Invista and Arzeda signed agreement to develop bio-derived raw materials

MOSCOW (MRC) -- INVISTA Technologies, a world leader in fibers, resins and chemical intermediates, and Arzeda Corp., an emerging Seattle-based biotechnology company, have entered into strategic partneship for the development of new technologies to enable novel bio-derived processes, according to Businesswire.

The agreement brings together complementary technologies: INVISTA’s capabilities in biotechnology and catalysis, and knowledge of the chemicals industry; and Arzeda’s unique synthetic biology and enzyme design capabilities. The two companies are collaborating in order to further co-develop their technology platforms, with the goal to ultimately develop new bio-derived processes for a range of products.

We remind that, as MRC reported previously, Invista Performance Technologies had acquired from La Seda de Barcelona SA intellectual property relating to its leading purified terephthalic acid (PTA), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and related process technologies, including the full rights to exclusively license the technologies in the region comprising Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Arzeda, an emerging Seattle-based biotechnology company, is pioneering a new synthetic biology with its computational enzyme design technology. Arzeda creates value for its partners in the agricultural and industrial biotechnology sectors by designing novel, reaction-specific optimized enzymes and designer organisms leveraging synthetic metabolic pathways.

INVISTA is one of the world’s largest integrated producers of polymers and fibers, primarily for nylon, spandex and polyester applications. With a business presence in over 20 countries, INVISTA’s global businesses deliver exceptional value for their customers through technology innovations, market insights and a powerful portfolio of global trademarks.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Kolkata-headquartered Dhunseri Petrochem and Tea Ltd (DPTL) plans to take its downstream petrochemicals facility in Egypt on stream by July this year, according to Plastemart.

The Egypt unit is being set up at an estimated investment of nearly Rs 900 crore, as per The Hindu.

According to C.K. Dhanuka, Executive Chairman, Dhunseri, the greenfield PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) resin plant, with an annual capacity of 430,000 tonnes will become operational in two phases. While the first phase, of 215,000 tonnes capacity, will be operational in early July; the second phase (similar capacity) is expected to be ready around August.

The Egypt project had suffered a two-month setback because of the civil unrest in the region followed by a delay in supply of product lines from India. The delay, however, has not had any major impact on the project cost.

As a part of its Rs 1300-crore expansion plans, the company has recently made operational its second PET resin facility at Haldia in West Bengal, at an investment of Rs 400 crore.

As MRC wrote earlier, DPTL is hoping to triple its turnover to Rs.60 bln in fiscal 2013-14 with the commissioning of its Egyptian PET project.

Dhunseri Petrochem & Tea Limited (DPTL) is the flagship company of the Dhunseri group. DPTL's petrochemical division produces the finest bottle-grade PET resin for packaging of drinking water, carbonated soft drinks, edible oil and pharmaceuticals and many more. The petrochem division is one of the largest producers of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) resin in India.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- US oil and gas conglomerate ExxonMobil and Russia's OAO Rosneft has signed an agreement to broaden their existing joint venture by adding seven more licenses to develop hydrocarbon resources on Russia's Arctic shelf, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing with reference to ExxonMobil's deputy CEO Stephen Greenlee.

Most notably, the companies plan to conduct a feasibility study on constructing a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant on the island of Sakhalin off Russia's Pacific coast.

Rosneft is lobbying to be allowed to export LNG, which currently only OAO Gazprom is permitted to do by law.

As MRC reported earlier, Exxon and Rosneft formed an alliance in 2011 to develop potentially huge but largely untapped reserves on Russia's Arctic shelf and shale oil in Western Siberia. The partners agreed to expand and expedite joint efforts to develop oil reserves in tight low-permeability formations in Western Siberia using advanced technologies that ExxonMobil has successfully employed in North America.

As well as Exxon, Rosneft has partnership deals with Italy's eni and Norway's Statoil to develop offshore resources.

Rosneft is currently buying competitor TNK-BP in deals worth USD55 billion that will create the largest listed oil producer in the world and will hand BP a 19.8% stake in the oil giant.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Borouge, in line with its plan to increase its polyolefin production capacity to 4.5 million tpa by 2014, will open a representative office in Jakarta, Indonesia, during the second quarter of this year, GV.

The company, as part of a strategy to be closer to its customers, is also preparing to establish a market development team in Indonesia to support its growth in the country.

"A new representative office in Jakarta enhances Borouge’s ability to better understand the Indonesian market, customers’ needs, the local plastics value chain and seek for new value-adding product development opportunities, which help its customers grow and increase their profitability," said the company, which is a joint venture of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. and Austria's Borealis.

We remind that, as MRC informed earlier, Borouge and Borealis, leading providers of chemical and innovative plastics solutions, achieved another breakthrough by having their high stress crack resistant (HSCR) polyethylene PE100 polymer, BorSafe HE3490-LS-H, listed under the PE100+ Association's quality list.

Borouge is a joint venture of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and Austria"s Borealis. It has two complementary ventures: Abu Dhabi Polymers Co Ltd (Borouge) - a production company based in Abu Dhabi - and Borouge Pte Ltd based in Singapore. Borouge is a leading supplier of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP). They focus on differentiated high end applications in the Middle East and Asia Pacific with Borstar Enhanced Polyethylene produced in Abu Dhabi, UAE and the full range of Borealis specialities.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ube Industries has made the decision to cease production of caprolactam at its Sakai complex in Japan "after a fixed period of time, and dismantle the facili-ties", said Apic-online.

With the global economic slowdown, growth in caprolactam demand has weakened while market conditions for caprolactam have been heavily eroded by the entry of new manufacturers and successive production expansion of existing producers centering on Chinese companies, Ube explained. At the same time, prices for raw material benzene and auxiliary materials have risen, with the net effect being that the profitability of the caprolactam business has rapidly declined.

Ube, which has four caprolactam production facilities, noted that the 100,000-t/y Sakai site is the least competitive, due to high manufacturing costs based on the production technologies used, and facilities for auxiliary materials and steam utilities that are dependent on liquefied natural gas. The company said it has examined various ways to improve the profitability of the site, but the prospects at Sakai "are dim."

Along with the decision to end caprolactam production, Ube plans to discontinue production at the Sakai complex of related derivatives ammonia (200,000 t/y), liquefied carbon dioxide (99,000 t/y), ammonium sulfate (160,000 t/y) and 1,6-hexanediol (5,000 t/y). These units will also be dismantled. Thereafter, the Sakai site will be dedicated mainly to value-added specialty products.

As MRC wrote earlier, Ube Industries is planning to construct and add additional manufacturing capacity for nylon 6 at its subsidiary, Ube Engineering Plastics, in Castellon, Spain, in order to meet the growing demand for high added-value nylon in the European and North American markets.

Ube Industries, Ltd. is a Japanese chemical company. UBE Group is doing business worldwide, especially Thailand(Rayong Province) and Spain (Province of Castellon) are main sites for petrochemical business.
MRC