3E Co., a provider of environmental health and safety (EH&S) compliance and information management services, has appointed Uday Virkud as President and CEO.

PPG Industries announced yesterday that it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Consorcio Comex, S.A. de C.V. (Comex), an architectural and industrial coatings company with headquarters in Mexico City, Mexico.

Sometimes, healthy competition is good. For the Middle East refining and petrochemical industry, a changing global feedstock mix and increasing competition in the United States, driven by the availability of cheaper gas feedstock, is reinforcing previous decisions by Middle East petrochemical producers to continue investing in new technology.

What sounds like fixings for a wizard’s potion — a dash of clay, a dab of fiber from crab shells, and a dollop of DNA — actually are the ingredients of promising “green” fire retardants invented by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Researchers at the University of Tehran used starch nanocatalysts to produce a coating for the protection and enrichment of food products in factories. Made of cheap starch, the coating is resistant to acidic media and can be used in the foodstuff and medical industries.

Custom Milling & Consulting Inc. (CMC), a toll milling provider and manufacturer of particle size reduction and dispersion equipment, has been granted ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management System Certification for the manufacture and provision of its complete range of products and services.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has scheduled an informal stakeholder meeting to gather information on how the agency can increase the effectiveness of its Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory Program.

PPG Industries recently announced an investment of about $40 million in its coatings manufacturing facility located in Sumare, São Paulo, Brazil.

Paint and coatings manufacturer AkzoNobel is investing more than €6.5 million in its Songjiang site near Shanghai, China, to expand an existing research center by adding a dedicated facility for the company's Performance coatings businesses.

Lintech International, a Georgia-based distributor of specialty chemicals, has received Evonik Corp.’s 2013 Distributor of the Year – Distribution Excellence Award.