Xianglu Petrochemicals to restart PTA plant in China after unexpected shutdown

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Xianglu Petrochemicals is in plans to restart a purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant which shut unexpectedly, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the plant is likely to be restarted on September 22. It was shut on July 22 owing to a power failure.

Located at Xiamen in China, the plant has a production capacity of 1.65 million mt/year.

As MRC reported earlier, China’s polyester maker Tongkun is in plans to start a new purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant in 2017. To be located at Zhapu in Zhejiang province, China, the plant will have a production capacity of 1.5 million mt/year.

Xianglu Petrochemicals (Xiamen) Co., Ltd. produces petrochemicals. It offers terephthalic acid products. The company was founded in 2003 and is based in Xiamen, China.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Clariant, a world leader in specialty chemicals, strives for sustainable long-term value creation. Recognizing the increased significance of its current sustainability activities in driving growth and innovation, Clariant is adding sustainability as a pillar to its corporate strategy, reported the company on its site.

The corporate strategy is now based on five pillars: increase profitability, reposition portfolio, add value with sustainability, foster innovation and R&D, and intensify growth.

Hariolf Kottmann, CEO Clariant, comments: "We can only add value to our business if we operate sustainably and when our products and solutions help our customers to improve their own sustainability performance. Therefore, it is a logical step for us to reflect our commitment to sustainability more visibly on a strategic corporate level by defining it as a pillar of our corporate strategy."

As MRC informed previously, Clariant addresses the increasing consumer demand for milder, skin-friendly personal care products with the launch of its new range of multifunctional co-surfactants at in-cosmetics Asia 2014. Offering a unique combination of excellent cleaning performance and mildness, the ingredients will open the door to inspiring new skin and hair care formulation concepts.

Clariant has set various sustainability initiatives to match its strategic alignment, such as improving its products through continuous research and innovation, further increasing its system safety, running steadily more efficient programs for employee qualification and stepping up communication with its stakeholders.

As a result, in 2013 Clariant was included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (Europe) which serves as a benchmark for the industry’s best practices.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's state-owned oil major Rosneft plans to invest 560 billion rubles (US$14.9 bln) in the construction of the first stage of its Eastern Petrochemical Company (VNKhK), as per CEO Sechin, as reported by Plastemart.

"We have coordinated the approval of the project’s first stage at about 560 billion rubles of investments, which envisages the constriction of the first oil refining line with a 12 million tonne capacity for VNKhK. Transneft will plug us into the main pipeline," Sechin said.

He added that the total processing capacity will amount to 30 mln tons, including 12 mln tons of oil of the second line’s capacity and 6.7 mln tons of petrochemical capacity.

As MRC wrote before, OAO Rosneft head Igor Sechin met with the chairman of Vietnam Oil & Gas Group to discuss cooperation in refining as the Russian oil producer looks at adding fields off the Asian country’s southern coast.

Rosneft became Russia's largest publicly traded oil company in March 2013 after the USD55 billion takeover of TNK-BP, which was Russia’s third-largest oil producer at the time.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Iran’s petrochemical industry is to focus on increasing propylene production over the coming eight years, said Farsnews.

Mohammad-Hassan Peyvandi, deputy head of National Petrochemical Company, said methanol produced in the Special Economic Petrochemical Zone is planned to be converted into propylene, the oil ministry's website reported.

"To that effect, we will use all potentials in the zone in order to have a developed and active zone," he said.
Peyvandi said Iran has to increase its propylene production to match its ethylene and polyethylene output. He said that downstream petrochemical industries need propylene.

Peyvandi also said that supplying feedstock to petrochemical plants is a priority of Iran’s petrochemical sector in the coming years.

Iran Petrochemical Commercial Company (IPCC) exported 838 million dollars worth of petrochemicals during the first four months of the current calendar year which started on March 21. The exported products, weighing 831,000 tons, mainly included propane and butane.

Iran produced 40 million tons of petrochemicals in the last calendar year, with 9 billion dollars worth of its products being exported.

The country plans to increase its petrochemical exports to 12 billion dollars this year.

As MRC reported previously, Iran's petrochemical industries earned approximately USD9.19bln from exporting petrochemical products to the international markets in the first 10 months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2013-January 20, 2014).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Austrian engineering solutions provider Starlinger (Vienna) has recently announced that groundbreaking ceremonies were held at its North American sales and services arm, Starlinger-Sahm (ASSI, Greenville, South Carolina), said Plasteurope.

The company is expanding and building a new headquarters, which is scheduled to open in spring 2015.

Located in Fountain Inn, South Carolina, about 33 km south of Greenville, the 2,140 m facility is to include a new machine exhibition area, spare parts warehouse and office space for sales and technical support. Starlinger, a family-owned business, supplies machinery and complete lines for woven plastic bag production from its production sites in Weissenbach and St. Martin / Austria as well as Taicang / China.

"Machinery from Starlinger textile packaging, Starlinger recycling technology, Starlinger vicotec and from Sahm will be installed and available for demonstration runs and customer trials," noted Jimmy Cranford, president of the North American subsidiary.

As MRC wrote, Starlinger & Co. GmbH, Austrian manufacturer of machinery for woven plastic packaging production and plastics recycling, opened a representative office in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

ASSI is owned by Starlinger Export GmbH and oversees sales and services activities as well as spare parts supply for some Starlinger divisions as well as for Germany-based Georg Sahm (Eschwege) which, in addition to supplying the woven plastics packaging industry, also provides technology for plastics recycling and textile industries.
No financial details of the project were released.

MRC