DATE : 2014-02-20
Japan’s Asahi Kasei Chemicals has shut its 320,000 tonne/year No 2 styrene monomer (SM) unit in Mizushima for maintenance, a company source said on Thursday.
“The unit was shut in mid-February and is scheduled to restart in mid-April,” the source added.
The company operates another 390,000 tonne/year No 3 SM unit at the same location. The unit is scheduled for a maintenance shutdown from early to end-March.
The company’s 150,000 tonne/year No 1 SM unit was mothballed in 2007.
Other Japanese SM makers include Denka and Idemitsu Kosan Chemicals.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-02-17
Effective immediately or as contracts allow, SOLVAY AROMA PERFORMANCE increases the prices of hydroquinone and para-methoxyphenol up to 20%. This worldwide price increase is essential to restore profitability and ensure our HQ and PMP customers a full sustainability and growth of supply in the next years.Main raw material feedstocks (i.e. phenol, methanol…), energy and labor costs in the producing areas of Solvay (USA, France and China) have significantly increased in 2013. Meanwhile our HQ and PMP prices have drastically decreased.As a key global and responsible player, Solvay is striving to offer a continued high level of quality, services and performance everywhere in the world with the best available technology and ecofriendly process.As an international chemical group, SOLVAY assists industries in finding and implementing ever more responsible and value-creating solutions. The Group is firmly committed to sustainable development and focused on innovation and operational excellence.
Solvay serves diversified markets, generating 90% of its turnover in activities where it is one of the top three worldwide. The group is headquartered in Brussels, employs about 29,000 people in 55 countries and generated 12.4 billion euros in net sales in 2012.
SOURCE PolymerUpdate
DATE : 2014-02-17
Pemex Petroquimica has restarted an acrylonitrile (ACN) plant following an unplanned outage.
A Polymerupdate source in Mexico informed that the plant was shut on February 12, 2014, owing to a power outage. It restarted two days later.
Located in the Gulf of Mexico state of Veracruz, the plant has a production capacity of 60,000 mt/year.
SOURCE PolymerUpdate
DATE : 2014-02-17
INEOS Oxide has confirmed that it has successfully expanded its Ethylidene Norbornene (ENB) plant at its Antwerp facility, increasing its capacity to 28,000 tonnes, making it the single largest ENB plant in the world.The expansion was completed during Q4 2013.“We are pleased to be able to announce that we have successfully expanded our ENB plant to support our customer’s needs." said Hans Casier, CEO INEOS Oxide. “Ongoing global growth, and demand from new ENB customers, in particular those producing ethylene-propylene-diene rubber, requires new capacity. Debottlenecking the Antwerp plant is a unique step by INEOS that will provide sufficient ENB for the next 2-3 years."ENB is used primarily in the production of ethylene-propylene-diene rubber (EPDM). Because it is extremely wear and weather resistant this high performance rubber is increasingly favoured for use in the automotive, white goods and construction industries.
Its unique molecular structure means ENB is also used in the high value fragrance and flavours industry as a scent carrier.INEOS Oxide is a leading producer of Ethylene Oxide and Ethylene Oxide Derivatives, Propylene Oxide and Propylene Oxide Derivatives, plus a range of solvents and specialty chemicals, with production facilities in Antwerp Belgium, Köln Germany, Lavéra France, Plaquemine Louisiana and Hull United Kingdom.
SOURCE PolymerUpdate
DATE : 2014-02-10
Indian Oil (New Delhi) is planning to significantly expand its petrochemical business in India, S. Mitra, executive director/petrochemicals tells CW. The company aims to develop its Koyali site through investments in acrylic acid and esters. Meanwhile, a final investment decision on a previously announced polypropylene (PP) investment at Paradip is expected in the “next month or two,” Mitra says.
The PP project will include two lines, each designed to produce 350,000 m.t./year. The project will be based on LyondellBasell Industries’ Spheripol technology and would likely be onstream at the end of 2016, Mitra says. The project would more than double Indian Oil’s PP capacity. The company currently has capacity for 650,000 m.t./year at its Panipat site.
Indian Oil is also planning a number of ethylene-based projects at Paradip. The ethylene is expected to come from an ethylene-recovery project using refinery offgas. The facility, based on the Lummus process, would produce 250,000–300,000 m.t./year of ethylene and be ready in 2018. Indian Oil is studying a number of projects at Paradip based on ethylene from the planned facility. The company is contemplating building a low-density polyethylene (LDPE) plant or an ethyl vinyl acetate/LDPE facility. Other possibilities include units producing styrene, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and ethylene glycol (EG). There would be enough ethylene for only one of these units, Mitra says. Possible capacities for the units would be 250,000 m.t./year of LDPE; 600,000 m.t./year of styrene; 500,000 m.t./year of PVC; and 400,000 m.t./year of EG. Further into the future, the company is considering a 1-million m.t./year para -xylene ( p -xylene) unit at the site. The company is currently assessing the market for p -xylene.
Meanwhile, at Koyali, Indian Oil is studying a number of projects based on refinery propylene. The company operates a refinery at the site. Indian Oil is constructing a 1-million m.t./year acetic acid plant there in a joint venture with BP. The plant will include associated gasification facilities for the production of synthesis gas.
The acetic acid complex is planned to be onstream in 2017, Mitra says. “We are also looking at the use of propylene for new facilities, including acrylic acid, acrylic esters, and oxo-alcohols,” he tells CW. The acrylic acid plant would be designed to produce 100,000 m.t./year, and the esters unit, producing mainly butyl acrylate, would have capacity for 160,000 m.t./year.
The company is carrying out a feasibility study for the project and, if it proves viable, Indian Oil will look for jv partners, Mitra says.
Indian Oil’s petrochemicals business will be concentrated at three main sites: Panipat, Koyali, and Paradip (p. 19). “Koyali is becoming a major site for Indian Oil, together with Panipat and Paradip,” Mitra says.
SOURCE Chemweek
DATE : 2014-02-14
Malaysia's Lotte Chemical Titan has shut its 100,000 tonne/year butadiene (BD) unit for turnaround in Pasir Gudang, Malaysia, market sources said.
The BD unit will shut for three to four weeks for maintenance in February, according to the market sources.
Separately, the company awarded a sales tender for 2,000 tonne BD cargo for early March shipment this week on a floating basis, according to market sources.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-02-14
Japan’s Showa Denko is scheduled to shut its 175,000 tonne/year vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) plant at Oita for annual maintenance in mid March lasting one month, a company official said on Friday.
The annual turnaround will take place from 14 March to 19 April, the official said, adding that the plant is currently operating at almost full capacity to build up inventories.
Some domestic buyers added that they have covered their requirements for March and April ahead of the producer’s shutdown.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-02-14
South Korea's Taekwang Petrochemical plans to shut its 290,000 tonne/year acrylonitrile (ACN) plant in Ulsan for scheduled turnaround from 17 February, a company source said on Friday.
“The plant will be shut down next Monday and the shutdown will last for around three weeks,” the source said.
The plant is expected to restart around 7 March, according to the source.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE 2014-02-14
China’s Fujian Refining & Petrochemicals (FREP) plans to start up its new 60,000 tonne/year butadiene (BD) extraction unit in Fujian province in late May or early June, a company source said.
The Chinese BD producer will have a total of 180,000 tonnes/year BD capacity with the start-up of the new unit.
It currently operates a 120,000 tonne/year BD unit.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-02-14
Taiwan's Formosa Plastics Corp (FPC) has shut its 98,000 tonne/year methyl methacrylate (MMA) plant in Mailiao for a scheduled turnaround, a company source said on Friday.
The plant is expected to be off line from 14 February to 11 March, the source added.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-02-13
Lithium-ion batteries are at the heart of the phones, tablets, cars, and planes we use every day, but they have an inconvenient habit of occasionally bursting into flames. Now, a team of scientists have found they can replace the unstable, fire-prone chemicals in batteries with an exceptionally stable polymer.
Researchers at UNC Chapel Hill, led by chemist Joseph DeSimone, were originally looking for a material that would keep marine life from adhering to the hulls of ships. But like most great discoveries, it led down a different path.
While testing the material, the team realized this perfluoropolyether, or PFPE, could dissolve lithium salt, an indicator needed to produce conductivity in batteries. “Most polymers don’t mix with salt, but this one did,” says grad student and head researcher Dominica Wong. “And it was nonflammable.”
Lithium-ion batteries create power by moving ions from the negative electrode to the positive electrode. When it re-charges, the ions go the opposite direction. The plain lithium batteries like the AAs in your remote control can only discharge. To recharge, li-ion batteries require an electrolyte, typically an ion-rich liquid like dimethyl carbonate (DMC), which is flammable even at room temperature. “They’re cousins to gasoline,” DeSimone says.
DeSimone and his team have been working with PFPE for years, and during their research, the crew found that another polymer electrolyte, polyethylen glycol or PEG, and PFPE could combine to dissolve salt, and potentially function as an electrolyte. When his team attached the PFPE to dimethyl carbonate, an electrolyte traditionally used in batteries, the resulting PFPE-DMC was a polymer that could move a battery’s ions with insane levels of efficiency while remaining stable.
How efficient? The battery in a Tesla or Prius, using a regular electrolyte, has a transference rate of around 0.2, which works, but is far from ideal. The PFPE electrolyte measured around 0.91, almost approaching “unity” — a transference of 100 percent.
“The holy grail in batteries is a lithium-air battery, which has the power density equivalent to a fuel tank,” DeSimone says. “Everyone’s been working on it, but one of the linchpins is that [regular] electrolytes aren’t compatible with oxygen.” With the application of the new PFPE electrolyte, this type of power-dense battery might actually be possible.
While the lithium-ion batteries in a smartphone are small and used for a comparatively short ownership period, blowing up is rarely an issue. But a larger setup like those found in the Boeing Dreamliner or Tesla Model S, the big reserves of electrolyte fluids are more sensitive. The team’s testing shows that a PFPE electrolyte can remain stable down to -194 degrees Fahrenheit (-90 degrees Celsius) and up to 392 degrees Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celsius). An electrolyte that doesn’t catch fire or freeze could blow open doors for aeronautical, automotive, and marine applications. It would also mean a battery that wouldn’t freeze in a Minnesota winter.
Commercial appearances of this electrolyte are — as with most radical discoveries — still years away, but DeSimone and his team are continuing their research.
“We’re stoked,” DeSimone said. “You’ve got nonflammability, this transference number, and the ability to do it at high temperatures.” And that’s a trifecta that could be the next great battery revolution we need.
SOURCE Wired.com
DATE : 2014-02-12
Ascend Performance Material is scheduling maintenance in February and March on two of its acrylonitrile (ACN) units at its Chocolate Bayou facility in Texas, a company source said on Wednesday.
Ascend is shutting down its AN3 unit for seven to 10 days in February for maintenance, as well as its AN2 unit for three to four weeks in March for a turnaround.
Each unit has a capacity of 140,000 tonnes/year.
US ACN supply has already been tight in the recent months, as INEOS Nitriles announced in December that it was reducing production through the first quarter by 50% of capacity at its 545,000 tonne/year facility in Green Lake, Texas.
Major North American producers of ACN include Ascend Performance Materials, Cornerstone, INEOS and Unigel/Pemex.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-02-13
LG Chem is in plans to shut a styrene monomer (SM) plant for maintenance turnaround.
A Polymerupdate source in South Korea informed that the plant is planned to be shut in mid-March 2014. It is likely to remain off-stream for around three weeks.
Located in Daesan, South Korea, the plant has a production capacity of 180,000 mt/year.
SOURCE Polymer Update
DATE : 2014-02-12
China’s Huizhou MMA Co Ltd (HMC) will shut its 90,000 tonne/year methyl methacrylate (MMA) plant in Guangdong province for maintenance from 12 May, a company source said on Wednesday.
The plant will be off line for about 40 days, the source said.
The MMA plant in Huizhou is currently running at full capacity, the source said.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-02-10
Camlin Fine Sciences has decided to set up a wholly owned subsidiary (WOS) Company in Canada for undertaking trading and distribution of antioxidants, food ingredients, blends, formulations etc in US and Canadian markets.Earlier on August, the company had received its board's approval to set up a subsidiary company in Brazil. The company will set up the arm in Brazil for manufacture and sale of Food & Industrial Antioxidants, Flavouring Compounds and Post Harvest Preservatives etc...
Camlin Fine Chemicals is the world's second largest manufacturer and marketer of food grade antioxidants TBHQ and BHA.
SOURCE HTAACF