Tosoh shut its naphtha cracker for maintenance in Japan

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Tosoh Corp has shut a naphtha cracker for maintenance turnaround, reported Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Japan informed that the cracker was shut on March 14, 2014. The cracker is expected to remain off-stream for around one month.

Located in Yokkaichi, Japan, the cracker has a production capacity of 527,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed previously, Tosoh also shut a caustic soda plant for maintenance turnaround in March 2014 for around one month. Located in Nanyo, Japan, the plant has a production capacity of 1.125 million mt/year.

Last year, Tosoh's proposed restructuring of operations in Nanyo could lead to a net loss of 320,000 tpa of vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) capacity, thereby tightening feedstock supply to the polyvinylchloride (PVC) industry. Almost one year after a fire seriously damaged its complex in Nanyo, Tosoh Corporation (Tokyo, Japan) has touted plans to raise output at the site's number 3 vinyl chloride monomer plant. The building phase of the 200,000 t/y capacity expansion was to kick off in November last year, with completion scheduled for October 2014.

Tosoh is one of the largest chlor-alkali manufacturers in Asia. The company supplies the plastic resins and an array of the basic chemicals that support modern life. Tosoh's petrochemical operations supply ethylene, polymers, and polyethylene.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Siluria held on Thursday a grand opening for a pilot plant that uses a unique two-step process that converts methane into gasoline, a technology that could lower the typically high costs of gas-to-liquids production, said Siluria in its press-release.

Siluria uses a process distinct from the Fischer-Tropsch technology typically associated with producing fuel from methane, said Ed Dineen, CEO. "We do it in a much more direct and efficient way."

Under Fischer-Tropsch, methane is converted into synthesis gas (syngas), a mixture of carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen gas. The syngas then enters a Fischer-Tropsch reactor where it is converted into hydrocarbons. These are then further processed to produce fuel.

These gas-to-liquids complexes are expensive to build because the Fischer-Tropsch reaction takes place at high pressure and temperature, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). To be profitable, large-scale plants need oil prices to be several multiples above those for natural gas.

Sasol is considering building such a plant in Louisiana. Oil prices would have to exceed those for natural gas by at least 16 times. Shell, in fact, backed out of plans to build its own USD12.5bn gas-to-liquids plant in Louisiana because of the uncertainty of oil and natural gas prices as well as high costs. For smaller scale Fischer-Tropsch plants, they cannot even be profitable by producing liquid fuels, according to the EIA. Instead, these smaller plants have to produce waxes if they want to be profitable.

Siluria expects to avoid high capital costs by relying on different processes. Instead of producing syngas from methane, Siluria is producing ethylene from methane, using its oxidative coupling process. The reaction is exothermic, so Siluria can use the heat for other units, lowering overall operating costs. And instead of producing synthetic crude from syngas, Siluria is producing fuels from ethylene.

For ethylene production, Siluria's technology will have a competitive advantage over naphtha cracking as long as oil prices are at least eight times higher than natural gas. So far, Siluria has already produced the catalyst and successfully outsourced it to other companies, which can now make large batches of the materials.

The company has started building a demonstration plant that will run the oxidative coupling reaction. This plant will be at Braskem's complex in La Porte, Texas. Production could start in the fourth quarter of 2014. The Hayward plant is the final piece of completing the scale-up of Siluria's technology, Dineen said.

The engineering design would overlap with the start-up of the demonstration unit. By the first half of 2015, capital could be committed for the first commercial-scale plants, he said. Because Siluria can use modular construction to build its ethylene units, operations could start in two years or less, Dineen said. That could put start startup for ethylene and fuels production in the middle of 2017.


MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- British oil giant BP is negotiating with the Oman government to build a large petrochemical plant in Duqm, with an envisaged investment of over USD1 bln, to manufacture acetic acid using a patented technology, as per Plastemart.

Acetic acid is a versatile intermediate chemical, used in a variety of products, such as paints, adhesives and solvents, as well as in the production of purified terephthalic acid, used extensively for manufacturing polyester. BP has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Oil and Gas to build the project.

Jamie Bowden, British Ambassador to the Sultanate, said, "With this potential investment, BP intends to build the world's first acetic acid manufacturing plant using BP's new SaaBre process. This is a breakthrough process in converting synthetic gas to synthetic acid, which will lead to a reduction in manufacturing costs," said Bowden, adding that only BP has this technology. "So, Oman can then become the holder of this technology. It (the project) will be the biggest plant of this type in the Middle East."

As MRC wrote before, BP completed the purchase of all interests previously held by Japan’s Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. (MCI) and Mitsui & Co. Ltd. (MBK) in PT Amoco Mitsui PTA Indonesia (AMI). For over fifteen years, AMI was a 50/50 joint venture between BP and its partners, producing and marketing purified terephthalic acid (PTA) in the Republic of Indonesia.

BP is one of the world's leading international oil and gas companies, providing its customers with fuel for transportation, energy for heat and light, retail services and petrochemicals products for everyday items.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ethylene production from export-oriented steam crackers associated with advantaged gas-based feedstocks is set to alter the global ethylene markets, according to analysis from energy research firm Wood Mackenzie's new Chemical Markets Service, reported Commodity Online.

"The key competitive differentiator for ethylene producers is access to low cost feedstocks or proximity to local demand. Through 2030, advantaged cracker investments will continue in the Middle East, sharply increase in North America, and then later develop in Russia and The Caspian," says Stephen Zinger, Head of Americas Chemical Research at Wood Mackenzie.

Ethylene producing assets that have access to low cost gas feedstocks, such as the ones in North America, will lead the competition with total ethylene and derivative investment set to reach USD40-50 billion in the next decade. Over the same time period, global ethylene demand will grow by 3.3% per year, on average, according to Wood Mackenzie. The Dow Chemical Company, LyondellBasell Industries N.V. and Exxon Mobil Corporation are among the leading companies engaged in the ethylene industry in North America.

In turn, China will continue to have the fastest demand growth for ethylene and ethylene derivatives and will satisfy this demand through increases both in domestic production capacity (coal-to-olefins and naphtha cracking) and imports from producers around the world with advantaged feedstocks.

In the next 10 years, Wood Mackenzie estimates total investment in ethylene and derivatives is expected to reach a record D40-50 billion in North America. In addition, ethane feedstocks to make ethylene have increased from under half of total feedstock for ethylene in 2005 to about 65% of total feedstock in 2013, and are expected to continue to rise to over 80% of total feedstock consumption.

"The development of shale gas resources in North America has triggered an ethylene investment renaissance, with the abundance of competitively priced natural gas liquid feedstocks, particularly ethane," adds Zinger.

Wood Mackenzie says domestic demand in North America for ethylene derivatives will grow more slowly than the planned ethylene capacity increases, which will lead to derivative exports more than tripling over the next 15 years.

Over the next decade, the more mature markets of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan will go through a period of consolidation, cost cutting and product value creation to increase their competitiveness, as their export market share to China is gradually replaced by low cost material from the Middle East, North America, Russia and The Caspian.

Advantaged ethane-based ethylene investments drove massive capacity growth in the Middle East throughout the 1990s and 2000s, culminating with significant new capacity additions in 2008-2010. The Middle East is again expected to almost double its existing capacity by 2030 and remain the largest ethylene derivative exporting region globally. Forced to change feedstocks by an impending shortage in ethane supplies, projects in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and eventually Oman will adjust feedstock mix to diversify and include LPGs and naphtha.

"After decades of stagnation, the Russia and The Caspian region will undergo considerable change, with plans to add nearly 10 million tons of capacity by 2030," adds Lidback. "In Russia, capacity expansions are planned in six discrete production clusters across the Western, Siberian and Far Eastern territories."

The region's emergence as a major exporter will place increasing pressure on high cost producers who do not have the benefit of advantaged feedstock. Europe, in particular, will be under considerable pressure with the addition of a neighbouring region with low cost supplies. Its ethylene industry is restructuring due to its weak demand growth, competitive disadvantages and widely available imports from low cost producers in other regions.

As MRC wrote before, the global ethylene market is expected to exhibit a 6.2% CAGR through 2017 and grow from USD 131.88 billion in 2012 to over USD 177.82 billion in 2017
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Dow expands its composites portfolio with the VORAFORCETM TW 1100 series of polyurethane systems developed for composites fabrication by filament winding, to enhance the existing epoxy systems offering, as per the company's press release.

This innovative high-performance series allow for continuous reinforcement and manufacture of cylindrical and conical structures as found in power and transmission poles, and offers enhanced toughness and robustness while enabling easy installation and maintenance.

Specifically in infrastructure applications, filament winding composites offer significant advantages over the conventionally used concrete poles. Due to the light weight of the material, transportation is more efficient and installation becomes fast and easy. In case of severe weather events, composites offer improved reliability and maintenance thanks to their toughness. Product design and life, overall cost-effectiveness and durability are additional advantages of using composites in infrastructure applications.

Dow VORAFORCE TW 1100 series enable full 110 KV composites pole winding capabilities and thus complement the available range of polyurethane systems for smaller poles, like 10 KV. In this application, VORAFORCE polyurethane systems help improve elongation, toughness, and crack resistance as compared to conventional materials and other type of resins.

As MRC reported earlier, in September 2012, Dow Polyurethanes, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company, in cooperation with Cannon SpA, announced that PASCAL Polyurethane Insulation Technology for household refrigerators and freezers was available to retrofit to existing production lines. The company created a new solution to enable customers to use PASCAL Technology by upgrading their production lines, but not having to build a brand new line.

The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational chemical corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. It is a large producer of plastics, including polystyrene, polyurethane, polyethylene, polypropylene, and synthetic rubber.
MRC