comparisons and the setting a VOC threshold.

Funds advised by CVC Capital Partners (“CVC”) today announced the sale of their majority stake in Taminco, the world’s largest producer of alkylamines and derivatives to affiliates of Apollo Global Management (NYSE:APO) (together with its subsidiaries “Apollo”). Apollo, a global private equity firm, will support Taminco’s continued growth, based on the company’s strategy which is focused on globalization, product innovation, integration and customer commitment. Closing of the transaction is subject to antitrust approval and is expected to take place in the first half of 2012.

Taminco, The Amine Company, is the world’s only global independent and integrated specialist alkylamine producer. Alkylamines and their derivatives are key building blocks in a broad array of chemical products that have a wide range of applications. Taminco makes as such a valuable contribution to diverse markets including Agchem, Personal & Home Care, Food and Nutrition, Energy/Oil & Gas, Pharmaceuticals and Water Treatment.

Under CVC’s ownership sales increased from €625 million for the year ended 31st December, 2007 to €715 million for the year ended 31st December, 2010 and EBITDA in that period from €110 million to €159 million. In addition, under CVC’s ownership Taminco has implemented a fully integrated manufacturing strategy, made significant investments in its U.S. operations and has globalised its business through a joint venture in China with Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company.

Steven Buyse, Senior Managing Director of CVC, commented: “Taminco is a high quality business with robust margins and healthy growth prospects. We are delighted to have been actively involved since 2007 in the evolution of Taminco to a fully integrated global player in the specialty chemicals market.”

Laurent Lenoir, Chief Executive Officer of Taminco said: “We enjoyed working with CVC and greatly appreciated their support for our international expansion and investment strategy, including our most recent joint venture in China and the recently announced DMAPA unit in our Saint Gabriel (Louisiana, US) plant. With Apollo we welcome a new investor with particular expertise in investing in chemicals companies, such as Momentive Performance Materials Holdings. Apollo is fully committed to endorse management’s plans and to continue the growth story while preserving our unique corporate culture.”

CVC and Taminco were advised by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Allen & Overy, Ernst & Young, Arthur D Little and URS.

About Apollo Global Management, LLC

Apollo is a leading global alternative asset manager with offices in New York, Los Angeles, London, Frankfurt, Luxembourg, Singapore, Mumbai and Hong Kong. Apollo has assets under management of $65 billion, in private equity, credit-oriented capital markets and real estate funds invested across a core group of nine industries where Apollo has considerable knowledge and resources. For more information about Apollo, please visit www.agm.com .

Kurt Buyse

Because Vantex^®-T enables environmentally friendly zero-VOC paints with virtually no odor, it’s sometimes easy to forget that this remarkable amine does so much more. For instance, when it comes to solvent-borne alkyds, Vantex^®-T is probably the best amine-based emulsifier on the market. Its unique structure helps overcome viscosity buildup, storage stability and issues with reduced gloss.

We have outlined the science on Vantex-T’s effects on solvent-borne alkyds with a special one-sheet – in both English and Portuguese - downloadable just by clicking those links.

Taminco plans to expand its methylamines capacity in the US

Ghent, Belgium – 29 November 2011

To keep pace with the growth of methylamines in the Americas and in line with its integration and globalization strategy, Taminco will expand its methylamines capacity in the US; a major investment that is expected to be completed by the end of 2014.

“This decision reflects Taminco’s continuous commitment to serve the growing methylamines market in the Americas and to support the development of its customers”, said Bob Davis, Global Business Director for Taminco’s Amines and Solvents business unit. “With this strategic investment, Taminco will reinforce its leadership position in alkylamines in the Americas and will provide a long-term growth platform for its existing and future derivatives portfolio serving markets such as food and nutrition, personal and home care, energy and water treatment.”

Taminco, The Amine Company, is a leading producer of alkylamines and their derivatives worldwide. Of a total of 8 production sites, Taminco has two major facilities in the US: one in Pace, FL, which manufactures methylamines, alkylamines and tertiary amines (by mid-2012) and the other in St. Gabriel, LA, which produces alkyl alkanolamines, alkylamines, DEHA, and DMAPA.

Contact: Bob Davis, Global Business Director Amines & Solvents • phone +1 610 366 6744 • email: bob.davis@taminco.com

In preparation for this important exhibition, Taminco launched Portuguese-language versions of our additives websites – vantex-t.br.com and advantex.br.com.

The event’s theme this year has been “Innovation and Sustainability.” Along those lines, I spoke to the assembly this morning on the topic “The minimization of VOC through off-diagonal additive optimization.” Here are my slides from the presentation:

In case you couldn’t attend, here are some photos from Abrafati:

Ghent, Belgium, 22 November 2011 – Taminco is pleased to announce the on-time start up of its new DMAPA unit in St. Gabriel, Louisiana.

This unit, which was just announced in March, when combined with Taminco’s existing production in Ghent, Belgium, will make Taminco one of the world’s leading producers of DMAPA.  DMAPA or dimethylaminopropylamine is primarily used as a raw material for amine oxides and betaines both of which are surfactants in a wide variety of personal care and household products, such as detergents, shampoos, and liquid body wash. DMAPA based surfactants show strong growth globally, because of the combination of their mild character and excellent performance.

Sabine Ketsman, Taminco’s Global Business Director for Specialty Derivatives, commented:  “We are quite pleased that our DMAPA unit is now on stream and we will be able to better service our customers globally.   Taminco is committed to supplying its surfactant customers wherever they are and this is an important step for our business.”

Besides DMAPA, the St. Gabriel plant manufactures many other amines including alkylamines, a variety of alkanolamines like DMEA, DEEA, MDEA, and DEHA.

Taminco is also building a tertiary amines (DIMLA™; C12-C14 chain length) unit at its existing methylamines plant in Pace, FL.  This unit is on schedule for start up in mid-2012.  Tertiary amines are also intermediates for surfactants.

Our coatings additive Advantex^® demonstrates real innovation. Advantex^® is engineered to offer coatings formulators a wide variety of multifunctional benefits at greatly reduced costs. Taminco’s Advantex^® amine additive reduces surfactant, defoamer, dispersant and glycol antifreeze, resulting in formulations that can save up to $10 per hundred gallons of paint when used in place of ammonia.

Werner Gurtner

For innovative sustainability, Taminco offers environmentally friendly Vantex^®-T. This remarkable amine additive enables formulations with no odor and NO VOCs. Vantex^®-T is an outstanding neutralizing agent that offers a variety of multifunctional benefits.

If you’re going to be in Sao Paulo this week, be sure to visit us. Kurt and I will be working with Braschemical, our South American distribution team, out of Booth 5, Aisle (Rua) 1. And if you can attend only one presentation at Abrafati, don’t miss Kurt’s talk on Wednesday morning, Nov. 23, entitled “The minimization of VOC through off-diagonal additive optimization.”

Check this blog and our Facebook page regularly for updates and photos from the show. Hope to see you in Sao Paulo!