China's Shen Hua shuts butadiene rubber plant on poor demand

(chemnet) -- China's Shen Hua Chemical Industrial shut its butadiene rubber plant in Nantong for about a month.

High butadiene feedstock costs and poor domestic demand were among the factors leading to the shutdown of the 72,000 mt/year BR plant.

Several domestic tire producers have been operating their plants at reduced rates, citing poor demand from overseas markets such as the US and Europe, and as a result, tire and rubber inventories have increased, industry sources said.

Several BR rubber producers were operating their plants at about 60-70% of capacity, a producer said.

Butadiene costs have risen as end-users have sought to secure their feedstock requirements ahead of turnarounds, both locally and overseas.

For instance, Sinopec Maoming plans to shut its No. 1 naphtha-fed steam cracker in southwestern Guangdong province over February 13-25 for scheduled maintenance.

The cracker supplies crude C4 feedstock to a 50,000 mt/year butadiene extraction unit, which will run at an undisclosed reduced rate as a result of the shutdown.

MRC

(arkema) -- Arkema Coating Resins has introduced Celocor opaque polymer, a voided latex product that imparts hiding and functions as a partial replacement for titanium dioxide (TiO2).

Compared to competitive opacifiers with similar functionality, Celocor opaque polymer offers a more balanced approach to performance attributes such as tint strength, gloss development, burnish resistance and scrub resistance.

⌠We recognize that the cost and availability of TiO2 are among the most important issues that coatings formulators are facing today, Eric Kaiser, Global Marketing Director for Arkema Coating Resins, explained. ⌠Celocor opaque polymer gives paint developers more formulating options in their approach to TiO2 reduction.

Celocor opaque polymer provides an effective way to reduce raw material costs and improve hiding in a wide range of products, including interior or exterior coatings from flat to semigloss. Additionally, this product meets the standards of Arkema Coating Resins EnVia program and is designed to help formulators achieve their sustainability and regulatory goals in finished coating products.
"Everything we do is based around the needs of the formulator, Kaiser said. ⌠In speaking with our customers, we found that they are very interested in having more options for TiO2 reduction while maintaining a good balance of performance attributes in their products. Our new Celocor opaque polymer meets that need."


MRC

(Fibre2fashion) -- Worldwide ethylene production plant capacities continue to increase and are continuing to develop large scale capacities with passage of time. The global average of an ethylene production plant is now around 540,000 tons per annum.

The average size of an ethylene production plant in Saudi Arabia is 892,000 tons per annum, in
Netherlands it is 793,000 tons / year, in Canada 790,000 tons / year and in the US it is 745,000 tons / year.

50 percent of worldwide ethylene is produced from naphtha; ethane accounts for around 28 %.
The rest of the raw materials are accounted for by liquefied petroleum gas, condensate and middle distillates.

Chinese ethylene producers too are in pursuit of building large-scale capacities, mainly in the coastal belt and also in the central and western regions. China has the ability of building million-ton ethylene capacity by adopting its own technology through innovation.

MRC

(polyestertime) -- The world titanium dioxide (TiO2) production trended higher in 2011. A boost to the highest extent was observed in China. This is owing to a considerable demand boost in the country. Local makers were forced to ramp up their capacities to satisfy clients' rising demand for the material.


China's output of TiO2 pigment reached 1.4 million tonnes, up by over 7.9 percent from 2010.

Meanwhile, global production of TiO2 reached almost 6.55 million tonnes, in comparison with 5.66 million tonnes in 2010.

For instance, USA makers increased their TiO2 capacity by 0.1 million tonnes on the preceding year.

MRC

(petainer) -- Petainer has developed its 'greenest ever' refillable bottle - further improving the sustainability of what is already one of the most environmentallyfriendly forms of beverage packaging.
The new bottle is manufactured using more than 25 per cent post-consumer 'one-way' recycled PET
PolyEthylene Terephthalate plastic but has the same performance characteristics as a refillable bottle made entirely from virgin material.

Nigel Pritchard, group chief executive of Petainer, said: ⌠This is a very exciting development. Refillable bottles are already the beverage packing system with one of the lowest environmental footprints. This massive advance in the use of recycled material makes refillable bottles even more economic.

"They are 'eco-friendly' because they use up to 90 per cent less virgin material per filling. This performance is improved even further by the introduction of post-consumer recyclate which means that the bottles now require less energy and other resources to manufacture. They are also economic in the traditional sense because the environmental benefits translate into lower costs. As the cost of PET resins inexorably increases, the economics of refillable bottles using recycled material become even more compelling. "


"We believe these new containers have a good claim to be considered one of the world's most sustainable forms of beverage packaging. This will become even more the case as commodity resources become scarcer, costs rise and environmental impacts come more to the fore."

Petainer is now working with bottled water companies, carbonated drinks producers and brewers across Europe to put its new 'greener' refillable bottles into use.

MRC