DATE : 2017-09-01
Lucite is experiencing a supply interruption of US methyl methacrylate (MMA) and methacrylic acid (MAA) from its facility in Beaumont, Texas, according to a customer letter obtained on Thursday.
Production at the facility has been seriously affected by catastrophic and unprecedented flooding from Hurricane Harvey, the letter said. The movement of raw materials, finished product, equipment and personnel have also been affected by the storm.
The company is projecting the restart of methacrylate production at Beaumont to be mid-to-late September. Also, Beaumont-produced MMA and MAA shipments will not be made until two days after production flows into inventory.
In the letter, Lucite added that every effort is being made to mitigate the loss of production with support from other assets within the Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation Group.
As a result, the company remains under force majeure for MMA and MAA.
Source Icis News
DATE : 2017-09-01
Rainwater from Hurricane Harvey surrounds Marathon Petroleum Corp oil refinery storage tanks in this aerial photograph taken above Texas City, Texas, US on Wednesday. Photo: VCG
US orders for China's acrylic acid products increased in the past several days, as major chemical plants in Texas had to close facilities that were affected by Hurricane Harvey, companies told the Global Times on Thursday.
These companies as well as industry experts predicted the price of acrylic acid products will likely rise as a result of the combined effect of the influx of overseas orders and domestic plants' low operation rate.
Acrylic acid is traditionally used as the raw material for acylic esters. Applications for water-based acrylicsinclude adhesives, paper, leather coatings and tablet coatings.
As Harvey, which became a tropical storm, continues to hammer Texas, the US' center for petrochemical plants and refineries, several major US acrylic acid plants are suspending operations.
BASF, American Acryl and Arkema Inc said they had shut their facilities as a precautionary measure. As of Wednesday, the shutdowns involved production capacity of 710,000 tons a year, which represents 59 percent of the country's whole production capacity of acrylic acid, a report on industry website chem99.com said on Wednesday.
Dow Chemical Co reduced its operation rate to 60 percent to 70 percent, and its logistics operations have also been affected, chem99.com noted.
Since the output of acrylic acid in the US may be seriously affected for some time by the storm, China's exports of the product to the US are expected to increase, according to a report released by BOC International on Thursday.
A staff member surnamed Li at a leading acrylic acid company in East China told the Global Times on condition of anonymity that his company began to receive more orders from the US clients two days ago and the same happened with other companies in the industry.
"Not only many US clients are placing orders from our company, clients from other countries, who usually purchase acrylic acid from the US, began to make inquiries to us," he said, noting the company's exports to the US market had been flat this year before the hurricane.
However, an employee of Formosa Acrylic Esters (Ningbo) Co, who declined to be identified, said that the impact of the storm in Texas will not likely influence Chinese acrylic acid too much, as the natural disaster will end in a few days.
"No doubt, China's exports of acrylic acid to the US will increase in the short term, but we have to be aware that some producers will ramp up prices to take advantage of the situation," he warned.
At present, China accounts for 38 percent of global acrylic acid production capacity and North America 18 percent. Domestic leading acrylic acid plants include Zhejiang Satellite Petrochemical Co, Shanghai Huayi Company and Wanhua Chemical in East China's Shandong Province.
Wanhua Chemical declined to comment when reached by the Global Times on Thursday.
The price of acrylic acid products is likely to rise in the near future, mainly due to short supplies caused by a combination of the shutdown of some US plants and domestic environmental protection checks, Wu Chenhui, a Beijing-based independent industry analyst, told the Global Times on Thursday.
Li said that the acrylic acid industry has been operating at a low rate in recent months, as the plants' production equipment must be overhauled and inspected on a regular basis.
Chem99.com estimated the output of butyl acrylate, a kind of acrylic acid compound, may have declined 10 percent in August to 99,000 tons in the domestic market, which, together with increasing overseas orders, will boost prices.
In August, the price of butyl acrylate increased 14.6 percent to about 11,000 yuan ($1,667) per ton in China, data from Beijing-based bulk commodity information supplier JLC showed on Thursday.
Source Global Time
DATE : 2017-08-31
Arkema confirmed at 10:30 BST on Thursday that explosions and smoke have been reported at its plant in Crosby, Texas, following flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey.
The plant produces liquid organic peroxides which, if not refrigerated, can decompose and catch fire. The company and local authorities had warned of this and the area had been evacuated.
“Organic peroxides are extremely flammable and, as agreed with public officials, the best course of action is to let the fire burn itself out,” said the company’s statement on Thursday.
“We want local residents to be aware that product is stored in multiple locations on the site, and a threat of additional explosion remains. Please do not return to the area within the evacuation zone until local emergency response authorities announce it is safe to do so.”
The leak of hazardous chemicals into the atmosphere was also confirmed by local authorities at 10:00 BST (4:00 Houston time). The Harris County Sheriff’s Office [HCSO], where Crosby is located, said that one of its deputies had been taken to hospital after inhaling fumes from the plant, and that nine others had driven themselves to hospital as a precaution.
Earlier in the day, a spokesperson at Arkema told ICIS how the explosion had become inevitable after the refrigeration systems at the plant had failed to function following flooding.
Arkema confirmed that flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey at its liquid organic peroxides plant in Crosby, Texas, was impeding the cooling of the chemicals and an explosion at the facility was unavoidable.
In an update on 30 August, the company had said alternative diesel-powered refrigerators were being used, although already at the time spoke of a “real” risk of explosion as all electricity has been cut off.
“Unfortunately, yes [the plant will catch fire]. The cooling system is not working anymore, so the temperature is rising up and these products will decompose and will catch fire,” said the Arkema spokesperson in an update to ICIS on Thursday at 9:30 BST.
However, it added the time to the explosion was difficult to predict.
While the company continues to monitor the rising temperatures, the spokesperson said the monitoring system’s batteries would also switch off when they run out of power.
“When the batteries die, we will not have any information related to the rising temperature. It is difficult to predict when the fire will start.”
The spokesperson said the company has not yet evaluated the financial impact from the upcoming accident nor the time it will take to rebuild the facility.
“It will depends on the damages but it’s too early to have this question in mind. First, [we need to establish] what happened, what will happen and what impact will have,” it concluded.
As a precautionary measure, local authorities had already ordered late on 29 August the evacuation of all residents within a 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometres) radio from the plant. Crosby is a small town east of Houston.
According to the company’s website, the Crosby facility employs 57. Its exact location is 18000 Crosby Eastgate Road, Crosby, Texas.
Among other organic peroxides, Arkema produces at its Crosby plant plastic resins, polystyrene (PS), polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polyester reinforced fibreglass, as well as acrylic resin.
Several chemical plants in Texas have been affected by Harvey, with many shut since 25 August. The tropical storm is now heading to neighbouring US state of Louisiana.
Sourc Icis News
DATE : 2017-08-30
ASF declared force majeure on its acrylic monomers and its oxo-alcohols at its Freeport, Texas, plant, stemming from Hurricane Harvey’s landfall on the Texas Gulf Coast, the acrylic acid and acrylates esters producer said on Tuesday.
The storm restricted BASF’s ability to process material at the Freeport plant site, prompting the measures, effective 29 August, the company said in a customer letter.
The measures include glacial acrylic acid (GAA), butyl acrylate (butyl-A), ethyl acrylate (ethyl-A), methyl acrylate (methyl-A), 2-ethylhexyl acrylate (2-EHA), n-butanol (NBA), iso-butanol (IBA) and 2-ethylhexanol (2-EH).
The measures could exert upward pressure on prices. Earlier, these were expected to be steady again in September after settling flat for August.
Previously, American Acryl shut down its acrylic acid plant in Bayport, Texas, because of Hurricane Harvey.
With August’s moderate propylene-contract increase, feedstock pressure was not expected to play much of a role in September acrylates or oxo-alcohols price direction, but supply constraints will, despite waning seasonal buying interest, sources said.
Another oxo-alcohols producer was already considering some volume constraints on upstream n-butanol (NBA), given what it described as heightened interest in US NBA exports due to tight supply in Asia.
Acrylates are commonly used to make products including paint and coatings, plastics and construction and pressure-sensitive adhesives.
Acrylates suppliers in the US include Arkema, BASF, Dow Chemical and Sasol.
N-butanol (NBA) is used as a solvent and to produce butyl acrylates for the coatings and adhesives industries. Smaller-volume uses are in acetate and glycol ether formulations.
Among the major uses for 2-EH are as a feedstock for chemicals used in the production of paint, automobiles, adhesives and plasticizers, and in building and construction markets.
US oxo-alcohols producers include BASF, Dow Chemical, Eastman and Oxea.
Souce Icis News
DATE : 2017-08-07
Here is a plant status report:
Name: Jilin Petrochemical
Location: Jilin, China
Product: Methyl Methacrylates (MMA)
Capacity: 50,000 tonnes/year
Event start: 8 August 2017
Event finish: Unknown
Reason: Raw materials Acrylonitrile (ACN) were in short supply
Comments:
The company shuts its No.2 MMA plant on 8 August. Its No.1, which can produce 50,000 tonnes/year of MMA, was taken off line for maintenance in end June, according to a source close to the company.
The two plants restart time was unknown at present. but ICIS estimates the restart date to be end August or early September.
Source Icis News
DATE : 2017-08-07
Capacity: 182,000 tonnes/year
Event start: 7 August 2017
Event finish: 12 August 2017
Reason: Raw materials Acrylonitrile (ACN) were in short supply
Comments: The capacity is 180,000 tonnes/year , according to the company source.
Source Icis News
DATE = 2017-08-02
BASF has started commissioning the propylene pipeline that was damaged by a fatal explosion and fire at its Ludwigshafen, Germany, site, a company spokesman said on Wednesday.
The pipeline connects BASF’s petrochemicals hub at Ludwigshafen with the MIRO refinery in Karlsruhe. The force majeure that was declared on propylene offtake in the immediate aftermath of the incident, remains in place.
“Overall the raw material supply at the site remains limited,” the company spokesman said.
He added that the North Harbour was still “largely out of action” but reiterated comments made last week in BASF’s second-quarter chemicals earnings briefing that the company expects the repair work to have been completed by the end of September.
Propylene supply has tightened over the past few weeks on the back of a series of production hiccups and hear-related reductions, while demand has been strong.
Source Icis News
DATE = 2017-08-01
Royal Dutch Shell has shut down “most of its units” at its Pernis facility in Rotterdam after a fire struck the facility late on 29 July, the Anglo-Dutch crude and chemicals major confirmed on Monday.
The company said the incident had been caused by a fire at a power station within the facility.
“At around 22:30 on July 29, Shell Pernis experienced a power outage due to a fire in a power supply system. Shell Pernis has decided to shut down most of its units in a safe and prompt manner, and this has resulted in flaring,” said the company in a statement.
“All appropriate agencies were notified and we continue to keep the local community informed. There were no injuries associated with this incident.”
A spokesperson for Shell on Monday declined to comment further on the disruption’s potential duration nor on the units affected.
Rotterdam sits in the crude oil and petrochemical hub of Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA), which is key for the production and distribution of product across the northwest Europe area.
Shell’s facility at Pernis processes 404,000 bbl/day of crude oil products such as diesel, jet kerosene, base oils, liquefied petroleum gases or fuel oil.
The company also produces polyols and solvents at the facility. According to the ICIS plants and projects database, Pernis has a production capacity of 250,000 tonnes/year for propylene and 150,000 tonnes/year of isopropanol (IPA) at Pernis.
It has also production capacities for methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), at 90,000 tonnes/year, and for methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK) at 45,000 tonnes/year.
European aromatics players were assessing on Monday afternoon the fire’s potential impact in the market, although most sources said it was too early to establish how the domestic benzene and styrene markets could be affected.
When Shell started its Pernis new aromatics unit in 2016 it said that benzene from the unit would be sent to its other chemical plants at its Moerdijk site where it would be processed to produce styrene monomer.
“Based on that, it [the incident at Pernis] could have an impact on styrene spot numbers,” a trader said.
Early on Monday afternoon, Europe styrene August bids and offers were at $1,150-1,200/tonne on a notional basis.
Other aromatics sources said it is too early to assess any impact, however.
“Any effect should have more to do with benzene than styrene, but for the moment we do not see anything,” said one source.
Discussions for the August benzene contract price were ongoing on Monday, with a settlement expected later in the day, and sources said there was no real pressure on talks yet as a consequence of the Pernis incident.
“There should be some impact but it will also depend on how long the refinery will be down,” a benzene trader said.
Source Icis News
2017-08-15
BASF has declared force majeure on deliveries of Acrylic Monomers on 19 October, in a letter seen by ICIS on Thursday.
The declaration covers glacial acrylic acid, butyl acrylate, ethyl acrylate, 2-ethylhexyl acrylate, glacial methacrylic acid and technical grade methacrylic acid from their site in Ludwigshafen.
This follows on from the explosion at the north harbour part of the site which resulted in fires on Monday 17 October.
The acrylic monomer plants are not directly affected, though there are impacts on logistics and raw material deliveries, the letter reported.
BASF said on Wednesday evening that within days it will begin restarting its steam crackers at the Ludwigshafen petrochemicals hub on the Rhine river in Germany.
Source Icis News
DATE : 2017-08-03
Nippon Shokubai’s first-quarter net profit grew 34.6% year on year to Japanese yen (Y) 6.39bn ($58m), partly on increased production and sales volume, the chemicals producer said on Thursday.
Operating profit in the three months ended 30 June 2017 also increased by 34.6% to Y7.55bn, with net sales up by 11.5% at Y80.3bn, the company said in a statement.
In the basic chemicals segment, operating profit increased by 54.2% year on year to Y4.07bn, while net sales rose by 13.6% to Y30.2bn, as sales volume of acrylic acid and its derivatives increased, Nippon Shokubai said.
In the performance chemicals segment, operating profit for the June quarter rose by 7.0% to Y3.35bn, with net sales up 8.5% at Y42.7bn, the producer said.
Source Icls News
DATE : 2017-07-17
Evonik has implemented a lead time requirement for all orders or releases of US methyl methacrylate (MMA) and methacrylic acid, according to a customer letter obtained by ICIS on Monday.
The company is requiring a minimum lead time of 15 business days in advance of shipment. Transit time will be in addition to this.
The company has cited ongoing market shortages for the two products, along with the need to manage current demand and ensure reliable delivery commitments, as reasons for implementing this requirement.
The letter did not state how long the requirement would last.
Source Icis News
DATE : 2017-07-13
US acrylic acid imports nearly evaporated in May, compared with the same month of 2016, according to the most recent data from the US International Trade Commission (ITC).
The exponential decline stemmed mostly from the absence of May imports from Brazil and only 30 tonnes of acrylic acid from Belgium, countries that shipped more than 12,000 tonnes of acrylic acid to the US in May of 2016.
May imports saw a similarly significant drop from April, due primarily to fewer or no shipments from China, Germany, Brazil and Malaysia.
On the export front, May volumes increased by 82% from the same month last year. Fractionally smaller May export volumes were shipped mostly to Thailand, Brazil and Mexico.
Source Icis News
DATE : 2017-07-14
China’s Wanhua Chemical is scheduled to complete construction of a 50,000 tonne/year methyl methacrylate (MMA) and an 80,000 tonne/year polymethyl MMA (PMMA) plants in Yantai in the second half of 2018, the company said on Friday.
It is investing an estimated Chinese yuan (CNY) 1bn ($147m) for the MMA and CNY400m for the PMMA plant, it said in a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
Meanwhile, the company has finished construction of the first phase of a polycarbonate (PC) project and is currently testing the 70,000 tonne/year unit. The second phase with a capacity of 130,000 tonne/year is now under construction and slated to come on stream by the end of 2018.
Besides, construction of a 300,000 tonne/year toluene diisocyanate (TDI) plant is expected to complete in the second half of 2018.
All the plants are located at the company’s Yantai industry park in Shandong province.
Source Icis News
DATE : 2017-07-05
Germany-based BASF confirmed on Wednesday that its butyl acrylate (butyl-A) unit at Freeport, Texas, has restarted after repairs were completed following a mid-May outage.
The company said the unit is operating normally. BASF also lifted its force majeure on butyl-A, which was implemented on 15 May after an equipment failure at the unit.
Sources said the butyl-A outage had not strained supply of that product, and that tightness seen in the market in the first and second quarters has eased.
“The market is relatively well-balanced right now,” a customer said. “Buyers can get what they want, but demand is not sluggish enough to cause sellers to discount to secure volume.”
In June, falling propylene inventories and stronger spot pricing slowed the feedstock’s downward price momentum.
In the meantime, July free-market price talks were just getting underway for some, but rollovers were beginning to surface.
The development tracks predominant market sentiment, given the rollover in upstream June propylene and some talk this week that strong demand seen during the first half of 2017 was perhaps beginning to soften.
Only Dow Chemical announced an effort to increase acrylates prices in July. The company is seeking gains of 5 cents/lb ($110/tonne), citing some current and imminent snugness as it anticipates some planned maintenance this quarter.
The company also cited the possibility of higher near-term propylene. Several sources have suggested propylene will settle flat to higher for July.
June declines took butyl-A free-market prices to a new range of 91-95 cents/lb FD (free delivered), as assessed by ICIS, for smaller-volume buyers.
Acrylates are commonly used to make products including paint and coatings, plastics and construction and pressure-sensitive adhesives.
Other US acrylates suppliers include Arkema and Sasol.
Source Icis News
DATE : 2017-06-30
By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health & Medicine Week -- Data detailed on Antioxidants have been presented. According to news originating from Kalamazoo, Michigan, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, "The following work is a review on the antioxidant capacity of rosemary extract. Rosemary extract is one of the most popular naturally sourced antioxidants that has been used in the food industry around the world."
Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research, "It is widely used in multiple food applications including frying oils, fish oils, snacks, roasted nuts, meat products, and many others. The extraction methods that were used to purify antioxidant compounds from rosemary were introduced. The analytical test results on rosemary extract showed that it has high levels of phenolic compounds. The major active compounds were identified as carnosic acid, carnosol, and rosmarinic acid. In food application tests, rosemary extract was found to reduce lipid autoxidation and photo-oxidation significantly. Oxidation products/markers like peroxide value, p-Anisidine value, TBARS value, and hexanal were measured, and the readings were observed lower in the samples dosed with rosemary extract. Besides, rosemary extract was also found to have a positive impact on reducing the sensation of rancidity notes in foods and protecting them from color loss. In some applications, the performance of rosemary extract is comparable to synthetic antioxidants like BHA, BHT, and TBHQ. It was also found that when rosemary extract was combined with ascorbic acid, citric acid, or other naturally sourced antioxidants, synergistic effects were formed to provide superior antioxidant performance. This is a review paper on rosemary extract's processing methods and related application in the food industry for its antioxidant function. The major active compounds in rosemary extract are found to be carnosic acid, carnosol, and rosmarinic acid. These compounds could be selectively extracted by controlling the solvents' polarity. Greener extraction methods are also introduced to support the demanding clean label food trend."
According to the news editors, the research concluded: "Finally, the applications of rosemary in different food matrices are reviewed to show the overall performance on reducing the oxidation of lipids and improving food products' shelf-life."
For more information on this research see: A review on rosemary as a natural antioxidation solution. European Journal of Lipid Science and Technology, 2017;119(6):184-193.
The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from X.Q. Yang, Kalsec Inc, Kalamazoo, MI, United States. Additional authors for this research include P. VanAlstyne, A. Uhlir and J. Xie.
Source Health & Medicine Week