Like the kebab in the window, processors could sell what they like as long as their packaging shows the factories - the snapshots of giant, quivering piles of the contents, without pictures of salads, breadcrumb coatings and barbecues.
It is also installing stern flaps on its amphibious vehicles that can reduce fuel use by 2-3%, and developing better coatings to prevent the growth of algae and barnacles on hulls that cause drag and increase fuel consumption.
The polymers can be used in just about any form of product from hydrogels and solutions to coatings for things like hospital equipment and even replacement joints (infections from contaminated hip, knee, and other joint replacements have been on the rise recently).
After the sale, expected to close in the first quarter of 2013, Performance Coatings will still develop colors and paint for cars.
Dr Eastlund has also been able to draw on subsequent research on turning solids into plasmas. (This method is, in fact, used to apply coatings to the insides of tokamaks.) And the advent of supercomputers able to simulate tokamaks should also speed up the process of building a working prototype.
The company points to its new line of peripherals as an example: eight products featuring hydrophobic coatings, Logitech's exclusive Delta Zero sensor technology and buttons capable of surviving over 20 million toggles.
Plus, FMC sells recession-resistant chemicals like coatings for pills, and a third of its revenue comes from specialty chemicals, including lithium, the raw material for the next generation of electric-vehicle batteries ( click here for related story).
Its chief executive, Joe Giuliani, told me the first applications of microcapsule systems are likely to be in coatings, paints and adhesives for environments where corrosion poses a challenge.
Offering around five times the efficiency of conventional anti-reflection coatings, this advanced technology reduces flare and ghosting for exceptionally high-contrast images.
ENGADGET: Sony NEX-3N and Alpha A58 unveiled, heading to Europe this spring
Scientific discoveries at nanoscale -- one billionth of a meter -- are finding their way out of the lab and into production, creating more efficient computer chips and coatings for glass.
But engines are already operating at levels above 2, 500 degrees Fahrenheit, the melting point of the turbine blades that propel the plane, forcing engineers to dream up exotic cooling systems and turn to special coatings and unwieldy materials like ceramics.
FORBES: The Billion-Dollar Bet On Jet Tech That's Making Flying More Efficient
But its biggest and most controversial application is as a hardener for making polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins the materials of choice for manufacturing clear, shatter-proof bottles, spectacles, medical devices and CDs as well as dental coatings and linings for food cans.
The Industrial Products segment produces flame retardants (FR) and a variety of bromine compounds as well as other chemicals based primarily on rich mineral resources found in the Dead Sea, and the Performance Products segment is a phosphate powerhouse that produces a number of downstream products for food and industrial applications, offering solutions for the food, cleaning products, fire safety, coatings and electronics industries.
应用推荐