next year will start with a virtuous circle, underpinned by
major events that are going to take place, such as general
elections, the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and the Olympic Games,
which will demand massive investments in infrastructure,
providing excellent growth opportunities for the chemical
distribution business.
Oils & Derivatives - A lubricated market
The market in oils and derivatives has evolved consisten-
tly over the past few years, as they are products of para-
mount importance in resin and coatings formulations,
performing such different functions as solvency, wetting,
evaporation control and others. As used in paints and co-
atings specifically, oils provide various properties, such as
gloss, adhesion to some substrates, plasticity, weathering
resistance, rapid cure and fast film hardening.
Vegetable oils are perfectly fit for inclusion on the list of
environmentally correct products, which are currently
the most important requirement in the paint and coatin-
gs industry. In fact, there have been many advances in
the research and development of new uses for vegetable
oils in the paint industry to replace other raw materials,
such as petrochemicals, and also research efforts seeking
improved yields and costs for new vegetable oils.
Vegetable oils can be used to produce such derivatives as
glycerin, fatty acids and esters, solvents and tensoacti-
ve compounds, enabling the development of paints and
coatings which conform with the new trends set by the
health, safety and environmental legislation.
Rhodia - 90 years in Brazil
With a brilliant history of success in Brazil, Rhodia, the
first French industrial investment in the country, celebra-
tes its 90 years in December.
Operating in Brazil since December 19, 1919 from its
facilities in Santo André, Greater São Paulo, Rhodia
started out by producing ethyl chloride, ether and acetic
acid, as well as the famous ether spray. In the 1920’s, the
company started doing business in the textile market, for
which it created Companhia Brasileira de Sedas Rhodia-
ceta, which produced artificial yarns from cellulose ace-
tate. This manufacturing activity extended in the course
of the 1930s to the production of textiles for the lingerie
market.
In 1942, the company acquired the São Francisco farm
in the town of Paulínia, in the vicinities of the city of
Campinas. Previously covered by coffee crops, the area
was turned into a sugar-cane plantation to produce the
ethanol that in 1944 began to be supplied to the Rhodia
companies located in the metropolitan area of São Paulo.
That was also an important decade for Rhodia in the
pharmaceutical and veterinary business, in that it saw
the introduction of a number of innovative products. Still
in that period, the company bolstered its textile busi-
ness by producing rayon, but the true revolution in this
business took place in 1955, when the company launched
in Brazil its polyamide textile and industrial yarns, taking
its first steps towards building Brazil’s modern textile/
fashion industry. Rhodia introduced in the nation all of
the artificial fibers and most of the synthetic fibers used
by the clothing industry.
In 1958, Rhodia started implementing its Paulínia unit,
which is now an industrial park consisting of a couple of
dozen of plants for different products, such as interme-
diate chemicals, intermediate textiles, solvents, silicas and
others. The 1960s were a diversification period for Rhodia,
particularly 1967, when the company started to produce
its filter tow in Brazil, and then polyamide 6.6 polymers