Braskem picks GE compressor technology in Mexico ethylene, PE venture

(hydrocarbonprocessing) -- The Veracruz ethylene and polyethylene (PE) complex in Mexico, a joint venture between Brazil's Braskem and Mexico's Grupo Idesa, will use hyper compressor and booster compressor technologies from GE. The GE technologies will be key elements of the low-density polyethylene (LPDE) plant.

The Veracruz ethylene and polyethylene (PE) complex in Mexico, a joint venture between Brazil's Braskem and Mexico's Grupo Idesa, will use hyper compressor and booster compressor technologies from GE, project officials said on Monday. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

The GE technologies are key elements of the low-density polyethylene (LPDE) plant, officials said. The compressors feature innovative technologies that use less electricity, reduce operating costs and require less maintenance, making the local plant more competitive with imported plastics, GE said.

GE's LDPE compressors feature a scalable design that enables upgrade and capacity additions with little effect on day-to-day operations and that requires very few adjustments, the company said.
MRC

(Reuters) - Saudi Basic Industries Corp , the world's biggest petrochemical firm, has expressed interest in buying Polish chemical companies and co-operating with PKN Orlen, Poland's prime minister was quoted as saying on Monday.

Donald Tusk was visiting Saudi Arabia with the chief executive of PKN Orlen, Poland's top refining and petrochemical firm, and officials and businessmen.

"It is very likely that apart from SABIC's active participation in a potential privatisation of Polish firms, a mutual enterprise on quite a large scale in the petrochemical sector between Orlen and SABIC will be possible," Tusk was quoted as saying by the Polish press agency PAP. (Reporting by Maciej Onoszko; Editing by Dan Lalor).

Orlen require partners in recovering petrochemical feedstock ethane from shale gas, and in rolling out an investment in the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) sector to further capitalise on its 600,000 tonne/year purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant launched last year.

MRC

(Arkema) -- Arkema and CEA are to extend their existing collaboration in photovoltaics to the field of micro-electronics and organic electronics by setting up two joint research laboratories. These public-private mixed laboratories will enable the development of new ultra high performance materials and their integration within manufacturing processes in growth areas of the electronics sector in France.

Both laboratories will pool Arkema's expertise in the design and production of high performance polymers with the competences of CEA researchers in the design and processes involved in the development of electronic components.

As part of its collaboration with Leti, Arkema will draw on its expertise in polymer nanostructuring to produce new materials designed to optimize the performances of silicon components and significantly reduce their manufacturing costs in next generation integrated circuits.

As part of its collaboration with Liten, Arkema, which markets a group of leading technical polymers (fluorinated, piezoelectric, nanostructured thermoplastic polymers), will be able to meet the technological challenges of the large-area printed electronics sector (flexible screens, intelligent packaging and textiles, photovoltaic panels), such as lifetime of the systems, cost of manufacture, and integration of several functions onto a single support.

MRC

(bloomberg) -- Acron, a Russian fertilizer producer, said profit more than tripled last year as prices and output increased. Borrowings jumped 20 %.

Net income advanced to 18.3 billion rubles (USD622 million) from 5.58 billion rubles a year earlier, the Velikiy Novgorod- based company said in a statement. Net debt rose to 31.8 billion rubles (USD1.14 billion) from 28.3 billion rubles, exceeding a USD1.03 billion estimate from Russian bank VTB Capital.

"Acron's results came in mixed, said Kevin Whyte, an analyst at VTB Capital in Moscow. ⌠While the company was expected to benefit from higher fertilizer prices, the higher- than-expected increase in costs and net debt was a negative surprise."

Acron, which produces nitrogen fertilizers, has borrowed funds to expand as it diversifies into phosphates and potash. The company obtained a USD1.1 billion loan from state development bank VEB for its Talitsky potash project last year. It also earmarked USD400 million to build an ammonia plant in Velikiy Novgorod and last month opened a new USD95 million urea factory.

MRC

(news.szenergy) -- China intends to increase its annual capacity of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) to about 6.6 million tons from 4.7 million tonnes per year in H1 2012. New units producing PET are predicted to go on stream in April-May.

Some Chinese companies plan to start new PET lines. China Resource Chemicals (Huarun) will add three new lines with a combined capacity of 900,000 tpa this year. Two of these lines are being built at the company's existing plant in Changzhou and the other line is being built as part of a new plant in Zhuhai, China.

Each of the new lines will be able to produce 300,000 tpa of PET. The new plant in Zhuhai and one of the new lines in Changzhou were scheduled to start production by mid-April, while the second new line in Changzhou is expected to start production in early May. The company will become the largest PET producer inside China once these new capacities are installed, with the company's annual production capacity set to reach 1.3 mln tons.

MRC