Petronas shut LDPE plant in Malaysia for maintenance

MOSCOW (MRC) -- has taken off-stream its low density polyethylene (LDPE) plant for a maintenance turnaround, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Malaysia informed that the company has started turnaround at the plant last weekend. The plant is slated to remain off-line till the first week of October 2019.

Located at Kerteh in Terrenganu, Malaysia, LDPE plant has a production capacity of 255,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed earlier, 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 in 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.

Petronas, short for Petroliam Nasional Berhad, is a Malaysian oil and gas company wholly owned by the Government of Malaysia. The Group is engaged in a wide spectrum of petroleum activities, including upstream exploration and production of oil and gas to downstream oil refining; marketing and distribution of petroleum products; trading; gas processing and liquefaction; gas transmission pipeline network operations; marketing of liquefied natural gas; petrochemical manufacturing and marketing; shipping; automotive engineering; and property investment.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Austrian plastics sheet and film producer Senoplast Klepsch & Co. is growing its business to the east and west, building a new plant in China and launching a capacity expansion in Mexico, said Plasticsnewseurope.

Last month, the Piesendorf-based extruder formally broke ground on the site of its planned factory at Suzhou near Shanghai, China. Initially, phase one of the plant will turn out co extruded sheets and film for thermoforming applications, mainly interior and exterior auto vehicle parts and bathtubs.

Senoplast is sinking around €13m in stage one of the project which is set to go on stream next year. The plant comprises a 4,000m2 operation with a workforce of about 40 who will include several specialists brought in from the firm’s Piesendorf headquarters, the firm said.

“With our new location, we want to serve the relevant industries directly on site with our quality products," explained project manager Michael Reeves. Meanwhile, Senoplast has already begun extending its only existing foreign manufacturing unit, located at Queretaro in central Mexico, to serve a growing regional market. Set up in the year 2000, the operation was intended to supply customers in the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA) faster and more efficiently.

The group is investing EUR7.7m at Senoplast Mexico where it plans to install a fourth production line and expand offices and storage capacity. In addition to serving increasing demand in North America, it aims to supply film and sheet to the growing markets of South America.

Senoplast is currently creating new office space covering 850m2 and building a new 3,000m2 warehouse at the Mexican site. Construction for the expansion there began in March this year and is scheduled to be completed by mid-September 2019.

“With the (Mexican) expansion, we expect production growth to increase by 35% and employment to rise by 20%,” explained Senoplast Mexico chief executive officer Constancio Leal. Senoplast group’s range of ‘Senosan’ semi-finished sheet and film products are made from different polymers and composites including ABS, polycarbonate, poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA), acrylonitrile styrene acrylate (ASA) and polystyrene.

To date, the company has achieved an annual production of around 50ktpa at its main plant in the Austrian village of Piesendorf and at the Mexican operation serving customers worldwide.

Last year, Senoplast invested EUR6.1m in a further expansion project, this time at its main base in Austria. In September, it launched a new 3,600m2 industrial extension with space for two new extrusion lines and a cleanroom facility along with a modern storage unit.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Energy service firm Bilfinger UK has said that it will double its Scottish workforce after winning two multi-million pound contracts with INEOS, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Bilfinger will provide a range of maintenance services at Grangemouth and the Forties Pipeline System at Kinneil.

The company’s headcount will double to 220 when 110 people transfer under Tupe regulations.

Bilfinger UK, part of Germany-headquartered industrial services group Bilfinger, did not say who the employees worked for previously.

Both deals run until January 2021. The Grangemouth contract includes a two-year extension option, while the Forties agreement is an extension of a pact signed.

Phill Maurer, managing director for Bilfinger UK, said: "The awarding of these contracts consolidates our significant footprint in the oil and gas and petrochemicals sectors, securing continuous employment in central Scotland.

"They demonstrate our capability to deliver maintenance works on a major scale.

"The Ineos Grangemouth site and the co-located FPS Kinneil asset is a large, complex facility that presents significant opportunities from a maintenance perspective.

"We have developed a sophisticated programme of support that puts safety first while delivering high levels of efficiency.

"Our maintenance concept will help underpin the reliability and productivity of the plants."

Bilfinger Group also has a business which operates offshore operations from Aberdeen - Bilfinger Salamis.

As MRC reported earlier, in September 2018, INEOS announced plans to invest GBP60 million to expand its Grangemouth site. It awarded a contract to build an additional furnace on its KG ethylene plant to Selas-Linde GmbH, Germany.

INEOS Group Limited is a privately owned multinational chemicals company consisting of 15 standalone business units, headquartered in Rolle, Switzerland and with its registered office in Lyndhurst, United Kingdom. It is the fourth largest chemicals company in the world measured by revenues (after BASF, Dow Chemical and LyondellBasell) and the largest privately owned company in the United Kingdom.

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Dow has been included on FORTUNE’s 2019 ‘Change the World’ list, a ranking of 52 companies that have made an important social, or environmental impact through their profit-making strategy and operations, said Refiningandpetrochemicalsme.

Listed as number 26 in the ranking, Dow is recognised for its programme to pilot the use of recycled plastics in roads as part of the company’s long-standing commitment to reduce plastic waste and drive sustainability solutions.

By developing solutions such as this, we are demonstrating that plastics, from design to disposal, have tremendous value and can continue to benefit people and society in new ways. "Dow is honoured to be recognised by FORTUNE for advancing new applications and markets for recycled plastics,” said Dow CEO Jim Fitterling. “By developing solutions such as this, we are demonstrating that plastics, from design to disposal, have tremendous value and can continue to benefit people and society in new ways."

Dow has collaborated with the value chain to build nearly 100km of asphalt roads containing recycled plastic across Asia, Europe, North America and Latin America. The projects, some of which are enabled by Dow’s ELVALOY RET asphalt modification technology, have diverted nearly 200 metric tonnes of plastic, equivalent to 50 million flexible pouches, from becoming litter, or entering a landfill. The roads that are polymer-modified are often more resistant to corrosion from weather, or vehicles than neat asphalt and can therefore reduce the number of dangerous potholes, or traffic jams.

Dow believes that plastic waste has value and can be transformed into new products and energy. In addition to plastic roads, Dow is working with key partners in South America to use recycled plastics to develop construction materials for schools in Colombia. Dow is also at the forefront of developing and scaling chemical recycling technology to take recycled plastic waste back to feedstock for the creation of new products. By reimagining new ways to reuse, recycle and repurpose plastic waste, Dow and its partners are leading the way in the development of innovative circular economy solutions.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sumitomo Chemical has signed an agreement with Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) of India for licensing its propylene oxide (PO) production technology in connection with the petrochemical project which BPCL is conducting, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

BPCL is one of the leading government-owned oil companies in India, with a total production capacity of approximately 840,000 barrels a day of crude oil from its four refinery complexes in India. BPCL aims to enter into the petrochemicals market by carrying out a large-scale petrochemical project adjacent to its refinery complex at Kochi in the state of Kerala. The project includes construction of new plants for PO and polyols. For PO production, a decision has been made to adopt Sumitomo Chemical's proprietary technology. From now on, BPCL will conduct front-end engineering design and detailed engineering for the new PO plant, which will have an annual production capacity of 300,000 tons upon its completion targeted in 2022.

Sumitomo Chemical's PO technology is based on a PO-only process in which, with cumene recycling, PO alone is manufactured without accompanying co-products. Sumitomo Chemical was the first in the world to commercialize this cumene method. The technology, combined with the use of the Company's proprietary high-performance epoxidation catalyst, offers the distinct advantages of a high PO yield, superior energy efficiency and remarkable stability in plant operation. The technology has a proven track record of reliable operations at Sumitomo Chemical's Chiba Works in Japan and Petro Rabigh in Saudi Arabia. It was also licensed to S-OIL Corp. of South Korea for a new plant with an annual production capacity of 300,000 tons, which successfully came on stream in 2018. In addition, it was licensed to a subsidiary of PTT Global Chemical Public Company Limited of Thailand, whose plant is currently under construction and is due to be completed in 2020, with an annual production capacity of 200,000 tons.

Sumitomo Chemical intends to enhance the business portfolio of its Petrochemicals & Plastics Sector through the global expansion of its technology licensing activities. The Company will continue to make a contribution to the development of the world's petrochemical industry and help resolve issues the industry faces by licensing the array of technologies it has cultivated over its many years of experience.

As MRC informed before, BPCL plans to build a USD3 billion petrochemical unit to serve the Mumbai region, a company official said in March 2018, to profit from the country's expected surge in demand for petrochemicals as its economy expands.
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