Petrochemical Packaging Hydrogen 31-12-2020 - Arhive
Petrochemical Packaging Hydrogen
Crude Oil Prices Trend
The group led by Angelo Radici launches new investments for the production of anti-covid devices but is already looking to the subsequent use of machinery for other industrial sectors
Angelo Radici, president of Radici Group, a multinational chemical company with a turnover of 1.1 billion, explains the mask paradigm. Three pillars: speed in understanding the customer’s needs, flexibility in production, short supply chain. “Last March, in full lockdown, the country had no surgical masks – he says -, we worked hard to contribute to their realization: we owed it to our territory, and we succeeded”.
The new investments
In the momentary conversion, however, Radici seizes an opportunity and that of medical protective devices becomes an integral part of the company’s production. So much so as to trigger the intuition of bringing the manufacture of meltblown back to Italy, the filtering fabric that is in the middle of the sandwich-mask.
-European plastic bottle recycling held back by structural shortage of feedstocks
Results of the ICIS study of the R-PET industry in 2019 show that progress to greater circularity of resources has been made but challenged in equal measures.
FAILINGS OF THE COLLECTION STRATEGY
Europe has a target of 77% collection of plastic bottles by 2025, under the Single Use Plastic (SUP) Directive. The ICIS study shows collection volumes of post-consumer PET bottles reached 2.2m tonnes in 2019, an increase of 5% on 2018 which is the highest growth rate in several years. Petrochemical Packaging Hydrogen
However, the overall collection rate across the region increased just 1 percentage point to 64% in 2019, so over a third of post-consumer bottles remain uncollected.
Feedstock supply may have increased in volume but so too did contamination levels.
The average yield across the region was 69.5% in 2019, down from 71% in 2018. Unsurprising given the reduction of PET waste exports to China, due to the waste import ban, and pushback from other Asian markets unable and, or, unwilling to accept shipments and become a dumping ground for the rest of the world.
-Hot News in Plastic Packaging Sustainability
The amount of news related to sustainable packaging developments is overwhelming.
In fact, the majority of content posted at PlasticsToday involves sustainability in some way. Yet there are as many features we publish as there are opportunities for more.
The amount of news related to sustainable packaging developments is overwhelming.
In fact, the majority of content posted at PlasticsToday involves sustainability in some way. Yet there are as many features we publish as there are opportunities for more.
That’s the idea behind this regularly updated newsfeed of Tweets that center on plastics’ recycling, bioplastics, and other closely related news, issues, and innovations that support circularity for plastic packaging. Petrochemical Packaging Hydrogen
-Sabic intends to raise prices of PC and ABS in the USA in January
Saudi Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic), one of the world’s largest petrochemical producers, intends to raise the prices of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and polycarbonate (PC) in the United States from January 11, according to the company’s letter to customers … Petrochemical Packaging Hydrogen
In the letter, the company said that “the current price level and the overall dynamics of supply and demand in some of our key market segments are forcing us to raise prices.”
The company increases the prices of LEXAN PC by 20 cents per kg (USD198 per ton), PC compound and CYCOLOY ABS by 20 cents per kg (USD198 per ton), CYCOLAC ABS by 20 cents per kg (USD198 per ton), PC GELOY ASA by 20 cents per kg (USD198 per ton).
-PETCYCLE GmbH with a mixed annual balance 2019 – Decline in sales and progress in sustainability
For the twentieth anniversary of the company, the extraordinary weather of the previous year, the increasing plastic bashing and the progressive individualization of branded packaging clouded the balance sheet of Petcycle GmbH. The operator of the petcycle pool system for beverage packaging reports a drop in sales of 11.8 percent in 2019.
The circulation system for mineral water and soft drinks is used by over 65 beverage manufacturers in Germany for around 150 beverage brands. With reusable crates and one-time fillable PET bottles, Petcycle is one of the pioneers in the circular economy and sustainable PET recycling cycles. Petrochemical Packaging Hydrogen
-LATI and Star Plastics Form Global Partnership to Expand Material Availability in North – America
Star Plastics, North America-based custom compounder of engineering grade thermoplastics, and LATI, a European Manufacturer of engineering thermoplastics, announce a global alliance to expand material offerings in North America, Europe, and Asia. Petrochemical Packaging Hydrogen
LATI, headquartered in Italy, has partnered with Star Plastics, headquartered in WV, USA, to service customers and broaden the sales network of LATI materials further into North America, enhancing both companies’ specialty product lines.
“The alliance with LATI will extend new opportunities for our customers and our companies, driving growth and increasing exposure with markets in which we already exist,” said Doug Ritchie, President and Founder of Star Plastics, Inc.
This partnership aligns strategically with Star Plastics’ current North American and Asian customer base within the electrical, electronics, and appliance markets, as well as other applications that require engineering grade plastics, and will enhance existing material offering for both Star Plastics and LATI customers.
-SK Capital completes purchase of 40% Venator stake from Huntsman
SK Capital Partners has completed the acquisition of a 39.75% stake, roughly 42.4 million shares, in titanium dioxide maker Venator from Huntsman for roughly $100 million. The deal includes a 30-month option for the purchase of Huntsman’s remaining approximate 9.5 million shares by SK at $2.15/share. Huntsman spun off Venator in a 2017 initial public offering. Petrochemical Packaging Hydrogen
“We are excited to engage with [SK founder] Barry Siadat and the SK Capital team, who have a strong reputation within the chemical industry for supporting long term growth and innovation,” said Simon Turner, president and CEO of Venator.
“Our business is poised for increased shareholder value creation as demand for our world class functional and specialty products continues to strengthen.” Venator said it remains “well positioned to deliver the full $55 million in EBITDA improvement from our 2020 business improvement program over the next two years. We look forward to implementing additional steps to strengthen our business and further unlock shareholder value.”
-Viewpoint: US ethylene may ease in 2021
US spot ethylene prices are expected to give back some recent gains during the first quarter as a recent surge in export demand is poised to wane with Asia crackers returning to normal operations.
US spot ethylene surged by 90pc, or 16¢/lb, between 10 November and the end of December after LG Chem’s 1.16mn t/yr naphtha cracker in Yeosu, South Korea, shut down following a fire.Petrochemical Packaging Hydrogen
Six crackers totaling 5mn-5.5mn t/yr of ethylene production in Asia are slated to return to service between now and the end of the first quarter of 2021.
Ethylene prices in northeast Asia may give back much or all of their 27pc gain since the start of November.
The landed CFR price has been around $975/t following the LG outage and saw no decrease when an extended turnaround that began in March at Lotte Chemical’s 1.1mn t/yr cracker in Daesan, South Korea, ended on 8 December.
-Dhunseri Ventures share rises 10% on levy of anti-dumping duty on PET Resin imports from China
Dhunseri Ventures share price has risen 12.86% in the last 2 days. Dhunseri Ventures stock price is trading higher than 5, 20, 50, 100 and 200-day moving averages
Dhunseri Ventures share price jumped almost 10% in morning trade after the government imposed provisional anti-dumping duty on ”PET resin” chemical from China to guard domestic players from cheap imports. Petrochemical Packaging Hydrogen
With only bids and no offers, Dhunseri Ventures stock opened higher at Rs 65 today, also its day’s low and later gained 9.96% to hit the day’s high of Rs 70.65 during the session, against the last close of Rs 64.25.
Dhunseri Ventures stock has gained 10% in a month and 2.39% in one year. However, the stock has declined 3% since the beginning of the year.
-Supply of benzene is tight in Europe due to reduced rates of crackers in the region in H2 December
Steam crackers in the UK and rest of Europe, including Germany and Sweden, have been running at reduced rates in recent weeks because of unexpected production problems, reported Chemweek. Petrochemical Packaging Hydrogen
This tightened the supply of pyrolysis gasoline feedstock needed for benzene extraction, according to sources. Prolonged cutbacks in refinery operating rates due to weak margins from falling demand following the COVID-19 pandemic have also reduced availability of reformate feedstock, further pressuring benzene supplies.
Demand from downstream sectors, including styrene and cumene, has remained strong, even as supplies have gradually tightened, sources said. “Despite the squeezed benzene-styrene spread, we continue to see strong demand for styrene and some of the styrene derivatives such as acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene,” said one styrene supplier.
“We see robust offtake of cumene,” a market source said. “It’s been difficult for us to source benzene during December, not just because of the price but also because of availability for the requested date.”
Petrochemical Packaging Hydrogen