Thermo Fisher investing USD140 million to boost laboratory plastic production for COVID-19 testing

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Scientific instrumentation equipment maker Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. is investing USD140 million to expand its existing laboratory plastics production to support global demand for COVID-19 testing and the development of therapies and vaccines, said Canplastics.

"Early in the pandemic, we quickly joined forces with governments, public health agencies and industry to increase capacity across our laboratory plastics production facilities and address the growing COVID-19 threat,” said Fred Lowery, senior vice president and president of Life Sciences Solutions and Laboratory Products at Thermo Fisher. “However, demand quickly exceeded those early expansion projects, so we began a series of additional expansions to meet the growing needs of our customers. These investments, along with many others across the company, will ensure that our customers have the supplies they need to continue meeting the unprecedented demands of the COVID-19 response."

The rapid increase in production related to COVID-19 testing, and development and manufacturing of therapies and vaccines, has created what the company calls “historic demand for laboratory plastics”, including pipette and automation tips, storage tubes and plates, transfer pipettes, and packaging vials and bottles. To support these needs, Waltham, Mass.-based Thermo Fisher is creating more than 1,000 jobs across manufacturing sites globally, increasing automation capabilities, and optimizing warehouse and sterilization capacity to improve supply chain agility.

Among the Thermo Fisher sites currently being expanded are Rochester, N.Y.; Petaluma, Calif.; Monterrey and Tijuana, Mexico; and Joensuu, Finland.

This latest investment comes on the heels of Thermo Fisher’s opening last month of a new US$40 million facility in Lenexa, Kan., for viral transport media production to meet sustained demand for COVID-19 testing.

As MRC informed earlier, European Parliament says that the EU should become more self-sufficient in medicines and medical equipment so that affordable treatments are available at any time. It calls for priority to be given to boosting domestic production of essential and strategic medicines because currently 40% of medicines marketed in the EU originate in non-EU countries and 60-80% of its active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) supplies are produced in China and India.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall PE production totalled 1,712,400 tonnes in the first seven months of 2020, up by 58% year on year. Linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) accounted for the greatest increase in the output. At the same time, overall PP production in Russia increased in January-July 2020 by 24% year on year to 1,063,700 tonne. ZapSibNeftekhim accounted for the main increase in the output.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Borealis (Vienna, Austria) has launched a range of circular polyolefin products produced using renewable feedstock derived from waste and residue streams, reported Chemweek.

The company says the alternative to conventional fossil fuel-based feedstocks can help its customers lower their own carbon footprint for products including hygiene and food-contact applications. While fossil fuel-based feedstocks “will continue to be a mainstay of international Borealis polyolefins production operations, significant strides have been made towards the use of more sustainable feedstocks in large-scale commercial manufacture,” it says. Borealis began producing polypropylene (PP) in March this year based on renewably-sourced feedstocks, such as Neste-produced renewable propane, at its manufacturing facilities in Kallo and Beringen, Belgium.

The renewably sourced feedstocks for the new plastic products are derived from waste sources including vegetable oil production, oil waste and residues, the timber industry, and the food industry, Borealis says. The entire range has also been certified using the International Sustainability & Carbon Certification Plus system, which ensures the traceability of sustainably sourced feedstock from its point of origin through the entire chain of custody, it adds.

As MRC wrote previously, the light-feed 625,000-metric tons/year Borealis steam cracker at Stenungsund, Sweden, is expected to restart operations in the fourth quarter this year after a fire broke out at the plant in May, 2020. The cracker has been under force majeure for almost four months after the blaze at the plant on 10 May, which was subsequently brought under control the following day.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall PE production totalled 1,712,400 tonnes in the first seven months of 2020, up by 58% year on year. Linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) accounted for the greatest increase in the output. At the same time, overall PP production in Russia increased in January-July 2020 by 24% year on year to 1,063,700 tonne. ZapSibNeftekhim accounted for the main increase in the output.

Borealis is a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers. With headquarters in Vienna, Austria, Borealis currently employs around 6,500 and operates in over 120 countries.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Denka Company Limited announces that as part of its initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions based on its ESG management policy, it has decided to invest approximately 3.7 billion yen in the installation of high-efficiency gas turbine power generation facilities for private power generation at its Chiba Plant (Ichihara-shi, Chiba), its core petrochemical production plant, said the company.

Through the introduction of facilities such as these, Denka will facilitate the reduction of greenhouse gas (CO2) emissions by at least 12,000 tons annually and accelerate its efforts to realize a sustainable society.

The Paris Agreement,1 which was adopted as an initiative establishing an international framework, set out the target of keeping the average global temperature rise to 2 °C or less over pre-Industrial Revolution levels. As a result, the implementation of measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions became an issue the world needed to address as soon as possible. Denka, taking the Paris Agreement into consideration, established medium- to long-term targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to ensure its responsibilities as a chemical product manufacturer are fulfilled.

The introduction of the high-efficiency gas turbine power generator is expected to not only achieve a reduction equal to approximately 2% of Denka’s total reductions and approximately 5% of the energy-origin emission reductions
set forth in the medium-term targets but also improve the intensity of useable energy, thereby contributing to the boosting of the Chiba Plant’s cost competitiveness.

In addition, with the high-efficiency gas turbine power generator expected to achieve a sufficient reduction of emissions and also save energy, the project has been chosen by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) as being eligible for subsidies, based on METI’s program aimed at supporting entities facilitating the rationalization of energy use, following the energy saving project with the introduction of gas turbine power generator promoted by Ome Plant which was also chosen in 2018.

Denka will increase the amount of clean energy it uses to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on a long-term basis. With this in mind, it is in the process of constructing additional hydroelectric power stations in two locations, in addition to the Denka-owned hydroelectric power stations operating in 15 locations (including five locations owned by Kurobegawa Electric Power Company, a joint venture established with Hokuriku Electric Power Company). When the power stations Denka hopes to establish in two locations begin operations, Denka expects that it will additionally reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 35,000 tons every year.

In line with its SDGs compass, Denka will continue to implement a range of initiatives preserving and protecting the
environment going forward, and contribute to the creation of a sustainable society by promoting environmentally-conscious corporate activities globally.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing PE and polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall PE production totalled 1,712,400 tonnes in the first seven months of 2020, up by 58% year on year. Linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) accounted for the greatest increase in the output. At the same time, overall PP production in Russia increased in January-July 2020 by 24% year on year to 1,063,700 tonne. ZapSibNeftekhim accounted for the main increase in the output.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Arkema announces the start-up of a new world-scale industrial adhesives plant in Japan. Those new capacities will enable Bostik to serve its Japanese customers in the continuously growing markets of diapers, hygiene, packaging, labelling, transportation and electronics, said the company.

This investment is in line with Bostik’s growth and geographical expansion strategy. Bostik, the Adhesive Solutions segment of Arkema, continues the development of its industrial adhesives business and announces the start-up of a new plant in Nara, Japan, within the Bostik-Nitta JV, 80% owned by the Group.

This new facility includes several production lines dedicated, on the one hand, to adhesives for the non-woven industry (diapers and hygiene) and, on the other hand, to the industrial markets of packaging, labelling, transportation and electronics. It will enable Bostik to support the strong growth of its customers in the disposable hygiene sector in Japan and to expand the manufacturing of certain industrial adhesives ranges in Asia.

This investment represents a new step in the geographical strengthening of Bostik, remaining close to its customers, and confirms its commitment to developing innovative and sustainable products at the highest level of quality and performance.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, overall PP production in Russia increased in January-July 2020 by 24% year on year to 1,063,700 tonne. ZapSibNeftekhim accounted for the main increase in the output.

Arkema is a global manufacturer in specialty chemicals and advanced materials, with 3 business segments - High Performance Materials, Industrial Specialties, and Coating Solutions - and globally recognized brands. The Group reports annual sales of EUR8.8 billion. Buoyed by the collective energy of its 20,000 employees, Arkema operates in close to 55 countries.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indonesia's TPPI to resume aromatics production after year-long break, said Chemweek.

TPPI plans to resume paraxylene 550,000 tonnes/year, benzene 360,000 tonnes/year production by end-September.

According to market sources, benzene, p-xylene margins already under pressure in region due to ample supply.

As it was written earlier, Indonesia's Trans Pacific Petrochemical Indotama (TPPI) in June 2019 switched production setting at its Tuban unit to gasoline mode, instead of aromatics. The paraxylene (PX) line, with a capacity of 550,000 tonnes/year, was previously restarted in end of the third quarter 2018, following strong production margins. The decision to switch away from aromatics production is likely largely a result of declining margins.

PX is a feedstock for the production of purified terephthalic acid (PTA). PTA is used to produce polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which, in its turn, is used in the manufacturing of plastic bottles, films, packaging containers, in the textile and food industries.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PET consumption totalled 367,720 tonnes in the first six months of 2020, up by 19% year on year. Russian companies processed 62,910 tonnes in June.
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