DuPont Starts Up $500-Million Kevlar Plant
DuPont has started up a $500-million Kevlar para-aramid fiber plant in Cooper River, SC, the company says. The plant will begin supply customers at the end of the year. The plant, combined with a $50 million expansion at an existing Richmond, VA facility, increases global Kevlar capacity by 25%. DuPont expects that capacity to rise by 40% over the next two years, due to productivity improvements and new technology. The expansion was first announced in 2007.
“As the global population grows, there will be even more critical need for protection materials to keep people safe and to protect the environment, structures and critical processes,” said Thomas G. Powell, president/protection technologies, at DuPont. “This significant boost in production capacity and capability demonstrates DuPont’s continuing commitment to support our customers and to find solutions that help protect more people around the world.”
DuPont was recently awarded $920 million in its Kevlar trade secrets lawsuit against Kolon Industries, a South Korean fibers concern. The award was “one of the largest in defense of business processes and technologies,”says Thomas Sager, senior v.p. and general counsel at DuPontThe expansion at Richmond and the new plant at Cooper River are, when combined, the largest increase in Kevlar capacity since the product’s introduction in 1965. The Cooper River plant will supply three different varieties of Kevlar products, aimed at a number of markets, including ballistics, personal protective equipment, aerospace, fiber optic cables, tires, oil and gas and automotive. Kevlar is also manufactured in Northern Ireland and Japan.
Lanxess Plans €30-million Brazil Investment
Lanxess says it plans to invest €30 million ($40 million) to boost production in Brazil, including construction of two plants at the company’s site at Porto Feliz. One of the plants will produce the company’s nylon and polybutylene terephthalate engineering plastics. The facility will have an initial capacity of 20,000 m.t./year and is due online in the middle of 2013. The second plant will produce rubber additives and curing bladders, and will be operated by Lanxess’ Rhein Chemie (Mannheim, Germany) subsidiary. The plant will produce 2,000 m.t./year of rubber additives and 170,000 bladders/year, and it will start up in the fourth quarter of 2012.
A third investment involves the previously announced move to use bio-based raw materials in the production of synthetic rubber. Lanxess is re-engineering parts of its plant at Triunfo, Brazil, to produce ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) rubber from bio-based ethylene. Braskem will supply the ethylene derived from sugarcane, by pipeline starting November 2011. This represents the world’s first production of bio-based EPDM rubber, and a quarter of the 40,000 m.t./year capacity at the Triunfo plant is earmarked for bio-based EPDM, Lanxess says.
The latest investment is part of Lanxess’ growing presence in Brazil. Brazil is one of the fastest-growing markets for Lanxess, and the country, which accounted for less than 1% of Lanxess’ global sales in 2005, now accounts for about 10% of its total sales, the company says. Lanxess recorded sales of €701 million in 2010 in Brazil.
RIL expresses interest in acquiring controlling interest in Haldia Petrochemicals
India’s largest petrochem maker-Reliance Industries has expressed interest in acquiring a controlling interest in loss-making Haldia Petrochemicals, ready to make a competitive bid when the West Bengal government decides to put its stake for sale, as per telegraphindia.
This week, the Supreme Court has settled the ownership of 15.5 crore shares reinforcing the state government’s position as the single largest shareholder in HPL.
RIL awaits clarity on the stake sale issue. If there is a possibility of a third party being allowed to participate, RIL is keen to bid. The state had made an offer in 2005 to Purnendu Chatterjee, (holding 42.72% stake in the project), who at that time flinched because of the price.
The stake sale process will depend on the valuation of Haldia Petro and the Bengal government’s resolve to extract the best possible price through a transparent process. Industry observers believe that a competitive bidding process is the best possible option. Since Chatterjee has the first right of refusal, he would be asked to close the deal at the highest bid price. He will have to shell out funds for the entire 52 crore shares that the state government holds. If he fails to do so, the state government would be within its rights to sell its shares to the highest bidder. Another runner in the race could be IOC. IOC is in a favourable spot since it already holds a 9.62% stake in HPL. It would also be politically convenient for the state to sell its stake to a public sector company. However, IOC could face a problem with funds, since it posted a loss of Rs 3,719 crore in Q1 (April-June) on revenues of Rs 99,757 crore. In comparison, RIL is sitting on a huge cash pile of US$17.4 bln (roughly Rs 87,000 crore).
Sinopec starts work on $2.8 bil coal-based petchem complex in southwest China
State-owned China Petrochemical Corp (Sinopec Group) and the provincial government of Guizhou has launched a coal-based petrochemical project, with Yuan 18 bln (US$2.8 bln) investment by Sinopec for the first phase of the project, as per Platts. The project is to be located in Xingren county’s Qianxinan city, which has proven coal reserves of about 7.53 bln tpa. But as the local coal processing industry is not well developed, 80% of the coal produced is sold toother regions of China.
In the first phase, Sinopec will build a 1.8 mln tpa coal-to-methanol complex, a 600,000 mln tpa methanol-to-olefins unit, a 300,000 mln tpa liner low density polyethylene plant and a 300,000 mln tpa polypropylene plant. The Guizhou provincial government is also planning to build a 5 mln tpa coal-to-oil project, which has been submitted to the central government for approval.
The coal-to-oil project is estimated to cost Yuan 75 billion and would involve converting 20 mln tpa of coal to produce 5 mln tpa of oil.
SCG-Dow reaches key milestone for propyleneoxide (PO) facility start up
The Dow Chemical Company has announced that the SCG-Dow Group, a joint venture between Dow and SCG, has reached a key milestone for the new propylene oxide (PO) facility in Thailand by ramping the plant up to stable production levels in preparation for the full capacity run scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2011. The world-scale plant, located within the Asia Industrial Estates (AIE) site near Map Ta Phut, Thailand will have a name plate capacity of 390,000 tpa of PO via the innovative hydrogen peroxide to propylene oxide (HPPO) technology jointly developed by Dow and BASF. The Map Ta Phut, Thailand HPPO plant cements Dow’s existing position as the global capacity leader in PO,” explained Steven English, global vice president, Dow Polyurethanes. “Not only does this large investment exemplify Dow’s commitment to the PO-based industry, we also continue to bring value by investing in the latest technology and offering a more sustainable PO to our customers and our downstream offerings through Dow’s other Performance and Advanced Materials businesses, such as Polyurethanes and Propylene Glycol.” According to Holger Baer, global manufacturing and technology director, PO/PG, “Within three years, this is the second world-scale plant brought on-line with the innovative Dow-BASF HPPO process. It significantly reduces wastewater and energy consumption compared to existing PO technology, and is planned to be utilized next in the Sadara Chemicals Company project between Dow and Saudi Aramco due to the clear demonstration of the advantages of this process.” “The start-up of this PO plant has completed the downstream envelope of the SCG-DOW Group joint venture cracker in Thailand which came on-stream last year,” said Cholanat Yanaranop, president, SCG Chemicals Company Limited. “With commitment between the partners, this is proved to be another successful project.”
Saudi Polymers’ Jubail polyolefins complex to come online in a month pending safety check
Saudi Polymers will bring online its new integrated polyolefins complex in Jubail, Saudi Arabia, within a month, pending ongoing safety checks, as per Platts.
The complex is built around an ethane/propane-based steam cracker, with the capacity to produce 1.165 mln tpa of ethylene and 445,000 mln tpa of propylene. The entire olefins production is slated for captive use. Downstream from the steam cracker, Saudi Polymers has a 1.1 mln tpa of high density polyethylene plant, a 400,000 mln tpa of polypropylene plant and a 200,000 tpa polystyrene plant at the new complex. The entire complex is expected to start around the same time, led by the steam cracker and followed shortly after by the downstream units.
Saudi Polymers is a joint venture between Arabian Chevron Phillips Petrochemical Company Limited (35%) and National Petrochemical Company or Petrochem (65%). ACP is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chevron Phillips Chemical Company, while Petrochem a joint stock company fully owned by the Saudi Industrial Investment Group.
Ticona opens world’s largest acetal plant
Ticona has opened the world’s largest acetal production plant -an operation with more than 300 million pounds of annual capacity -in Frankfurt, Germany.
Sulzbach, Germany-based Ticona held an opening ceremony 27 September at the new plant –which required almost 18 million pounds (8.1 million kilos) of steel, almost 500 miles of cable and 49 miles of piping. Construction began in late 2008 and eventually involved about 1,200 workers.
Ticona officials decided to place the massive plant in Frankfurt after an airport expansion required them to relocate an existing acetal plant in Kelsterbach, Germany.
The Frankfurt plant produced its first commercial material in July. The Kelsterbach plant will be decommissioned by the end of 2013, officials said in a news release.
In the release, Ticona general manager Michael Stubblefield described the construction of the new plant as “an extraordinary success”.
Ticona ranks as the world’s largest acetal maker, selling the material under the Celcon and Hostaformtrade names. The firm is the engineering polymers business of Celanese of Texas, the US. Ticona employs more than 1,600 and posted sales of more than $1.1bn (€0.8bn) in its 2010 fiscal year.
In addition to the new plant in Frankfurt, Ticona is building a 110 million pound-capacity plant in Jubail, Saudi Arabia, through a joint venture with Saudi Basic Industries. That plant is expected to be operational in 2013.
Acetal’s high mechanical strength and inherent lubricity make it a preferred material for gears and similar applications. The automotive market makes up about one-third of global acetal demand.
Global acetal demand is expected to increase through 2016, according to Priya Ravindranath, a market analyst with Chemical Market Associates in Houston. Global demand is expected to be almost three billion pounds per year by the end of that forecast period, she said.
But even as demand increases, Ravindranath said that global acetal operating rates are expected to decline to around 70%, largely due to large amounts of new capacity coming online in Asia.
Demand growth for acetal has been particularly strong in China, rising an average of 14% since 2006. Through 2016, Chinese demand for the material is expected to grow at an 8% annual rate.
Dowto Build EPDM Plant; Dow Electronic Materials Builds Facility in Korea
Dow Chemical says it will initiate a feasibility study for the construction of a new world-scale plant for the production of metallocene ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM), sold under the brand name Nordel IP hydrocarbon rubber. The feasibility study aims to identify potential partners and locations for the new EPDM facility, Dow says. The global automotive industry is projected to grow by 5%/year, with growth rates of about 10%/year in China and South Asia, Dow says. This translates into a 60% increase in demand for high performance, automotive-specified materials in the next 10 years, with demand for EPDM outstripping global supply, Dow says.
End-use applications for Nordel IP include automotive weather-stripping, automotive hoses and belts, building profiles, footwear soling and general rubber products.“Nordel IP will continue to be a strategic part of the Dow Elastomers portfolio both now and into the future,” says Kim Ann Mink, general manager, Dow Elastomers. “The new facility will position Dow to meet the increasing global demand for EPDM by offering high performance products that serve key automotive, building & construction and consumer markets.”
Separately, Dow says its Dow Electronic Materials business unit is constructing a new manufacturing and testing facility for metallization materials used in advanced chip packaging at Cheonan, Korea. The new facility adds to the capacity for metallization products at the company’s Marlborough, MA; Sasakami, Japan; and Lucerne, Switzerland sites.“We are positioning this facility in Korea to provide material supply close to our local and regional customers,” says Leo Linehan, global business director for Advanced Packaging Technologies at Dow.In addition to manufacturing, the facility will include quality control and applications testing labs. The facility is expected to be operational in the second quarter of 2012.Chip packaging continues to be increasingly important in electronics, particularly mobile devices, as the demand for more functionality in the same or smaller footprint grows, Dow says.
PolyOne to Acquire ColorMatrix for $486 Million
PolyOne has reached agreement to acquire ColorMatrixGroup (Berea), a maker of liquid colorants, additives and fluoropolymers. ColorMatrix posted sales and Ebitda of approximately $196.8 million and $43.6 million, respectively, for the 12 months ended June 30, 2011. Approximately 70% of ColorMatrix’s revenues are outside North America. “With the addition of ColorMatrix, more than 50% of PolyOne’s operating income will now be derived from our specialty businesses, compared to only 2% in 2005,” says Stephen D. Newlin, chairman and CEO of PolyOne.
ColorMatrix is a leading manufacturer of specialty additives, liquid colorant and dosing technologies that serve diverse niche markets, such as rigid beverage and food packaging, performance molding and fiber.
“Since 2002, ColorMatrix has organically increased Ebitda at an annualized growth rate of 16%, and our purchase price of $486 million recognizes the earnings and growth potential of this specialty business,” Newlin says. “We believe we can accelerate this growth by leveraging our global scale and through additional investment in commercial resources.”
PolyOne says it plans to finance the purchase, which includes transaction tax benefits of $10 million, with a combination of cash and the addition of approximately $300 million of long-term debt. Net of interest expense on the long-term debt and incremental investments in commercial resources, PolyOne says it expects ColorMatrix to modestly add to earnings in 2012 by 2 cts-3 cts/share and add approximately 10 cts-12 cts/share in 2013. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close late this year.
Gail India Forms U.S. Shale Joint Venture
Gail India (New Delhi) says its Gail Global USA subsidiary has signed agreements with energy company Carrizo Oil & Gas (Houston, TX) to enter into an unincorporated joint venture, under which Gail Global USA will acquire a 20% interest in Carrizo’s Eagle Ford shale acreage position. The jv will have 20,200 acres, out of which Gail will have 4,040 acres spread over four counties in Texas. The total investment will be about $300 million over the next five years, and it includes upfront cash payment of $63.7 million and a carry amount of $31.3 million linked to Carrizo’s future drilling and development costs, Gail says. The jv is expected to drill additional 139 wells in the acreage. Carrizo will continue to function as the operator for the jv. The transaction includes eight wells in the acreage which produce about 2,350 net barrels/day of oil equivalent.
In August 2010, Reliance Industries entered into a Marcellus Shale jv with Carrizo Oil & Gas, and Reliance acquired a 60% interest in Marcellus Shale acreage in central and northeast Pennsylvania.
Gail says that, over the last decade, advent of shale gas has changed the U.S. oil and gas market, and a number of shale gas plays has emerged in North America, of which Eagle Ford shale is considered the most economically attractive unconventional resource play.
“We believe that this transaction with Carrizo comes at an opportune time,” says B.C. Tripathi, chairman and managing director of Gail India. “Keeping in view the prospect of Indian shale gas bidding rounds opening within a couple of years, this experience will hopefully help Gail develop necessary skillsets for shale gas exploitation. Under the arrangement, Gail shall be sending secondees to Carrizo to work on the Eagle Ford assets and Gail and Carrizo shall also work together in exploring shale gas opportunities in India and other countries outside of U.S.”
“This transaction represents a major step in Gail’s efforts to establish its presence in North America. As the next logical step, Gail Global USA will consider expanding its business portfolio in the North American market by pursuing various upstream and midstream opportunities including LNG export to India,” Tripathi says.
Evonik to Float 30%-40% of Company When Time is Right
Evonik Industries is waiting for the capital markets to become less volatile before it goes ahead with its previously announced initial public offering (IPO) of shares, KIaus Engel, CEO told CW on the sidelines of the recent Cefic General Assembly meeting in Madrid. Evonik plans to float about 30%-40% of the company on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, he says.
“We have had overwhelmingly positive feedback from a lot of cornerstone investors around the world,” Engel says. However, today’s market conditions would “hardly reflect the true value of the company, so it does not make sense to go public now,” he says. The company, nevertheless is prepared technically for the IPO and “once the market becomes less volatile, we are prepared to re-start the process right away,” he adds. RAG Foundation (Essen, Germany) owns just under 75% of Evonik and private equity firm CVC Capital Partners has the rest.
DSM Completes Acquisition of Majority Stake in UHMW-PE Fiber Manufacturer in China
DSM says it has completed the previously announced acquisition of a 91.75% stake in Shandong ICD High Performance Fibre (ICD; Laiwu, Shandong province, China). ICD is a manufacturer of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMW-PE) fiber and is a strong player in the Chinese market for high-performance fibers, DSM says. The acquisition brings complementary manufacturing and technology assets and substantially strengthens the company’s presence in this key market, DSM says. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. DSM had announced plans for the acquisition in February 2011.
The acquisition will “secure long term success and growth for us in China,” says Ren Yi, general manager of ICD. “Our local knowledge together with DSM’s global standards and expertise will help improve our customer service and boost market and application development opportunities.”
“China is a major market for UHMW-PE fiber production and consumption. This acquisition marks a milestone in the global development of DSM Dyneema and provides a stronger platform for continued growth and leadership in the China market,” says Gerard de Reuver, president of DSM Dyneema.
“This acquisition reflects our continued commitment to China and our strategy of investing in high-growth economies as well as in partners with proven success and high growth potential,” says Nico Gerardu, DSM board member/performance materials.
Michelin Taps Amyris for Biobased Isoprene
Synthetic biology firm Amyris(Emeryville, CA) says it has partnered with tire giant Michelin to develop and commercialize isoprene made from renewable sources. Under the terms of the deal, Michelin will contribute funding and technical resources and is committed to off-take volumes for ten years. Amyris, which retains the right to market renewable isoprene to other customers, expects to begin commercializing this isoprene in 2015 for use in tire and other specialty chemical applications such as adhesives, coatings and sealants.
Amyris currently produces farnesene, a 15-carbon molecule, from plant-based sugars at commercial-scale, but says its technology can also be used to isoprene, a 5-carbon molecule used to produce synthetic rubber. The company signed an agreement with Kuraray last month covering the use of farnesene to replace petroleum-derived feedstocks such as butadiene and isoprene in the manufacture of specific classes of high-performance polymers.
Biobased routes to isoprene, and other chemicals used in the production of rubber, could help fill a need left by changing cracker feed trends. As North American petrochemical producers shift to light feedstocks, made cheaper and abundant by shale gas development, supply of heavier feed co-products such as isoprene is dwindling. Genencor, recently acquired by DuPont, has been working on a biobased isoprene platform for several years under a joint research collaboration with Goodyear Tire & Rubber. Lanxess holds a 9% stake in isobutanol producer Gevo (Englewood, CO). Isobutanol can be used to produce isobutene, a raw material in butyl rubber production also becoming increasingly scarce because of shifting feedstock dynamics in North America. Lanxess also plans to build a ethylene-propylene-diene monomer (EPDM) plant in Brazil that uses biobased ethylene. Genomatica, a San Diego-based producer of sustainable chemicals, recently announced its second commercial target would be a biobased route to butadiene.
LyondellBasell to Close French Refinery as Workers Voteto Strike
LyondellBasell announced today that it intends to close its 105,000 bbl/day refinery at Berre, France, following an unsuccessful attempt to sell the asset. LyondellBasell put the refinery up for sale earlier this year but it has not had any offers to buy the unit. The company, through Compagnie Petrochimique de Berre, the refinery operator, will in October initiate consultations with the works councils,”as defined under French law,” on a project to cease refinery operations.
“After conducting a thorough sales offering that included reaching out to 85 entities throughout the world with the assistance of Barclays Capital and the Invest in France Agency, unfortunately not a single bid was received for the refinery,” says Jean Gadbois, general manager of the Berre site. The refinery continues to suffer “severe losses and remains unprofitable” despite efforts from employees and management, he says. LyondellBasell intends to initiate the consultation process regarding the closure of the refinery operations. The company will focus on the core petrochemical assets at Berre, Gadbois says.
The closure will impact approximately 370 employees while 900 jobs will be preserved by the petrochemical business at Berre, which includes a steam cracker and world-scale polypropylene and polyethylene plants owned and operated by another LyondellBasell subsidiary. The potential closure would not affect depot operations or the petrochemical plants and third-party facilities, the company says.
Workers at the refinery voted to strike soon after the announcement of the planned closure, according union officials. LyondellBasell gave no indication on when the eventual closure will take place.
LyondellBasell bought the Berre refinery and related infrastructure from Shell in 2008. The refinery supplied naphtha, vacuum gas oil, and liquefied petroleum gas to the cracker.
Lanxess Converts a Part of EPDM Capacity to Energy-Saving Technology
Lanxess says it will invest €12 million to convert part of its ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) rubber capacity to Keltan Advanced Catalysis Elastomers (Keltan ACE) technology. The Keltan ACE process reduces energy requirements and does not require catalyst extraction, as a result of high catalyst efficiency, Lanxess says. It also enables the production of new EPDM grades.
Lanxess will convert 50% of its EPDM capacity at Geleen, the Netherlands to the Keltan ACE process in 2013. The largest of three production lines at Geleen, accounting for 80,000 m.t. of the plant’s 160,000-m.t./year capacity, will be converted.
The company, meanwhile, will establish a new headquarters at Geleen for its worldwide EPDM business. The headquarters will be constructed at the Chemelot chemical industrial site and it is due to open at the beginning of 2013.
DSM developed the Keltan ACE process toward the end of the last decade. Lanxess gained access to the technology through the €310-million acquisition of DSM’s elastomers business, which was completed last May. Lanxess also acquired the EPDM production lines at Geleen as part of that transaction. “The integration process of the new EPDM business into Lanxess is running smoothly and is contributing very positively to group earnings,” says Günther Weymans, head of Lanxess’s technical rubber products business unit.
Separately, Lanxess announced plans last week to produce EPDM commercially in Brazil from bio-based ethylene.
Huntsman to Build Technology Center in Shanghai
Huntsman says it will invest about $40 million to build a new Asia/Pacific regional technology center (ATC) in the Minhangeconomic & technological development zone at Shanghai, China, to support the rapidly growing demand for technology and innovation from customers across the Asia/Pacific region. The facility will replace the existing technology center, located nearby, which was opened in September 2008. The new facility will comprise machine halls, laboratories and offices, accommodating up to 400 technical experts, and will complement existing technology centers of the company in The Woodlands, TX; and Brussels, Belgium as well as smaller regional centers.
Construction for the new ATC is expected to begin in January 2012, with completion planned for mid-2013. Part of the existing technology center will be converted into an auditorium and display area, which together with the new facility will form an integrated technology and innovation campus.
“The Huntsman technology center will be completely aligned to support Asia’s fast-growing industries, including developing new energy-saving material solutions for the strategic industries as outlined in China’s 12th Five-Year Plan,” says Anthony P Hankins, Huntsman’s CEO for Asia/Pacific.
BASF Expands Polyurethane Systems Capabilities in Russia
BASF says it will add polyurethane systems capabilities at its St. Petersburg, Russia applications technology center by spring of 2012. The site will be part of BASF’s joint venture with OAO Nishnekamskneftechim (NKNC; Nishnekamsk, Russia). The jv opened a polyurethane systems house at Nishnekamsk in 2000.
BASF Expands Polyurethane Systems Capabilities in Russia11:02 AM MDT | September 23, 2011 | Rebecca CoonsBASF says it will add polyurethane systems capabilities at its St. Petersburg, Russia applications technology center by spring of 2012. The site will be part of BASF’s joint venture with OAO Nishnekamskneftechim (NKNC; Nishnekamsk, Russia). The jv opened a polyurethane systems house at Nishnekamsk in 2000. “This is the systematic implementation of our successful worldwide strategy of having sites that are close to the customer which will strengthen our leadership position in the polyurethane market,” says Wayne T. Smith, President BASF Polyurethanes. BASF operates 38 polyurethane systems houses globally, most recently opening facilities in Poland and Dubai. Construction is also underway at two sites in China.
Bharat Petroleum Plans Petrochemical Project in India
Bharat Petroleum (Mumbai) plans to invest about Rs50 billion-Rs60 billion ($1.04 billion-$1.25 billion) to establish a petrochemical complex at its refinery site at Kochi, in the state of Kerala, India, say press reports. The petrochemical complex, which is expected to be completed in the next five years, will produce petrochemical products that are currently being imported into India. Bharat Petroleum is in discussions with several international companies for sharing technology, and for buying an equity stake in the project, reports say. The investment in the petrochemical project is part of a Rs400 billion investment being planned by Bharat Petroleum to expand its activities, which mainly involves increasing the company’s refining capacity at its various sites in India.
Elevance Files For $100-Million IPO
Elevance Renewable Sciences (Bolingbrook, IL), a maker of renewable chemicals based on metathesis technology, has filed for an initial public offering up to $100 million. The number of shares and expected price of the offering were not disclosed. According to the filing, the company expects to use the proceeds to fund capital expenditures, R&D, and working capital.
Spun out of Cargillin 2007, Elevance’s technology platform can produce biobased olefins, including a “unique distribution” of alpha and internal olefins for chemicals and advanced fuels; multifunctional esters and acids, including 9-decenoic acid; and a mixture of oleochemicals and advanced biofuels from plant-based oils. Applications for Elevance’s product streams include personal care and cosmetics, antimicrobials, industrial lubricants, and high-performance waxes and additives. The company, which estimates the addressable market for its products total $176 billion, has joint development agreements with several chemical firms, including Clariant, Dow Corning, DSM, and Stepan.
Elevance posted a net loss of $27 million in 2010, but reported $113 million in losses in the first half of 2011 alone. The company, along with jv partner Wilmar International, is currently constructing what it believes will be the world’s largest biorefinery at Gresik, Indonesia. Commercial operations are expected to begin in the second quarter of 2012, increasing Elevance’s current capacity more than ten-fold. It is also retrofitting a Natchez, MS biorefinery, and hopes to have a third world-scale facility in operation by 2014.
Elevance investors include TPG, Naxos Capital Partners, Total Energy Ventures, and Cargill. Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, Jefferies & Company, Piper Jaffray, and Raymond James & Associates will act as underwriters.
Elevance’s filing follows several biochemical IPO announcements in recent months, including succinic acid producer Myriant Technologies and 1,4-butanediol firm Genomatica.
Ford introduces castor oil-based foam
Ford Motor Co., which was the first major automaker to begin using soybean oil-based urethane foam, is now debuting a foam with a castor oil blend.
The foam is part of a soft touch instrument panel in the 2012 Ford Focus sedan, and has 10 percent of its content from renewable castor oil, which comes from a plant grown throughout Asia. BASF SE is the material supplier.
Castor oil blends have been used previously in nylon used in under-the-hood applications.
In a Sept. 30 news release, Dearborn, Mich.-based Ford said the new foam blend has a better ability to maintain its shape over the car’s lifetime. It also cures 43 percent faster than traditional foam blends, which improves the manufacturing process.
Ford said it plans to expand the use of castor oil foam blends throughout its product line globally.
Indorama buys Wellman International, Europe’s largest PET recycler
Major global PET supplier Indorama Ventures Public Co. Ltd. will soon own Europe’s largest PET recycler.
Bangkok-based Indorama announced Sept. 21 that it has an agreement to buy Wellman International Ltd. from Aurelius AG, a Grünwald, Germany-based holding company.
Terms were not disclosed.
Aurelius bought the business from U.S.-based Wellman Inc. in July 2007. It has three production facilities in Europe that recycle more than 1.6 billion PET bottles annually.
The company has recycling plants in Spijk, the Netherlands, and Verdun, France, plus a headquarters and fiber production in Mullagh, Ireland.
In 2010, Wellman International posted sales of 124 million euros, according to Aurelius.
The acquisition, to be completed within this year, will help the company meet its customers’ sustainability, including demand for post-consumer PET.
Indorama said there is potential to use Wellman International’s recycling technology in Asia.
“The target acquisition has the know-how to blend recycled PET and industrial waste and will potentially contribute to make Indorama Ventures a ‘zero waste’ company with a low carbon footprint able to serve both the beverage and fiber segments of our customer base,” said Indorama CEO Aloke Lohia.
“The project will act as a springboard to launch [Indorama] into recycled PET following our ongoing construction of recycling plants in Decatur, Ala., and Rayong, Thailand,” Lohia said.
“As this is the largest recycling capacity in the whole of Europe we will have both economies of scale and lower production costs to serve our customers in both the bottle and fiber segments,” he said.
Sibur considers Siberian BOPP plant
Russia’s Sibur Holding is considering building a BOPP production plant at its existing plant in Tomskneftekhim, Siberia.The cost of the project is estimated at 2 billion rubles (€40-45m). Construction is scheduled for December 2011, while the plant is expected to be finally launched by the end of 2013, according to Igor Klimov, general director of Tomskneftekhim.
The capacity of the plant is expected to reach 37,000-38,000 tonnes and most of the film will be sold in the Siberia and the Far East.
At present, Tomskneftekhim is one of Russia’s leading petrochemical producers, specialising in the production of polymers, polypropylene and HD polyethylene. The company has been part of JSC Sibur Holding since 2004.
This is the second major project announced by the Russian BOPP industry in the last week. On 23 September, Biaxplen, Russia’s leading producer of BOPP films, announced plans to increase production by 30,500 tonnes per year.
Dow completes sale of global Polypropylene business to Braskem
The Dow Chemical Company has closed the sale of Dow’s global polypropylene business to Braskem S.A. In addition to the transaction, the two companies will continue to evaluate potential future collaborations on growth opportunities in connection to their strategies.
“The global polypropylene divestiture is another major step in Dow’s transformation and a strong example of our disciplined approach to portfolio and business prioritization,” said Andrew N. Liveris, Dow Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “This divestment is in line with our strategy to transform our Performance Plastics business to focus on downstream, technology-differentiated solutions. It also allows us to both reduce debt and liberate capital and resources for Dow’s higher growth, higher margin businesses.”The assets involved in the transaction included Dow’s polypropylene manufacturing facilities at Schkopau and Wesseling, Germany, and Freeport and Seadrift, Texas. Dow’s Polypropylene Licensing & Catalyst business and related catalyst facilities were excluded from the scope of the transaction.
Borealis seeks to buy assets to complement its existing businesses
Borealis AG wants to buy assets to complement its existing businesses, as per Bloomberg, but currently has no deals on the table. Borealis is 64% owned by Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Co., with the rest is held by OMV AG, an Austrian refiner and oil and gas producer. Borealis would like to acquire olefin and polyolefin assets or ammonia and urea businesses.
Formosa to invest in petrochem, shale gas exploration through FPC USA
Formosa Plastic Corp. (FPC) plans to invest in petrochemicals and shale gas exploration through its overseas subsidiary FPC USA, to raise deployment in the U.S., as per CENS. Mature and commercialization of low-cost shale gas exploration technologies will enable FPC USA to boost production capacity of ethylene and propylene. Investment outlay is estimated at US$400 mln to build a 400,000 tpa ethylene plant.
FPC holds 22.6% stake in FPC USA, which owns 300 natural-gas wells and will expand annual capacities of ethylene and propylene by 2.1 mln tons and 1.15 mln tons, respectively by the end of 2013, with the expansions to cost approximately NT$30 billion. FPC USA can produce 1.62 mln tons of ethylene in its two plants each in Louisiana and Texas, but 400,000 tons of ethylene has to be outsourced for downstream plants in USA. Since the beginning of this year, FPC USA has seen substantial growth in profitability due to adoption of low-cost natural gas, posting NT$8.78 billion in the first half for a historic high.
IOC undertakes feasibility studies for PP and phenol plants in West Bengal
Indian Oil Corporation Ltd is undertaking feasibility studies for production of PolyPropylene and Phenol in the state of West Bengal. Post feasibility studies, an investment outlay of Rs 3500 crore has been earmarked for the 60000 tpa PP project, likely tobe sited at Paradip where a cracker is under construction and will be commissioned in 2012-13. A feasibility study is to be undertaken for a 250,000 tpa phenol unit in West Bengal for which he site has not been identified.
Start up of PET MTR® plant at Alco-Naphtha JSC in Kaliningrad
Uhde Inventa-Fischer and Alco-Naphtha JSC started up the first state-of-the-art, energy-efficient MTR® plant for the production of high-quality PET to be built on European soil, in the spring of 2011. The production plant is located at Alco-Naphtha JSC’s site in Kaliningrad, and with an annual capacity of 240,000 tons, is the biggest single-train PET plant in Europe. Uhde Inventa-Fischer’s MTR® technology enables Alco-Naphtha to produce a high-quality PET resin, which has found wide acceptance in the start-up company’starget markets.Uhde Inventa-Fischer’s scope of supplies included the permit engineering, the basic and detail engineering, supply of all equipment for the plant and supervision of the erection during construction, installation and commissioning. In addition, the operating personnel were also trained by experienced Uhde Inventa-Fischer specialists. Particularly noteworthy was the successful cooperation between Uhde Inventa-Fischer and its Russian sister company OOO Uhde of Dzerzhinsk. Under the contract between Uhde Inventa-Fischer and Alco-Naphtha, OOO Uhde provided key local services, such as the local OSBL engineering and permit engineering with strict regard for the statutory regulations. The MTR® process used at the plant replaces the cost-intensive solid-state post condensation (SSP) process, thus achieving a significant reduction in energy and maintenance costs combined with low investment costs.
At the same time, feedstock consumption is considerably reduced without affecting the high product quality. The MTR® process is based on the 2-reactor high-viscosity technology developed by Uhde Inventa-Fischer and applies the patented ESPREE® and DISCAGE® reactors to ensure production of the required high melt viscosity on a sustained basis.
New automotive TPV introduced by ExxonMobil Chemical
Houston, TX -ExxonMobil Chemical has introduced Santoprene 121-XXM200 TPV high flow thermoplastic vulcanizate (TPV) grades for automotive parts requiring improved appearance and easier processing, such as glass encapsulated weather seals for quarter lights and side fixed glass applications. Santoprene 121-XXM200 TPV grades exhibit a low dynamic viscosity which results in enhanced flow over a wide range of shear to produce molded seals with excellent surface appearance and no flow marks. Processability is improved as the injection pressure can be reduced by about 30-40 percent, injection temperatures can be lowered by 10 degrees C (50 degrees F) and shorter cycle times are possible, depending on part size and wall thickness. This may lead to sustainability benefits through less glass breakage and lower energy consumption, along with the fact that TPVs are also fully recyclable. In addition, cost savings are possible due to simplified processing and reduced cycle times. The higher gloss levels of Santoprene 121-XXM200 TPV grades increase design flexibility, and specific mold graining can be used to match the surface aspect of extruded profiles. Santoprene 121-XXM200 TPV grades offer compression and tension set comparable to EPDM rubber, and exterior UV-resistance that meets OEM specifications. Requiring lower injection pressure, the new TPV grades are less sensitive to flow direction during molding. As a result, there is less risk of part warping, making it easier to set process conditions and mold design. Available in two hardness levels, 60 durometer A and 75 durometer A, Santoprene 121-XXM200 TPV can be used as a drop in replacement for existing materials.
India’s JBF to build 390,000 tpa PET Plant at BP’s Geel site
BP PLC and Indian polyester manufacturer JBF Group have inked a deal for feedstock supply by the UK energy giant to a new manufacturing unit to be built by JBF, as per Dow Jones Newswire. The long-term supply deal is for BP-produced purified terephthalic acid (PTA), which will be used by JBF in the manufacture of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The new 390,000 tpa facility will be located on BP’s existing petrochemical complex in Geel, Belgium adjacent to a BP production site in Belgium. The costs of building the new facility would be borne by JBF.
Mayor wants to ban bags before London Olympics
Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, has added fuel to the plastic bag debate with talk of banning free carrier bags from the capital by the start of the 2012 Olympics.
“Plastics bags are an unnecessary scourge on our environment and I’ve set out my ambition to make London a plastic bag-free city,” he told the Daily Mail. “Whilst London doesn’t have the powers to implement bans or charges, I am keenly following Wales’s efforts to solve this problem.”
Johnson, who claimed that carrier bags “disfigure ditches,” can’t introduce a London-wide ban on free carrier bags without an act of Parliament.
Mexico rejects plastic bag bans, embraces industry plan to boost recycling
In the space of a couple of years, Mexico’s largely pro-recycling plastics industry has outwitted bag ban proponents in the Mexican capital and is taking the fight to the provinces and South America.
“Mexico is winning the battle against ‘bagophobes’ and the biodegradable lobby,” Eduardo de la Tijera, a consultant and former president of the Mexican plastics industry association (Anipac), told Plastics News on Aug. 3.
“It’s a victory for common sense and for those who know it’s better to recycle than to biodegrade,” said Juan Antonio Hernández, president of Industriales de Bolsas Plásticas de México AC (Inboplast), a group of 40 companies which make 60 percent of the plastic bags produced in Mexico.
In March 2009, Mexico City’s 66-member Legislative Assembly amended its Solid Waste Law, ordaining it illegal for all commercial outlets in the capital to give away plastic bags that were not biodegradable after Aug. 18, 2010.
Heavy fines and even jail time for transgressors were introduced, although they have never been applied, as Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard appeared unimpressed by the legislation.
Lobbyists, including De la Tijera and Hernández, plus representatives from retailers association Antad, kept pressuring not only the legislature but the capital’s environment minister Martha Teresa Delgado Peralta.
Speculation was rife Delgado was leaning towards recycling to solve the city’s worsening garbage disposal problem. In late July, she published a list of norms for the industry in the capital’s Official Gazette. It favors recycling over the use of biodegradable processes.
“I’m very pleased because everything we proposed was accepted,” said De la Tijera, a co-owner of Grupo Texne, of Mexico City. “I was in charge of writing down the proposals and 99 percent of what I wrote is in the norms.”
For example, he said, oxy-biodegradable and biodegradable bag makers will have to prove the degrading properties of their additives at Mexican, rather than foreign, laboratories.
At least 10 percent of the content of plastic bags distributed to shoppers in the capital must be recycled material, a percentage that is already standard within the Mexican plastic bag industry, according to De la Tijera.
Morelia, Michoacan-based Hernández said Inboplast’s partners have raised the percentage of recycled material in their bags from 18 to 25 percent in just six months. Their target is 40 percent.
Inboplast, which has monthly sales of $93 million and employs 10,000, according to Hernández, put a $2.1 million recycling plant in the municipality of Arandas, in the western state of Jalisco, on stream in January.
The norms, which also oblige store owners to promote garbage separation, will be applicable from next July.
As for the bag ban legislation, “it’s completely dead and there’s no chance that it will be revived, despite the resistance of some legislators,” De la Tijera said.He described it as a victory for Inboplast and Antad (Asociación Nacional de Tiendas de Autoservicio y Departamentales AC).
“Anipac merely aligned with the proposal that Inboplast and Antadput to the ministry. The norms focus first and foremost on sustainable production and consumption.”However, Hernández is still worried that “politicians and some ecologists don’t understand the process of transforming plastics and are taken in by the romantic and false claims made about biodegradable additives… You can’t make policy from behind a desk.”
De la Tijera believes many state and municipal governments, that often follow the capital’s lead on legislation, will now change their anti-recycling attitudes.
“Inboplast has already spoken to legislators in at least half a dozen states about focusing on sustainable production instead of bans and biodegradable bags.
“Mexico is winning the battle against ‘bagophobes’ and the biodegradable lobby, as opposed to what is happening in the United States and South America. We can defeat bans.”
He said across the region “governments are following what’s happening in Mexico very closely.”
Comments: We are delighted to read about the success that the Mexican Plastic Bag Associations have achieved by engaging the minister and administration in a fact based dialogue to reverse a bag ban legislation. Yes there would be lessons to learn not only by American associations but over 40 or 50 national plastic associations facing ban legislation which are being forced by politicians from Canada to China, India to Italy and Middle East to Malaysia. Governments that overlook scope of doing more with less using plastics & the huge benefits of recycling waste are being mislead by degradable material lobbies which promise waste disappearance as a panacea to litter problems. In the long run if our finite resources must be conserved for sustainable development & environment burdens of alternative materials accessed, policy makers will have to consider LCA studies and attacking people’s litter habits before banning all plastic bags erroneously. More details of the Mexico story would be definitely welcome.
Solutia adding PVB resin capacity in Malaysia
Solutia Inc. is adding a polyvinyl butyral (PVB) resin plant at its Kuantan, Malaysia, facility, in order to better serve the Asia Pacific markets.
The new capacity will be used to cost-effectively meet the increasing demand for Saflex sheet produced by Solutia’s two manufacturing lines in Suzhou, China, said Eric Nichols, president and general manager of Advanced Interlayers division, in a news release.
The advances in resin technology have resulted in scalable, less capital-intensive plants that fully leverage Solutia’s 80-year history of developing PVB technologies, he added.
The Kuantan location is recognized for its efficient operations, high-quality workforce and ability to serve the broader region’s rapidly growing markets, the company said. Kuantan is also home to Solutia’s Crystex insoluble sulfur manufacturing facility, the largest of its kind in the world.
The Kuantan resin plant is the third in a series of investments in the region to meet the demand of the burgeoning laminated glass market across Asia Pacific.
In 2007, Solutia opened the Suzhou plant, the fifth manufacturing site for its Saflex PVB interlayers. In 2010, Solutia announced the addition of a second PVB manufacturing line in the Suzhou plant, featuring enhanced capabilities to serve the architectural, photovoltaic and automotive markets in China and the Asia Pacific region. The Suzhou site is also home to a new Saflex customer service testing lab, dedicated to supporting laminated glass customers in the region.
Solutia’s Saflex interlayers are used in nearly 40 percent of laminated architectural and automotive glass worldwide, and they are also used to encapsulate thin film photovoltaic solar cells.
Solutia manufactures Saflex PVB interlayers in Gent, Belgium; Santo Toribio, Mexico; San Jose Dos Campos, Brazil; Springfield, Mass., USA; and Suzhou, China.
In the second quarter, the Advanced Interlayers division’s net sales totaled $232 million, an increase of $24 million or 12 percent from the same period in 2010, and adjusted EBITDA increased $8 million to $52 million.
“The second quarter reflects the global strength of the Advanced Interlayers business, highlighting the diversity of end markets and further penetration of innovative, premium products,” said James R. Voss, executive vice president and chief operating officer.
Dow expands production of solar films
Dow Chemical Co. is adding capacity for its Enlight-brand polyolefin encapsulant films in Map Ta Phut, Thailand, and Schkopau, Germany.
The films are used in solar panels. According to Dow, the company will build two new manufacturing plants next year that will more than triple the company’s capacity to make the specialty films.
“Converting solar energy into an efficient source of electricity is an area of expertise Dow will continue to develop,” says Brij Sinha, global market manager for photovoltaics, said in a news release. He said demand for photovoltaic modules has been growing at about 30 percent annually.
Dow started making the films at its Findlay, Ohio, plant in December 2010.
Dow settles with EPA, to pay $2.5 million penalty
MIDLAND, MICH. (Aug. 1, 1:55 p.m. ET) –The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that Dow Chemical Co. has agreed to pay a $2.5 million civil penalty to settle alleged violations of the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act at its chemical manufacturing and research complex in Midland.
According to EPA, Dow violated the Clean Water Act’s prohibition against discharging pollutants without a permit and violated the RCRA’s requirements for hazardous waste generators. The company violated the Clean Air Act requirements for monitoring and repairing leaking equipment and for failing to comply with reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
The violations stemmed from four site visits between August 2005 and August 2006, and a clean air inspection in March 2007 –all at the Midland facility.
“This compliance program should serve as a model for industry and will go a long way to assure future violations will not happen again at this facility,” said Ignacia Moreno,assistant attorney general for the Environment and Natural Resources Division at the Department of Justice, in a statement. “Dow worked cooperatively with the government to resolve this matter and in doing so set an example for responsible compliance with our nation’s environmental laws.
DAK prepares to close on Wellman PET deal
DAK Americas LLC expects to close on the acquisition of Wellman Inc.’s PET resins business by the end of this month.
The deal includes facilities in Bay St. Louis, Miss., that employ 165.
DAK announced Aug. 1 that the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvement Act has expired without request for additional information from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.
DAK has U.S. PET plants in Wilmington, N.C.; Fayetteville, N.C.; Charleston, S.C., and Columbia, S.C.
IPIC Secures Cepsa’s International Expansion; Al Qubaisi Becomes CEO
International Petroleum Investment Co. (IPIC; Abu Dhabi) says it plans to boost the growth and international expansion of Compañía Española de Petróleos (Cepsa; Madrid), following IPIC’s acquisition of Total’s 48.83% stake in Cepsa for €3.7 billion ($5 billion). The board of Cepsa, has following the acquisition, appointed IPIC’s managing director Khadem Al Qubaisi as Cepsa’s CEO. Santiago Bergareche will continue as chairman of the board of Cepsa. “We are in the final process of a change in the company’s shareholding structure, which will culminate with the sale of the minority shareholdings on 19 August,” Bergareche says. After that IPIC will be Cepsa’s only shareholder. Al Qubaisi has “repeatedly confirmed his commitment to guarantee and promote [Cepsa’s] growth and international expansion,” Bergareche says. The changes will consolidate Cepsa’s leadership position in Spain’s energy sector and transform the company into a global player.
The changes in shareholding structure have also led to other new appointments at Cepsa. The board has appointed Cepsa’s Chief Technology Officer, Pedro Miró, to the newly-created post of COO, while five Total directors have been replaced by three new board members, Mohamed Badaway Al Husseiny, Hamdan Al Hamed, and James Sullivan. Cepsa will continue to be a Spanish company headquartered in Madrid. Miró will be responsible for Cepsa’s E&P, marketing and refining, and petrochemicals operations.
IPIC has been a shareholder in Cepsa since 1988 when it bought a 9.6% stake in the Spanish company. In 2009, it purchased Banco Santander’s and Union Fenosa’s stakes in a deal that raised IPIC’s stake in Cepsa to 47.1%. IPIC’s total investment in Cepsa has been put at some €7.5 billion, making it the most important investment within IPIC’s current portfolio, as well as one of the biggest investments made in Spain during the last few years, Cepsa says. Cepsa stands to benefit from the synergies with IPIC companies, which in the petrochemicals field, include Borealis and Borouge, as well as Nova Chemicals.
The European Commission last month cleared IPIC’s acquisition of Cepsa, despite overlaps in the markets for phenol and acetone. Both Cepsa and Borealis, in which IPIC has a 64% stake, produce phenol and acetone. However, the commission’s investigation concluded that IPIC’s and Cepsa’s combined market shares are moderate and that a number of credible competitors will remain active in these markets.
Formosa Closes 28 Plants Following Fires; Market Disruptions Expected (update)
Formosa Plastics has been ordered to close 28 major manufacturing facilities at Mailiao, Taiwan following the seventh fire to break out there in recent weeks, local sources tell CW. The latest fire occured on July 30. The closures, for an unspecified period of time to allow a thorough inspection of all of the facilities by third parties, are expected to cause major market disruptions, particularly in Asia, CW has learned. They come after Taiwan’s President Ma requested that the government asses the difficulties at the Mailiao site. The government made four decisions: all of the production facilities and sites where the seven fires occurred should be shut down for inspection; all of the pressure vessels that are made of the same materials that were used in the propylene desulfurization reactor that ignited in the latest incident should be listed and filed by the Industry Development Bureau (IDB; Taipei) within one week; Formosa should plan separately for successive shutdown inspection of all of the units within the complex within one year; and all of the inspections should be verified and supervised by third parties. A five-member team of experts from refinery and petrochemical company CPC (Taipei), working with the IDB team, is currently helping to assess the situation.
Formosa’s four subsidiaries, Formosa Petrochemical Corp., Formosa Plastics, Formosa Chemical & Fiber, and Nan Ya Plastics have closed a total of 28 plants. Formosa Petrochemical shuttered 10 plants including three oil refinery lines; the No. 1 ethylene plant, designed to produce 700,000 m.t./year of ethylene; a lube base oil unit; a fuel oil hydrodesulfurization facility; and a catalytic cracking unit.
Formosa Plastics has closed three plants: a vinyl chloride monomer unit; a high-density polyethylene plant; and a methyl methacrylate facility. Nan Ya Plastics shuttered 10 plants including four ethylene glycol (EG) plants, an isononanol facility, a 2-ethyl hexanol plant, two butanediol facilities, and a bishenol A unit. Formosa Chemical & Fiber closed five plants including its No. 1 aromatics complex, two styrene plants, and two polycarbonate facilities.
The latest fire occurred in the third line within the Formosa Petrochemical refinery. A propylene desulfurization reactor exploded and the leak, coupled with the high temperature, caused a “big fire,” one source says. The accident led to the resignations of Formosa Group president C. Y. Su and Wilfred Wong, chairman of Formosa Petrochemical. It is not clear at this time who will succeed Su. The group is currently led by William W. Wong, elder brother of Wilfred Wong.
Of Formosa’s olefin facilities, only the steam cracker No. 3, which is designed to produce 1.2 million m.t./year of ethylene is still running but it too is scheduled to be taken off line this month for a planned, early turnaround, CW has learned. Analysts have expressed concerns about the implications for Formosa. “We expect the fire to weigh on the share prices of the Formosa sisters in the near term,” says Jeremy Chen and Lily Chen, analysts at Morgan Stanley (Taipei). Formosa safety record has been tarnished and investor confidence in its management is fading, they say. The stock price of the four members of the Formosa Group plummeted NT$200 billion ($6.9 billion) yesterday.
The impact of the 28 plant shutdowns on petrochemical markets is potentially huge. Formosa Plastics is the second-largest producer of polyvinyl chloride and the Nan Ya subsidiary is among the top four makers of EG. Formosa Chemicals and Fibre, meanwhile, is a major global player in purified terephthalic acid.
The accidents have also cast doubt on Formosa’s expansion plans. The company announced plans earlier to expand the third cracker by 500,000 m.t./year and construct several facilities as part of a fifth wave of expansion. These plans included entry into new product areas including several typesof synthetic rubber. Formosa has since relocated the project to its site at Ningbo, China.
Different source for same news: Formosa’s Polyethylene and EVA plants shut
Formosa Plastics Corp (FPC) has shut its polyethylene (PE) and ethylene vinylacetate (EVA) units at Mailiao complex as a cautionary measure following a fire at the site late on 26 July.
The affected facilities comprise a 264,000 tpa linear low density PE (LLDPE) plant, a 350,000 tpa high density PE (HDPE) unit and a 240,000 tpa low density PE (LDPE)/EVA swing plant. Duration of the shutdown remains unclear.
UOP Technology Selected for Propylene Plant in China
UOP, a Honeywell subsidiary, says that it has been selected by Zhejiang JulongPetrochemical Co., to provide technology for a new plant to produce propylene at Zhejiang Julong’s facility at Pinghu, Zhejiang province, China. The plant is expected to start up in 2013 and will produce 450,000 m.t./year of propylene. UOP will provide engineering design, technology licensing, catalysts, adsorbents, equipment, staff training and technical service for the project. China’s propylene consumption accounts for more than 15% of worldwide demand and is growing at about 5%/year-6%/year, UOP says.
Zhejiang Julong Petrochemical is a wholly owned subsidiary of Zhengjiang Changjiang Energy Development Co. (Wenzhou, Zhejiang province). The new propane dehydrogenation unit at the Pinghu facility will use UOP’s C3 Oleflex technology to convert propane to propylene.
JX Nippon Oil & Energy and SK Innovation jointly produce petrochemicals and lubricating oils
Japan’s JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp will cooperate for a new venture in petrochemicals and lubricating oils with SK Innovation Co of South Korea, as per Nikkei Business Daily. A total of 120 bln yen (US$1.52 bln) will be invested in two new production ventures at SK’s refinery complex in Ulsan, South Korea, of which JX Energy will invest over 50 billion yen.
The new petrochemicals and lubricants factories will be located at SK innovations’ refinery complex in Ulsan with an investment outlay of 90 billion yen. For petrochemicals, the JX Holdings Inc unit will form a 50:50 venture with SK Global Chemical Co, a unit of SK Innovation. Production of paraxylene at the 1 mln tpa plant, is expected to come online sometime in 2014. This will be one of the largest PX plants in the world.
Sipchem invests over SR 150 million in a new center for Research and Development
The Saudi International Petrochemical Company (Sipchem) announced that it has spent over SR150 mln to construct its corporate Research and Product & Application Center -at the Dhahran Techno Valley (DTV) of King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM). Sipchem has previously signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Petroleum and Minerals and King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals for the establishment of the center on a 15000 square meters area at DTV. Based on this memorandum Sipchem shall construct, manage and operate this center. Sipchem has already started the construction of the center at the site. The center has been designed on the most modern building designs that contain state-of-the-art laboratories and equipment with the objective of developing the usage of polymer products and the downstream industries in the Kingdom which currently include more than 860 plants. The company targets to start operation of the center in the middle of 2012. The center will work in close coordination with various organizations in the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals and with an objective to render science and technology and chemistry and polymers technology handy to everybody school and university students in particular, to make them aware of the importance of polymers and chemical industries and the job opportunities that these industries may create. To build the knowledge economy that the Kingdom strives to achieve, it is necessary that that the Saudi youth, men and women alike, be trained and enlightened on scientific, research and engineering aspects and this is the role that the Sipchem center is expected to play. The center is expected to concentrate its research on the basic usage of the films which are used in the production of solar cells and thin sheets for agricultural usages, flexible pipes necessary for wooden and paper industries, dyes and electric cables including fiber optic cables and other products that support the national program for the development of industrial complexes. The center will also contribute to enhancing the cooperation in the field of research through the use of laboratories, equipment and the exchange of experiences between the university and other research centers in the Kingdom and Sipchem organization.
Gevo to build hydrocarbon processing demo plant at Silsbee, Texas
Gevo Inc. has announced plans to work with South Hampton Resources, Inc., a subsidiary of Arabian American Development Co, to build a hydrocarbon processing demonstration plant outside of Houston in Silsbee, Texas. This demonstration plant is expected to process up to 10,000 gallons/month of Gevo’s isobutanol into a variety of renewable hydrocarbon materials including jet fuel for engine testing, isooctane for gasoline, isooctene and paraxylene for polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Gevo will supply other potential customers with material for product qualification and evaluation. The demonstration plant is slated for completion before the end of 2011. The contract between the companies is for two years with one-year extensions thereafter.”This demonstration plant allows us to complete the value chain from isobutanol to renewable hydrocarbon fuels and chemical intermediates which is one of our key strategic objectives,” said Patrick Gruber, Ph.D., CEO of Gevo. “With the operation of this plant, Gevo intends to demonstrate its fully integrated biorefinery –going from renewable carbohydrates all the way to fungible hydrocarbon materials used across the refining and petrochemical industries. We expect this plant to showcase the value of our renewable hydrocarbons and drive future customer demand.”South Hampton Resources, Inc. has contracted to provide Gevo with toll-manufacturing services at its Silsbee, TX facility and complete the final design and engineering package for the demonstration plant from preliminary plans supplied by Gevo.
BASF to Expand Polystyrene Board Production 17%
BASF plans to expand its production of its extruded polystyrene insulation material Styrodur® C for rigid foam panels (XPS) at Ludwigshafen, Germany by about 17% to 1.52 million cu meters, up from its current production capacity of 1.3 million cu meters. The new capacity is slated to start-up at the end of 2011.
“By increasing our capacity we are aiming to establish our new XPS products, which represent a major advance in insulation performance and processing, within the construction sector in the long run, says Giorgio Greening, head of BASF’s global business unit Foams.“The demand for energy-efficient building insulation products rises continuously,”he says. The European XPS market is currently growing by 3-5%/year, driven by rising energy prices and legal regulations on thermal insulation in new and old buildings.
The new production capacity will feature manufacturing technology that will enable BASF to produce its new XPS products Styrodur Neo and Styrodur HT products as well as its standard XPS products. The plant extension is incorporated into the existing production structure, but will have a more elaborate configuration and will operate using an optimized method, the company says.
Styrodur C is pressure-resistant, water-repellent and rot-proof. It has been protecting homes against heat, cold and moisture for more than 45 years, BASF says. Styrodur Neo, a gray XPS with integrated graphite particles, shows a 20% higher insulation performance than competitive materials, the company adds.
Sasol Secures Majority of Gevo’s Isobutanol Through 2013
Isobutanol producer Gevo(Englewood, CO) says it has entered into a definitive, commercial off-take agreement with Sasol Chemical Industries Limited. The deal is expected to include the majority of Gevo’s 2012 and 2013 production capacity. Sasol will use the isobutanol to produce solvents and specialty chemicals.
Gevo says it aims to produce about 110 million gals/year of isobutanol by 2013, and 350 million gals/year by 2015. Together with Redfield Energy (Redfield, SD), the company is retrofitting a Redfield 50-million gals/year ethanol plant into a 38-million gals/year isobutanol plant. It is expected to coming online in the fourth quarter of 2012. Gevo plans to bring an 18 million gals/year isobutanol unit by next summer after retrofits are complete at an ethanol plant it acquired at Luverne, MI. It also has an ethanol-to-isobutanol retrofit jv with an undisclosed partner.
Gevo raised $95.7 million in a February initial public offering, but soon after was hit with a patent infringement suit by DuPont’s Butamax Advanced Biofuel (Wilmington, DE) joint venture with BP. Lanxess owns a 9.1% stake in Gevo.
Butamax sues Gevo over patent infringment claim
In Delaware, Butamax Advanced Biofuels filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Gevorelating to use of Butamax’s biobutanol technology, which was covered by a foundational patent granted by the USPTO last month. The patent encompasses biocatalysts developed to produce isobutanol.
A number of patent applications by Butamax have been successfully accepted into the United States Patent and Trademark Office Green Technology Pilot Program for accelerated review. Butamax was formed as a BP/DuPont joint venture to develop and commercialize biobutanol as a next generation renewable biofuel for the transport market, and is poised for commercial launch from 2012/2013.
Same article, different source:
Butamax Advanced Biofiels (Butamax) is a Delaware-based joint venture between BP and DuPont formed in 2009 to develop biobutanol.
Biobutanol is an advanced biofuel which has some important advantages over ethanol, including an energy content closer to that of gasoline and the capacity tocreate higher blend concentrations with gasoline.
Butamax ownsU.S. Patent No. 7,851,188, entitled “Fermentive production of four carbon alcohols” (’188 Patent). The ’188 Patent is directed to Butamax’s biobutanol production technology and recombinant microbial host cells that produce the biofuel.
Last month Butamax suedGevo, an Englewood, Colorado, advanced biofuels company, for infringement of the ’188 Patent.
The complaint(Butamax_Complaint), filed in federal court in Delaware, alleges that Gevo’s isobutanol production pathway infringes the ’188 Patent:
According to the complaint, Gevo has produced isobutanol using such microbial host cells in a retrofitted ethanol production facility and is converting another ethanol facility for isobutanol production.
Butamax is seeking an injunction and monetary damages. As far as I know, this is the first instance of biofuel patent litigation involving a major oil company. With the oil majors increasingly involved in biofuels startups via research funding, buyouts, and JVs like Butamax, it won’t be the last.
A bio-based succinic acid joint venture between ASF and CSM
BASF SE and Purac, a subsidiary of CSM nv, recently announced the start of negotiations to form a joint venture for the production of bio-based succinic acid. The companies have been conducting research under a joint development agreement on bio-based succinic acid since 2009. The balancing strengths in fermentation and downstream processing led to the development of a sustainable and highly efficient manufacturing process based on a proprietary microorganism. The demand for succinic acid is expected to grow strongly in the near future. Main drivers are expected to be bioplastics, chemical intermediates, solvents, polyurethanes and plasticizers.
The newly developed process combines high efficiency with the use of renewable substrates and the fixation of the greenhouse gas CO2 during the production. This results in a positive eco-footprint and makes bio-based succinic acid an economically and ecologically attractive alternative to petrochemical substitutes. The employed microorganism Basfia succinici producens is a natural producer of succinic acid and can process a wide variety of C3, C5 and C6 renewable feedstocks, including biomass sources.
“We aim to be the first commercial producer in the market with a 25,000 tons capacity fermentation production plant at the Purac site near Barcelona, Spain, with the intention to start up by 2013 at the latest,” said Gerard Hoetmer, CEO of CSM. “In addition, we are already planning a world-scale plant with a capacity of 50,000 tons to account for the expected demand growth. This partnership has enormous potential as it leverages the combined competencies of two leading companies in their fields.”
During the existing cooperation critical steps of the jointly developed production process have been validated in several successful production campaigns. The resulting volumes were used to evaluate the market. “The goal is to globally provide a high product quality and offer security of supply to the customers,” Fabrizio Rampinelli, MD of Purac, added. “Through this bio-based succinic acid collaboration we aim to add another important new growth-pillar to our bio-based polymers and green chemical business.”
Kraton-Formosa joint venture to produce HSBC polymer grades
Kraton Performance Polymers (Kraton) Formosa Petrochemical Corporation (FPCC) has inked an agreement for a 50:50 joint venture to construct and operate a 30 kiloton hydrogenated styrenic block copolymer HSBC) plant, to be located in Mailiao, Taiwan. The plant will be operated by the joint venture and Kraton will undertake the global marketing of all products manufactured at the facility. This is subject to the completion of the necessary definitive agreements. The agreement establishes a framework between Kraton and FPCC governing all commercial, operational, technical and management aspects of the planned joint venture company. The paper work will be finalized by end of 2011 and the plant operations will in the H2-2013. The cost of the plant is currently expected to range from US$165-200 mln.”In response to growth in global demand for our differentiated grades of HSBCs, we have been evaluating alternatives for additional capacity that would employ Kraton’s latest state-of-the-art technology for producing HSBCs. This announcement is the result of a comprehensive one-year site selection process involving significant Kraton resources, during which we considered several possible investment alternatives,” said Kevin M. Fogarty, Kraton’s President and CEO. “FPCC’s significant project execution expertise and operational resources will help ensure timely completion of the construction phase of the project. We view this joint venture project as the first step in a long-term relationship with FPCC, which may provide for future capacity expansions. Moreover, as an integral part of this strategic growth investment at Mailiao, FPCC’s petrochemical complex will provide the joint venture with on-site, competitive feedstock inputs, including butadiene, as well as site services and utilities,” Fogarty added. “When completed, this investment will provide significant, additional supply capability, and provide a platform to launch a series of new innovative polymers, to serve the impressive growth plans of our Asian and global customers.””FPCC is pleased to form this partnership with Kraton, the global leader in the manufacture of hydrogenated styrenic block co-polymers, which represent a high value segment of a growing specialty polymer of the Asia Pacific markets,” said Wilfred Wang, Chairman of FPC. “This joint venture framework is consistent with FPCC’s strategy of expanding our portfolio into high value downstream businesses. With FPCC’s manufacturing and operations at our Mailiao site providing an excellent infrastructure, feedstocks, utilities and essential services, we have envisaged the success of this win-win deal for both parties.”
Ban on plastics bags in Australia’s Northern Territory from September 1, 2011
Akin to the approach adopted by South Australia, the Northern Territory legislation will prohibit the supply by retailers of plastic bags with handles that are made of polyethylene polymer less than 35 microns thick. Retailers should check with their supplier if they are unsure about the composition or thickness of the bags they are supplying. Legislation was passed by the NT Legislative Assembly in February 2011. Phase-out period commenced on May 1, 2011, and the ban will commence on September 1, 2011. In the Territory, like South Australia, the ban will not extend to:
“Reusable ‘Green bags’ (heavy polypropylene plastic bags designed to be reused over 100 times).
“Recycled bags you bring along yourself.
“Heavier retail (or boutique) bags, typically used by clothing and department stores.
“Biodegradable bags that state they meet the Australian Standard AS 4736-2006.
“Barrier bags, the type dispensed from a roll, typically for items such as loose fruit and vegetables.
Charge on plastic carry bags impact retail usage in India
The Ministry of Environment and Forests’ Plastic Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011, notification dated February 4 states that no carry bags shall be made available free of cost by retailers to customers. As a result retailers have started charging for plastics carry bags. The charge varies from Re 1 to Rs 7 per bag. This has resulted in an initial drop of 30% in plastics bag consumption by retailers, since the first week of July, because of the introduction of the pricing policy.
Petrobras’ plan to invest US$11 bln in Mexico till 2015
Petroleo Brasileiro (Petrobras) plans to invest US$11 bln in oil exploration, production and refining projects in Mexico uptil 2015. Most of the investment will go into petrochemical plants and refineries in Mexico’s Gulf states. Petrobras plans to invest in Mexico’s Etileno XXI project in Coatzacoalcos comprising ethanol processing plant for with capacity to produce 1 mln tons of ethylene and its derivatives. Output from the project will meet a large chunk of demand that is currently satisfied by imports from the US.
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