ONGC Mangalore Petrochemicals Ltd to commence paraxylene and benzene production

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ONGC Mangalore Petrochemicals Ltd (OMPL)'s Mangalore plant will commence regular commercial production of benzene and paraxylene from October 1, said Plastemart.

Sources in the company told Business Line that OMPL, had conducted trial production during July-August period, exported three consignments to destinations such as Indonesia and Thailand.

Paraxylene and benzene are the major products of OMPL. Paraxylene is used in the production of polyester fibres and PET bottles. Benzene is used as an intermediate to make products such as styrene, polystyrene, phenol and nylon. The feedstock for OMPL will be supplied by the MRPL refinery in Mangalore.

The OMPL plant will have the capacity to produce 920,000 tonnes of paraxylene and 283,000 tonnes of benzene a year. The company has marketing plans for the exports and domestic sectors. In the domestic market, the products from OMPL will help develop downstream industries in and around Mangalore.

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) is an Indian multinational oil and gas company headquartered in Dehradun, India. It is one of the largest Asia-based oil and gas exploration and production companies, and produces around 77% of India's crude oil (equivalent to around 30% of the country's total demand) and around 81% of its natural gas.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF and Smart Planet Technologies are currently discussing a possible strategic partnership concerning the mineralized coating technology, EarthCoatingTM, for paper packaging applications, as per BASF's press release.

EarthCoating is a sustainable and cost efficient alternative to traditional extrusion applied coatings providing excellent barrier and heat seal performance and focusing on improving the recyclability of the packaging. It is engineered for processing within the traditional paper recycling infrastructure and can for example be used for folding cartons, detergent boxes, paper cups, paper plates, etc.

"EarthCoating is a long-awaited breakthrough technology for the packaging industry. A strategic partnership with BASF greatly advances the opportunities for the packaging industry to leverage EarthCoating towards greater sustainability in packaging applications," said Will Lorenzi, President of Smart Planet Technologies.

As MRC wrote before, in July 2014, BASF Shanghai Coatings Co., Ltd. inaugurated its new automotive coatings plant at the Shanghai Chemicail Industry Park in Shanghai, China. The expansion of its automotive coatings production capacity with an investment of around EUR50 million further strengthens BASF’s presence in China and its position as a leading coatings supplier to the automotive industry.

BASF is the world’s leading chemical company. Its portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics, performance products and crop protection products to oil and gas. BASF had sales of about EUR74 billion in 2013 and over 112,000 employees as of the end of the year.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Flexible packaging company Uflex Ltd. is planning a major new plant in the western Indian state of Gujarat, said Plasticsnews.

"Initially, the plant capacity would be pegged at 80,000 tonnes, and we would double the capacity in the second phase to 160,000 tonnes yearly to make it the largest flexible packaging plant in India at one location under one roof," said Ashok Chaturvedi, chairman and managing director, in an interview with Plastics News at the Speciality Films & Flexible Packaging Global Conference in Mumbai.

The project is part of a three-year investment plan by the Noida, India-based company. "We are planning to invest around USD325 million in the Ahmadabad plant alone," Chaturvedi said. Currently Uflex has 11 facilities in India.
"We have no presence in the western part of the country, and the Ahmadabad plant would cater to the western and southern Indian market," Chaturvedi said.

The new plant will start production in early 2016.

Chaturvedi said he is very positive about India’s new government, led by Narenda Modi, which is considered business friendly.

Started in 1983, Uflex is India’s largest flexible packaging company. Its products include polyester and biaxially oriented polypropylene films. The company has customers in more than 140 countries, Chaturvedi said.

Chaturvedi is bullish about growth in India’s packaging sector, thanks to increasing purchasing power by local consumers.
Meanwhile, Uflex also is planning to expand globally by building a new facility overseas. Chaturvedi said the company will decide on a location for a new plant by March or April. Currently, Uflex has plants in the United Arab Emirates, Mexico, Egypt, Poland and the United States.
MRC

МОSCOW (MRC) -- The company, in its just released sustainability report, indicates that the bottles that include up to 30% PET made from sugar cane and sugar cane processing waste are now distributed in nearly 40 countries, said Plasticsnews.

Using this plant-based PET means that the Atlanta-based company has saved more than 525,000 barrels of oil during the life of the program.

While the company only is using sugar cane and sugar cane processing waste, Coca-Cola hopes to one day use other plant residue such as plant stems, fruit peels and even bark to make PET.

Coca-Cola has a goal of using PlantBottle packaging for all PET bottles by 2020.

In developed markets, the company also has a goal of recovering an equivalent of 75 percent of the bottles and cans it introduces.

As MRC wrote before, Coca-Cola Company made an additional investment in the US-based Virent, which is developing its bio-based paraxylene (PX), BioFormPX. This investment will enable Virent to scale up separation and purification of BioFormPX material at their demonstration plant in Madison, Wisconsin.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Showa Denko (SDK) has decided to dissolve its consolidated subsidiary PT. Showa Esterindo Indonesia (SEI) and terminate its production of ethyl acetate in Indonesia, at its 50,000 tpa plant, said Plastemart.

SDK holds 66.98% stake in the company, PT. Adiguna Eka Sentra holds 20.22%, Toyota Tsusho Corporation holds 9.43%, while the balance 3.37% is held by CLP International Pte. Ltd. Production in SEI will be stopped by the end of 2014. After demolition and removal of the production facility, SEI will be dissolved and liquidated without delay.

SEI was established in 1997 for the purpose of producing and selling ethyl acetate in the Southeast Asian market, and started to produce ethyl acetate in 1999 as SDK's first plant to introduce our proprietary technology to synthesize ethyl acetate by adding ethylene directly to acetic acid.

Since then, the demand for ethyl acetate in Southeast Asia had been stable for a while. In recent years, however, the business environment for SEI has become harder than before because of rises in material prices and expansion of the capacities of neighboring countries to supply ethyl acetate. Under these circumstances, SDK and its partners have concluded, after deliberation, that it is difficult to continue SEI's operations, and recently decided to dissolve the company.

SDK had already incorporated the expected loss accompanying this dissolution into the projected business results for the year ending December 31, 2014 announced on July 31, 2014.

As MRC wrote previously, last year, Mitsubishi Corporation (MC), a major petrochemical producer, and Showa Denko K.K. (SDK) entered into a strategic partnership in the Fullerene business.

Fullerene is a molecule composed entirely of carbon. It takes the form of a soccer ball and is one nanometer (one-millionth of a millimeter) in diameter. As the molecule is soluble in organic solvents and is an excellent electron acceptor, it is seen as a promising material in the field of electronics, particularly for such applications as n-type material for organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells.

Showa Denko K.K. is mainly engaged in the petrochemical business. The Petrochemical segment manufactures and sells olefin, organic chemicals and others. The Chemical Product segment supplies chemicals, industrial gases, special gas and functional drug for semiconductors, functional high molecular materials, among others.
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