Crompton Corp. announced that it is expanding capacity to produce alkylated diphenylamine antioxidants at its factory in Latina, Italy. The company, based in Middlebury, Conn., did not disclose the cost or size of the expansion. Cromptons alkylated diphenylamine antioxidants, marketed under the Naugalube brand, are liquid additives used to protect automotive lubricants, hydraulic and turbine oils and greases from degradation caused by heat and oxygen. Crompton said they are among the Petroleum A...

OM Group Inc. has sold its aluminum complex grease thickening business and related activities, 10 months after acquiring them from Rhodia. The aluminum organics business – based at a factory in Bethlehem, Pa. – was spun off this month to FedChem LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cleveland-based Federal Process Corp. OMG kept a former Rhodia plant in Manchester, U.K., that produces carboxylates and aluminum compounds for the rubber and inks industries. We looked at [the Bethlehem oper...

Shunning the lure of streamlining, ConocoPhillips says it has decided to maintain all four of its lubricants brands. Officials acknowledge that the decision makes for a complicated business strategy for the fourth-largest U.S. lube producer. They maintain, however, that it allows them to stand by their distributors, and affords the best chance for growth. When Conoco and Phillips Petroleum Co. announced plans to merge last November, some expected the combined lubricants business to be an ideal c...