Huntsman launches new hot-cast elastomer machine at Utech Europe 2018

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Huntsman has showcased its polyurethane solutions for automotive, construction and footwear applications, including the low emission sustainable car seat technology, as per GV.

Seven of Huntsman’s systems houses will exhibit together for the first time, including: HAPC (Saudi Arabia), Huntsman EMA (Turkey), Huntsman Gomet (Italy), Huntsman IFS (UK), Huntsman NMG (Russia), Huntsman Tecnoelastomeri (Italy), and Huntsman PUR-Systems (Germany).

Also at the trade show visitors will be able to see the latest model in Huntsman’s range of Castech elastomer casting machines in action. Elastomer experts from Huntsman Tecnoelastomeri are taking one of their new Castech HP3000 casting machines to Maastricht to help showcase what’s on offer through Huntsman’s total innovation network. Castech machines are a flexible, low maintenance, equipment solution that enable the precision metering and mixing of hot-cast elastomers and microcellular elastomer foams from all kinds of isocyanate and chain extender combinations.

Featuring a range of interchangeable parts, Castech machines can be tailor-made to suit individual customer’s manufacturing requirements. According to the company, each Castech machine will provide as standard: precision dosing with good mix homogeneity, a high output and precise shot casting capabilities, and a long size, flexible arm which makes it easy to cast parts of different shapes and sizes. Each machine also comes with its own software package for monitoring performance variables and making adjustments during the manufacturing process.

According to Huntsman, the Castech HP3000 machines also offer: a high-speed motor capable of speeds of up to 10,000 min-1, an output range of 150 - 60,000 g/min, depending on circuit and pump size, new injectors designed with higher output in mind but also capable of handling lower outputs, a dynamic mixer, which can be standard or large in size, to provide the perfect mixing quality, a mixing head compatible with the latest high performance polyurethane systems, a 19-inch touch screen to display machine status, an in-built software system for monitoring temperature, pressure levels and mixer speeds, and a cleaning system that manages solvent, pressurized air, mixer RPM and cleaning cycles, and has a programmable pre-wash to help reduce solvent consumption.

Johan van Tongelen, Global Business Director at Huntsman Tecnoelastomeri, said: "Designed to ease equipment integration and deliver the highest levels of dosing and mixing precision, our Castech machines are among the most advanced equipment options available for the efficient manufacture of elastomers. With additional features available – including the option to add up to six additional injectors to the mixing chamber - the Castech HP3000 takes our offer to the next level, giving us extra flexibility when it comes to creating elastomer processing machines that exactly match our customers’ requirements."

As MRC informed earlier, in March 2018, Huntsman Corporation announced the acquisition of Demilec, one of North America’s leading manufacturers and distributors of spray polyurethane foam (SPF) insulation systems for residential and commercial applications, from an affiliate of Sun Capital Partners, Inc.

Huntsman Corporation is a publicly traded global manufacturer and marketer of differentiated and specialty chemicals with 2017 revenues of more than USD8 billion. Its chemical products number in the thousands and are sold worldwide to manufacturers serving a broad and diverse range of consumer and industrial end markets. The company operate more than 75 manufacturing, R&D and operations facilities in approximately 30 countries and employ approximately 10,000 associates within its four distinct business divisions.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Duke Energy has inaugurated the new 750MW combined-cycle natural gas plant at the W.S. Lee Station in Anderson County, South Carolina, US, as per Compelo.

The new gas plant is equipped to generate energy to benefit 2.5 million customers in South Carolina and North Carolina.

Duke Energy chairman, president and CEO Lynn Good said: “Highly efficient natural gas plants – like W.S. Lee – are helping us deliver a cleaner, smarter energy future for our customers.

"South Carolina is important to Duke Energy, and new investments like this further our commitment to power this community with reliable, affordable energy – while continuing to be a partner that’s helping prepare the region for future growth."

At the W.S. Lee Station, which was commissioned in 1951, Duke Energy also operates an 180MW natural gas boiler and two dual-fuel 42MW simple-cycle units.

About 100MW of the unit’s energy capacity is being sold to North Carolina Electric Membership under an agreement signed earlier.

In 2014, two coal-fired units at the W.S. Lee Station were closed while the third coal unit has been converted to natural gas in 2015.

Duke, which currently no longer operates any coal plants in South Carolina, started construction of the USD700m gas plant in March 2015.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Claudia Ruo Bing Huang, previously Vice President, Business Management, Isocyanates & Inorganics Asia Pacific, BASF's Monomers division, has been appointed as Senior Vice President, Monomers, Asia Pacific, effective June 1, 2018, reported Public.

She will succeed Dr. Ramkumar Dhruva, who will serve as President, South & East Asia, ASEAN, and Australia/New Zealand regional division, effective July 1, 2018.

Claudia Huang started her career with BASF in 2004 as plant manager at a BASF joint venture (JV) in Shanghai, China. She then held various management positions, including JV General Manager, Vice President responsible for Manufacturing & Technology for BASF in Greater China, and Business management for Dispersions & Resins, Performance Chemicals, Paper Chemicals, and Nutrition & Health in China.

As MRC informed before, within the next five years, BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany) plans to invest globally more than EUR200 million in its plastic additives business, approximately half of which in Asia, focusing on capacity expansions and operational excellence, said the producer on its site in late 2016. Plastic additives improve product properties such as scratch resistance or light stability, and optimize plastics manufacturing processes. As the leading global supplier of plastic additives with manufacturing assets in all regions, BASF is a major partner to the plastics industry.

BASF is the largest diversified chemical company in the world and is headquartered in Ludwigshafen, Germany. BASF produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries. BASF generated sales of EUR64.5 billion in 2017.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shell Canada Energy, PetroChina Kitimat LNG Partnership, Diamond LNG Canada Ltd. and Kogas Canada LNG Ltd. have announced that Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) will take an equity position in LNG Canada, located in Kitimat, British Columbia on the west coast of Canada, through its wholly owned entity the North Montney LNG Limited Partnership (NMLLP), subject to regulatory approvals and closing conditions, as per Shell's press release.

As a result of this transaction, if approved and upon closing, ownership interests in LNG Canada would be Shell Canada Energy, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc (Shell), (40%); PETRONAS (through NMLLP), (25%); PetroChina Kitimat LNG Partnership, a subsidiary of PetroChina Canada Ltd., (15%); Diamond LNG Canada Ltd., a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation, (15%); and Kogas Canada LNG Ltd. (5%).

British Columbia (B.C.) is home to one of the largest and most accessible sources of natural gas in the world. If constructed, LNG Canada participants will ship natural gas, including from B.C.’s vast reserves, to various countries where the imported gas could displace more carbon intensive energy sources, helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

LNG Canada recently selected the joint venture of JGC Corporation (JGC) and Fluor Corporation (Fluor) as the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractor for the project and is currently finalising materials in preparation for a final investment decision (FID) by joint venture participants.

The transaction announced today does not amount to an FID which remains pending. The timing and outcome of an FID will be decided by joint venture participants based on global energy markets, and the overall competitiveness and affordability of the project.

The LNG Canada joint venture is proposing to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility in Kitimat, British Columbia, Canada, that would initially consist of two world-scale LNG processing units, referred to as "trains". The project would include an option to expand to four trains in the future.

As MRC reported earlier, in Januayr 2017, Malaysia's state oil firm Petroliam Nasional Berhad said its new USD27 billion refining and petrochemical complex project in the southeast Asian country is on track for start-up in 2019.

Petronas plans to build a C6-based metallocene linear LDPE plant and a low density polyethylene (LDPE)/ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) swing plant at its greenfield integrated refinery and petrochemical complex in southern Johor state by mid-2019. The proposed metallocene LLDPE will have a capacity of 350,000 tpa, while the LDPE/EVA will have a capacity of about 150,000 tpa. The two plants are part of Petronas' planned Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development project in Pengerang at Johor.

Shell has been a pioneer in LNG for more than 50 years and is involved in every stage of the LNG value chain: from finding the fields, extracting the gas and liquefying it; to shipping LNG and turning it back into gas; to distributing it to customers. Shell has LNG supply projects around the world, as well as interests in and long-term capacity access to regasification plants. Shell Canada Energy is a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc.

Petronas is a fully integrated energy company with extensive experience in LNG. Through its wholly owned upstream energy company Progress Energy and its partners, Petronas is one of the largest natural gas reserves owner in Canada - with the majority of these reserves in the North Montney natural gas formation in northeast British Columbia. The North Montney LNG Limited Partnership is a wholly-owned entity of Petronas.

Mitsubishi Corporation is Japan’s largest trading company with more than 50% share of LNG imported into Japan. Mitsubishi has been investing in LNG since 1969 and has an interest in 11 LNG export projects globally, many in conjunction with Shell. Diamond LNG Canada Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation.

PetroChina Kitimat LNG Partnership is a wholly owned subsidiary of PetroChina Canada Ltd., an integrated oil and gas company, with interests in upstream, midstream and downstream operations in Alberta and British Columbia. Founded in 2010, PetroChina Canada Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of PetroChina Company Limited, headquartered in Beijing, People’s Republic of China.

Kogas Canada LNG Ltd.is a wholly owned subsidiary of Korea Gas Corporation, which is Korea’s only fully-integrated natural gas provider and one of the world’s largest LNG importers.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Petroleos Mexicanos disclosed the results of the bidding process for the rehabilitation and commissioning works to be carried out on the H-Oil Plant located in the Miguel Hidalgo refinery in Tula, in the state of Hidalgo, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

This project will increase the production of ultra-low sulphur gasoline, in compliance with environmental regulations in effect, and the handling of crude oil for production of other fuels, such as diesel and jet fuel.

Nine consortiums participated in this procedure, and it was the corporate partnership formed by SAIPEM S.P.A/SAIMEXICANA S.A. de C.V that made the most favorable bid, with technical and financial conditions agreeable to Pemex, for an amount of 779.11 million pesos, 9 percent lower than the bid that placed second.

SAIPEM is a world leader in drilling, engineering, construction and assembly services for industrial plants, as well as in the management and execution of integrated on-shore and offshore projects.

As MRC informed previously, Mexican national oil company Pemex is currently processing about 9 percent more crude oil at its domestic refineries than it did in 2017, said Chief Executive Officer Carlos Trevino in April 2018.

Pemex, Mexican Petroleum, is a Mexican state-owned petroleum company. Pemex has a total asset worth of USD415.75 billion, and is the world's second largest non-publicly listed company by total market value, and Latin America's second largest enterprise by annual revenue as of 2009. Company produces such polymers, as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS).
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