AkzoNobel and Atul to start MCA production in India in 2019

MOSCOW (MRC) -- AkzoNobel and chemicals manufacturing company Atul have formally agreed the joint venture partnership announced last year for the production of monochloroacetic acid (MCA) in India. The companies will establish a new plant at Atul’s facility in Gujarat by first quarter 2019, with each partner holding a 50% stake in the joint venture, to be registered as ANAVEN, said the company on its website.

As well as building on AkzoNobel’s leading position in the MCA market – with plants in the Netherlands, China, Japan and the US – the partnership will also enhance Atul’s status as a key global supplier of the herbicide 2,4-D, which uses MCA as a key raw material.

"The ANAVEN partnership will contribute to our vision of driving profitable growth for AkzoNobel Specialty Chemicals in India, which is an important growth market," said Knut Schwalenberg, Managing Director of AkzoNobel’s Industrial Chemicals business. "Our partnership with Atul is part of an asset light strategy to expand our leading position in MCA through shared incremental investments."

Sunil Lalbhai, Chairman and Managing Director of Atul, added: "We are delighted to partner with AkzoNobel to bring state-of-the-art technology for MCA to India from a world class company and develop a long-lasting relationship with AkzoNobel to create value for all the Stakeholders. The ANAVEN project will be in sync with the ‘Make in India’ initiative of the Government of India."

The partnership will use chlorine and hydrogen manufactured by Atul to produce MCA, taking advantage of both Atul’s existing infrastructure and the leading eco-friendly hydrogenation technology of AkzoNobel. From an initial annual capacity of 32,000 tons per year at start-up, the plant has been designed for future expansion to 60,000 tons per year. The facility will produce enough MCA to meet Atul’s growing demand for MCA and supply the expanding Indian market.

MCA is an essential building block in the chemical industry and is used in a wide variety of chemicals. For example, AkzoNobel customers use MCA to produce thickening agents for the food, oil, mining, personal care and detergent industries. It is also used in agrochemicals, adhesives, pharmaceuticals, thermo-stabilizers, surfactants and cosmetics.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Dow Polyurethanes, a global business unit of The Dow Chemical Company, has announced the latest addition to its Hyperlast elastomers family, especially developed to help the industry address concerns over the coming regulatory ban of the use of MbOCA in polyurethane elastomers throughout Europe, as per GV.

According to the company, Hyperlast elastomers have already proved their functionality in many applications over the years, from dynamic bend stiffeners used in harsh offshore environments to a variety of industrial components, such as timing belts, rollers and tooling parts. The new Hyperlast 153 Series elastomer system does not contain mercury catalyst, does not need MbOCA as a curative and is REACH 2018 compliant, offering customers a proven and generally suitable alternative, says Dow Polyurethanes.

This latest addition to the Hyperlast family is a multi-component material that enables the processor to select tough and durable elastomers over a hardness range from 55 Shore A to 75 Shore D with just four components, which can also help reduce the number of materials in inventory. The system components are processed at lower temperatures than the full prepolymer countertypes, allowing for energy savings in production. Keeping processing time at optimum levels, Dow’s latest elastomer allows processors to have control over the pot-life and demould time, providing flexibility in terms of the size of parts that are being produced; and is thus designed to give optimal throughput, says the manufacturer.

Paul Fitzgerald, EMEAI Marketing Manager - Engineering Elastomers for Dow Polyurethanes, said: "As an industry leader in the development and formulation of fully-formulated polyurethane systems, Dow is dedicated to providing innovative, tailor-made solutions and unrivalled technical service to help customers stay ahead of the game in a challenging and ever-evolving industry landscape. At the workshop we aim to provide our customers an in-depth look into how our latest developments, particularly the new Hyperlast 153 Series elastomer system can help them meet today’s and future challenges."

As MRC wrote before, Dow Chemical's polyethylene (PE) expansion at its Freeport, Texas, complex is on track for a mid-2017 startup. The Freeport complex currently has a 640,000 mt/year of PE capacity and is expected to add 1,050,000 mt/year of LDPE and LLDPE. The 1.5 million mt/year ethylene capacity cracker being built at Dow's Freeport petrochemical complex will use ethane as its main feedstock but feature up to 30% of initial propane flexibility, Dow said. Four derivative plants and a bi-modal gas phase debottlenecking will be synced with the startup of the cracker.

The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational chemical corporation. Dow is a large producer of plastics, including polystyrene, polyurethane, polyethylene, polypropylene, and synthetic rubber.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Fluor Corp. has started mechanical construction for The Dow Chemical Company’s new ethylene derivative facility in Freeport, Texas, US, as per Plastemart.

The mechanical construction scope includes setting precast and steel structures, piping, equipment, painting and insulation for the unit, with mechanical completion planned for 2018.

The unit is designed for the production of High Melt Index polymers such as AFFINITY GA polyolefin elastomers for hot melt adhesives, along with broad capability to produce conventional ENGAGE polyolefin elastomers and AFFINITY polyolefin plastomers for applications in packaging, transportation, infrastructure and consumer markets. Dow's Freeport, Texas complex is the largest integrated chemical manufacturing complex in the Western hemisphere.

Jack Penley, Senior Vice President of Construction and Fabrication for Fluor, said: "Having recently finished construction of Dow’s ethylene production facility in Freeport safely and on schedule, this project is a natural transition for Fluor and our craft workforce. We are proud of our craft workforce’s attention to safety, productivity and experience on the Freeport site over the past five years. We will leverage these best practices and expertise to deliver this project with capital efficiency and schedule certainty for Dow".

As MRC informed before, in April 2017, Fluor Corporation announced that it was selected by a division of Marathon Petroleum Corporation to execute the engineering and procurement scope for a major reconfiguration at Marathon’s Galveston Bay and Texas City, Texas refineries.

The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational chemical corporation. Dow is a large producer of plastics, including polystyrene, polyurethane, polyethylene, polypropylene, and synthetic rubber.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- AkzoNobel has opened a Performance Coatings production facility in Santo Andre, Brazil, which will enable the company to be more agile in responding to local customer needs and regional market demands, said the company on its website.

The facility – an expansion of an existing site in Santo Andre, Sao Paulo – will manufacture and supply products from the company’s International portfolio of high performance industrial, marine and yacht coatings, which has been present in Brazil for 90 years.

As well as reinforcing AkzoNobel’s commitment to investing in innovation and technology, the new plant will also help to strengthen International’s market position in South America.

Commenting on the opening, Jelena Arsic Van Os, Director of AkzoNobel Performance Coatings in South America, said: "Our innovation expertise plays a key role in driving organic growth and this new facility highlights our continued focus on adapting to market needs in order to better serve our customers with essential color and protection.

"The investment will add further momentum to the instrumental role International is playing in helping AkzoNobel to strategically diversify its markets and expand its presence throughout South America."

The Santo Andre expansion has increased production capacity for smaller batches by 35% and for larger batches by 50%. A new distribution center also means shipping capacity has been expanded by 50%. Meanwhile, an increase in the level of automation has improved the control of the production process and, in turn, the quality of the products.

"AkzoNobel stands out for having excellent products and services and an extraordinary customer base in this region of key importance for the company,” explained Pablo Ribeiro, Business Manager for Marine and Protective Coatings in South America. “It certainly makes the difference in such a competitive market."

International products provide protection for ships, yachts, infrastructure projects and buildings around the world, including the world famous Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shortly after doubling its polycarbonate (PC) production capacity at its Shanghai site to 400,000 tons per year, Covestro will again significantly expand its capacity to 600,000 metric tons per year, said the producer on its site.

With this step, which is achieved through debottlenecking of its production lines, the company reacts to the strong customer demand for polycarbonates in the Asia-Pacific region. The expanded capacity shall be available starting 2019.

"The expansion is essential to satisfy the growing demand", said Chief Technology Officer Dr. Klaus Schafer. "The successful completion of this project will strengthen our global production network and demonstrates our continuous commitment to the Chinese market."

Michelle Jou, Global Head of Covestro's PC segment, said, "There is a rapidly growing demand for polycarbonate resins and blends, in particular in China. Segments like electronics, healthcare and automotive are our key customer industries in that region. Further expanding our capacity for this high-tech plastic enables us to even better react to the changing needs of our customers and to guarantee sustainable supply."

Especially lightweight, highly transparent, break-proof and easy to shape, polycarbonate is used in many areas of modern life - from electronic and IT appliances to automotive parts to medical devices and LED lighting. With the capacity expansion of the largest polycarbonate production site in the world, Covestro strengthens its global number one position in polycarbonate resins and intends to supply the volumes it needs to continuously outgrow industry. "We have grown our capacity share continuously in recent years and are committed to continue this path. This investment is one of the steps we do to secure the necessary supply", adds Michelle Jou.

As MRC informed previously, in July 2016, Covestro moved forward with a repurposing of its production operations in Brunsbuttel, Germany. The Board of Management then officially approved an expansion of production capacity for the foam component MDI (feedstock for polyurethane) at the site. 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 tpa of MDI. 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.

Covestro (formerly Bayer MaterialScience), wiith 2016 sales of EUR 11.9 billion, is an independent subgroup within Bayer. It was created as part of the restructuring of Bayer AG from the former business group Bayer Polymers, with certain of its activities being spun off to Lanxess AG. Covestro manufactures and develops materials such as coatings, adhesives and sealants, polycarbonates (CDs, DVDs), polyurethanes (automotive seating, insulation for refrigerating appliances) etc.
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