Orbis launches new reusable plastic pallet offerings in Latin America

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Orbis Corporation, an international leader in reusable packaging, adds the new Universal Container Pallet (UCP) to its suite of reusable plastic pallet offerings in Latin America, said the company.

Engineered to protect and transport foodservice products with ease, the 44-inch x 56-inch two-piece snap-designed injection foam UCP optimizes daily operations in the food and beverage industry. The pallet’s plastic construction and flow-through rib design, which allows for easy cleaning and drying, makes the UCP a comprehensive solution for hygienic product distribution. This same plastic construction also makes the UCP 100% recyclable at the end of its useful life, thus supporting a sustainable supply chain.

The UCP is compatible with palletizers, depalletizers, automatic strapping/banding systems, conveyors and pallet washing systems, solidifying its place in Orbis product lineup as a complete solution. The UCP also offers superior load stability and has central banding compatibilities with optional anti-slip grommets to help keep products secure. Highly impact resistant, the UCP’s 12-block design, thick deck ribbing and widened stringers all contribute to the pallet’s durability.

“The new UCP, designed with durability and sustainability in mind, will bring efficiency to food and beverage distribution throughout Latin America,” said Jose Ramon Ramirez, director de ventas, Orbis Corporation Latin America. “We’re proud to offer companies complete food and beverage systems to optimize their supply chain for sustainability, while protecting and transporting their products. The introduction of the UCP further solidifies our leadership in reusable packaging as we grow our footprint in the LATAM region."

Highly compatible with other packaging, this new, versatile pallet can be optimized with divider sheets, top frames and stretch wrap to maximize product safety. Easily accessible, the pallet’s open base with chamfered base runners allows for improved full fork or low-profile hand truck access. With the additional option of adding advanced RFID or bar code configurations, this product can help provide visibility into where products are located, preventing loss and increasing productivity.

As per MRC, AkzoNobel is to further expand its long-term position in South and Central America after reaching an agreement to acquire Colombia-based paints and coatings company Grupo Orbis. Financial details were not disclosed. Present in ten countries in South America, Central America and the Antilles, Grupo Orbis has consolidated revenue of around COP USD1,200 billion (EUR260 million). The transaction includes the Pintuco paints and coatings business, Andercol and Poliquim (resins) and Mundial (distribution and services).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PET consumption totalled 411,200 tonnes in the first six month of 2021, up by 12% year on year. Russian companies processed 62,910 tonnes in June, compared to 85,890 tonnes a month earlier.

Celebrating its 25th year in 2021, Orbis — powered by Menasha — is built on more than 170 years of material handling expertise. Orbis helps world-class customers move their product faster, safer and more cost-effectively with reusable totes, pallets, containers, dunnage and racks. Headquartered in Oconomowoc, ORBIS has more than 2,500 employees and 55 locations throughout North America and Europe.

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Green chemistry company Carbios has opened a new industrial demonstration plant with enzymatic recycling technology at its Cataroux site in Clermont-Ferrand, France, said the company.

The demonstration plant will also help validate the technical, environmental, and economic performance of the enzymatic PET recycling process, in addition to designing future industrial units. Carbios stated that the demonstration plant marks the completion of C-ZYME technology development.

C-ZYME, an enzymatic recycling technology, uses an enzyme that helps to depolymerise polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The PET is used in different plastic and textile items. The depolymerised monomers are said to be purified before being repolymerised into PET of comparable quality to virgin PET derived from petrochemicals.

Contrast to traditional methods, Carbios’ technology facilitates unlimited recycling of all sorts of PET waste, including clear, coloured, opaque, complex plastics and polyester textiles. The enzymatic recycling technology will help produce 100% recycled and 100% recyclable PET goods, which maintain their virgin quality throughout the process.

Carbios CEO Jean-Claude Lumaret said: “For more than 10 years, we have been creating innovative solutions to rethink the end of life of plastics and textiles.

When the project was first announced in 2020, Carbios said capacities could be between 50,000-100,000 tonnes/year and it would be starting up in the second quarter of 2021.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PET consumption totalled 411,200 tonnes in the first six month of 2021, up by 12% year on year. Russian companies processed 62,910 tonnes in June, compared to 85,890 tonnes a month earlier.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil, an American petrochemical major, offered its first concession in a new contract proposal to locked-out workers at its Beaumont, Texas, refinery and lube oil plant to include some seniority protection, reported Reuters.

Exxon on May 1 locked some 650 workers out at the 369,000-barrel-per-day refinery, replacing them with temporary workers and saying the company was afraid a strike might lead to disruptions to production.

"The amended offer, which comes after months of good-faith bargaining meetings, provides further support to our represented employees’ concerns about security and seniority," spokesperson Julie King said in an email.

The leaders of United Steelworkers union (USW) local 13-243, which represents the locked-out workers, said Exxon's new offer fell short.

"Although these changes are recognized as movement by the company, the overall 40-page comprehensive offer still leaves much to be desired," the leaders said in a statement issued Wednesday night.

Exxon has not withdrawn proposals that would eliminate lead operator positions, give it the right to right to move operators among different units regardless of job seniority and to eliminate the practice of workers bidding for jobs that come open, the leaders said.

"These three proposals alone are still a direct attack on the core values of the union’s safety, seniority and security," they said.

The new proposal includes seniority protection for job transfers between the lubricants and refinery portions of the complex. The USW 13-243 leaders said this was not a change, but clarified what Exxon had previously said. It also includes layoff protection for certain jobs and warehouse operator promotions in lubricants, Exxon said. The USW leaders said this proposal could result in the elimination of a department and the cutting jobs in another department.

The refinery and lube plant has continued to produce motor fuels and Mobil 1 oil with managers and supervisors.

If the new proposal is ratified before Nov. 1, the workers will receive a USD500 bonus, Exxon said.

As MRC informed before, ExxonMobil rejected three proposals in August made by the union representing 650 locked-out workers at the company’s Beaumont, Texas, refinery.

We remind that in mid-summer, 2021, ExxonMobil's Beaumont, Texas refinery was operating at about 60% of its 369,024-bpd capacity because of the lockout of union workers.

Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,396,960 tonnes in January-July 2021, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 841,990 tonnes in the first seven months of 2021, up by 29% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund has agreed to sell its potassium chloride (KCl) and vaccine adjuvants businesses to Vertellus for about USD155m, said the Canada-based industrial chemicals company.

Vertellus, a Pritzker Private Capital (“PPC”) company, is acquiring businesses from Chemtrade that produce specialty ingredients essential in the efficacy of medications for hypertension and diabetes, production of next-generation biologics and improving the effectiveness of certain vaccines. The businesses, which had been classified as Assets Held for Sale in Chemtrade’s financial statements, are part of Chemtrade’s Water Solutions and Specialty Chemicals (WSSC) segment and are located in Midlothian, Texas (KCl) and Berkeley Heights, New Jersey (Vaccine Adjuvants).

Scott Rook, President and CEO of Chemtrade, said, “These are both good businesses, which have benefitted from our recent capital investment that expanded and upgraded both plants. As a strategic buyer, Vertellus will be able to add further value and will benefit from the skilled teams at both locations. We are confident that Vertellus and PPC will take the strong platform that we have built and make the businesses even stronger."

Chemtrade will use the net proceeds of the sale to reduce bank debt. Based upon the midpoint of guidance for 2021 provided by Chemtrade in August 2021, and after making a pro-forma adjustment for the loss of a full year’s EBITDA of the disposed businesses, this repayment will reduce Chemtrade’s senior ratio by approximately 0.7 times.

Due to the anticipated timing of the closing of this transaction, the sale will not have a material impact on Chemtrade’s 2021 reported distributable cash after maintenance capital expenditures. These businesses generated approximately USD14.3 million of EBITDA during the twelve months ended June 30, 2021.

Chemtrade’s management and Board of Trustees thank the employees at Midlothian and Berkeley Heights for their dedication and their commitment to operational excellence and wish them well.

As per MRC, Vertellus (Indianapolis, Ind) announced it has acquired Bercen Chemicals, a leading U.S. supplier of alkyl succinic anhydrides and additives used in the fuel, lubricant, and paper industries.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PET consumption totalled 411,200 tonnes in the first six month of 2021, up by 12% year on year. Russian companies processed 62,910 tonnes in June, compared to 85,890 tonnes a month earlier.

Headquartered in Indianapolis, The Vertellus group of companies was originally founded in 1857 as a manufacturer of niche specialty products. Today, Vertellus is one of the largest providers of unique specialty chemicals used in diverse applications, processes and market sectors, including personal care, healthcare, food & agriculture, performance coatings, paper additives, infrastructure and industrial specialties.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The “Cracker of the Future” consortium announced two new members and accelerating the development of a game-changing technology for the electrification of the steam cracking process. This enables a revolutionary decrease in greenhouse gas emissions, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The consortium announced two new member companies: Repsol and Versalis (Eni) have recently joined the consortium.

Together with founding members Borealis (member of the OMV Group), BP, and TotalEnergies SE, the consortium covers ~1/3 of the European Union’s steam cracking capacity with units in Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden.

There is a wide variety of possible electricity-based heating technologies, each offering its advantages, opportunities, disadvantages, and risks. The consortium has assessed many electricity-based heating technologies. It has selected a few for deeper dives to evaluate their development status and discuss potential cooperation with technology and equipment providers.

The consortium is currently evaluating different technology opportunities and will soon announce one of our preferred highly promising options while a few other promising concepts need further assessment before we can come to a decision. Such a progressive funneling of opportunities allows the consortium to elect the most promising technologies quickly, while maintaining space for potential new promising developments.

In the scenario aimed at, and with public innovation support, a demonstration can be undertaken in 2023, and commercial availability could be delivered as early as 2026. The availability of sufficient affordable renewable electricity (and infrastructure) is key for commercial deployment.

Steam crackers convert naphtha or natural gas liquids into basic building blocks (including ethylene, propylene, and aromatics), the start of many chemical value chains. However, the conversion requires a significant amount of energy and is conducted in furnaces at about 850 degrees Celsius, typically achieved by the combustion of fossil fuels. The building blocks are converted into a large variety of chemical products, delivering the functionality for our way of life ranging for instance from medical applications, to packaging to protect food, and polymers in wind turbines, solar panels, batteries and light-weighting of cars.

European Crackers are currently annually emitting ~30 Mton of CO2 (~20-25% of the European Chemical Industries’ overall greenhouse gas emissions). The majority of these emissions originate from the crackers' furnaces. In combination with other electrification measures, electric cracking with renewable energy can eliminate the cracker's greenhouse gas emissions to a large extent.

Currently, European crackers predominantly operate on fossil-naphtha feedstock with some light feedstock such as LPG and ethane originating from refining of oil and from natural gas liquids. Electric crackers will also be able to convert bio naphtha and pyrolysis oil from waste plastics (chemical recycling) and thus enable key process routes for the circular economy.

Meeting Europe’s Green Deal and becoming climate-neutral and circular requires enormous and disruptive changes. Developing electric cracking is one of the key changes. More than ever, a public-private partnership will be essential to achieve the objectives.

As MRC reported earlier, in September 2019, six world's major petrochemical companies in Flanders, Belgium, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and the Netherlands (Trilateral Region) have announced the creation of a consortium to jointly investigate how naphtha or gas steam crackers could be operated using renewable electricity instead of fossil fuels. The Cracker of the Future consortium, which includes BASF, Borealis, BP, LyondellBasell, SABIC and Total, aims to produce base chemicals while also significantly reducing carbon emissions. The companies have agreed to invest in R&D and knowledge sharing as they assess the possibility of transitioning their base chemical production to renewable electricity.

Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,396,960 tonnes in January-July 2021, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 841,990 tonnes in the first seven months of 2021, up by 29% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.

Repsol is headquartered in Madrid, Spain. In the 2020 Forbes Global 2000, Repsol was ranked as the 645th-largest public company in the world. It has more than 24,000 employees worldwide.

Eni is an Italian multinational oil and gas company headquartered in Rome. It has operations in in 79 countries, and is currently Italy's largest industrial company. The Italian government owns a 30.3% golden share in the company, 3.93% held through the state Treasury and 26.37% held through the Cassa depositi e prestiti. Another 39.40% of the shares are held by BNP Paribas.
MRC