Air Liquide starts operating in Kazakhstan

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Air Liquide has entered the Kazakhstan market and will provide hydrogen and steam to Pavlodar Oil and Chemistry Refinery (POCR) through a long-term supply agreement, the France-based industrial gases producer said.

Air Liquide Munay Tech Gases (ALMTG) recently invested EUR12m to acquire hydrogen and purification units, with a capacity of up to 30,000 normal cubic metre/hour (Nm3/h).

ALMTG is a joint venture between Air Liquide and Kazakhstan state-owned oil and gas company KazMunayGaz NC (KMG).

The joint venture partners plan to pursue further opportunities in hydrogen and nitrogen supply to KMG’s other refineries.

"We are delighted to work with KazMunayGaz and to start operating in Kazakhstan," said Olivier Randet, vice president of Cluster Eastern Europe at Air Liquide. "We are looking forward to continuing supporting industrial development in Kazakhstan."

As MRC informed before, in april 2018, Air Liquide signed a new long-term agreement with LyondellBasell, one of the world’s largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies, to supply oxygen to LyondellBasell’s new large-scale petrochemical plant which will be constructed in Channelview, Texas. LyondellBasell’s new propylene oxide/tertiary butyl alcohol plant (PO/TBA), is expected to be the largest of its kind plant in the world when completed.
MRC

MOSCOW (Market Report) -- Ufaorgsintez (petrochemical asset of Bashneft, which is part of Rosneft) shut down some of its low density polyethylene (LDPE) production capacities for maintenance. The outage will be long and is scheduled to be conducted in two stages, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

The plant's customers said Ufaorgsintez took off-stream the first LDPE line for a scheduled turnaround on 1 September, thus, production of 108 grade polyethylene (PE) was shut. The outage will be quite long and will last for about 30 days.

Also, a shutdown for maintenance at the second LDPE line (158 grade and 153 grade PE), as well as a complete shutdown at the plant's PP production, is scheduled for 19 September.

Ufaorgsintez's overall LDPE and polypropylene (PP) production capacities are about 90,000 and 120,000 tonnes per year, respectively.

PJSC Ufaorgsintez produces phenol, acetone, synthetic ethylene-propylene rubber, high and low density polyethylene, polypropylene, over 30 types of petrochemical products and over 25 items of consumer products. Ufaorgsintez's net profit was Rb5.41 billion in 2017, down by 7% year on year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BP Refining and Petrochemical (BPRP) has brought on-stream its No.3 cracker at Gelsenkirchen, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Europe informed that the company has resumed operations at the cracker earlier this week. The cracker remained off-line for repair work for around 10-12 days.

Located Gelsenkirchen, Germany, the No. 3 cracker has ethylene capacity of 550,000 mt/year and propylene capacity of 335,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed before, in April 2018, BP announced that it had signed a memorandum of understanding to explore areas of cooperation with Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras). Through this strategic alliance, Petrobras and BP have committed to exploring potential joint commercial agreements in areas of mutual interest in upstream, downstream, trading and across low carbon initiatives, inside and outside Brazil. The alliance is also expected to include the transfer of technology, as well as joint training and research.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF is presenting its broad portfolio of innovative solutions for the aerated concrete industry under its brand name of Master Builders Solutions® at the 6th International Conference on Autoclaved Aerated Concrete, which is being held in Potsdam from September 4 to 6, 2018, as per the company's press-release.

Visitors can learn about the benefits of concrete additives that improve the entire AAC production process.

MasterCast allows faster and more efficient production. The benefit to the customers is a shorter pre-curing time. In the pre-curing phase of the production, the concrete is expanding and at the same time setting. The reduction in the water content of the concrete ensures shorter setting times. “Concrete additives from the MasterCast series for the production of autoclaved aerated concrete disperse the binder particles efficiently, allowing the water content of the fresh concrete to be significantly reduced,” says Nicoletta Zeminian, Segment Manager Manufactured Concrete at BASF. In addition, MasterCast improves the rheology without impairing the pore formation process. This leads to a significant reduction in the setting time with considerable time savings. By shortening the duration of the pre-curing phase, it is possible to achieve a faster turnover of the molds, leading to an overall acceleration of the manufacturing process and an increase in the productivity of the plant.

Another benefit to the customer is the cost saving, as a result of the composition of the material, which can be changed to a less expensive one. At many plants, the individual production steps have been harmonized with each other to achieve maximum efficiency, therefore the target is not always to accelerate production. In this case, the main advantage of MasterCast is the possible reduction of up to 15 percent in the cement and lime content, with no change in the pre-curing time – resulting in significant material cost savings.

Other products from Master Builders Solutions reinforce this effect and offer additional benefits to AAC producers. The MasterFinish range of release agents allow easier formwork removal and more efficient cleaning and maintenance of formwork in the long term. MasterPel gives the AAC a hydrophobic effect; as a result, it absorbs significantly less water but remains open to the diffusion of air and water vapour, preventing moisture accumulations in the material. Master X-Seed acts as a hardening accelerator, allowing superior efficiency of the production and
MasterFiber reduces drying shrinkage and cracking, improves stability and reduces the risk that aerated concrete may fracture during the handling.
MRC