ADI Chemical Market Resources Newsletter
September 26, 2011

 

 

Coke and AT&T using more PlantBottle resin

All conventional 500ml PET bottles for Coca-Cola, Coke Zero and diet Coke sold in the United Kingdom are being replaced by the company’s PlantBottle, which includes materials partly sourced from plants, according to Coca-Cola Great-Britain.

In addition, AT&T Inc. announced Sept. 12 that it will use PlantBottle resin in its accessory packaging. The plastic will be used in packaging for AT&T-branded wireless accessories, which includes most device cases and power accessories.

Jon Woods, country manager for Coca-Cola Great Britain and Ireland, said: “The PlantBottle package is a bottle we can all feel good about and is a significant step on our journey towards more sustainable packaging. It looks, feels and functions just like a normal plastic bottle, but it helps reduce our reliance on non-renewable resources.”

More than 200 million PlantBottles will hit the shelves in the UK this year, part of a wide-ranging Coke rollout: by the end of 2011 more than 5 billion PlantBottles will be on the market in 20 countries.

The PlantBottles used in the Great Britain are made from up to 22.5 percent plant-based material and up to 25 percent recycled PET, said Coca-Cola. The plant-based component is sourced from bioethanol from sugarcane.

AT&T said it also plans to slim down its accessory packaging. In 2010 and 2011, the company eliminated the use of more than 500 tons of paper and plastic in that packaging.

Poland’s Plast-Box opens PP plant in Ukraine

Poland’s plastic packaging manufacturer Plast-Box has opened a new plant in Chernihiv, Ukraine, where it already operates a production facility. The newly-built factory has an annual output capacity of 3,000 tonnes of PP and the company plans to further increase production capacity.

“By the end of this year, the plant will increase its output capacity to 300 tonnes per month, and in the future to as much as 600 tonnes,” Plast-Box said in a statement.

The manufacturer’s second production facility in Ukraine has a surface of 5,396m², and was fitted with nine KraussMaffei and Husky Hylectric injection molding machines. Plast-Box said it aims to install a total of 30 machines at the factory. The new Chernihiv unit currently has 75 employees, and Plast-Box plans to take on a further 25 workers.

“The new plant, which will supply its products to the Polish and Ukrainian market … is set to become a key element of Plast-Box’s business strategy for the upcoming years,” the company said.

Meanwhile, the Polish packaging business, which makes plastic buckets and containers, also announced plans to launch a range of new products in partnership with household product manufacturer Curver.These are to include plastic waste bins and containers.

In the first half of 2011, Plast-Box reported revenues of 46.85m zloty (€10.89m), an increase of 22.7% over the same period a year earlier. Its net profit stood at 2.28m zloty (€530,000), up 86.5% over the first half of 2010.

Established in 1983, the company operates a third plastic packaging plant in Slupsk, Poland.

Honam-Mitsubishi Rayon JV to Build 2-Hydroxyethyl Methacrylate Plant in Korea

Mitsubishi Rayon says its 50-50 Daesan MMA (Seosan, Korea) joint venture with Honam Petrochemical (Seoul) will build a plant to produce 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, a raw material for paints and adhesives, at Seosan. The plant will produce 11,000 m.t./year of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, and it is expected to begin production in April 2013.

Mitsubishi Rayon currently produces 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate in Japan. “In light of expected strong global growth in the Asian automotive sector and in the demand for paints in the U.S. and Europe, the main application of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, we have decided to launch production at Daesan MMA,” Mitsubishi Rayon says. “This move will enable more competitive 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate production, as the plant already makes its base materials methacrylic acid monomer and ethylene oxide.”

In March 2011, Mitsubishi Rayon and Honam announced that Daesan MMA will expand production capacity for methyl methacrylate (MMA) and for polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) pellets by building plants at Honam’s Yeosu, Korea site. Capacity for 98,000 m.t./year of MMA will be built at Yeosu. The jv’s total MMA production capacity will increase to 188,000 m.t./year following completion of the plant, expected in January 2013.

With additional facilities for MMA monomer and acrylic resin pellets scheduled to be built by January 2013, the launch of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate production will strengthen the MMA chain, Mitsubishi Rayon says.

Lanxess to Produce Bio-Based EPDM By Year-End

LANXESS plans to commercially produce ethylene-propylene-diene monomer (EPDM) from bio-based ethylene by the end of the year. LANXESS plans to use ethylene supplied derived purely from sugarcane, rather than petroleum-based ethylene and propylene. Braskem will supply the bio-based ethylene via pipeline to Lanxess’s existing EPDM plant at Triunfo, Brazil. Lanxess says its Triunfo site will house the first bio-based EPDM rubber plant in the world. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Lanxess says the Triunfo plant currently produces 40,000 m.t./year of petroleum-based EPDM. The company says it expects the first batches of the bio-based EPDM will amount to “several hundred metric tons.”

Lanxess acquired the Triunfo plant through its purchase of DSM’s EPDM business. Lanxess also produces petroleum-based EPDM at Geleen, The Netherlands; Marl, Germany; and Orange, TX.

The DSM deal also included DSM’s Keltan advanced catalysis elastomers (ACE) technology, which reduces energy and production costs for EPDM and broadens application possibilities. Lanxess says all its EPDM products will be sold under the Keltan brand name going forward.

Meanwhile, Lanxess is “seeking alternative sources” to manufacture butyl rubber. Lanxess says it has partnered with Gevo (Engelwood, CO) to develop isobutene from renewable resources starting with corn. Isobutene is a key raw material needed in the manufacture of butyl rubber.

Siam Cement to Acquire 30% Stake in Chandra Asri for $416 Million

Siam Cement Group (SCG; Bangkok) says its chemical subsidiary SCG Chemicals has entered into separate share purchase agreements with Barito Pacific (Jakarta, Indonesia), and Apleton Investments Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Temasek Holdings (Singapore), to acquire Apleton’s entire 22.87% stake, and Barito Pacific’s 7.13% shareholding in Chandra Asri Petrochemical (Jakarta), at a price of IDR4,088/share for a total of about IDR3.76 trillion ($416 million). Following completion of the transactions later this month, SCG Chemicals will hold 30% stake in Chandra Asri, Barito Pacific will remain the controlling shareholder in Chandra Asri with a 64.87% stake and the remaining 5.13% stake will be owned by the public.

Chandra Asri Petrochemical was formed on January 1, 2011 by the merger of two subsidiaries of Barito Pacific -PT Chandra Asri and PT Tri Polyta Indonesia, and it is listed in the Indonesia Stock Exchange. Chandra Asri is Indonesia’s largest petrochemicals producer and has annual sales of about $1.86 billion, SCG says. Chandra Asri produces 600,000 m.t./year of ethylene, 320,000 m.t./year of propylene, 320,000 m.t./year of polyethylene, 480,000 m.t./year of polypropylene, and 340,000 m.t./year of styrene monomer. The company announced in June 2011 that it plans to invest $700 million in the next five years to expand capacity at its complex at Cilegon, Indonesia.

SCG says that, with its attractive demographics, high growth potential, and ample untapped demand, Indonesia is a key strategic country in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The acquisition of the 30% stake in Chandra Asri represents a unique opportunity for SCG Chemicals to invest in Indonesia’s leading petrochemicals franchise, and is also the largest international investment to date for SCG, the company says.

“We believe that our new partnership with Barito Pacific will enable Chandra Asri to capture significant growth potential through cracker expansion. We will also evaluate attractive opportunities beyond the existing petrochemical complex, together with Barito Pacific. This investment represents an important stepping stone in becoming a leading petrochemical player in ASEAN,” says Cholanat Yanaranop, president of SCG Chemicals.

SCG Chemicals recorded sales of baht144 billion ($4.7 billion) and net profits of baht22.6 billion in 2010, an increase of 43% and 80% respectively, compared with 2009.

“The experience and track record of SCG Chemicals, a leading petrochemical company in Asia, will deliver additional value to the business operations of the company as well as accelerate the cracker expansion plan of the company,” says Erwin Ciputra, president of Chandra Asri. “In addition, the business model of SCG will bring positive impact for Chandra Asri and is in line with the company’s vision to be a world-class integrated petrochemical company in Indonesia,” Ciputra says.

SCG Chemicals also plans to make a bid for petrochemical company Sulfindo Adi Usaha (Jakarta), according to press reports. Victoria Group, which owns Sulfindo Adi Usaha, is planning to sell the company for about $700 million. Hanwha Chemical (Seoul) also plans to bid for Sulfindo Adi Usaha, reports say.

Williams to Expand Ethylene Capacity at Geismar

Williams will spend about $350 million-$400 million to expand ethylene capacity at its Geismar, LA olefins facility by 600 million lbs/year, or 44%. The expansion will bring total ethylene capacity at the site to 1.95 billion lbs/year and is expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2013.

“The shale gas revolution in the United States, coupled with continued strong crude oil prices, has given U.S.-based ethylene manufacturing a tremendous cost advantage over many other supply regions,” says Rory Miller, president of Williams’ midstream business. “The results are a revitalized North American petrochemical business and a U.S. ethylene market short of supply.”

The expansion will add to Williams’ growing large-scale infrastructure in the Gulf Coast and help balance the company’s lengthening ethane position.

The Geismar complex is a light-end natural gas liquid (NGL) cracker with the capacity to produce 1.35 billion lbs/year of ethylene. The facility also produces propylene, butadiene and debutanized aromatic concentrate (DAC).Williams owns 83.3% of the facility and operates the plant, while Sabic Innovative Plastics owns the remaining share.

ExxonMobil Chemical to Build World-Scale PAO Unit at Baytown

ExxonMobil Chemical says it will build a world-scale metallocene polyalphaolefin (mPAO) synthetic lubricant base stocks plant at its Baytown, TX integrated refining and chemical complex. The facility will have the capacity to produce about 121 million lbs/year of high-viscosity mPAO. Engineering, procurement and construction activities for the new facility have begun, and completion is expected in 2013, ExxonMobil Chemical says.

“The drive for greater energy efficiency, improved durability and extended drain intervals is creating demand for high-performance lubricants made with advanced synthetic base stocks,” says Habib Quazi, global v.p/ synthetics at ExxonMobil Chemical. “This new metallocene hi-vis PAO manufacturing capacity demonstrates ExxonMobil’s technology leadership and our commitment to provide our customers with reliable supply of synthetic base stocks that enable innovative synthetic lubricants.

ExxonMobil Chemical is the world’s largest PAO producer. In the U.S., the company has the capacity to produce about 186 million lbs/year of PAO at its Beaumont, TX plant.

Phillips Sumika closing Texas PP plant

Phillips Sumika Polypropylene Co. is closing its PP resin plant in Pasadena.

The 700 million-pound-capacity plant will close by the end of the year, spokesperson Melanie Samuelson said in a Sept. 13 phone interview. The 19-year-old plant employs 60, some of whom may be redeployed to other businesses operated in Pasadena by co-owner Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. LP, Samuelson added.

The plant is closing because of “an increasingly difficult business environment and continued losses experienced by the partners,” she said.

Phillips Sumika is a 50-50 joint venture between Chevron Phillips of The Woodlands, Texas, and Sumika Polymers America Corp., which is a unit of Sumitomo Chemical Co. Ltd. of Tokyo.

Chevron Phillips’ production of polyethylene and other plastics in Pasadena won’t be affected by the closing of the PP works, officials said in a Sept. 13 news release.

Chevron Phillips will remain in North American PP by marketing resin made at a plant in Al-Jubail, Saudi Arabia, by Saudi Polymers Co., a venture between Chev-ron Phillips and Saudi Industrial Investment Group.

The Saudi Polymers plant is set to begin operating this year with annual capacities of 1.1 billion pounds of PE, almost 900 million pounds of PP and 200 million pounds of polystyrene.

A PP plant operated in Linden, N.J., by Chevron Phillips co-owner ConocoPhillips Corp. won’t be affected by the Pasadena closing, Samuelson said.

The closing is the first to hit the North American PP field since early 2009, when Sunoco Inc. closed a plant in Bayport, Texas. That was part of a wave that saw more than 2 billion pounds of PP capacity —about 15 percent of the region’s total —shuttered between early 2007 and mid-2009.

North American PP demand peaked at 19.3 billion pounds in 2007, but global economic softness has kept that total between 16.8 billion and 17.2 billion pounds in each of the last three years. Demand for 2011 was down 5 percent in the first half of the year, and is expected to finish in that same range again.

The market has been affected by higher prices, driven by higher prices for propylene monomer feedstock, which PP makers have passed on to their own customers. Production of some end products made of PP also has migrated from North America to other parts of the world.

And in the long term, development of new-found supplies of natural gas throughout North America is expected to lead to increased use of ethane as a chemical feedstock. That’s not great news for PP makers, since ethane produces less propylene per unit than crude oil-based naphtha feedstock does.

In addition to the closings, materials makers Sunoco and Dow Chemical Co. recently exited North American PP by selling their businesses to Brazilian newcomer Braskem SA.

The current situation in the North American PP market is unsustainable because of volatile feedstocks, more than enough competition to keep margins low and scant export opportunities, according to Phil Karig, managing partner of Mathelin Bay Associates LLC, a materials consulting firm in St. Louis.

“The process of consolidation in the [North American] PP market will probably go through several stages,” Karig wrote in an email. “But all roads will lead to a smaller, leaner and at least marginally more profitable industry.”

However, the region’s PP buyers, Karig wrote, “can expect to pay more for resin in the future, so it will be very important that alternate suppliers and polymers are available whenever possible.”

Karig added that the current North American PP market is similar to what’s happened to polystyrene inthe last few years. North America now has only three major PS suppliers.

“Although history never repeats itself exactly,” he wrote, “we can expect the PP market to generally follow the script from the PS market: There will be fewer PP suppliers a few years down the road due to mergers, acquisitions and outright capacity shutdowns, as we are seeing with Phillips Sumika right now. And when the smoke clears on consolidation in the PP industry, the smaller number of suppliers will benefit in the form of higher margins due to tighter operating capacity and less competition.

Scott Newell, a PP market analyst with consulting firm Resin Technology Inc., in Fort Worth, Texas, said he wasn’t surprised by the Phillips Sumika closing.

“North American polypropylene is a tough industry anymore,” Newell wrote in an email. “It’s matured over the years and is at the mercy of its feedstock propylene where, as a byproduct of other processes, it has little control over supplies.

“On top of that,” he added “you have an industry with the highest cost structure across the globe at this time … decreasing demand and excess capacity.”

Berkshire Hathaway purchase of Lubrizol a done deal

Lubrizol Corp.’s days as a standalone public company are done.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. today said it finalized its $9.7 billion purchase of the Wickliffe specialty chemicals company.

Omaha, Neb.-based Berkshire, run by Warren Buffett, paid $135 per share for Lubrizol in an all-cash transaction. The deal, announced in March, was approved overwhelmingly by Lubrizol shareholders and met all U.S. and non-U.S. regulatory filing requirements. The final hurdle was cleared on Wednesday, Sept. 14, when the Chinese government signed off on the purchase.

“Lubrizol is a great addition to the Berkshire Hathaway family of companies,” said Buffett, Berkshire’sCEO, in a statement. “We expect to see continued strong performance from the company as it executes its growth strategies.”

With the closing of the transaction, Lubrizol is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Berkshire. Its international headquarters remains in Wickliffe, and the company continues to be led by CEO James Hambrick.

“As part of Berkshire Hathaway, we have real and significant opportunities to continue creating customer value by providing complex and innovative chemistries, formulations and solutions for some of the most demanding performance applications in the world,” Hambrick said in a statement.

Polyplex adds film lines in US and Thailand

Polyplex(Thailand) Public Co. Ltd. has US$202 million in investments under implementation in Thailand and the United States scheduled for completion over the next two financial years.

The investments include PET thin film line and PET resin line in the United States to be completed in fiscal year 2013-14. Polyplex said its board approved the relocation of a film line from Turkey.

This was “a strategic decision to further diversify our manufacturing base and capture the growth potential in the North American region by becoming a preferred on-shore supplier,” the company announced.

In Thailand, it is working to complete a silicone coating line in fiscal year 2012-13; and a PET thick film line and polypropylene blown film line in Thailand in 2013-14.

These investments will help the company generate higher returns for shareholders, the firm announced, adding that new applications like touch-screen panels would drive growth of thick PET film.

Bangkok-based Polyplex has projected between 8-10 percent annual growth in demand for its products.

DuPont wins $920 million in trade secrets case

A jury in the U.S. District Court in Richmond has awarded DuPont Co. $919.9 million in its trade secrets lawsuit against South Korea’s Kolon Industries Inc.

DuPont said it will ask the court for a permanent injunction ordering Kolon to stop making aramid fiber. The Wilmington, Del.-based chemical and polymer giant filed suit in February 2009, claiming Kolon used confidential information on the manufacture of Kevlar aramid fiber it had received from Michael Mitchell, a former DuPont employee turned industry consultant.

“Today’s jury decision is an enormous victory for global intellectual property protection and the millions of users of DuPont Kevlar technology and products,” said Thomas Sager, DuPont senior vice president and general counsel, in a Sept. 14 statement.

In its own statement the same day, Kolon said it will appeal the verdict.”Today’s verdict is the result of a multi-year campaign by DuPont aimed at forcing Kolon out of the aramid fiber business,” the company said. “Kolon had no need for and did not solicit any trade secrets or proprietary information of DuPont, and had no reason to believe that the consultants it engaged were providing such information. Indeed, many of the ‘secrets’ alleged in this case are public knowledge.”

Mitsubishi adding PET film capacity in S.C.

Mitsubishi Polyester Film Inc. has begun a $20 million upgrade at its plant in Greer, The addition will increase the factory’s capacity for making polyester films as well as providing enhanced capability for new products.

We’re adding new technology to one of our current lines,” spokeswoman Rose Marchek said in a Sept. 15 telephone interview. “We’re not increasing our [Mitsubishi] employees, but we are increasing the number of on-site contract employees for the duration of the project.”

She would not elaborate on the machinery being added as part of the upgrade.

Additions to the Greer facility will be completed in late 2012, Dennis Trice, president and chief operating officer of Mitsubishi Polyester Film, said in a news release.

The upgrade comes on top of Mitsubishi’s $10 million project, launched late in 2010, to roll out its Reprocess Sustainable Liner Program.

That program is a closed-loop recycling process that makes recycled PET pellets out of the inline silicone-coated release films that are used as dispensing liners for labels placed on consumer goods including beverage bottles and personal care products.

Mitsubishi has invested more than $200 million at its Greer facility over the past 10 years, Trice said. Mitsubishi bought the 1 million-square-foot plant in 1998 from Hoechst Celanese Corp., with whom it had operated a joint venture, Hoechst Diafoil Co., at the site.

The factory, situated on a 193-acre campus, employs about 700, including contractors, Marchek said. Ten of Mitsubishi’s employees were added as a result of the Reprocess program, Marchek said.

She said the latest film capacity increase was not a reaction to recent decisions by Indian firms such as Uflex Ltd. and Polyplex Corp. Ltd. to set up PET film production in the United States.

“They’re commodity producers, and we’re trying to get into new, high-end products that are more technical,” Marchek said.

Mitsubishi Polyester Film is a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Plastics Inc., which is part of the Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Group, one of the largest chemical companies worldwide with annual sales of $40 billion.

Germany’s FKuR to make compounds based on Braskem PE

Bioplastics compounder FKuR KunststoffGmbH will make compounds based on Braskem SA’s bio-based green polyethylene for the European market.The agreement between São Paulo-based Braskem and FkuR of Willich, Germany, was announced Sept. 15. Officials said the deal will result in the first tailor-made green PE compounds available in Europe.

FkuR CEO Edmund Dolfen described the agreement as “a substantial and important step towards increasing our renewable plastics portfolio.”

Braskem –Brazil’s largest resin producer –opened a large plant making sugarcane-based PE in the second half of 2010 in Brazil. Each ton of Green PE produced captures up to 2.5 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, officials said.

In North America, FkuR had planned to open a production site in Michigan by mid-2011, but now has opted to place a location in central Texas, applications technology representative Steven Prindle said in a Sept. 15 phone interview.

No date has been set for the opening of the Texas site. The company already operates a sales office in Cedar Park, Texas. FkuR altered its plans because of timing and logistics issues connected to the Michigan site, Prindle said. He added that the company still is seeing a lot if interest in its line of eco-friendly products.

Privately held FkuR was founded in 2003 as a spinoff of Fraunhofer Institute, a research institute in Oberhausen, Germany. The firm ranks as one of Europe’s largest bioplastics suppliers.

BioAmber partners on Thai biopolymer plant

PTTMCC BiochemCo. Ltd., a joint venture between PTT Public Co. Ltd. of Thailand and Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. of Japan that is building a bio-based chemical plant in Thailand, has signed a supply agreement with BioAmber Inc.

Minneapolis-based BioAmber will secure feedstock for a planned facility in Thailand that will produce the bioplastic polybutylene succinate.

The Map Ta Phut, Thailand, plant is due to start construction in 2012.

PTTMCC will help BioAmber secure biomass for the succinic acid plant, initially sourcing sugar from cane and/or tapioca, and subsequently biomass sugars.

“Partnering with BioAmber will allow PTTMMC to have competitive biosuccinic acid from a local source by 2014,” said Shigeru Handa, a general manager at Mitsubishi Chemical and a member of PTTMCC’s board of directors, in a news release.

Ban on plastic bags likely to win final approval in Santa Cruz, Calif.

The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors is poised to ban the use of plastic bags and place a 10-cent fee on paper bags that will escalate to 25 cents after the ban is in effect for one year.

If approved, as expected, the ban will apply to all restaurants, supermarkets and convenience stores in unincorporated areas of the county. It is scheduled to go into effect March 20. The measure, which was approved 5-0, must be approved again at a second reading Sept. 20.

There are some exceptions to the proposal. For example, restaurants would be permitted to give customers one free paper bag for any food they end up taking home. In addition, those on public-assistance programs would not be charged for paper bags.

Stephen Joseph, counsel for the Save the Bag Coalition, which has filed several lawsuits in California against plastic bag bans, said he had “no comment at this time.”

However, a letter the coalition sent to the county on Sept. 12 said that “the erroneous findings [in the environmental impact review] will be a basis for our lawsuit against Santa Cruz County.”

That letter cited six specific findings that were inaccurate –some of which the letter called “utterly absurd.”

“The Board of Supervisors and citizens of Santa Cruz County are being misinformed and misled,” Joseph wrote in that letter. “STPB does not accept any of the findings, including those not mentioned in this letter.”

A previous letter three days earlier had advised the county of the coalition’s intent to challenge the ordinance in court because of the ban on the use of plastic bags for take-out food.

Nonetheless, the decision two months ago by the California Supreme Court permitting the Manhattan Beach plastic bag ban to go into effect appears to have reignited interest in banning bags in California communities.

Weighing whether to adopt plastic bag bans are Los Angeles, Millbrae, Laguna Beach, Fort Bragg, Berkeley, Santa Cruz, Sunnyvale, Monterey, Belmont, Daly City, Salinas, Santa Barbara, Novato, San Anselmo, Sausalito, Mill Valley, Tiburon, San Rafael and Mateo County, San Luis Obispo County and Mendocino County.

In addition, the West Contra Costa Integrated Waste Management Authority —which represents the cities of El Cerrito, Hercules, Pinole, Richmond and San Pablo —is considering a ban.

Outside California, the Colorado towns of Aspen, Basalt, Carbondale and Steamboat Springs are pursuing either a 20-cent tax or a ban on plastic bags. And voters in Hailey, Idaho, thanks to a ballot initiative by local high school students, will vote Nov. 8 on a plastic bag ban.

Currently, 10 cities and four counties in California have plastic bag bans: Calabasas, Fairfax, Long Beach, Malibu, Manhattan Beach, Oakland, Palo Alto, San Francisco, San Jose and Santa Monica. In addition, the counties of Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Los Angeles and Marin have passed plastic bag bans that applyto the unincorporated areas of their counties. Hearings on the legality of the Marin ban are under way in Marin County Superior Court.

Altogether, 29 U.S. communities have plastic bag bans. The others are Fort Stockton, South Padre Island and Brownsville in Texas; East Hampton, N.Y., and Southhampton Village in New York; the towns of Bellingham and Edmonds in Washington; Portland, Ore.; the islands of Kauai and Maui in Hawaii; Telluride, Colo.; Westport, Conn.; and the Alaska towns of Bethel and Hooper Bay. In addition, the Outer Banks, N.C., counties of Hyde, Dare and Currituck also have a ban on plastic bags, enacted as a single measure for those three counties.

Two other communities –Montgomery County, Md., and Washington, D.C. –have a 5-cent tax on plastic and paper carryout bags.

Huntsman finishes one expansion, considers another

Huntsman Corp. has doubled epoxy resin capacity at its plant in Monthey, Switzerland, and is studying a potential major expansion of a similar plant in McIntosh, Ala.

Huntsman, a specialty chemicals maker based in The Woodlands, completed the Swiss expansion earlier this year. Around the same time, the firm also enhanced its ability to make purified epoxy resins in McIntosh, officials said in a Sept. 14 news release.

A potential new production line in McIntosh “will further boost global production of all types of multifunctional epoxy resins,” they added. A “multimillion-dollar, in-depth” engineering study being conducted in McIntosh focuses on the new project.

Increased demand for multifunctional epoxies as a replacement for aluminum and other materials in aerospace and similar markets is driving the expansion effort.

“These investments will bring enormous benefit and value to our customers … helping them address some of the engineering challenges they face … to produce lighter, more efficient materials,” James Huntsman, president of the company’s Advanced Materials division, said in the release.

In the first half of 2011, Huntsman’s sales grew more than 27 percent to $5.6 billion. The firm also posted a first-half profit of $191 million after losing $56 million in the same period last year.

Sales in Huntsman’s polyurethanes unit grew 28 percent to $2.2 billion, while the unit’s pretax profit more than doubled to $257 million.

In Advanced Materials —including epoxies —first-half sales grew 16 percent to $711 million, but pretax profit fell 20 percent to $67 million. Officials cited higher manufacturing, selling, general and administrative costs as reasons for the decrease.

On Wall Street, Huntsman’s per-share stock price began the year around $16 and peaked near $21 in early May. But widespread market weakness had caused the price to fall to near $12 in late trading Sept. 14

Coke and AT&T using more PlantBottle resin

All conventional 500ml PET bottles for Coca-Cola, Coke Zero and diet Coke sold in the United Kingdom are being replaced by the company’s PlantBottle, which includes materials partly sourced from plants, according to Coca-Cola Great-Britain.

In addition, AT&T Inc. announced Sept. 12 that it will use PlantBottle resin in its accessory packaging. The plastic will be used in packaging for AT&T-branded wireless accessories, which includes most device cases and power accessories.

Jon Woods, country manager for Coca-Cola Great Britain and Ireland, said: “The PlantBottle package is a bottle we can all feel good about and is a significant step on our journey towards more sustainable packaging. It looks, feels and functions just like a normal plastic bottle, but it helps reduce our reliance on non-renewable resources.”

More than 200 million PlantBottles will hit the shelves in the UK this year, part of a wide-ranging Coke rollout: by the end of 2011 more than 5 billion PlantBottleswill be on the market in 20 countries.

The PlantBottles used in the Great Britain are made from up to 22.5 percent plant-based material and up to 25 percent recycled PET, said Coca-Cola. The plant-based component is sourced from bioethanol from sugarcane.

AT&T said it also plans to slim down its accessory packaging. In 2010 and 2011, the company eliminated the use of more than 500 tons of paper and plastic in that packaging.

Bridgestone to set up seat-foam plant in China

Bridgestone announced Sept. 14 that it is investing $11 million to build a plant to make molded polyurethane foam for vehicle seats in Wuhan City, China.

The 20,000-square-meter plant, with 80 employees, will be operated by Bridgestone(Wuhan) Chemical Products Co. Ltd., set up in December 2010.

According to Bridgestone, preparations are currently under way to enable mass-production of the foam parts to start in April 2012. The investment covers the buildings, installation of equipment, and start-up of production.

Annual capacity at Wuhan will be 300,000 sets of foam for car seats.

This plant will be Bridgestone’s second for making foam for vehicle seats in China, adding to a plant in Guangzhou making the same products.

Bridgestone said vehicle demand in China is expected to grow in the medium-to long-term, and this will in turn drive up demand for polyurethane foam for seats.

“By strengthening its supply systems in China, Bridgestone will enhance its ability to quickly deliver these high-quality products to this growing market,” a company statement said.

Sinochem dips toe into waterborne PU

Even China’s state-owned enterprises are dipping their toes into the environmentally friendly plastics market.

At the UTECH Asia/ PU China show held in September, Sinochem International Corp. featured a new line of products based on waterborne polyurethane dispersions.

“Right now we’re studying the market and seeing where we should put our resources,” said Liu Chao, deputy general manager of the company’s fine chemical business center.

Sinochem International is one of China’s largest chemical companies, with business arms operating in agricultural chemicals, rubber, plastics and chemical logistics. It is part of state-owned Sinochem Group and is listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The fine chemical business segment of the company operates a polyurethane manufacturing plant in Taicang, Jiangsu province, opened in 2009, and an R&D lab on the outskirts of Shanghai. The PU plant focuses on rigid and flexible PUs as well as elastomers. The company does not yet manufacture waterborne polyurethanes. Instead they are sourcing the material from a company based in the Netherlands and focusing their attention on developing applications.

Liu says the market is ready to embrace waterborne PUs. Because they are dispersed in water rather than the solvent dimethylformamide, the material is considered more environmentally friendly. At the moment, said Liu, most waterborne PU products are being produced outside of China.

“Film is one example,” said Liu. “China is the beginning stages of developing thin films and we are working with a customer in Beijing to develop a suitable thin laminate –right now, most of these products are coming from overseas.”

At the moment, the biggest market for Sinochem’s waterborne PUs is the glove industry, where the materials is used to coat the surface of latex gloves. The company has also developed applications for the automotive industry, where the material can be used as leather coating.

“We’re continuing to do research and work on new applications,” said Liu. “With time and resources, we think this material has a good future in China.”

U.S. Overhauls Patent Law, Eliminates’First to Invent’ Test

President Obama has signed into law changes to the U.S. patent system that major chemical firms say are important steps in streamlining the U.S. patent system and promoting innovation and job creation. The America Invents Act also will remove financial roadblocks that have slowed the patent approval process in the U.S. and stifled competitiveness by making the U.S. system more cumbersome than systems used overseas, industry representatives say.

The law removes one of the biggest differences in the U.S.’s patent approval process compared with other countries: The U.S. has for years used a “first to invent” standard for allocating patent rights, compared with other nations that use a system granting a patent to those deemed “first to file” for a patent. That difference has caused the U.S. system to become mired in complex debate about which scientists published or spoke first about an upcoming patent and has put the U.S. on uneven footing with other countries, according to the Coalition for 21st Century Patent Reform, which represents firms including 3M, Air Products, Dow Chemical, DuPont, and Eastman.

One of the concerns about changing the U.S.’s prior “first to invent” system, however, was that less well-funded inventors would be unfairly penalized because they lack the resources to file quickly and efficiently for patent approval. However, proponents of the new law say grace periods and other provisions will protect individual inventors and those linked to academia.

The law also revises the process available to inventors seeking to fight patent infringement, in part by expanding “prior use” standards to include “processes, machines and compositions used in manufacturing processes that would infringe a patent and were commercially used at least one year before the filing date of the patent, while excluding patents owned by institutions of higher education,” the coalition says.

Another important change in the new law involves how the patent approval system is funded, aiming to eliminate past problems involving diversion of funds for government programs not directly linked to the patent approval system, the coalition says.

Evonik Breaks Ground on Catalyst Plant in Argentina

Evonik says it has broken ground on the construction of a previously announced biodiesel catalyst plant at Puerto General San Martin, Argentina.

The detail engineering of the facility is already complete. The plant, which is expected to be operational by the end of 2012 at the latest, will supply ready-to-use alcoholates as catalysts for the production of biodiesel from renewable resources. It will primarily serve markets in Argentina and Brazil, with an annual capacity of over 60,000 m.t./year.

“We want to further solidify and expand our position as a leading provider of catalysts for biodiesel production,” says Evonik board member Dahai Yu.

The facility is located in the center of the Argentine biodiesel industry in Puerto General San Martin in the greater Rosario metropolitan area. Evonik will be part of a site where Terminal 6 S.A. operates a major biodiesel facility.

“We will complete the plant construction without undue delay to ensure that our South American customers will soon have access to our high-quality, locally produced catalysts,” says Jan Van den Bergh, the head of the Evonik Advanced Intermediates Business Unit.

Sasol Eyes Integrated GTL and Chemicals Project at Lake Charles

Sasol today gave more details about its project to buildan integrated U.S. gas-to-liquids (GTL) and chemicals complex. The companysays it will embark on a feasibility study to evaluatethe viability of a GTLventure near itsexisting Lake Charles, LAcomplex over the next 18 months. Capital investment for the project is estimated at $8 billion-$10 billion. The feasibility study willconsider a2-million m.t./year and a 4 million m.t./year GTLfacility. Sasol’s board has approved a feasibility study for the U.S. plant after successful completion of a “pre-feasibility study” earlier this year.Sasol is also conducting a separate ongoing feasibility study to determine the commercial viability of a GTL plant in western Canada focused on fuels, following recent shale gas acquisitions in that region.

The plant would consume approximately 305 billion standard cu ft of natural gas/year, which would represent roughly $1.3 billion-$1.5 billion/year in natural gas purchases at current prices, according to a statement from Louisiana Economic Development (LED; Baton Rouge). The GTL complex would provide a huge new source of demand for the Haynesville Shale and other natural gas plays in Louisiana. If approved, construction is expected to start in 2013, and the complex would be built in two phases that upon completion in 2018 would process approximately 4 million tons/year of products, LED says.

The project will be the first plant in the U.S. to produce GTLtransportation fuels and other products, the company says.At a press conference today with Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, Sasol managing director/new business development Ernst Oberholster said, “We believe Sasol’s proprietary GTL technology can help unlock the potential of Louisiana’sclean and abundant natural gas resources and contribute to an affordable, reliable and high quality fuel supply for the U.S.”

This is Sasol’s second project in the U.S. announced in less than a year. In December, the company said it would build the world’s first ethylene tetramerization unit, also at Lake Charles.

BASF and Petronas Plan Petrochemical Complex in Brunei

Petronas and BASF plan jointly to build a $1.6-billion petrochemical complex at Pulau Muara Besar, Brunei, local press reports say. Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak, prime minister of Malaysia discussed a proposal for the project with Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei at a meeting earlier this week. The project is expected to go ahead following approval from Brunei. The petrochemical complex is expected to create about 650 jobs, and the products made at the complex will be intended for export, reports say. No further details of the project were disclosed. BASF and Petronas did not comment on the proposed project.

BASF and Petronas have a joint venture in Malaysia. BASF Petronas Chemicals, a 60-40 partnership between BASF and Petronas, is located at Gebeng, Malaysia. It was formed in 1997. The jv operates an integrated complex at the Gebeng industrial zone producing acrylic monomers, oxo products, and butanediol. BASF Petronas Chemicals is planning to expand its activities. The two companies are undertaking a feasibility study to manufacture products including superabsorbent polymers, nonionic surfactants, methanesulfonic acid, isononanol, and other C4-based specialties.

Sibur Considers IPO in 2013

Petrochemical producer Sibur (Moscow) says it will launch an initial public offering (IPO) most likely in 2013, according to a Reuters report. Sibur did not provide a valuation, but says the IPO done by petrochemicals maker Petronas Chemical (Kuala Lumpur) in 2010 is a possible benchmark for comparison.

Sibur is 50% owned by Russian investor Leonid V. Mikhelson, CEO of Novatek (Moscow). Novatek is Russia’s largest independent gas producer and the country’s second-largest natural gas producer.

Sibur has been considering an IPO for several years, but postponed plans because of the global economic downturn from 2008-09. Mikhelson said that he did not exclude the possibility of an IPO when he bought his stake in Sibur earlier this year.

ConocoPhillips to Include CP Chem Stake with Refining Assets for Spin Off

ConocoPhillips plans to include its stake in Chevron Phillips Chemical (CP Chem), a 50-50 joint venture with Chevron, with the downstream refining assets that it plans to spin off in by mid-2012. ConocoPhillips chairman and CEO James Mulva outlined the plans CP Chem at a Barclay’s investor conference yesterday in New York.

ConocoPhillips announced last month that it would separate its production and refining operations into two stand-alone publicly traded companies, but did not specify the home for CP Chem at the time.

CP Chem is the fourth-largest U.S. ethylene maker and has the top U.S. position in high-density polyethylene. CP Chem also has significant Middle East joint ventures in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. CP Chem had 2010 revenues of $11 billion, and $8 billion in assets. ConocoPhillips says it expects the spin off of its downstream assets to be completed in second-quarter 2012.

CPChem to Acquire Belgian PAO Plant from Nestle Oil

Chevron Phillips Chemical (CPChem) says it plans to acquire a polyalphaolefin (PAO) plant located at Beringen, Belgium, from Neste Oil Corporation. The deal is expected to close in the next few months.

The purchase price was not disclosed but Neste says the “divestment will have a minor positive impact” on results. The plant makes Group IV base oils, which are the main component used in high-performance synthetic lubricants and premium motor oils. Neste Oil started base oil production in Beringen in 1991.

“The acquisition represents a unique opportunity for CPChem to significantly expand our presence in Europe,” says Dennis Holtermann, general manager of normal alpha olefins and polyalphaolefins for CPChem. “The addition of this plant to our existing asset base will more than double our production capability allowing us to better serve the growing demand for PAOs used in high performance lubricants and other applications.”

PKN Orlen considers PET production

Polish oil group PKN Orlen is aiming to expand its value chain in petrochemicals still further and is considering heading downstream into PET polymer production.Earlier this year, Plock-based Orlen launched a €1bn industrial complex in Wloclawek, Poland, producing the key PET polymer feedstock terephthalic acid (PTA) and paraxylene (PX). It has the capacity to manufacture 600,000 tpa of PTA.

Now the group is planning to unveil details of its latest development strategy at the end of this year and this is likely to include expansion proposals for its petrochemicals business, according to PKN Orlen board chairman Jacek Krawiec.

Its upstream chemicals complex already counts on one major nearby PTA customer, Indorama Polymers Poland. The Thai-owned company, which acquired the production operations of the South Korean-owned firm SK Eurochem earlier this year, runs a 140,000 tpa PET resin plant in Wloclawek. This plant is supplied with feedstock from the new Orlen complex.

Indorama announced in June that, based on this arrangement and to benefit from economies of scale, it intends to expand its PET production in Poland to 360,000 tpa by 2013. That will increase the Bangkok-based group’s overall European PET capacity to 1.3 million tpa, it stated.

In August, PKN Orlen announced a strong performance from its petrochemicals business which helped drive up group second quarter results, despite the “challenging macroeconomic climate”. The launch of PTA output, along with higher fertiliser sales boosted petrochemicals turnover by 13%, while the divisional operating profit rose by 327% to over €120m.

New petrochemicals and ethylene firm in Russia

Bashneft, one of Russia’s largest oil producers and Austrian-based Petrochemical Holding, headed by Yakov Goldovsky, former head of the Russian petrochemical giant Sibur, is to establish a new venture to produce petrochemicals and ethylene.The new company will beknown as United Petrochemical Company. The majority of its stake (75%) will be owned by Bashneft, while the remaining 25% by Petrochemical Holding.

As part of the project, the new venture will produce up to 300,000 tonnes of ethylene per year, 200,000 tonnes of propylene oxide and 200,000 tonnes of MDI-type diisocyanate.

The project involves expanding Bashneft’s existing facilities in the city of Dzerzhinsk, (the centre of Russia’s petrochemical production), and building new capacities in Nizhny Novgorodand Ufa. The new enterprise is expected to process all petrochemical raw materials, produced at the refineries of Bashneft. Current volume is estimated at about 25 million tonnes per year.

Yakov Goldovsky is a very famous figure in the Russian petrochemical industry. In 1997-1998 he gained control of Sibur and started expanding its business by acquiring competitors. As a result, Sibur gained a control of nearly 60 companies. Almost all of the acquisitions were made with the financial support of Gazprom.

Thai SCC keen to invest US$1.1 bln to acquire stake in Indonesian petrochemical companies

Thailand’s top industrial conglomerate, Siam Cement Pcl confirmed an interest in buying stakes in two petrochemical companies in Indonesia worth a combined estimated US$1.1 bln (S$1.3 bln). Other details have not yet been disclosed, as per Reuters. Indonesian chemical producer Sulfindo Adiusaha is up for sale at an estimated US$700 mln and may draw interest from Siam Cement and South Korea’s Hanwha Chemical Corp. Separately, Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings is trying to sell its 23% stake in Indonesian petrochemicals maker Chandra Asri in a deal worth an estimated US$400 mln. Last week, Thailand’s PTT group said it was keen to buy a stake in Chandra Asri.

 

Albemarle to produce renewable base oils for Amyris, Cosan JV

US specialty chemicals producer Albemarle has agreed to supply base oils to Novvi, a joint venture between Amyris and Cosan focused on the development, production, marketing and distribution of renewable base oils fromBiofene, Amyris’ renewable farnesene.

Under the terms of the agreement, Albemarle’s fine chemistry services (FCS) division will serve as a custom scale-up and production partner for synthetic, renewable base oils for the lubricants market.

Novvi will marketNovaSpec, the venture’s synthetic renewable base oils produced at Albemarle, to finished lubricant manufacturers globally.

“Novvi seeks to be a leading supplier of renewable base oils for high-performance lubricants with reduced environmental impact,” said Lineu Moran, managing director of Novvi.Pending regulatory activities, Albemarle expects to commence production ofNovaSpecbase oils in the near future at its facility in Orangeburg, South Carolina, utilizingBiofeneproduced and supplied by Amyris, it said.

US WR Grace loses bidding in business acquisition

US-based catalyst producer WR Grace’s recent loss in the bidding for a business drew no immediate comments from other possible buyers on Wednesday.

Earlier this year, WR Grace was in talks to make what it called a strategic acquisition, one that would significantly improve the company’s business plan and growth strategy in the upcoming years, according to court documents.

WR Grace did not elaborate on other details of the possible deal, including whether its catalyst or building-materials division would acquire the business.

On 29 July, WR Grace learned that it was not the successful bidder in the auction.

As company policy, WR Grace does not comment on acquisitions.If the auction was for a catalyst business, possible bidders could include Albemarle, BASF, INEOS and LyondellBasell, all of which produce catalysts.

Albemarle would not comment on the auction. BASF and LyondellBasell did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

A spokesman for INEOS’s North American business was unaware of any acquisitions by the company.

As far as the seller, it could be Dow Chemical.

Earlier this year, sources in the financial community said Dow was trying to sell its licensing and catalyst business. Dow’s PP catalyst and licensing business includes its UNIPOL, CONSISTA D7000 Donor and SHAC Catalyst process technologies. Dow did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Dow’s catalyst and licensing business was not included in the $350m (€240m) PP deal with Braskem.

Methanex Restarts Atlas Plant After Unplanned Outage

Methanex has restarted its Atlas methanol facility at Point Lisas, Trinidad following an unplanned outage on July 20. Production was down for about a month, curtailing annual output by nearly 100,000 m.t./year. The plant, which has the capacity to produce about 1.7 million m.t./year of methanol, is expected to run for about two weeks before shutting again for scheduled maintenance in September, sources say. The duration of the turnaround was not specified.

JX Nippon and SK Global Chemical to Form Petchem JV

JX Nippon Oil & Energy (Tokyo) and SK Global Chemical, the petrochemical business of SK Innovation (Seoul), formerly SK Energy, plan to establish a petrochemicals joint venture at Ulsan, Korea, press reports say. The planned 50-50 jv will mainly produce para-xylene, and will involve an investment of about ¥90 billion ($1.14 billion). The 1-million m.t./year facility will be online in 2014, reports add.

Indian Oil to Establish Bio-energy Research Center

Indian Oil Corp. (IOC; New Delhi) says it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Indian government’s department of biotechnology (DBT), to set up a DBT–IOC Centre for Advanced Research on Bio-energy at Faridabad, India. The center will be built at IOC’s research and development complex at Faridabad and will involve a cost Rs530 million ($12 million) during the first five years of operation and DBT will invest half of the amount.

“Breakthroughs are needed to replace oil with plant based fuels and hope lies on biotechnological interventions and creation of this center is expected to fulfill our aspirations in this area,” says R.S. Butola, chairman of IOC.

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’s target 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. 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 inthe 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 misled 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

ST. LOUIS (Aug. 3, 12:15 p.m. ET) –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 IgnaciaMoreno, 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 the 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 monomerunit; 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 types of 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 vinyl acetate (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 Julong Petrochemical 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 PXplants 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

GevoInc. 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 Biofuels(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 to create 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, thisis 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 succinicacid. 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) hae 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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