HIP Petrohemija to close ethylene plant Oct 8-19 in Pancevo for overhaul

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Serbian petrochemicals producer HIP Petrohemija plans to suspend operations from the 8th until the 19th of October for an overhaul of its ethylene plant, local media reported on Wednesday, as per SeeNews.

The works will include inspection and rehabilitation of production equipment at the plant, Serbian news agency Tanjug said.

The temporary halt will mean that production in Petrohemija's plants for high density polyethylene (HDPE) and low density polyethylene (LDPE) will also be suspended.

The downtime will ensure the continuation of the company's operations in a safe and efficient manner.

HIP Petrohemija, which owns petrochemical complexes located in Pancevo, Elemir and Crepaja, specializes in the production of high- and low-density polyethylene and other petrochemical products.

As MRC wrote before, in August-September 2015, HIP Petrohemija conducted maintenance works at its cracker and HDPE and LDPE plants in Pancevo.

HIP Petrohemija owns petrochemical complexes located in Pancevo, Elemir and Crepaja. The core business is the production of HDPE, LDPE and other petrochemical products. The annual production capacity of the company is 700,000 tonnes.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Clariant, a world leader in specialty chemicals, and its Healthcare Packaging unit, is announcing plans to install new, high-speed, six-color offset tube printing machines at Clariant’s production facility in Romorantin, France, as per the company's press release.

The new equipment will increase capacity at the plant by an estimated 30% when the expansion is completed early in 2017.

The investment in additional printing capabilities is being undertaken to meet growing demand, especially by pharmaceutical and nutraceutical customers, and to offer global customers new options for customizing their package designs. Rigid tubes and accompanying desiccant closures are ideal for effervescent tablets, lozenges, and solid-dosage nutraceuticals.

The Romorantin plant, together with two other plants in Belen, NM, in the U.S.A., and Changshu, China, produces 40 different sizes of tubes and 50 different desiccant stoppers for global delivery. As demand for printed tubes is highest in Europe and North Africa, positioning its Center of Excellence for tube printing in France boosts Clariant’s ability to quickly serve this important market.

Installation of the new high-speed, offset tube printers has already begun, with some capacity increase expected by the end of October. Full-capacity should be available by Q2 2017. The speed of the new printing machines will complement the high-volume tube and stopper production capabilities already in place at the plant.

"Our large range of tube and desiccant stopper offerings gives customers flexibility and choice in their package design," says Philippe Depois, Head of Sales, Clariant Healthcare Packaging. "And, we continue to expand tube and stopper production and state-of-the-art printing capabilities in Romorantin."

Depois says Clariant is also highly experienced at custom package design, which allows global customers to more easily and rapidly customize their packaging to address market needs, while expediting product time-to-market.

As MRC wrote before, in June 2016, Clariant inaugurated its new production plant for water-based pigment preparations in Mexico. The new plant located in Santa Clara doubles Clariant’s Mexico annual production capacity for water-based pigment preparations and enhances its ability to serve customers across North and Latin America.

Clariant AG is a Swiss chemical company and a world leader in the production of specialty chemicals for the textile, printing, mining and metallurgical industries. It is engaged in processing crude oil products in pigments, plastics and paints.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Arabia’s National Petrochemical Industrial Co. (NATPET), has developed several polypropylene (PP) resins, including two new grades, which it is going to present at the K 2016 trade fair in Dusseldorf, Germany, during the Oct. 19-26 show, said the company in its press release.

Haitian is molding cosmetic caps using NATPET’s new Teldene R25MLT-MG random copolymer resin. Another machine builder also successfully ran this same grade at Chinaplas 2016 this past spring in Shanghai to produce syringes and needle caps. Additionally, a converter processed R40MLT-MG, another random copolymer grade, at its site and has proven the grade suitable for syringe and sample packaging articles. Both R25MLT-MG and R40MLT-MG grades have been designed specifically for healthcare applications, and are in compliance with ISO 10993 standard (Biological Evaluation of Medical Devices). NATPET packs this peroxide-free grade in a dust-free environment and stores it in temperature-controlled conditions. The use of Milliken’s’ Millad NX 8000 clarifier in this resin grade helps to yield highly transparent, well-shaped finished products.

NATPET plans to showcase its previously introduced Teldene R40MLT grade at the K show in the form of a finished product - storage containers in different colors. R40MLT, which also contains Millad NX- 8000, is especially suited for highly transparent housewares and household appliances and offers better fluidity for the thin-wall injection molding process. It offers excellent aesthetics, dimensional stability and isotropic shrinkage control for finished products. In addition to injection molding, R40MLT is also suitable for injection stretch blow molding.

As MRC informed previously, in December 2015, NATPET presented an enhanced PP impact copolymer grade, Teldene B20ML for injection molding applications. B20ML is upgraded by replacing NaBz with Milliken's nucleating agent Hyperform HPN-20E, which offers better shrinkage control and improved stiffness without affecting impact performance.

National Petrochemical Industrial Co. (NATPET) is a Joint Saudi Joint Stock Company, established in 1999 and producer of 400,000 MT/year propylene/polypropylene located at Yanbu Industrial City (Madinat Yanbu Alsenae’a), on the west coast of Saudi Arabia. Alujain, Xenel and GOSI are the major stockholders.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Daelim Industrial is likely to shut its high density polyethylene (HDPE) plant for a maintenance turnaround, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in South Korea informed that the plant is planned to be shut in November 2016 and it is likely to remain off-stream for around 15-20 days. The exact date of the shutdown could not be confirmed.

Located in Yeosu, South Korea, the plant has a production capacity of 270,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed previously, 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. 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.

Daelim Industrial was established in 1939, and its E&C (Engineering & Construction) and Petrochemical Groups are the main lead of the Daelim Business Conglomerate (Chaebol). The fields covered by Daelim Industrial as one of the top EPC Company in Asia to the Middle East include gas, petroleum refining, chemical and petrochemical, power and energy plants, building and housing, civil works, and industrial facilities. Daelim Group has 17 subsidiary companies under its umbrella which includes Daelim Industrial (Construction Division), Daelim Industrial (Petrochemical Division), etc.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Wacker Polymers, a subsidiary of Wacker Chemie, has announced that Peter Summo (48) took over as president of Wacker Polymers effective October 1, 2016, as per the company's press release.

He succeeded Arno von der Eltz, who retired on this date. Summo had previously headed the Engineering Silicones business unit at Wacker Silicones.

Peter Summo studied business administration in Augsburg, Germany. He subsequently worked at Akzo Nobel - a producer of specialty chemicals - in the area of product marketing, before joining WACKER in 1995. After positions as a sales manager in England and Executive Board advisor at Corporate Development in Munich, he transferred to the Wacker Polymers division. In 2005, he took over as head of the Construction Polymers business unit and was responsible for the Dispersions & Resins business unit as of 2011. Since 2013, Peter Summo has headed the Engineering Silicones business unit at the Wacker Silicones division.

As MRC informed earlier, in 2013, Wacker Chemie AG officially launched its new production plant for ethylene-vinyl-acetate copolymer (EVA) dispersions at its Ulsan site in South Korea. The additional 40,000 tonnes from the second reactor line increases the site's EVA-dispersion capacity to a total of 90,000 tonnes per year. The production capacity of the site has, thus, almost doubled, making the plant complex one of the biggest of its kind in South Korea.

Wacker Chemie AG is a worldwide operating company in the chemical business, founded 1914. The company is controlled by the Wacker-family holding more than 50 percent of the shares. The corporation is operating more than 25 production sites in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. The product range includes silicone rubbers, polymer products like ethylene vinyl acetate redispersible polymer powder, chemical materials, polysilicon and wafers for semiconductor industry.
MRC