LyondellBasell restarts methanol plant at Channelview on schedule

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LyondellBasell announced that its methanol plant at Channelview, Texas, was placed into service in the fourth-quarter 2013 to take advantage of low-cost natural gas from shale formations, said the company in its press release.

The unit had been out of service since 2004 due to the rising cost of natural gas, the key feedstock for methanol production.

"The methanol plant re-start is the first in a series of U.S. Gulf Coast projects by LyondellBasell to take advantage of the natural gas price advantage that we enjoy from shale gas," said Patrick Quarles, senior vice president, Intermediates and Derivatives. "The methanol plant project and our other significant debottleneck projects will bring new capacity into our system earlier and at substantially lower cost than constructing entirely new facilities."

Other LyondellBasell growth projects include expansions of ethylene capacity at La Porte, Channelview and Corpus Christi, Texas, that will add 1.8 billion pounds to the company's annual capacity, and the expansion of a polyethylene facility in Matagorda County, Texas.

Methanol is used in the production of chemicals such as acetic acid and formaldehyde, and in products including adhesives, foams, plywood subfloors, solvents and windshield washer fluid. LyondellBasell is a leading manufacturer and global supplier of acetic acid. Methanol also is used in global gasoline production through direct blending, as well as for the production of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), a clean-burning gasoline component produced by LyondellBasell.

As MRC informed before, LyondellBasell has recently introduced Purell HP671T, a sterilizable, high fluidity polypropylene (PP) resin used in injection molded medical applications. Purell HP671T exhibits a very high stiffness, excellent transparency and an enhanced additive package offering increased resistance to gamma sterilization.

LyondellBasell is one of the world's largest plastics, chemical and refining companies and a member of the S&P 500. LyondellBasell manufactures products at 58 sites in 18 countries. LyondellBasell products and technologies are used to make items that improve the quality of life for people around the world including packaging, electronics, automotive parts, home furnishings, construction materials and biofuels.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SIBUR has sold its 100% stake in OJSC Plastik (Uzlovaya, Tula Region, Russia) to the group of private investors, said the producer in its press release.

The deal value totalled RUB 575 million. Production of geosynthetics (geogrids and nonwoven geotextiles), spinned off as OOO Plastik-Geosintetika (a joint venture between SIBUR and Leader Innovations Closed-End Venture Capital Fund) in 2010, was not included in the transaction and continues to operate as part of SIBUR Group.

"Sale of OJSC Plastik is in line with the company's strategy of focusing investment resources on its key production assets, with more favourable geographic location and lower production costs," Dmitry Konov, SIBUR’s CEO, said. "We look forward to cooperation with the new OJSC Plastik's owner, who is committed to further development of the asset's core business."

OJSC Plastik's asset base includes production of styrene (with a capacity of up to 60 ktpa), expandable polystyrene (with a capacity of up to 11 ktpa), ABS plastics (with a capacity of 23 ktpa), and separators and phenolic plastics (with a capacity of 6.38 ktpa). It also operates the lines producing parts and components for the automotive industry and machine building, safety products for workers in the mining and construction industries, and household products for a wide range of consumers. Products of OJSC Plastik are sold on the domestic market and also exported to Western and Eastern Europe, CIS, and partially to Asia.

The new investors are bringing in a carefully designed strategy of further business development and growing its petrochemical asset base.

In the medium term, SIBUR plans to partner with OJSC Plastik for production of styrene under an ethylbenzene processing agreement, with OJSC Plastik among the buyers of the manufactured product.

MRC analyst Igor Grishchenko said production of expandable polystyrene (EPS) and ABS plastics at Plastic (Uzlovaya) was 15,860 tonnes in the first eleven months of the year, down by 27.9% year on year. Production at Plastic (Uzlovaya) is fully integrated into the structure of the SIBUR group and depends on the supply of styrene from SIBUR.

SIBUR is a vertically integrated gas processing and petrochemicals company, which operate Russia’s largest gas processing business in terms of associated petroleum gas processing volumes and are the leader in the Russian petrochemicals industry.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- With a level of purity approaching 99%, SEPURAN green high performance polymers from Evonik Industries make biogas processing much more efficient, according to the company's press release.

For this achievement, the company has received the 2013 German Innovation Prize for climate and the environment in the "Environmentally friendly technologies" category.

The prize is awarded by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) and the Federation of German Industry (BDI). Dr. Dahai Yu, responsible for the Specialty Materials Segment in the Executive Board: "Innovations are a major contribution towards overcoming the challenges of the future. This also includes securing energy supplies practically from economical, ecological, and social aspects. With SEPURAN Green, Evonik shows what the chemical industry can do to make this happen."

Evonik initially trialed SEPURAN Green in a test plant beside the Vockla River in Neukirchen, Austria. Since then, several biogas processing plants using SEPURAN Green technology have been put into operation.

Evonik is also continuing to develop the SEPURAN technology for new applications, such as separating hydrogen and recovering nitrogen from compressed air.

As MRC informed previously, in late December, 2013, Evonik Industries and LanzaTech have signed a three year research cooperation agreement which will see Evonik combining its existing biotechnology platforms with LanzaTech’s synthetic biology and gas fermentation expertise for the development of a route to bio-processed precursors for specialty plastics from waste derived synthesis gas.

Evonik, the creative industrial group from Germany, is one of the world leaders in specialty chemicals. Its activities focus on the key megatrends health, nutrition, resource efficiency and globalization. Evonik benefits specifically from its innovative prowess and integrated technology platforms. Evonik is active in over 100 countries around the world. In fiscal 2012, the company generated sales of around EUR13.6 billion and an operating profit (adjusted EBITDA) of about EUR2.6 billion.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Dow Chemical Company, the largest US chemical maker by sales, has been named a winner of the 2013 US presidential green chemistry challenge award for its development of EVOQUETM pre-composite polymer technology, reported the company on its site.

This Dow innovation helps coatings formulators improve paint performance properties while using less titanium dioxide (TiO2), a white pigment that is energy intensive to manufacture but ubiquitous in architectural paint for its ability to provide quality hiding.

This win marks the 9th time that Dow and its affiliates have won the presidential green chemistry award, more than double any other company in award history.

"EVOQUE pre-composite polymer technology was developed with the goal of driving gains in sustainability through more efficient raw material use coupled with increased paint performance," said Keith Watson, global R&D director, Dow Coating Materials and Performance Monomers. "This is our latest development in bringing more sustainable chemistry to the coatings industry, which began when we introduced waterborne binder technology 60 years ago. With the development and market acceptance of EVOQUE pre-composite polymer technology, we are once again driving innovation that is changing the way that paint is made and how we expect it to perform."

EVOQUETM pre-composite polymer allows formulators to further improve TiO2 efficiency and also raise paint performance in key areas such as stain resistance and durability. A recent third-party validated Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) showed that paints formulated with EVOQUETM technology yielded the lowest environmental impact compared to similar technologies in 10 out of 10 key categories, including resource depletion and green house effect. The LCA also demonstrated that EVOQUE pre-composite polymers reduced the paint’s carbon footprint by more than 22% and water consumption by 30%.

As MRC wrote previously, Dow Chemical plans to separate chlorine-related assets including its epoxy business as the company focuses on higher-margin activities. The chlorine assets account for as much as USD5 billion of annual revenue and include plants at 11 sites employing almost 2,000 people. Dow said it hired financial advisers to look at options for the assets including sales, joint ventures and spinoffs. It expects to complete transactions for the assets in the next year or two.

The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational chemical corporation. As of 2007, it is the second-largest chemical manufacturer in the world by revenue (after BASF) and as of February 2009, the third-largest chemical company in the world by market capitalization (after BASF and DuPont). Dow is a large producer of plastics, including polystyrene, polyurethane, polyethylene, polypropylene, and synthetic rubber.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical has restarted its acrylonitrile (ACN) plant, reported Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the plant resumed operations on December 25, 2013. It was shut on November 20, 2013 for maintenance turnaround.

Located in Shanghai, China , the plant has a production capacity of 130,000 mt/year.

Besides, top Asian refiner Sinopec Corp won initial approval last month from China's top economic planner for a plan to build a USD10-billion refinery and petrochemical complex in Shanghai. Sinopec has started formal planning for the 400,000 barrels-per-day refinery and a 1 million tonnes-per-year ethylene project in a plan to curb pollution by shifting an old plant to Shanghai's southern edge.

As MRC informed previously, Formosa Plastics Corp (FPC) is likely to shut an acrylonitrile (ACN) plant for maintenance turnaround in early February 2014. Located in Mailiao, Taiwan, the pant has a production capacity of 280,000 mt/year.

Sinopec Corp. is one of the largest scale integrated energy and chemical companies with upstream, midstream and downstream operations. Its refining and ethylene capacity ranks No.2 and No.4 globally. The Company has 30,000 sales and distribution networks of oil products and chemical products, its service stations are now ranked third largest in the world.
MRC