DCM Shriram Nearing Completion Of Indian Chlor-Alkali Expansions

MOSCOW (MRC) -- DCM Shriram has notified the Bombay Stock Exchange that it expects to complete a chlor-alkali capacity expansion at its facilities in Bharuch and Kota, India, by September or October of this year, as per Apic-online.

At Bharuch, chlor-alkali capacity is being increased by 499 t/d to a total of 949 t/d. DCM Shriram already commissioned 420 t/d of the new chlor-alkali capacity on 14 June 2016.

Chlor-alkali capacity at Kota is being raised by 6 t/d to a total of 336 t/d. The company is also expanding the power plant at both locations. Total investment for the projects is Rs 607.20 crore.

"The brownfield expansion and technology upgradation will strengthen our competitiveness and industry position," the company noted.

According to DCM Shriram, it is the third largest chlor-alkali producer in India.

We remind that, as MRC informed previously, Shanghai Chlor-Alkali Chemical Co. Ltd., a Chinese maker of chlorinated PVC and another large chlor-alkali producer in Asia, set up a second plant in Shanghai in 2013. The company's first plant there, launched in the fourth quarter of 2012, has annual CPVC capacity of 22 million pounds. That plant became operational in the last quarter of 2012. The second facility has total capacity of 176 million pounds of CPVC, implemented in two phases. The plant had become operational by the first quarter of 2015.
MRC

Covestro expanding capacity at German site

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Materials manufacturer Covestro is moving forward with a repurposing of its production operations in Brunsbuttel, Germany, said Jeccomposites.

An existing, idled plant for the precursor TDI will be converted for production of MDI. The plans call for roughly doubling production capacity at the site to a total of approximately 400,000 metric tons of MDI per year. Commissioning of the new plant complex is scheduled for late 2018. Preliminary plans call for a total investment volume (in euros) in the low hundreds of millions, which is already included in Covestro’s medium-term capital expenditure budget.

MDI (diphenylmethane diisocyanate) is the basis to produce rigid polyurethane foam, which is used primarily for the efficient insulation of buildings and throughout the cool chain. The resultant energy savings help to substantially reduce CO2 emissions. TDI (toluene diisocyanate), on the other hand, is a key component of flexible polyurethane foam, which is found in products including mattresses, upholstered furniture and automobile seats. The Dormagen site is Covestro’s European center for production of this precursor.

The Covestro Brunsbuttel Industrial Park is particularly well-suited for the MDI expansion because raw materials and other precursors are available there, and the site also offers the infrastructure required. Furthermore, the site’s employees also have extensive expertise and experience.

The public authorities granted Covestro the permit for converting the plant in March 2014. This allows annual capacity to be expanded by as much as 220,000 metric tons of MDI. During the conversion, some 300 employees of participating service providers will be working at the site.

As it was written earlier, Covestro (Leverkusen), formerly Bayer MaterialScience, outlined a comprehensive program to sharpen its focus on sustainable development. The company has established five targets it wants to achieve by 2025, covering processes and products as well as R&D.

With 2015 sales of EUR 12.1 billion, Covestro is among the world’s largest polymer companies. Business activities are focused on the manufacture of high-tech polymer materials and the development of innovative solutions for products used in many areas of daily life. The main segments served are the automotive, electrical and electronics, construction and the sports and leisure industries. Covestro, formerly Bayer MaterialScience, has 30 production sites around the globe and as of the end of the first quarter 2016 employed approximately 15,700 people (full-time equivalents).
MRC

DuPont IsoTherming unit completes performance test for SQP

MOSCOW (MRC) -- DuPont Clean Technologies’ largest IsoTherming unit has successfully completed the performance test, certifying that the unit is meeting performance guarantees, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The IsoTherming hydrotreater at Sinochem’s Quanzhou Petrochemical (SQP) refinery is designed to process 78 Mbpd of a variety of cracked feedstocks to produce diesel with less than 10 ppm sulfur.

Capital cost advantages, as well as the need for reduced utility requirements, were key drivers for SinoChem’s selection of IsoTherming technology for this project. The project also improves the quality of SQP’s diesel output from Euro IV to Euro V.

IsoTherming hydroprocessing technology employs a novel reactor system that is superior to conventional hydroprocessing technologies because it uses the hydrogen and catalyst more efficiently. IsoTherming technology offers lower capital and operating costs while significantly reducing sulfur content in the finished diesel product. Today, DuPont has 25 IsoTherming licenses globally, with 11 of these in commercial operation. IsoTherming technology is suitable for a wide range of applications, including kerosene hydrotreating, transmix hydrotreating, diesel hydrotreating, FCC feed hydrotreating, mild hydrocracking, dewaxing, gas-to-liquid (GTL) upgrading and heavy oil upgrading for both grassroots and revamp configurations. IsoTherming capacities range from 1,500 bpd up to 80 Mbpd processing feedstocks such as 100% kerosene, 100% light-cycle oil (LCO) and various mixtures of distillates and heavy gas oils, including coker blends.

As MRC informed earlier, DuPont and Dow Chemical will hold separate shareholder meetings on 20 July to vote on their merger.The two agriculture and chemical companies announced their plan to merge in December. After the merger, the companies plan to split the combined company into three separate publicly traded companies focused on agriculture, material science and specialty products. DuPont and Dow Chemical Co. still expect the deal to close in the second half of this year. The split into three separate companies is expected to happen within two years after the merger.

DuPont is an American chemical company that was founded in July, 1802. The company manufactures a wide range of chemical products, leading extensive innovative research in this field. The company is the inventor of many unique plastics and other materials, including neoprene, nylon, Teflon, Kevlar, Mylar, Tyvek, etc. DuPont was the developer and main producer of Freon used in the production of refrigeration equipment.
MRC

HMC Polymers to restart PP unit in Thailand

MOSCOW (MRC) -- HMC Polymers, an affiliate of PTT and LyondellBasell, is in plans to resume production at its PP unit following a maintenance turnaround, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Thailand informed that the unit was taken off-stream last week and is expected to be brought on-stream this week.

Located in Rayong province, Thailand, the PP unit has production capacity of 150,000 mt/year.

The company also operates two other PP units at the same site with a production capacity of 300,000 mt/year each.

As MRC reported earlier, in H1 October 2015, HMC Polymers shut its PP plant for an unplanned outage owing to technical issues at its upstream unit. The plant resumed production in H2 October 2015. Located in Map Ta Phut, Rayong province, Thailand, the PP plant has three lines with a combined production capacity of 750,000 mt/year.

In 2010, HMC Polymers increased the production capacity of its PP plant by 300,000 tonnes from 450,000 tonnes in a bid to serve growing demand for polypropylene both domestically and internationally.

HMC Polymers is one of the leading companies in the manufacturing and marketing of polypropylene (PP) for Asia and worldwide. HMC Polymers is the first PP manufacturer in Thailand with its first PP production facility to have been established in Rayong Province, Thailand in 1987. The company's PP production facilities output is over 750,000 metric tons per year and comprise two Spheripol lines and a latest technology Spherizone line from LyondellBasell. HMC Polymers produces a wide range of Moplen polypropylene grades including homopolymer, heterophasic and random copolymer resins, as well as specialty polypropylene resins such as Adstif, Clyrell and Purell. In addition, a strategic investment in upstream integration was made in parallel with the construction of a Propane Dehydrogenation plant (PDH) at a site adjacent to our Map Ta Phut plant.
MRC

Rosneft and Sinopec signed an agreement on construction petrochemical complex in East Siberia

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Rosneft and China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group) have signed a Framework Agreement on joint pre-feasibility study of the project related to the construction and operation of a gas processing and petrochemical complex in East Siberia, said Rosneft on its site.

The document was signed in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping by Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin and Chairman of Sinopec Group Wang Yupu.

The Agreement signed in furtherance of the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in petrochemical projects, provides to select a technology for natural gas processing from its components to polymers. The parties also decided to choose a consultant for the project management and identified competitive challenges and the time to fix them before entering the stage front-end engineering design (FEED). In the event of successful outcomes as stipulated by the Framework Agreement, it is supposed to create a joint venture between Rosneft and Sinopec in 2017.

The project will meet the growing demand for polyethylene and polypropylene in Russia and in China. It is assumed that the annual capacity of the new complex near the administrative center of Boguchany District will be 5 BCM of gas yielding up to 3 mln tons of polymers and petrochemical products primarily for sale on the Russian and Chinese markets. The resource base of the project comprises Rosneft oil and gas fields of Yurubcheno-Takhomsky cluster in East Siberia.

As MRC informed earlier, Rosneft and Sinopec in January 2016 signed a Memorandum of Understanding regarding cooperation in gas and petroleum chemicals projects to be developed in East Siberia. The memorandum envisions a detailed pre-feasibility and concept design study for a joint venture that would include the conversion of natural gas and its liquid fractions to ethylene and propylene with integrated downstream production.

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.

China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group) is a super-large petroleum and petrochemical enterprise group established in July 1998 on the basis of the former China Petrochemical Corporation. Sinopec Group's key business activities include the exploration and production of oil and natural gas, petrochemicals and other chemical products, oil refining.
MRC