Chemplast to shut its PVC plant in India for turnaround

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chemplast, is in plans, to undertake a planned shutdown at its polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant, in Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in India, informed that, the company is likely to start a maintenance turnaround at the plant, by mid-September, 2019. The plant is expected to remain off-line, for about 15 days.

Located at Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu, India, the plant has a production capacity of 300,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote before, in May 2017, Kem One and Chemplast Sanmar signed an agreement to establish Kem One Chemplast, a 50:50 joint venture to manufacture chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (CPVC) in India. The new facility will come up at a coastal location at Karaikal, Puducherry, India. The project which is being set up at an estimated cost of Rs. 325 crores (about 48 MUSD) will have technology from Kem One and a capacity of 22,000 TPA of CPVC resins. It will also manufacture CPVC compounds.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, demand in the Russian unmixed PVC market increased only in the emulsion segment in January-July 2019, the market of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) decreased by 7%. Only producers of plastic compounds and plasticized films showed the growth in demand for the suspension. Scheduled maintenance works simultaneously at two Russian plants did not result in an acute shortage of SPVC in the market. Higher imports helped to avoid shortages.

Chemplast Sanmar Limited is a chemical company based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It is part of Sanmar Group which has businesses in Chemicals, Shipping, Engineering and Metals. It has a turnover of over Rs.65 billion and a presence in some 25 businesses, with manufacturing units spread over numerous locations in India.Chemplast Sanmar's manufacturing facilities are located at Mettur, Panruti, Cuddalore and Ponneri in Tamil Nadu, Shinoli in Maharashtra, and Karaikal in the Union Territory of Puducherry. It is a major manufacturer of PVC resins, chlorochemicals and piping systems. The Cuddalore PVC project commissioned in September 2009 is the largest such project to come up in Tamil Nadu. It's aggregate capacity of 235,000 tons makes it one of the largest PVC players in India.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Bartek Ingredients announced the decision to purchase a 22,000 metric tons/year reactor from MAN Energy Solutions in Deggendorf, Germany, said the company.

The reactor will expand the company’s maleic anhydride capacity ahead of anticipated long-term growth in the global acidulants market. It further integrates Bartek’s upstream raw material production with its downstream finishing capacity.

"The new reactor will be a welcome addition to the North American market, where additional capacity is projected to be required by 2023,” Bartek CEO John Burrows said. “Bartek is committed to leading the global market in malic and food grade fumaric acid, and ensuring that our customers are supplied for years to come is a vital element of our long-term strategy."

Bartek expects delivery of this new reactor in Q4 2020 with the capacity to be online in Q2 2021.

"This investment decision by the Bartek board supports the company’s strategy of investing ahead of market demand and reinforces the company’s objective to operate a best-in-class manufacturing operation,” said Matt Chapman, partner at Bartek’s parent company, TorQuest Partners.

As it was written earlier, Bartek Ingredients is celebrating its 50th year as the global leader in malic and fumaric acid with a series of investments in its brand, facilities, and leadership team.

Established in 1969, Bartek Ingredients Inc. is a leading producer of malic acid, fumaric acid, and maleic anhydride. Headquartered in Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada, Bartek employs 120 people across its two production facilities in Southern Ontario.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Royal DSM has appointed chemical industry veteran Shruti Singhal as president of DSM Engineering Plastics, effective Oct. 1, 2019, said the company.

Singhal replaces outgoing president Roeland Polet, who is retiring in mid-2020 after having led the company since 2015.

Singhal joined Singapore-based DSM Engineering Plastics in July 2018 as managing director, global powder, can and coil and CMO at DSM Resins and Functional Materials. Prior to joining DSM, he served as senior vice president and president EMEA of General Cable. Earlier positions included stints with multinational companies including Henkel, Cognis (now BASF), Rohm & Haas, Dow Chemical Co., Ashland, and Solenis.

Singhal holds a master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Drexel University, Philadelphia, and completed the Global Marketing Management Program at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

A division of science company Royal DSM, DSM Engineering Plastics offers polyamides, polyesters, nylon, polycarbonate, and extrudable adhesive resins products.

As MRC wrote earlier, in November 2017, Royal DSM announced a new approach for its additive manufacturing (AM) activities. By aligning all its AM activities within the Materials cluster and promoting a partnership approach, DSM can provide customers an open and flexible infrastructure. This will help customers to find exactly the right materials and production systems for their applications. The new customer-centric organization will build on experience and expertise from all of DSM’s existing materials businesses, combining deep market segment-specific application understanding and expertise in all polymer AM processing technology platforms.

Royal DSM is a global science-based company active in health, nutrition and materials. DSM delivers innovative solutions that nourish, protect and improve performance in global markets such as food and dietary supplements, personal care, feed, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, automotive, paints, electrical and electronics, life protection, alternative energy and bio-based materials.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Honeywell announced that PKN ORLEN has licensed the UOP MaxEne™ process, which can increase production of ethylene and aromatics and improve the flexibility of gasoline production, said the company.

The project, for the PKN ORLEN facility in Plock, Poland, currently is in the basic engineering stage. Honeywell UOP, a leading provider of technologies for the oil and gas industry, first commercialized the UOP MaxEne process in 2013. The process enables refiners and petrochemical producers to direct molecules within the naphtha feed to the processes that deliver the greatest value and improve yields of fuels and petrochemicals.

"PKN ORLEN seeks to extend its value chain toward high-margin products, which are increasingly in demand across global markets,” said Jozef Wegrecki, Member of the PKN ORLEN Management Board, Operations. “The MaxEne technology would allow us to better harness the potential of our refinery in Poland."

The MaxEne process separates full-range naphtha into a stream of normal paraffins which are ideal for steam crackers because they produce high yields of light olefins, and a second stream of isoparaffins, naphthenes and aromatics that are perfect for catalytic reforming units because they produce high yields of aromatics. Both products are the primary components of a wide variety of plastics.

"Since the cost of naphtha represents most of the production cost for most chemicals, we can improve the profitability of petrochemical operations by ensuring the right molecules go to the right processes,” said Bryan Glover, vice president and general manager of Honeywell UOP’s Petrochemicals & Refining Technologies business. “The UOP MaxEne technology is designed to improve molecule management and increase the production of light olefins by up to 30 percent, and the production of aromatics by as much as 12 percent."

By increasing the production of light olefins such as ethylene and propylene, the MaxEne process can substantially improve the profitability of existing naphtha cracking units. It also can increase yields of aromatics which can be used for petrochemical production – including paraxylene -- and gasoline blending components.

As MRC informed earlier, Total has sold a cargo of contaminated Russian Urals oil to Poland’s PKN Orlen for its refinery in Lithuania/

PKN ORLEN would be the first refining and petrochemicals company in Europe to use the Honeywell UOP MaxEne technology for molecule management of a naphtha stream to produce high-quality products including olefins, aromatics and gasoline.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Several units at Essar’s 200,000 barrel per day Stanlow refinery in northwest England were shut down following a power outage, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing with reference to a spokesman for the plant.

"Earlier this morning the power supply... to Stanlow from the national grid failed. This has resulted in the shutdown of a number of units on site," the spokesman said in a statement.

The unplanned shutdown at the plant resulted in visible flaring. It was unclear how long the outage would last.

As MRC informed earlier, in April 2017, the purchase of Indian refiner Essar Oil by a consortium led by Russian oil company Rosneft was delayed, because some Indian lenders to Essar had not signed off on the deal. The USD12.9 B deal, in which Rosneft is set to take a 49% stake in Essar and another 49% will be split between commodities trader Trafigura and Russian investor United Capital Partners (UCP), was expected to close that month. Eventually, the deal was closed in August, 2017.
MRC