DATE : 2014-07-10
Japanese producer Kuraray has restarted its 58,000 tonne/year polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and 67,000/tonne year acetone cyanohydrin-based methyl methacrylate (MMA) plants at Nakajo in Niigata prefecture earlier in the week, a company source said on Thursday.
Both plants were taken offline in mid-June for an annual turnaround.
Other PMMA makers in Asia include south Korea’s LG MMA, Japan’s Sumitomo Chemical, Japan’s Mitsubishi Rayon Co and Taiwan’s Chi Mei.
SOURCE Icis News
Reflecting its commitment to this alliance, Polynt Group has made a firm offer for CCP Composites. In light of the quality of the offer, it will be presented to the employee representatives concerned, as part of the required information and consultation procedures.
Polynt Group, a leading international provider of chemical solutions, is deploying an ambitious growth strategy that is based on strengthening its positions in Europe and worldwide, through developing activities that are a strategic fit with its own.
“The composite resins business is highly specialized and not integrated with Total’s petrochemicals operations,” commented Patrick Pouyanné, President of Total’s Refining & Chemicals. “In joining a front-ranking global resins player, CCP Composites would be able to consolidate its position, participate to the creation of a global leader, and enjoy new growth opportunities. A combining with Polynt Group, which operates in segments that are a strategic fit with CCP Composites’, would create a top-tier industrial front-runner.”
By combining CCP Composites and Polynt Group, the new organization would be able to capture and capitalize on a number of synergies to cement their leadership:
- Their industrial fit would give them a presence across the whole value chain, from upstream production of raw materials to downstream manufacture of resin-fiber composites.
- Their geographic fit would allow them to cover all leading global markets. Polynt Group and CCP Composites are present in different countries in Europe, with Polynt Group mainly active in Italy and CCP Composites in France.
Polynt Group’s offer for CCP Composites includes clear undertakings to continue operations sustainably and safeguard existing jobs and employee benefits.
The proposed transaction is subject to approval by the relevant antitrust authorities.
About CCP Composites
A Total company, CCP Composites manufactures unsaturated polyester resins, gelcoats, vinyl ester and other derivatives and distributes products and services to the composites industry.
Its products are used in a very wide range of applications, such as boat hulls, panels for refrigerated trucks, swimming pools and shower trays.
The company has 800 employees at 26 production sites worldwide (Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Malaysia, South Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States).
CCP Composites has 220 employees in France, mainly based at the Drocourt plant in northern France.
CCP Composites reported revenue of $560 million in 2013.
About Polynt Group
Polynt is a leading provider of intermediate polymers and composites.
Among its broad range of products, unsaturated polyester resins (UPR) are its main growth driver.
For more than 60 years, Polynt has been a European leader in composites, materials that are used to convert maleic and phthalic anhydride feedstock into UPRs and semi-finished products, such as sheet molding compounds/bulk molding compounds (SMC/BMC).
The company has 1,500 employees in 7 European countries (primarily Italy), China and the United States.
Polynt has a robust balance sheet thanks to the backing of shareholder Invest Industrial.
Polynt reported revenue of $1.1 billion in 2013.
Opening Ceremony Held for New Acrylic Acid Plant,
N-Phenylmaleimide Plant and Waste Liquid Incinerator System
NIPPON SHOKUBAI CO., LTD. [Headquarters: Chuo-ku, Osaka; President: Masanori
Ikeda, TSE:4114] (“NIPPON SHOKUBAI”) announced that July 8, 2014, NIPPON
SHOKUBAI held an opening ceremony for the new Acrylic Acid (“AA”) plant,
N-Phenylmaleimide (“PMI”) plant and waste liquid incinerator system in Himeji Plant.
The new Acrylic Acid plant
Acrylic Acid (“AA”), one of NIPPON SHOKUBAI’s core businesses, shows steady growth
of demand together with the growth of its main uses, acrylates and superabsorbent
polymers (“SAP”). With the start of the new AA plant at Himeji, NIPPON SHOKUBAI
group’s global AA production capacity is as mentioned below, and NIPPON SHOKUBAI
will enhance its position as one of the world top suppliers of AA.
- 2 -
AA Production Capacity of NIPPON SHOKUBAI Group (MT/Y)
Himeji Indonesia USA Singapore Total
Before the expansion 460,000 140,000 60,000 40,000 700,000
After the expansion 540,000 140,000 60,000 40,000 780,000
N-Phenylmaleimide (“PMI”) is first commercialized by NIPPON SHOKUBAI with
unique production technologies and it is expected for various applications for its
reactivity and unique properties. The demand for PMI is rapidly increasing as improving
agent of thermal resistance for ABS resins, acrylic resins and so on. NIPPON
SHOKUBAI aims to expand its line of unique chemicals like PMI throughout the global
market.
◆ Feature of capacity expansion
Production capacity AA 80,000 MT/Y
Schedule Commercial operation – July 2014
Location Existing plant site of Himeji Plant
Investment amount Approx. 11 billion yen
◆ Feature of capacity expansion
Production capacity PMI 10,000 MT/Y
(Including the current capacity 8,000 MT/Y, total capacity is
18,000 MT/Y.)
Schedule Commercial operation – February 2014
Location Existing plant site of Himeji Plant
Source: Investor & Public Relations Dept NIPPON SHOKUBAI CO., LTD
DATE : 2014-07-08
Japan's Nippon Steel Chemical has shut its two styrene monomer (SM) units at Oita in Japan on Tuesday due to problems at upstream feedstock supplier Showa Denko, a company source said.
The company operates a 190,000 tonne/year No 2 unit and a 230,000 tonne/year No 3 plant at Oita.
"We have shut our SM units due to troubles at the upstream cracker," the source explained.
The units are likely to be down for at least two days, while the actual date of restart has not been determined yet, added the source.
Other Japanese SM producers include Asahi Kasei Chemical and Idemitsu Kosan.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-07-08
South Korea’s Tongsuh Petrochemical has shut its 245,000 tonne/year No 4 acrylonitrile (ACN) line in Ulsan following an electricity outage, a company source said on Tuesday.
The company’s 245,000 tonne/year No 3 ACN line is operating at full, while the 70,000 tonne/year No 2 ACN line has been shut since end-March and the company has yet to set a restart date, the source added.
The electricity outage was due to lightning and other petrochemical plants in Ulsan could be affected as well, industry sources said.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-07-08
Japan’s Idemitsu Kosan Co on Tuesday shut its 210,000 tonne/year styrene monomer (SM) unit in Chiba because of unspecified production issues, according to market sources.
|It is not immediately known when the company will restart the unit.
|
The company could not be reached for comment.
The company also operates a 120,000 tonne/year and 220,000 tonne/year SM units in Tokuyama.
Other Japanese SM producers include Asahi Kasei Chemical, Nippon Steel Chemical and Denka.
SOURCE Icis News
Date July 7, 2014
Kraton Performance Polymers notified LCY Chemical (Taipei) on 30 June that Kraton’s board of directors intends to withdraw its recommendation that Kraton stockholders approve the previously announced merger with LCY’s styrenic block copolymer (SBC) operations. The Kraton board cites declines in the operating results of LCY’s SBC business in the first quarter of 2014 and in its results outlook together with a related decline in Kraton’s stock price and negative reactions from stockholders following Kraton’s announcement on 24 June that the planned merger with the SBC operations of LCY may take two years longer to pay off than originally expected. Kraton’s stock price fell 14% on the day of that announcement, losing $3.60/share, to close at $21.53/share. Plans for the merger were first announced on 28 January. The deal would create a leading worldwide manufacturer of SBC, with more than $2 billion in annual revenue, and the merger had been scheduled to close in the fourth quarter.
LCY’s SBC business has performed short of expectations, Kraton says. The unit reports adjusted Ebitda of $20.6 million on volume of 65,000 m.t. in the first quarter of 2013, but adjusted Ebitda tumbled to just $2.9 million in the first quarter of 2014 and volume fell to 62,000 m.t. Second-quarter 2014 results are similar, Kraton says.
Kraton and LCY may negotiate changes to the terms of the planned merger, to enable the Kraton board to continue to recommend the transaction to its stockholders. Kraton says it cannot predict whether negotiations will result in mutually agreeable changes to the agreement.
Analysts say the deal could nevertheless go ahead. “We still believe the deal has merit, but at a lower price,” according to analysts at Oppenheimer & Co. (New York). Before the Kraton board formally changes its recommendation, it is required to provide LCY with at least five business days’ written notice. “We expect that, over the next five days, Kraton and LCY will begin negotiations on a revised deal that fairly accounts for the precipitous deterioration in LCY results,” Oppenheimer says in a note dated 30 June. “In our worst case scenario, Kraton cancels the deal.”
Oppenheimer says it sees “good risk-reward in Kraton. “While the magnitude of lower revisions for its merger partner LCY’s SBC business gives us pause, we are mindful that in commodity businesses like LCY’s, it cuts both ways and see manageable risk in banking on a rebound from the current trough. The LCY deal, which we criticized as somewhat flawed in moving the product mix higher to commodity paving-footwear, is still a net positive in enhancing Kraton’s overall manufacturing cost position, strategic raw materials sourcing, $65 million in cost synergies, strengthening its Asian presence, and deleveraging,” Oppenheimer says.
Source: IHS Weekly
DATE : 2014-07-08
Evonik Industries has launched new speciality methacrylate monomer products under its Visiomer Terra brand at the American Coatings Show in Atlanta, GA, US. Since 1 Mar 2014, the company's Monomers Business Line has significantly increased its methacrylate monomers based on renewable resources for its Visiomer Terra product line, which features partially bio-based products that are included in Evonik's Acrylic Monomers' portfolio. Visiomer Terra Iboma features low VOC content that can be used to formulate environmentally safe coatings. Visiomer Terra C17.4-MA and C13-MA improve coating's water and solvent resistance through increased hydrophobicity in resin systems. The Visiomer product line also offers MMA, GMAA, n-and i-BMA, and hydroxyl methacrylates around the world.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-06-30
The state of the evolving bio-based acrylic acid industry is discussed in Nexant's Bio renewable Insights report on bio-based acrylic acid. Two strategic partnerships have been established for the bio-based production of acrylic acid via 3-hydroxypropionic acid. One partnership is between Novozymes, Cargill andBASF, whereas the other is between OPXBio and Dow. These partnerships rely heavily on the know-how and assets that each individual company brings to the partnership. Novozymes and BASF can leverage Cargill's experience in and access to the agri-business to aid technology development and secure appropriate feedstock/raw material sourcing. Larger partners, such as BASF or Dow can provide funding, industry experience, as well as design capability for downstream processing and purification of the product. Arkema and Nippon Shokubai have invested heavily into the development of a route to produce acrylic acid from glycerol/glycerin.
Notably, this technology is for their own implementation because neither company intends to licence it. After reported success at the pilot scale, the further advancement and implementation of this route hinged on the availability and cost of glycerol/glycerin, which was impacted by legislative reforms regarding bio-fuels production, of which glycerol/glycerin is produced as a byproduct. Novomer is pursuing a bio-adaptable route to acrylic acid that utilizes proprietary catalysts developed to produce polypropiolactone from ethylene oxide, which can be bio-based or petrochemicals-based, and carbon monoxide. Polypropiolactone can then be converted to glacial acrylic acid via pyrolysis. This route to acrylic acid presents a unique technology position, allowing Novomer's potential facilities to operate simultaneously in the bio-based as well as petrochemical-based sectors.
SOURCE Company Report
DATE : 2014-07-06
De notre envoyé spécial à Montréal Hubert Bruyère On en sait plus sur le projet d'Hydro-Québec à Lacq, susceptible, rappelons-le, de créer 600 emplois à terme, dont 100 dans un premier temps. C'est une Paloise, Sabrina Paillet, qui dirigera l'équipe scientifique qui va s'installer à l'automne dans le bassin de Lacq pour travailler sur la batterie du futur (Notre édition de samedi). Ce docteur de l'Institut pluridisciplinaire d'étude et de recherche sur les matériaux (Iprem) est depuis avril 2013 au Canada. Elle travaille à l'Institut de recherche d'Hydro-Québec que dirige Karim Zaghib, une figure de l'innovation dans le monde de l'électricité, et en particulier celui des batteries. C'est cet homme avec lequel Alain Rousset, président du conseil régional d'Aquitaine, a pu longuement échanger vendredi en visitant les laboratoires, les bancs d'essai, le prototype de futures chaînes de fabrication. L'institut de recherche d'Hydro-Québec a mis au point de nombreux brevets utilisés dans le monde. Sabrina Paillet a travaillé au Commissariat à l'énergie atomique à Grenoble. Elle mène des recherches dans le domaine des batteries au lithium.... une des filières qui pourrait un jour se concrétiser en Béarn. La Région actionnaire La convention signée vendredi à Montréal entre Hydro-Québec et le conseil régional d'Aquitaine constitue une double première. « C'est la première fois que nous nous installons hors du Canada », relève Karim Zaghib. Hydro Québec, à travers sa filiale française, sera actionnaire à hauteur de 20 % de la société Powertrend Energy Conversion (PEC) qui a vu le jour fin avril pour l'installation du Canadien en Béarn. Le conseil régional d'Aquitaine sera également actionnaire, à hauteur d'environ 10 %. Et c'est là aussi une première pour la collectivité. « C'est le caractère novateur du projet et le fait que, sans l'implication de la Région, il n'aurait pas vu le jour qui nous a convaincus de franchir le pas », explique le conseiller d'Alain Rousset en charge du dossier. Hydro-Québec travaille déjà avec Arkéma Le président du conseil régional a pu voir les poudres, les éléments de batterie à charge ultrarapide, les bancs de tests de résistance aux chocs et au feu... La filiale béarnaise d'Hydro-Québec a pour objectif d'apporter des innovations qui constituent de véritables « ruptures technologiques ». Ensuite les procédés seront proposés au industriels. On sait par exemple qu'Arkema est intéressée par les poudres (nano-particules) qui entrent dans la fabrication des batteries du futur. Le chimiste, par ailleurs premier employeur de Lacq (700 emplois) via ses trois établissements, et l'institut de recherche ont d'ailleurs signé au mois de mars un partenariat concernant le développement d'un nouvel électrolyte pour les batteries des véhicules électriques. Sony est cité pour des batteries de très grande capacité. « L'investissement de départ est d'une vingtaine de millions d'euros, mais quand les industriels se saisiront des innovations, avec un partage de la propriété, ce sont des investissements de l'ordre de 400 millions qui sont envisagés », explique Denis Lagourgue, un des ingénieurs créateur de Powertrend Energy.
SOURCE La République des Pyrénées
DATE : 2014-07-04
China’s Shanghai SECCO Petrochemical is expected to start up its 90,000 tonne/year butadiene (BD) unit at the end of July, market sources said on Friday.
Shanghai SECCO has an existing 90,000 tonne/year BD unit at the same site.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-07-03
Idemitsu SM (Malaysia), an Idemitsu Kosan subsidiary, is in plans to shut its styrene monomer (SM) plant for maintenance turnaround.
A Polymerupdate source in Japan informed that the plant is planned to be shut in August 2014. It is likely to remain off-stream for around one month.
Located at Pasir Gudang in Malaysia, the plant has a production capacity of 240,000 mt/year.
SOURCE Polymer Update
DATE : 2014-06-03
INEOS Nitriles will shut its larger acrylonitrile (ACN) production unit in Cologne, Germany, for five weeks from the end of August, a company source confirmed on Thursday.
The outage is for the plant's statutory five-year inspection and cleaning. The unit has a capacity of 220,000 tonnes/year, the source said.
It coincides with Lukoil’s 40-day scheduled maintenance at its 28,000 tonne/year ACN plant in Burgas, Bulgaria, which is due to begin around 6 September.
Some sources expect the combined impact of the maintenance shutdowns to tighten the ACN market from August to October.
They added that pre-buying to cover the maintenance period will increase demand in the traditionally quiet summer holiday period.
Nevertheless, other sources said that the impact on the ACN spot market would be minimal because of weak demand in the downstream acrylic fibre industry. The ACN spot market predominantly serves the acrylic fibre industry.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-07-03
Lukoil will halt production at its 28,000 tonne/year acrylonitrile (ACN) plant in Burgas, Bulgaria for 40 days of planned maintenance in September, a company source confirmed on Thursday.
The outage is expected to begin around 6 September, although an exact start date is yet to be confirmed.
SOURCE Icis News
DATE : 2014-07-03
China’s Ningxia Younglight Energy Chemical has again postponed the commissioning of its 450,000 tonne/year vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) plant in Yinchuan to September from August on equipment issues, sources close to the company said on Thursday.
The plant, located in Ningxia province, is now slated to start up in early or mid-September, according to a company source, as well as other sources.
Sources attributed the reason for the delay to concerns on pipeline redesign issues which took longer than anticipated. This however, could not be confirmed.
The company has delayed the VAM plant commissioning several times, the latest of which was to the third quarter from 1 May, owing to unspecified issues concerning the technology, according to sources.
The plant in Ningxia province was originally set for commissioning in end-2013, which was subsequently delayed to March/April/May 2014, according to sources.
Sources said if the plant commissioning fails to take place in September, there would be a postponement to 2015 as winter conditions would not be conducive for start-up operations.
The company is now known as Sinopec Great Wall Energy or Chang Chen Neng Yuan, sources updated.
Ningxia Younglight Energy Chemical is a joint venture company between Sinopec Great Wall Energy Chemical and Guodian Power Development.
SOURCE Icis News