Mehr Petrochemical to restart HDPE plant in Iran

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mehr Petrochemical Company (MHPC), a major petrochemical producer in Iran, is in the middle of resumption of operation at its high density polyethylene (HDPE) plant in Assaluyeh, Iran, reported CommoPlast.

This HDPE line with an annual capacity of 300,000 tons/year was shut unexpectedly last week after a technical glitch.

A source close to the company confirmed that the shutdown has not severely affected the supply.

As MRC informed before, Iranian petrochemical company Ilam Petrochemical resumed production at its HDPE plant in Ilam (Ilam, Iran) on May 22, 2019, which was shut earlier due to an explosion on an ethylene pipeline, which supply ethylene to the plant. This plant with a capacity of 300,000 tons/year of HDPE was taken off-strem in early April, 2019.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's HDPE production totalled 329,800 tonnes in the first two months of 2021, up by 13% year on year. At the same time, only one Russian producer increased HDPE output.

Mehr Petrochemical’s HDPE plant is a joint venture between Thailand’s PTT Chemical and Siam Cement, Iran’s National Petrochemical Co (NPC) and Japan’s Itochu.
MRC

Celanese to utilize alternative feedstock for production of methanol at its Clear Lake complex

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporation, a global chemical and specialty materials company, has announced that its Clear Lake, Texas integrated chemical manufacturing facility will begin utilizing recycled carbon dioxide (CO2) as an alternative feedstock in the production of methanol, a key raw material in the manufacture of numerous acetyls products, including acetic acid, vinyl acetate monomer (VAM), ethyl acetate and other derivatives, as per the company's press release.

This carbon capture and reuse process is expected to produce sustainable methanol with a high capital efficiency at competitive pricing via an expansion of the company’s Fairway joint venture. The methanol production unit at the Clear Lake facility, operated as Fairway Methanol LLC, is a manufacturing joint venture between Celanese and Mitsui & Co., Ltd., and will contribute to the sustainability targets of both companies.

Once fully operational, it is expected that by using by-product CO2 in the production of methanol, after a low capital capacity expansion, the 1.62 million metric ton Fairway production unit will eliminate the waste equivalent of approximately 39,000 automobiles per year from U.S. highways, thereby displacing approximately 180,000 metric tons of CO2. Furthermore, an estimated 60 percent of currently vented process CO2 from the entire Clear Lake site will be transformed into sustainable methanol.

CO2 capture and reuse further demonstrates the company’s commitment to sustainability and the potential impact to the broader Celanese portfolio as the company is both a consumer of upstream products and a supplier of sustainable materials to other products within the portfolio. As such, the benefits of CO2 capture and reuse can be allocated or derivatized to the company’s engineered materials, acetyl chain or acetate tow product offerings.

As MRC reported earlier, in H2 February, 2021, Celanese declared force majeure on its products in the Americas and EMEA region due to the severe winter weather that has heavily curtailed US petrochemicals and refinery production and operations on the US Gulf Coast.

According to MRC's DataScope report, January EVA imports to Russia rose only by 0,07% year on year to 3,084 tonnes from 3,087 tonnes a year earlier, and overall imports of this grade of ethylene copolymer into the Russian Federation dropped in January-December 2020 by 3,41% year on year to 38,170 tonnes (39,520 tonnes in 2019).

Celanese Corporation is a global technology leader in the production of differentiated chemistry solutions and specialty materials used in most major industries and consumer applications. Based in Dallas, Celanese employs approximately 7,700 employees worldwide and had 2020 net sales of USD5.7 billion.
MRC

Johnson Matthey to supply technology, equipment for first climate-neutral methanol plant in Patagonia, Chile

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Johnson Matthey announced an agreement to supply cutting-edge technologies, equipment and advisory services to the world’s first methanol plant to harness energy from the wind, the Haru Oni project in Patagonia, Chile, said the company.

The project is being developed by Siemens Energy in partnership with Johnson Matthey and several other major corporations, and it will become the first integrated and commercial large-scale plant to produce climate neutral e-methanol and e-gasoline.

Johnson Matthey will license methanol technology and supply the engineering, catalyst, and equipment for the project. The unit designed by Johnson Matthey will take atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) as feedstock for conversion to e-methanol. The CO2 used by the unit will be recovered by direct air capture and combined with green hydrogen, produced from water via proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis.

In the initial pilot phase, the unit will be capable of producing about 900,000 liters/year of e-methanol as early as 2022, the company says. Its capacity will increase to about 55 million liters/year of e-fuels by 2024, and about 550 million liters of e-fuels by 2026, sufficient for about 220,000 gasoline vehicles at 50 liters' use per week, Johnson Matthey says.

As MRC informed earlier, Johnson Matthey (JM; London, U.K.) has secured a multiple licence win for China’s Ningxia Baofeng Energy Group’s latest project to develop five of the largest single-train methanol plants in the world. Located at Baofeng’s Ordos City complex in Inner Mongolia, PRC, the plants have a planned capacity of 5 x 7,200 metric tons (m.t.) per day, and mark the fourth project on which Baofeng has selected Johnson Matthey as its collaboration partner for methanol technology.

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

According to MRC"s ScanPlast report, Russia"s estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2% year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market reached 1 240,000 tonnes in 2020 (calculated using the formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, excluding producers" inventories as of 1 January, 2020).
MRC

EPC to restart its PVC plant in Egypt after unscheduled shutdown

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Egyptian Petrochemicals Company (EPC), Egypt’s local polyvinyl chloride (PVC) producer, plans to restart its PVC plant by the beginning of next week after an unscheduled shutdown, reproted NCT with reference to a source from the company.

The plant with a nameplate capacity of 80,000 tons/year of PVC was taken off-stream after a fire that broke out on March 19, Friday.

A shortage of ethylene was cited as another reason behind the shutdown.

"We have limited stocks and we are only delivering to the local market," the source reported.

We remind that in late March, 2020, another major petrochemical producer in Egypt - The Egyptian Propylene and Polypropylene Company (EPPC), one of two producers of propylene and polypropylene (PP) in Egypt - resumed production at its polypropylene (PP) plant at Port Said, Egypt after a planned turnaround. The maintenance works at this plant with a capacity of 350,000 tons/year of PP began in early February, 2020.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall PVC production reached 169,200 tonnes in the first two months of 2021, down 4% year on year. All producers decreased production volumes over the reported period.

Egyptian Petrochemicals Company is one of the Egyptian petroleum sector companies and a subsidiary of the Egyptian Holding Company for Petrochemicals Company. Egyptian Petrochemicals is the first petrochemical company produces of PVC originating in the Arab Republic of Egypt.
MRC

BASF extends its commercial supplier contract with Mercedes-Benz in Asia Pacific region

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF, the world’s largest chemical company, has recently secured a multi-year agreement with Mercedes-Benz in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region, as per the company's press release.

Thus, the contract extends its longstanding, commercially approved supplier status with the car company to Australia, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.

The agreement, which builds upon its success with Mercedes-Benz in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, includes its Glasurit and R-M premium automotive refinishing brands and RODIM paint-related products. Efficient digital color solutions, world-class training solutions and technical support, as well as a suite of exclusively branded Vision360 advanced business management solutions designed to increase body shop performance and efficiency are also part of the agreement.

As part of the complete offer to Mercedes-Benz, BASF will deliver a complete offering of digital and data solutions including its highly efficient digital color management tools, which help body shops to speed up workflows. Its digital portable spectrophotometers precisely measure the color on the car, and quickly and easily takes the painter to the desired mixing formula.

As MRC reported earlier, the collaboration between BASF and OMV, the international, integrated oil, gas and chemical company headquartered in Vienna, has reached a new milestone with the commissioning of OMV's new isobutene (ISO C4) plant at the Burghausen site. The ISO C4 plant is based on technology developed jointly by the two companies. The plant’s production capacity is 60,000 t/a.

We also remind that earlier this month, BASF started up its new acrylic dispersions production line in Pasir Gudang, Malaysia, doubling its capacity. The state-of-the-art facility will produce acrylic dispersions serving the coatings, construction, adhesives, and packaging industries in Asia Pacific. The new production line complements the existing set-up and allows the production of new dispersions technologies under Acronal Edge, Acronal Plus, Joncryl and next generation Acronal Eco product ranges.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It 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.
MRC