Petrochemical GeneralNews CrudeOil 26-01-2021 - Arhive
Petrochemical GeneralNews CrudeOil
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-SK Advanced to startup new PP plant in South Korea in March
SK Advanced is planning to start up the new PP plant in Ulsan, South Korea this March 2021 as construction works are nearly completed, reported CommoPlast with reference to market sources.
The PP unit is a joint venture between PolyMirae and SK Advanced, using the “Spheripol” process of LyondellBasell, and have an annual output of 400,000 tons/year.
The unit will be utilizing the propylene output from SK’s 600,000 tons/year propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit at the same complex. It is expected that SK Advanced would have a smaller propylene allocation for export once the new PP line comes online.
As MRC wrote previously, in October, 2020, Advanced Petrochemical signed an amendment to the partnership agreement between its subsidiary, Advanced Global Investment Co. (AGIC), and SK Gas Petrochemical Pte. Ltd. (SKGP), a unit of SK Gas Co. Ltd.. Under the amendment, an isopropanol (IPA) plant with a capacity of 70,000 tons per annum will be added, along with the Propane Dehydrogenation (PDH) and Polypropylene (PP) plants that were already announced earlier. The company said in a bourse statement that by adding the IPA plant with an estimated cost of SAR 300 million (USD80 million), the total cost of the project for the three factories is currently estimated to be approximately SAR 7.05 billion (USD1.88 billion).
-Corbion to Expand Lactic Acid Capacity in North America
Investment to increase production capacity demonstrates company’s commitment to regional customers and to meeting their growing needs.
Corbion will increase its capacity for producing lactic acid in North America by around 40% to meet the growing demand for natural ingredients in multiple industries.
The investment reinforces the company’s leadership position as a supplier of lactic acid and its derivatives worldwide. Corbion also operates lactic acid production facilities in the Netherlands, Brazil, Spain and Thailand, and early last year announced plans to build a new lactic acid plant at its existing site in Rayong Province, Thailand, to help meet global demand. Petrochemical GeneralNews CrudeOil
“At Corbion, we enable brand owners to commercialize safe, high-performing products using our lactic acid-based products and technology,” said Marco Bootz, President-Lactic Acid & Specialties at Corbion. “Given the growth our customers in North America are experiencing, and the increased demand for our products, we believe this expansion is the right thing to do for our customers and for Corbion. We’re committed to further strengthening those relationships by enabling more growth.”
-January contract price of MEG in Europe increased by EUR100 per ton
The contract price of monoethylene glycol (MEG) for January in Europe has been finally agreed at EUR690 per tonne, which is EUR100 per tonne higher than the level of the previous month, ICIS reported .
The contract price for the material for January shipments has been approved on FD NWE delivery terms (with delivery to Northwest Europe).
The contract price of MEG for the current month was finally agreed upon, as the necessary configuration was achieved to approve the contract price – at least 2 producers / suppliers and 2 buyers / consumers. Petrochemical GeneralNews CrudeOil
The December contract price for MEG on the European market was finally set with a delay in agreement in the first week of January at EUR590 per tonne, which corresponds to the level of the previous month.
Negotiations on the December contract price were lengthy and full confirmation was not reached until the end of 2020 due to changes in market conditions, rising commodity prices and supply restrictions.
The November contract price for MEG in Europe decreased by EUR40 per tonne from October level to EUR590 per tonne, FD NWE, while the October contract price for material increased by EUR65 per tonne in relation to the previous month and was at the level of EUR630 per tonne. FD NWE. EUR65
MEG, along with terephthalic acid (TPA), is one of the main components for PET production.
MEG EUROPE
-ALPLA EXPEDITING A BOTTLE CYCLE IN ITALY
CONSTRUCTION OF AN EXTRUSION SYSTEM IN ANAGNI FOR 15,000 TONNES OF RPET A YEAR
The global manufacturer of plastic packaging and recycling specialist, the ALPLA Group, is investing more than five million euros in an extrusion system for food-grade recycled PET (rPET) made of used PET bottles (so-called post-consumer material) at its site in Anagni. Petrochemical GeneralNews CrudeOil
Anagni in central Italy is home to one of the ALPLA Group’s most important preform production plants. The plant, which currently has a workforce of 91, processes around 50,000 tonnes of PET a year, of which only a very small proportion is recycled material as of today. But in future a substantial portion of the volume required is henceforth to be supplied in the form of recycled material, giving customers the option of sourcing preforms made partly or even entirely of rPET.
To this end, ALPLA is installing an extrusion system for 15,000 tonnes of rPET a year at the existing business premises. The investment sum for construction of the building needed and for the system totals more than five million euros. It is scheduled to go into operation in the second half of 2021. Ten new jobs will be created.
The new platform will help customers select materials while supporting innovation (Photo: Domo Chemicals) Petrochemical GeneralNews CrudeOil
Domo Chemicals (Leuna / Germany; www.domochemicals.com) is looking ahead to February 2022, when it will be able to use produce and commercialise all of the PA 6 and PA 6.6 polymers it picked up in the acquisition of Solvay’s (Brussels / Belgium; www.solvay.com) performance polyamides business globally under the “Technyl” brand (see Plasteurope.com of 02.12.2019). The company already claims to be the leading back-integrated supplier of the engineering plastics in the European Economic Area and Switzerland. At present, however, it is not able to use the well-known brand name in other markets due to a two-year non-compete clause with BASF (Ludwigshafen / Germany; www.basf.com).
The Ludwigshafen chemicals and plastics giant acquired the bulk of Solvay’s polyamide assets for EUR 1.3 bn, but due to concerns about market dominance, the European Commission obliged Solvay to divest its European PA assets separately (see Plasteurope.com of 14.08.2019). The EUR 300m deal with Domo, which included production, sales, technical support, R&D and innovation services in France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Spain, along with 100 employees, was completed on 31 January 2020.
-Royal DSM Selects MAAG Group for Expansion in Strand Pelletizing Business
MAAG Group, part of Dover, announced that it has been selected by Royal DSM to supply them with several automatic strand pelletizing lines (Jet Stream Granulation System – JSG) for the extensive modernization and expansion of their high-performance materials compounding plant in Evansville, IN.
The automatic JSG strand pelletizing systems from MAAG Group are designed to achieve the highest throughput rates in plastics compounding.
MAAG Group’s JSG systems can be used across various pelletizing applications and are typically chosen by customers when a high level of automation and machine availability at the best possible pellet quality is required.
The process handling is fully machine automated, and once the pelletizing process is set up, manual interaction is nearly eliminated. This makes the JSG systems particularly attractive for the pelletizing of highly filled compounding products, as well as high-quality recycling applications. Petrochemical GeneralNews CrudeOil
-‘Unique’ Polymeric Melt Flow Additive for PLA
CAI Additives is now offering ST-PA210 flow agent for PLA and other biobased polyesters. Petrochemical GeneralNews CrudeOil
Boston-based CAI Performance Additives is now marketing here what is said to be a unique flow improver for use with biodegradable PLA and other biobased polyester resins. Flow Improver ST-PA210 has been shown to increase melt flow index, enhance dispersion, and improve compatibility.
Produced by China’s Starbetter Chemical Materials, for which CAI Additives is the sole distributor in North America, this flow agent is based on a unique polymeric chemistry, versus traditional wax or ‘oily’ lubricants, and has been shown to be highly compatible with PLA, according to CAI Additives CEO Richard Marshall.
-Plastigaur puts Dow’s PCR resin to use
Spanish converter Plastigaur has become the first large-scale commercial user of a resin made with 70 per cent recycled plastics.
The flexible packaging and film manufacturer has turned to Dow’s Agility CE resin, initially launched in 2019, to develop a range of collation shrink films.
Agility CE resin is based on LDPE, into which post-consumer recycled (PCR) material from shrink film is incorporated. Petrochemical GeneralNews CrudeOil
Dow said the addition of the PCR material had been achieved “without sacrificing material quality and functionality in the final application”.
The PCR content in the final shrink film developed by Plastigaur is 50 per cent, which equates to an overall reduction in carbon emissions of 25 per cent.
Dow has also worked with Plastigaur to reduce the thickness of the shrink film from 45 to 40 microns.
-Expressed Juice’s Landfill-Biodegradable Bottles Withstand HPP Pressure
Florida-based premium juice distributor finds the perfect mix of technology and shelf appeal with its biodegradable bottles. Petrochemical GeneralNews CrudeOil
When Paul van Hamond arrived in the U.S. in 2012, he didn’t expect he would end up staying nine years. A native of Queensland, Australia, van Hamond was taking what he thought would be a six-month sabbatical from running the five restaurants he owned in Australia to pursue another business venture.
“That venture didn’t get legs,” says van Hamond, also a chef who trained in Monaco and London. “But when life gives you lemons, you make lemon juice, and that’s literally what I did.”After discovering how the technology renders pathogens in food inert without compromising taste, it was a no-brainer for The Drinks Co. to use HPP to launch Expressed Juice, its first brand.
After discovering how the technology renders pathogens in food inert without compromising taste, it was a no-brainer for The Drinks Co. to use HPP to launch Expressed Juice, its first brand.
The Drinks Company, the premium juice distributor he founded by squeezing those lemons, has grown to be a dominant player in South Florida, he says. “Today, we distribute about 22 brands throughout South Florida and the Caribbean, focused mainly on our main sector in hospitality and cruise lines.”
-Funding for plastic recycling tech
Greenback Recycling Technologies, a company striving to develop circular solutions for packaging waste, has closed an approximately £8m series A financing round.
The firm says it is building a globally distributed, decentralised network of advanced recycling plants near the sources of plastic waste. It buys this waste from local collectors and sorters to provide feedstock for the production of food-grade packaging. To evidence the recycled content in the new packaging, it uses its ecoVeritas certification system, which is based on blockchain and AI technologies.
The funding will support the further development of these packaging certification, data and compliance systems. Petrochemical GeneralNews CrudeOil
Founder and CEO Philippe von Stauffenberg said: “In the recycling industry, we are beginning to see how impactful advanced plastics recycling can be for food contact packaging.”
Petrochemical GeneralNews CrudeOil