Eastman expands global tertiary amines capacity

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Eastman's care additives business has announced the completion of a significant expansion of its tertiary amine capacity, primarily DIMLA 1214, at both its Ghent, Belgium, and Pace, Florida, manufacturing sites, said the company.

The Ghent expansion has led to an increase in capacity, while the Pace expansion has improved production flow, making it the world's largest tertiary amine unit. Demand for tertiary amines had increased because of rising consumer demand that was caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Eastman said.

"We've seen a significant increase in tertiary amine demand, partially due to structural changes in consumer habits related to the global pandemic, and are committed to serving our customers and meeting global consumer needs," said Robert Ash, product director for Eastman care additives. "I want to thank our customers for their patience and partnership over the past year as we executed these expansions."

Ash also thanked the Eastman engineering staff and manufacturing teams that completed the projects safely in an accelerated timeline during a global pandemic.

Eastman did not disclose the size of the expansions or their costs.

The projects increased capacity at Ghent and improved production flow at Pace, making it the world's largest tertiary amine unit, Eastman said. The projects expanded output of mostly dimethyldodecylamine 1214 (DIMLA 1214).

Tertiary amines are used to make surfactants in liquid dish soap, hard-surface cleaners and antibacterial wipes and sprays.

As per MRC, Eastman is targeting for a 2023 groundbreaking on its proposed plastics recycling project in France. The company has yet to decide where in France the project will be built. The methanolysis-based project, first announced on 17 January, will process up to 160,000 tonnes/year of hard-to-recycle polyethylene terephthalate (PET) waste. Startup of production is expected in 2025.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PET consumption remained steady in December 2021 year on year. December estimated PET consumption totalled 67,880 tonnes (67,710 tonnes in December 2020).

Eastman is a multinational chemical company serving customers in approximately 100 countries. Sales in 2015 amounted to around USD9.6 Billion. The company is headquartered in Kingsport, Tennessee, USA. The company employs approximately 15 thousand people around the world.
MRC

Honeywell to supply UpCycle Process Technology for largest plastics recycler in US

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Honeywell announced its intent to form a joint venture with Avangard Innovative to build an advanced recycling plant in Texas, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The facility will use Honeywell’s recently announced UpCycle Process Technology to transform end-of-life plastic waste into recycled polymer feedstock that can be used to create new plastics.

Honeywell’s new UpCycle Process Technology reduces the need for fossil feeds in the creation of virgin plastics, with the goal of enabling a circular economy for plastics.

Avangard Innovative is the largest plastics recycler in the Americas and will be the first to deploy the UpCycle Process Technology in the United States. Honeywell and Avangard intend to form a joint venture to co-own and operate a facility within Avangard’s NaturaPCR complex in Waller, Texas. The planned advanced recycling plant is expected to have the capacity to transform 30,000 metric tons of mixed waste plastics into Honeywell Recycled Polymer Feedstock per year. Production is anticipated to begin in 2023.

When used in conjunction with other chemical and mechanical recycling processes, along with improvements to collection and sorting, Honeywell’s UpCycle Process Technology has the potential to increase the amount of plastic waste that can be recycled to 90% from only 15% today.

This announcement expands the UpCycle Process Technology footprint, building on Honeywell’s recent announcement in Spain of its intent to form a joint venture with Sacyr. That joint venture would build an advanced recycling plant in Andalucia, in Southern Spain. That facility is expected to have the capacity to transform 30,000 metric tons per year of mixed waste plastics into Honeywell Recycled Polymer Feedstock.

Honeywell’s UpCycle Process Technology was created within Honeywell’s Sustainable Technology Solutions (STS) business, which is part of Honeywell UOP. This latest breakthrough technology builds upon Honeywell’s focus to deliver high impact, environmentally sustainable solutions for customers and society.

As MRC wrote previously, in January, 2022, Honeywell announced that it has been selected by Spanish oil and gas company Repsol to supply an integrated control and safety system (ICSS) for the first advanced biofuels production plant to be built in Spain.

We remind that Repsol said in October, 2021, it will invest EUR2.549 billion (USD2.958 billion) in the entire hydrogen value chain by 2030. Renewable hydrogen is one of Repsol’s strategic pillars to achieve zero emissions by 2050. Thus, the company presented its hydrogen strategy for up to 2030.

We also remind that the “Cracker of the Future” consortium has recently announced two new member companies: Repsol and Versalis (Eni) have joined the consortium.

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 2,265,290 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2021, up by 14% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,363,850 tonnes in January-November, 2021, up by 25% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.
MRC

Eastman aims groundbreaking of its French PET recycling project in 2023

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Eastman is targeting for a 2023 groundbreaking on its proposed plastics recycling project in France, Mark Costa, CEO of the US-based producer, said in an update during the company’s Q4 earnings call.

The company has yet to decide where in France the project will be built.

The methanolysis-based project, first announced on 17 January, will process up to 160,000 tonnes/year of hard-to-recycle polyethylene terephthalate (PET) waste. Startup of production is expected in 2025.

With the plant located in France, Eastman will have a competitive advantage as it will offer customers there a “circular economy benefit”, Costa said.

“The circular economy is a very regional concept, so when we build plants in Europe or in the US, it is a significant advantage relative to Asian competitors,” he added.

Regarding site selection, Eastman has identified three locations that all offer attractive renewable energy supply.

In making a final decision on location, logistics will be very important, as the plant will be moving a lot of material, both inbound and outbound, he said.

While the plant’s output includes PET, for use in packaging applications, the USD1bn project does not mean that Eastman intends to return to the traditional PET business, he added. Eastman exited hydrocarbon-based PET more than 10 years ago.

The French project’s PET will be sold under long-term offtake contracts with cost-pass through structures, meaning that Eastman will not take on the spread risk between price and feedstock costs, he said.

The methanolysis-based plant would provide a reliable source of high-quality recycled product that commands a premium, he said.

Eastman's methanolysis process comes under chemical recycling, which is an umbrella term for a variety of methods that use different production routes to create new material from waste. Common chemical recycling methods include pyrolysis, gasification, glycolysis, hydrolysis, methanolysis, and enzymatic hydrolysis.

Costa also said that Eastman it is looking at licensing its technology, which would create an additional revenue stream for the company.

As MRC reported earlier, Eastman Chemical Co. (Kingsport, Tenn.) has completed the acquisition of the business and assets of Matrix Films, LLC and its UK affiliate, PremiumShield Limited, marketer of PremiumShield performance films, including its extended line of automotive film patterns.

We remind that Eastman is increasing capacity for its Naia-brand cellulosic filament yarn at its plant in Barcelona, Spain. Eastman is increasing its capacity to produce Naia cellulosic filament yarns at its plant Barcelona, by 30% by mid-2021, and by more than 50% by the end of 2022.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PET consumption remained steady in December 2021 year on year. December estimated PET consumption totalled 67,880 tonnes (67,710 tonnes in December 2020).

Eastman is a multinational chemical company serving customers in approximately 100 countries. Sales in 2015 amounted to around USD9.6 Billion. The company is headquartered in Kingsport, Tennessee, USA. The company employs approximately 15 thousand people around the world.
MRC

NKNK plans to launch an olefin complex in 2023

NKNK plans to launch an olefin complex in 2023

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Nizhnekamskneftekhim's EP-600 olefin complex will be commissioned in 2023, Angi reports.

The new plant is planned to process 1.8 million tons of straight-run gasoline per year. This is largely an import-substituting project, as thanks to the plant, the country will increase its share in the ethylene market, as well as propylene, benzene and butadiene. The capacity of the new production will be 600 thousand tons. At the moment, the work is completed by 34%.

The construction site of Nizhnekamskneftekhim was visited by President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov. Head of Rosprirodnadzor Svetlana Radionova and Chairman of the Board of PJSC SIBUR Holding Dmitry Konov also took part in the inspection of the plant under construction.

As noted earlier, SIBUR decided to change the configuration of the output of the Ethylene-600 complex, which is being built at Nizhnekamskneftekhim. 100,000 tonnes of EPS will be added to the planned 250,000 tonnes of EPS.

PJSC "Nizhnekamskneftekhim" (NKNK) is one of the largest Russian producers of petrochemical products. The production complex of the company includes ten plants of the main production and ten departments (railway transport, main ethylene pipelines, etc.). NKNK produces more than 120 types of chemical products, including synthetic rubber, polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, and surfactants. Nizhnekamskneftekhim is part of TAIF Group. SIBUR merged the petrochemical business with the Tatarstan TAIF Group in October 2021.
MRC

Marat Falyakhov was appointed as Production Director of Nizhnekamskneftekhim

Marat Falyakhov was appointed as Production Director of Nizhnekamskneftekhim

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Marat Faliakhov has been appointed Production Director of Nizhnekamskneftekhim, according to the company's corporate newspaper.

The report notes that the change was made "as part of the rotation program for SIBUR's management personnel." Previously, the post of production director was held by Oleg Nesterov, he retired. Faliakhov has been working at SIBUR since 2007, until February he held the position of General Director of BIAXPLEN (produces biaxially oriented films - BOPP).

"In his new position, Marat Falyakhov will focus on the technological development of the enterprise, the development of programs to improve operational efficiency and development projects," the information says.

Earlier it was reported that Nizhnekamskneftekhim held an extraordinary meeting of shareholders of Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC on December 27, 2021, at which the shareholders elected members of the Board of Directors in a new composition. According to the decision of the Board of Directors, Mikhail Karisalov was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC, Airat Safin - Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC.

According to the ScanPlast review by Market Report, PP shipment to the Russian market in January-November last year amounted to 1,363.850,000 tonnes, which is 25% more than the previous year. Supplies of propylene homopolymer (PP-homo) and propylene block copolymer (PP-block) increased. The supply of cast propylene stat-copolymer (PP-random) has significantly decreased.

PJSC "Nizhnekamskneftekhim" (NKNK) is one of the largest Russian producers of petrochemical products. The production complex of the company includes ten plants of the main production and ten departments (railway transport, main ethylene pipelines, etc.). NKNK produces more than 120 types of chemical products, including synthetic rubber, polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, and surfactants. Nizhnekamskneftekhim is part of TAIF Group. SIBUR merged the petrochemical business with the Tatarstan TAIF Group in October 2021.
MRC