Naphtha cracker shut by Mitsui for maintenance

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mitsui Chemicals has taken off-stream its naphtha cracker for maintenance turnaround, reported Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Japan informed that the cracker was shut on September 19, 2013. It is likely to restart operations on October 2, 2013.

Located in Osaka, Japan, the cracker has a production capacity of 450,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed earlier, in late August 2013, Mitsui Chemicals shut down a naphtha cracker at its Ichihara plant in Chiba. The cracker"s capacity is 612,000 tpa of ethylene. The ethylene cracker was shut due to problems with an electrical system. The company has been investigating the cause of the problem. The resuption of operation of the cracker is unspecified yet.

Mitsui Chemicals,a Japanese chemical company, is a part of the Mitsui conglomerate. The company has a turnover of around 15 billion USD and has business interests in Japan, Europe, China, Southeast Asia and the USA. The company mainly deals in performance materials, petro and basic chemicals and functional polymeric materials.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Due to risen costs, particularly for raw materials, Evonik Industries, the German specialty chemicals company, sees the need to adjust the prices of methacrylate monomers, according to the company's statement.

The sales prices in Europe for products from the Acrylic Monomers Business Line will increase by EUR95/tonne as of October 1, unless otherwise contractually specified.

We remind that, as MRC reported earlier, in June 2013, Evonik edching a new generation of PVC plasticizers under the ELATUR product brand. With this strategic portfolio expansion, Evonik is consistently developing its range of sustainable plasticizers. Besides, recently Evonik Industries has developed and launched on the market a novel combination of bio-based high-performance polyamides and bio-based high-performance fibers.

Evonik Industries is an industrial corporation in Germany and one of the world's leading specialty chemicals companies. Company's specialty chemicals activities focus on high-growth megatrends, especially, health, nutrition, resource efficiency, and globalization, and on entering attractive future-oriented markets. In 2012 Evonik generated sales of EUR13.6 billion and an operating result (adjusted EBITDA) of EUR2.6 billion.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Evonik Corporation’s High Performance Polymers Business Line has announced a distribution agreement with chemicals, plastics and composites distributor Nexeo Solutions for VESTAMID, VESTAMID Care, TROGAMID and TROGAMID Care product lines used in medical device applications, reported the company on its site.

"We are very excited about this alliance with Nexeo Solutions," said Sabine Fleming, business development manager of Evonik Corporation’s High Performance Polymers Business Line. "Nexeo Solutions has a dedicated healthcare team with significant expertise in the distribution of plastics and chemicals used for medical devices. This alliance will offer Evonik Corporation broader medical market exposure and our customers more supply chain flexibility for our specialty high performance polymers. Our customers will benefit from Nexeo Solution’s excellent distribution service and market presence."

TROGAMID is a key ingredient for stopcocks, valves used to restrict or isolate the flow of liquids or gases.

Evonik Corporation’s VESTAMID and TROGAMID are specialty polymers characterized by excellent chemical resistance, biocompatibility, durability.

As MRC wrote previously, Evonik Industries, the German specialty chemicals company, has announced a significant expansion of its Jurong Island, Singapore oil additives plant, to be completed in early 2015. With ongoing improvement and debottlenecking projects scheduled to be finalized during the first half of 2014, these optimizations and the planned expansion will nearly double the capacity of the oil additives plant in Singapore.

Nexeo Solutions is the largest global chemical, plastics and composites distributor and environmental services with a centralized business model. As a private company employing more than 2300 employees with operations across North America, Europe and Asia, Nexeo Solutions is a leading distributor of chemicals, plastics, composites and environmental services.

Evonik Industries is an industrial corporation in Germany and one of the world's leading specialty chemicals companies. Company's specialty chemicals activities focus on high-growth megatrends, especially, health, nutrition, resource efficiency, and globalization, and on entering attractive future-oriented markets. In 2012 Evonik generated sales of EUR13.6 billion and an operating result (adjusted EBITDA) of EUR2.6 billion.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- JX Nippon Oil & Energy is in plans to restart its residue fluid catalytic cracker (RFCC), as per Apic-Online.

A Polymerupdate source in Japan informed that the unit is likely to be restarted on October 20, 2013. It is currently under a maintenance turnaround.

Located at Sendai in Japan, the RFCC unit has a propylene production capacity of 100,000 mt/year.

As MRC reported earlier, JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp. is considering shutting down oil refinery operations at its Muroran plant in Hokkaido by the end of March 2014. JX Nippon will keep the Muroran refinery as a manufacturing plant for petrochemical products and keep its employees through job displacement.

The Nippon Oil Corporation, or NOC or Shin-Nisseki is a Japanese petroleum company. Its businesses include the exploration, importation, and refining of crude oil; the manufacture and sale of petroleum products, including olefines (ethylene, propylene) and aromatics.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Taiyo Vinyl Corporation, a subsidiary of Tosoh Group, is expanding its polyvinyl chloride (PVC) capacity at Chiba, Japan, by 10,000 tonne per year with construction of a new unit, as per Tosoh's press release.

Replacing aging production facilities with state-of-the-art facilities improves safety, enhances production efficiencies, stabilizes supply and raises the plant’s ability to meet increasing demand, explained Tosoh, which controls 68% of Taiyo Vinyl.

The additional capacity is expected to be completed in October 2014.

We remind that, as MRC reported earlier, Honeywell UOP has been selected by Japan's Taiyo Oil to supply technology and catalysts to improve operational flexibility and increase petrochemical production at the Shikoku complex in Ehime, Japan.

Taiyo Vinyl Corporation, a subsidiary of Tosoh Group, is one of the major Japanese polyvinyl chloride (PVC) producer. The Chiba plant is a vital supply hub for Taiyo Vinyl. It ships PVC to over 50% of the subsidiary’s customers located in the Kanto region of Japan, which includes Tokyo.
MRC