DATE : 2014-03-10
INEOS has shut down the smaller of its two butadiene (BD) extraction lines at its site in Dormagen in Germany for planned maintenance, market sources said on Tuesday.
Sources said the unit was taken offline on 17 March with restart anticipated sometime in mid-April. This has not been confirmed by the company, which does not usually comment on production.
INEOS has the capacity to produce 245,000 tonnes in total of BD at Dormagen, according to ICIS data.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-03-07
South Korea's Taekwang Petrochemical on 7 March restarted its 290,000 tonne/year acrylonitrile (ACN) plant in Ulsan, a company source said on Friday.
The plant restarted on schedule and the company is currently operating the unit at around 90% of capacity, the source said.
The company shut the plant on 17 February for a three-week turnaround.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-03-07
Shanghai Secco Petrochemical is in plans to shut a styrene monomer (SM) plant for maintenance turnaround.
A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the plant is planned to be shut later this week.
It is likely to remain off-stream for around 40-45 days.Located in Shanghai, China, the plant has a production capacity of 650,000 mt/year.
SOURCE PolymerUpdate
DATE : 2014-03-07
Lucite International on 5 March shut its 100,000 tonne/year methyl methacrylate (MMA) plant in Shanghai for a turnaround, sources close to the company said on Friday.
The plant is expected to be offline for about 55 days, the source said.
The company currently operates another MMA plant in Singapore which can produce up to 130,000 tonnes/year of MMA.
Lucite International is a subsidiary of Japanese producer Mitsubishi Rayon Co (MRC), which is one of the largest MMA producers in Asia.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-03-08
Lotte Chemical Titan has restarted its butadiene (BD) unit following maintenance turnaround.
A Polymerupdate source in Malaysia informed that the plant restarted on March 6, 2014. It was under a maintenance turnaround for around 3 weeks.
Located in Pasir Gudang, Malaysia, the plant has a production capacity of 100,000 mt/year.
SOURCE PolymerUpdate
DATE : 2014-03-07
By 2015, the country’s total styrene capacity is projected to reach 8.43m tonnes/year, about a 50% increase from 2010.
China’s strong build-up of styrene monomer (SM) capacity over the years has been the driving force in the ongoing regional petrochemical sector rationalisation, whereby older production facilities are being retired, sources said.
By 2015, the country’s total SM capacity is projected to reach 8.43m tonnes/year, about a 50% increase from 2010, according to Chemease, an ICIS service in China. Over a four-year period to 2010, SM capacity in the country more than doubled to 5.61m tonnes/year, the data showed.
China has been steadily building up petrochemical capacity with an aim towards self-sufficiency, given its humongous requirements. The country is the world’s second biggest economy and remains the largest petrochemical importer in Asia.
With the strong growth in domestic capacity, China is less reliant on import cargoes, but its consumption continues to grow, industry sources said.
SM is a liquid chemical used to make resins such as polystyrene (PS), expanded PS (EPS) and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS), as well as synthetic rubbers such as styrene-butadiene-rubbers (SBR) and styrene-butadiene-latex (SBL).
CAPACITY OUTSIDE CHINA
SM capacity growth in Asia has stalled, with producers mothballing plants, fearing the loss of China as a major buyer.
In Japan, two producers have announced the impending facilities closures. Nihon Oxirane will shut down its 425,000 tonne/year SM plant in Chiba by May 2015, while Asahi Kasei Chemicals has announced that its 320,000 tonne/year unit in Mizushima will cease operations in March 2016.
“A deterioration in the supply-demand balance is expected, as the expansion and construction of large-scale plants in Asia are planned,” according to Asahi Kasei, which will keep its other 390,000 tonne/year plant to exclusively cater to the Japanese domestic market.
China’s capacity growth is being supported by demand, given the strong expansion in the downstream styrenics sector in recent years. The rest of Asia provides a stark contrast, with PS and EPS plants either having to scale down or completely shut production.
“PS and EPS expansions are mostly in China as the key users are mostly there. The trend will likely continue into the foreseeable future,” a southeast Asia-based PS maker said.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-03-06
Germany-based Evonik plans to expand the production capacity of its speciality methacrylate monomer manufacturing facility in Mobile, AL, US. The multimillion dollar expansion the methyl methacrylate transesterification (MMAT) plant is expected to be completed in 2014. The monomers produced at the MMAT plant are used in different applications including viscosity modifiers, personal care super absorbers and paint coatings.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-03-06
Malaysia's Lotte Chemical Titan has restarted its 100,000 tonne/year butadiene (BD) unit on 6 March after shutting it down for maintenance in February market sources said.
The BD unit was shut for three to four weeks for maintenance in February, according to the market sources.
Separately, the company awarded a sales tender for a 2,000-tonne BD cargo for end-March shipment this week on a floating basis, according to market sources.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-03-05
Un partenariat de R&D sur un nouvel électrolyte pour les batteries des véhicules électriques...
L'Institut de recherche d'Hydro-Québec (IREQ) et Arkema ont conclu un accord de collaboration de recherche pour le développement d'un nouvel électrolyte d'une grande sûreté à base de sels fluorés et non fluorés produits par Arkema. Dans ce cadre, Arkema a signé un contrat de licence portant sur la technologie de ses sels fluorés dont l'IREQ détiendra la propriété intellectuelle.
"Cette collaboration est une excellente nouvelle pour l'industrie de l'automobile et de l'électrification des transports collectifs et individuels qui recherchent des technologies performantes, de grande qualité et à moindre coût pour le développement de matériaux à destination des batteries électriques. Ce nouvel électrolyte pourra être utilisé pour les technologies de batteries lithium-ion et lithium polymère, actuellement sur le marché et de prochaine génération", explique les 2 partenaires. Ian Cayrefourcq, Directeur des Technologies Emergentes chez Arkema rappelle : "Ce partenariat est stratégique pour Arkema : il nous permettra d'accélérer nos développements et de valider nos solutions pour les batteries grâce aux compétences mondialement reconnues de l'IREQ dans le domaine des batteries lithium-ion. Cette collaboration renforce l'engagement d'Arkema dans le développement des énergies renouvelables".
SOURCE Boursier.com
DATE : 2014-03-06
US-based acetyls producer Celanese is planning to shut its vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) plants in China and Singapore in the first half of April for maintenance, sources close to the company said on Thursday.
Celanese operates a 300,000 tonne/year VAM plant at Nanjing in China’s Jiangsu province as well as a 210,000 tonne/year plant at Singapore’s Jurong Island.
Both plants are currently operating at full tilt to build up inventory levels, sources said.
The exact timeline and duration of the turnarounds have yet to be determined, they added.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-03-05
DuPont has declared force majeure for its supply of US vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) because of a Texas plant outage this week, the company said in a letter to customers obtained on Wednesday.
Dated 4 March, the letter confirmed what VAM sources had told ICIS. The letter stated that operating issues and a resulting outage at DuPont's La Porte unit had brought about the force majeure.
"At this time, the supply of our vinyl acetate monomer product is expected to be impacted through the month of June," the letter stated.
Shutting down the 335,000 tonnes/year VAM unit for four months, or a third of the year, will mean lost production of about 111,667 tonnes for DuPont at the site.
For an estimate of what the force majeure might cost DuPont, at the current VAM spot (FOB export) price assessed by ICIS averaging $1,285/tonne, the outage could mean $143.5m in lost production.
The DuPont letter, signed by Michael Hillary, olefins and VAM commercial director, said DuPont would contact customers about their allocations and other details regarding current and future orders.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-03-06
Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) has received four bids from foreign companies to build two petrochemicals plants in the kingdom, industry officials said on Wednesday.
Japan's Mitsubishi Rayon is the equity partner in both of the planned projects. The cost of the project is expected to be $1bn.
“South Korea's Daelim Industrial, France's Technip, Spain's Tecnicas Reunidas and Taiwan's CTCI had bid for the projects,” a Dubai-based banker said.
Both the plants, planned in 2009, will be set up in the industrial city of Jubail.
One of the planned plants will produce up to 250,000 tonnes/year of methyl methacrylate (MMA) monomer. The other will produce up to 40,000 tonnes of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA).
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-03-04
Japan VAM & Powal (JVP) is likely to shut a vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) plant for maintenance turnaround.
A Polymerupdate source in Japan informed that the plant will be shut in mid-June 2014. It is likely to remain off-stream for around one month.
Located in Sakai, Osaka, Japan, the plant has a production capacity of 150,000 mt/year.
SOURCE PolymerUpdate
DATE : 2014-03-03
Denki Kagaku Kogyo (Denka) is likely to shut a styrene monomer (SM) plant for maintenance turnaround.
A Polymerupdate source in Japan informed that the plant is planned to be taken offstream in May-June 2014.
It is likely to remain off-stream for around one month.Located in Chiba, Japan, the plant has a production capacity of 270,000 mt/year.
SOURCE PolymerUpdate
DATE : 2014-03-03
New analysis of the influenza A virus by scientists at the University of Hertfordshire shows potential for developing new anti-viral drugs which are more likely to be universally effective against the flu virus originating from avian, swine or human virus strains.
The influenza A virus has led to deadly pandemics killing millions of people - such as the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918/19 which killed at least 40 million people, the latest swine flu pandemic in 2009 which killed an estimated 300,000 people, through to the emergence of the current threat of avian H7N7 flu which caused 72 deaths in Asia up to early 2014.
Each year small changes in the influenza virus surface proteins mean that they can escape the human immune system and a new vaccination is necessary. In addition, antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu, become ineffective.
Dr Andreas Kukol, from the University of Hertfordshire's School of Life and Medical Sciences, said: "Our study set out to identify common regions within the various influenza subtypes to identify areas which could be used to develop antiviral drugs. Such antivirals would be effective against all influenza subtypes and also without leading to resistance."
The researchers looked at the nucleoprotein of the influenza virus as this is the area which is active in the infectious life cycle of the virus - and compared the nucleoprotein across different virus types and hosts. They identified regions within the nucleoprotein that are the same across all virus types - called conserved regions.
Dr Kukol continued: "Some of these 'conserved regions' which we identified on the nucleoprotein also overlap with those areas of the protein which antiviral drugs can bind to. Researchers will be able to develop new antiviral drugs using these particular binding sites which will be more likely to be universally effective against the different influenza viruses - and, more than that, they will remain effective as they do not lead to resistance."
SOURCE Medical News Today