Solvay presents new grade for precision ABS/ESC brake & e-mobility components

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Solvay has announced the launch of a new grade of KetaSpire PEEK, KT-850 SCF 30, designed for precision brake system and e-mobility electronic pump components, as per the company's press release.

Carbon fiber filled PEEK has traditionally been used for anti-lock brake system (ABS) and electronic stability control (ESC) components, such as tappets, poppets and plungers. The new KT-850 SCF 30 grade enables further metal (aluminum) replacement by improving the flow characteristics of the material and the surface finish of parts.

ABS/ESC plungers play a critical role in the function of the system’s hydraulic unit. The system combines an electronic pump, an electronic control unit (ECU), valves which control braking pressure at the wheels, and sensors that measure the speed of the wheels. The plunger is responsible for operating the valve’s movement by controlling the brake fluid supply.

Replacing metal with polymeric plungers requires a material like KetaSpire KT-850 SCF 30 which provides a balance of high performance properties including coefficient of friction, mechanical strength, dimensional tolerance control, and sealing capability.

“The new carbon-filled KetaSpire PEEK grade comes at a critical time when manufacturers are looking for enhanced sealing and mechanical performance. This means it is a real solution for the e-mobility market and we are proud it is part of our complete range of high-performance solutions for brake systems,” states Brian Baleno, Head of Marketing - Transportation at Solvay’s Materials Segment. “The specialized portfolio also includes Amodel PPA for ABS/ESC pistons, motor end caps, solenoids, brake booster sensors, and e-parking brake housings; Ryton PPS for brake pistons and valve housings, and Fomblin PFPE for electric parking brake lubricants.”

As part of Solvay’s One Planet commitment to sustainability, the company utilizes 100% renewable electricity in the production of its PEEK, PPA and PPS base polymers in the United States, and is the only manufacturing company among the Top 10 Corporate Solar Users in the ranking of the Solar Energy Industries Association.

As MRC reported earlier, in August, 2020, through the acquisition of the Solvay polyamide (PA) business, BASF enhanced its R&D capabilities in Asia Pacific with new technologies, technical expertise, and upgraded material and part testing services. BASF is planning to integrate the R&D centers from Solvay into its R&D existing facilities in Shanghai, China, and Seoul, Korea. The enhanced capabilities will boost BASF’s position as a solution provider to develop advanced material solutions for key industries.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, consumption increased in the Russian acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) sector this year. Overall ABS consumption totalled 26,710 tonnes in January-May 2021, up by 60% year on year.
May ABS consumption was 5,320 tonnes versus 2,980 tonnes a year earlier.

Solvay is a science company whose technologies bring benefits to many aspects of daily life. With more than 24,100 employees in 64 countries, Solvay bonds people, ideas and elements to reinvent progress. The Group seeks to create sustainable shared value for all, notably through its Solvay One Planet plan crafted around three pillars: protecting the climate, preserving resources and fostering better life. The Group’s innovative solutions contribute to safer, cleaner, and more sustainable products found in homes, food and consumer goods, planes, cars, batteries, smart devices, health care applications, water and air purification systems. Founded in 1863, Solvay today ranks among the world’s top three companies for the vast majority of its activities.
MRC

MOScOW (MRC) -- LANXESS, specialty chemicals company, announced that Michael Ertl (54) will take over as head of the Inorganic Pigments (IPG) business unit with immediate effect, according to Indian CHEMICAL Nes.

He will be responsible for the specialty chemicals company’s global business with inorganic color pigments, which are used primarily in the construction industry. Ertl succeeds Holger Hueppeler (53), who heads the newly formed Flavors & Fragrances (F&F) business unit at LANXESS following the successfully completed acquisition of Emerald Kalama Chemical.

Ertl joined Bayer AG in 1992 as a divisional engineer after studying process engineering at RWTH Aachen University and then held various managerial positions in the Technology Division. In 2005, he took over as head of the internal management consultancy Operational Excellence at LANXESS. Three years later, he moved to Aliseca GmbH, where he served as department head and site manager Krefeld-Uerdingen. In 2013, he took over as head of the LANXESS Chempark Office in Leverkusen. Since October 2015, Ertl has headed the Benzyl Products and Inorganic Acids business line within the Advanced Industrial Intermediates business unit.

The IPG business unit is part of LANXESS's Advanced Intermediates segment, which achieved sales of around two billion euros in fiscal 2020. IPG operates its largest site in Krefeld-Uerdingen and also has additional sites in Porto Feliz (Brazil), Starpointe Burgettstown (USA), Branston (UK), Vilassar de Mar (Spain), Sydney (Australia) and Ningbo (China).

As MRC reported earlier, in April 2021, LANXESS expanded its Colortherm Yellow pigment range for heat-resistant high-performance plastics. Two new inorganic yellow pigments are now available, namely Colortherm Yellow 5 and Colortherm Yellow 26.

We remind that Russia's output of chemical products rose in June 2021 by 10.2% year on year. However, production of basic chemicals increased year on year by 8.2% in the first six months of 2021. according to Rosstat's data. According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, polymers in primary forms and synthetic rubbers accounted for the greatest increase in the output in January-June 2021.

LANXESS is a leading specialty chemicals company with about 19,200 employees in 25 countries. The company is currently represented at 74 production sites worldwide. The core business of Lanxess is the development, manufacturing and marketing of chemical intermediates, additives, specialty chemicals and plastics. Through Arlanxeo, the joint venture with Saudi Aramco, Lanxess is also a leading supplier of synthetic rubber.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Jinneng Science & Technology Co Ltd successfully conducted trial production at its new polypropylene (PP) plant on 27 July 2021, according to CommoPlast with reference to market sources.

Based in Shandong, China, the company has two PP lines each with 450,000 tons/year. The first line was launched in end-July.

A source close to the company informed earlier that they would be outsourcing propylene for the trial production of PP line in August before the start up of a new 900,000 tons/year propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit at the same site.

Jinneng Science & Technology is aiming to achieve commercial on-spec PP production in the near future, whereby players expecting cargoes shall be able to be available in the market by next month.

As MRC reported previously, initially, the company planned to launch these units with in April last year. Construction was delayed due to longer-than-expected land-use permit procedures, the company said.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, PP shipments to the Russian market were 727,160 tonnes in the first six months of 2021, up by 31% year on year. Supply of homopolymer of propyelene (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased. Supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.

Located in the Industrial Park of Qihe County (Shandong Province, China), Jinneng Science and Technology Company, Limited is an energy-focused high-tech industrial enterprise based on the production and distribution of fine chemical products and coal chemical products with total assets of 4 billion RMB (USD640 million) and over 3,000 employees. The company was founded in 1998.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Nigeria has given its state oil firm the green light to acquire a 20% stake in Dangote's oil refinery for USD2.76 billion, reported Reuters with reference to junior oil minister Timipre Sylva's statement.

The 650,000-barrel-per-day oil refinery, owned by Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote, is under construction in Lagos, the biggest city in the most fuel-consuming nation in the region. The refinery is scheduled for commissioning by January.

Sylva said the government approved the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp's (NNPC) acquisition at a Cabinet meeting, he told reporters in Abuja, adding that the country also awarded contracts for the modernisation of two state-owned refineries.

The has said the NNPC's move to work with private companies was in line with safeguarding the country's energy security and would not undercut plans to rehabilitate its own refineries.

The NNPC said in June it had signed term sheets with Dangote Group for the stake in its USD19 billion oil refinery and is in talks with banks to borrow to buy the stake but would require government approval of the plan. The Dangote Group has previously said NNPC and three other firms had approached it regarding a stake purchase, to be able to secure crude supply agreements.

Nigeria, Africa's biggest crude oil exporter, imports virtually all its fuel due to moribund state refineries, which has prompted NNPC's interest in Dangote's oil refinery.

In March, Nigeria approved US1.5 billion of spending on the modernisation of the Port Harcourt oil refinery and awarded a contract to Italy's Tecnimont. Sylva said 15% of the contract sum has been paid and work has started in Port Harcourt. He added that the Cabinet approved contract awards for the upgrade of the Warri and Kaduna refineries to Saipem SpA and Saipem Contracting Ltd for USD1.484 billion.

As MRC informed before, Africa's largest oil refinery will deliver its fuels to Nigerian consumers via roads and sea ports, and will effectively replace all of Nigeria's fuel imports once fully operational. The 650,000 barrel-per-day Dangote oil refinery is under construction in Lagos, the biggest city in the most fuel-consuming nation in the region, which absorbed 266,000 barrels of petroleum products per day as of 2015. Congested ports and dilapidated roads led some to expect that the company would build a pipeline or other method of getting its fuel to consumers.

The Dangote group is also eyeing ethanol production at its sugar and molasses plant in Adamawa state, and has facilities at the refinery to blend ethanol with fuel if needed. Edwin said they are also already considering expanding plastics and petrochemical productions at the refinery, which will make polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) when it begins production.

Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of PE and PP, respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 953,400 tonnes in the first five months of 2021, which virtually corresponded to the same figure a year earlier. High density polyethylene (HDPE) shipments decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 607,8900 tonnes in January-May 2021, up by 33% year on year. Shipments of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas deliveries of PP random copolymers decreased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Trinseo, a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex binders, and synthetic rubber, and its affiliate companies in Europe, have announced a price increase for Methyl Methacrylate (MMA) in Europe, according to the company's press release as of August 3.

Effective August 1, 2021, or as existing contract terms allow, the company's price for MMA monomer grew by EUR300/tonne.

The company also raised its July MMA prices in the region by the same amount.

As MRC reported earlier, in May, 2021, Trinseo announced the closing of the previously announced transaction to acquire Arkema’s polymethyl methacrylates (PMMA) business. PMMA is a transparent and rigid resin with a wide range of end uses that augments Trinseo’s existing offerings across several end markets including automotive, building and construction, medical and consumer electronics.

The main application, consuming approximately 75% MMA, is in the production of polymethyl methacrylate acrylic plastics (PMMA). Methyl methacrylate is also used to produce methyl methacrylate-butadiene-styrene copolymer (MBS), used as a modifier for polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

According to ICIS-MRC Price report, negotiations over August contract prices of Russian PVC in the domestic market continued through the week; some producers further raised their prices. Some converters hesitated to confirm the new prices for Russian PVC.

Trinseo is a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex and rubber. Trinseo's technology is used by customers in industries such as home appliances, automotive, building & construction, carpet, consumer electronics, consumer goods, electrical & lighting, medical, packaging, paper & paperboard, rubber goods and tires. Formerly known as Styron, Trinseo completed its renaming process in 1Q 2015. Trinseo had approximately USD3.0 billion in net sales in 2020, with 17 manufacturing sites around the world, and approximately 2,600 employees.
MRC