ThyssenKrupp wins engineering work for Hungary fertilizer expansion

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions, the engineering and construction specialist of the ThyssenKrupp Group, has won a follow-up order from the Hungarian fertilizer manufacturer Nitrogenmuvek Zrt. to expand its production capacity, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

A 1,150 tpd nitric acid plant will be built at Petfurdo, approximately 100 km southwest of Budapest, and is scheduled for completion in 2017.

Nitrogenmuvek Zrt. already operates two ammonium nitrate plants supplied by ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions at the Petfurdo site. A plant to manufacture granulated calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) and ammonium nitrate fertilizer is currently under construction.

ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions is responsible for engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning of the new nitric acid plant.

As MRC wrote before, ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions is making its Steam Active Reforming (STAR) process available to Formosa Plastics Corp (FPC) for a propane dehydrogenation (PDH) project in Texas, USA. The PDH plant is to be built at Formosa's existing petrochemical complex in Point Comfort.

The PDH plant in Point Comfort will have a capacity of 545,000 tpy of propylene and is part of the Point Comfort petrochemical complex expansion announced by FPC in February 2012.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Russian Chemists Union (RCU) appealed to the Ministry of Industry to rise import duties on titanium dioxide (TiO2 )at a level not less than 15%, and set custom indicative prices for this product not less than at USD2,300, according to RCU.

"After the EU decided to ban the supply on their territory any product produced in the Crimea, RCU sent an appeal to consumes to replace imported titanium dioxide( TiO2) by the material from " Crimean Titan "- as per the annual report of the RCU.

But to replace imported titanium dioxide to the Russian is difficult. First, the feedstock is on the territory of Ukraine. Second, not all producers are satisfied with the quality of the Crimean TiO2. Due to its high quality of titanium dioxide, the USA remains the world's largest net exporter of white pigment. Russian market of titanium dioxide, used for the paints and varnishes, already tends to reduce imports from Europe and USA. Producers are interested in the Chinese TiO2 and are in no hurry to buy the Crimean material.

Tatiana Kusyakova, director of science "paint factory" Hemi ", said:" Crimean Titan currently has quite decent quality; 90% of its formulations may be applied, but in pure white colour we still use US titanium dioxide".

Because of the sharp changes in exchange rates in the end of 2014 all imported goods became very expensive for Russian consumers. Since the end of October 2014 the bulk of traders of imported titanium dioxide began to announce prices for Russian domestic market in dollars. Recalculation was based on the exchange rate at the time of payment.

Total imports of TiO2 in Russia exceeded 75,000 tonnes in 2014. "The consumption of titanium dioxide in the paint segment in Russia slightly, but will decline in 2015 and possibly in 2016," - said Gregory Balmasov, managing chemical business of the group of companies "ETC".

As MRC reported earlier, "Crimean Titan", the subsidiary of Group DF in 2014 produced 101,000 tonnes of titanium dioxide, and managed to maintain production of titanium dioxide at the level of 2013.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Last year's overall imports of unmixed polyvinyl chloride (PVC) into Belarus decreased by 10.1% and totalled 39,200 tonnes, according to MRC DataScope report.

December PVC imports to Belarus remained at a rather high level, despite seasonal factors, and totalled 2,700 tonnes versus to 2,100 tonnes a month earlier. The overall demand for PVC from local converters fell to 39,200 tonnes from January to December 2014 from 43,700 tonnes a year earlier.

Weaker demand for PVC was caused by lower sales of finished products from PVC, particularly, shaped and linear articles, both in the domestic and foreign markets. 25,400 tonnes of shaped and linear articles from PVC were shipped only for exports during the stated period, whereas a year ago the figure was 29,100 tonnes.

German producers with a share of about 49% are the key PVC suppliers for the Belarusian market. Russian producers have actively narrowed German producers in the Belarusian market in recent months. The overall imports of unmixed PVC from Russia rose to 5,400 tonnes in 2014.

Anwil, Polish producer, also accounted for a significant share of the Belarusian market. PVC imports from Poland exceeded 8,400 tonnes over the said period.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- South Korea-based Daelim's petrochemical business division is planning to invest KRW74bn (USD67m) to expand its highly reactive polybutene plant located at Yeosu National Industrial Complex, said Chemical-technology.

The investment will help the company expand annual output of its existing Yeosu plant from 65,000t to 100,000t by November 2016. Following expansion, the company will be able to produce 185,000t of polybutene per year, including the polybutene plant's annual production output of 85,000t of general-purpose polybutene.

Polybutene is used as raw material for lubricant additives and fuel purifiers, and the highly reactive polybutene improves production efficiency as it simplifies the lubricant manufacturing process. "Following expansion, the company will be able to produce 185,000t of polybutene per year, including the polybutene plant's annual production output of 85,000t of general-purpose polybutene."

In addition, eco-friendly products can be produced since polybutene has no chlorine ingredient. The eco-friendly lubricant additive and fuel purifier markets are expanding as environmental regulations are consolidated worldwide.

More than 90% of Daelim's polybutene products are exported to global lubricant additive manufacturers including Chevron, Lubrizol, and Infineum.
The company claimed it developed a highly reactive polybutene with improved functionality of existing general-purpose polybutene.

According to market demand, the company operates production facilities by developing a technology to produce general-purpose polybutene and highly reactive polybutene together, using the swing process in a single plant for the first time in the world.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LyondellBasell Industries, one of the world's largest plastics, chemical and refining companies, has reported record results in 2014, according to the company's report.

Thus, LyondellBasell announced earnings from continuing operations of USD4.2 billion for 2014, or diluted earnings per share of USD8.0 per share. Last year's EBITDA was at USD7,1 billion.

The company's full year cash generation from operations totaled USD6.0 billion, share repurchases and dividends totalled USD7.2 billion. The company also repurchased 63 million shares or approximately 12% of the shares outstanding.

The company reported of a completion of an 800 million pound La Porte ethylene expansion, one in a series of planned expansions expected to increase US ethylene capacity approximately by 25% by 2017.

Besides, LyondellBasell completed a 200 million pound PE expansion at its Matagorda site and announced the development of new propylene oxide and ethylene growth projects.

"We remain confident in our favorable industry position and in the fundamentals supporting our business. While we anticipate that margins will ease from the records of 2014 as crude oil prices decline, our positions remain advantaged, our growth program is generating incremental earnings, and our share count is greatly reduced through our repurchase program. The principles that Jim Gallogly established during his tenure as CEO are part of our core values. My mission is to build on this success and take the company to the next level. During 2015 we plan to advance approximately one billion pounds of ethylene expansion projects, improve operations at our methanol facility, and receive additional volumes of Canadian crude oil at our refinery," Patel said.

Headquartered in the Netherlands, LyondellBasell is one of the world's largest plastics, chemical and refining companies. LyondellBasell manufactures products at 58 sites in 18 countries. The company produces chemicals, fuels, and polymers used for packaging, clean fuels, durable textiles, medical applications, construction materials, and automotive parts. LyondellBasell is also a leading licensor of polypropylene and polyethylene technologies. The more than 250 polyolefin process licenses granted by LyondellBasell are twice that of any other polyolefin technology licensor.
MRC