Fire and chlorine spill occur at Olin Corporation plant in Plaquemine

A fire and chlorine spill at Olin Corp’s plant in Plaquemine, a tenant at the Dow Chemical facility, was reported to Iberville Sheriff’s office around 8:40 p.m., sheriff’s office official Clint Moore told Reuters by telephone.

Louisiana authorities lifted a shelter-in-place order within five hours of issuing it after a chlorine leak on Monday.

“After continuously monitoring the air quality, we feel it is safe to return to normal activities. However, we are still investigating the source of fire and the leak,” Moore said.

“No injuries have been reported from the incident and there is no offsite potential exposure too. Meanwhile, efforts towards chlorine response continue along with analysis to identify the cause of the event,” an Olin Corp spokesperson told Reuters by email.

As MRC informed previously, Olin Corp. (Calyton, Mo.) and Mitsui & Co., Ltd. (Tokyo) announced a global strategic alliance to better serve customers. The companies have agreed to a memorandum of understanding to establish a joint venture that brings together Mitsui’s top-notch global logistics, deep supplier and customer relationships, and breadth of product portfolio with Olin’s scale, North American export capability, and production flexibility across the electrochemical unit (ECU) portfolio.

We remind that Olin Corp., one of the largest PVC producers in the country, plans to close production at the phenol and acetone plant in Oyster Creek (Oyster Creek, Texas, USA) in mid-April for planned preventive measures. Maintenance at this facility with a capacity of 295,000 tonnes of phenol and 180,000 tonnes of acetone per year will be short and will take one week.

It was previously reported that in 2019, Olin carried out scheduled maintenance at the phenol and acetone plant in Oyster Creek from 15 to 31 March.

Phenol is the main feedstockl for the production of bisphenol A (BPA), which, in its turn, is used for the production of polycarbonate (PC).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall consumption of PC granules (excluding exports from Belarus) totalled 7,800 tonnes in January 2022, down by 4% year on year (8,100 tonnes a year earlier).

Olin Corporation was founded in 1892 and is currently based in Clayton, Missouri, USA. The company's activities are concentrated in three segments: the production of military ammunition and chlor-alkali products, and their distribution. It is one of the main producers of polyvinyl chloride in the USA along with Shintech, Formosa Plastics, Westlake Chemical and Axiall.
MRC

Toyo Engineering Corporation has been awarded a contract for a project to construct a 50,000-kW biomass power plant. This plant will be built in Tomakomai-shi, Hokkaido, Japan for Tomatoh Biomass Power GK, said Hydrocarbonpprocessing.

This project is to construct a dedicated biomass-fired power plant using wood biomass fuel. This power generation facility is a highly efficient biomass-fired plant based on the reheat system. TOYO will carry out the EPC contract on a full turn-key basis that includes engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning services for a power generation unit.

TOYO has positioned the infrastructure field centered on power generation plants as one of its core businesses and is actively working on renewable energy projects such as biomass power generation, following photovoltaic generation projects in Japan which TOYO has ten project experiences. Regarding biomass power generation, this project is the eleventh project, after the two 50 MW class biomass power generations which already started commercial operation, and the six 50 MW class and the two 75 MW class projects currently under construction.

Reheat system: Steam, after expansion through high pressure steam turbine, is sent back and reheated in the boiler, then resent to the low-pressure steam turbine for further expansion. This system realizes high power generation efficiency.

As per MRC, TEC Project Services Corp., a subsidiary of Toyo Engineering, said it was awarded a propylene splitter project from Maruzen Petrochemical to produce a "high-grade product" at Maruzen's plant in Ichihara-shi, Chiba, Japan. TEC will be responsible for detailed engineering, procurement of equipment and materials, and construction.

As MRC informed before, in February 2019, Toyo Engineering Corporation was awarded a contract to build a 650,000 t/y ethylene and polyethylene (PE) plant located in Ust-Kut, Irkutsk region, Russian Federation by Irkutsk Polymer Plant, a subsidiary of Irkutsk Oil Company (INK).

TOYO has completed more than 40 projects in the former Soviet Union and Russian Federation since 1960’s. TOYO also focuses on the expansion of the business opportunities for ethylene and polyethylene projects as its core business, and this award marks TOYO’s outstanding track record as the 47th ethylene plant project worldwide as well as the 26th polyethylene plant. TOYO’s long experience in Russia, established performance and reliability in worldwide ethylene projects led to this award. TOYO will continue contributing to the development of the petrochemical industry in Russia as well as to further development of Japan-Russia relation and cooperation.
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LyondellBasell has entered into a multi-year agreement with Citrine Informatics to utilize the Citrine Platform for Materials Informatics and artificial intelligence-guided product development, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

In 2021, LyondellBasell successfully launched and implemented the Citrine Platform resulting in the expansion of their collaboration with Citrine. The Citrine Platform enables users to become more agile in their approach to product development and gain additional insights into the end-to-end value chain, from raw materials to manufactured products.

"Our collaborative relationship with Citrine is another step to significantly enhance our agility while continuing to be the trusted market leader our customers rely on,” said Anup Sharma, LyondellBasell’s senior vice president of Global Business Services. With the Citrine Platform, LyondellBasell can more effectively unlock new value at the boundary of materials development and discrete product development.

“The demands on chemicals and materials manufacturers to innovate faster, more efficiently, and more sustainably will continue to grow. LyondellBasell entered this collaboration with clear expectations to thrive among these existential challenges, and we are proud to be supporting this effort,” said Citrine Informatics CEO Greg Mulholland. “This multi-year agreement is testament to the strength of the Citrine Platform and the leadership position LyondellBasell holds in the industry."

As per MRC, LyondellBasell has agreed to sell its Australian polymer business, LyondellBasell Australia (LBA), to Viva Energy. BA’s operations include polymer manufacturing and distribution at Viva’s Geelong refinery near Melbourne.
LBA's Geelong plant is Australia’s only producer of polypropylene (PP). The refinery provides the propylene feedstock for PP.

As MRC wrote earlier, in July, 2021, Neste and LyondellBasell announced a long-term commercial agreement under which LyondellBasell will source Neste RE, a feedstock from Neste that has been produced from 100% renewable feedstock from bio-based sources, such as waste and residue oils and fats. This feedstock will be processed through the cracker at LyondellBasell’s Wesseling, Germany, plant into polymers and sold under the CirculenRenew brand name.

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 2,487,450 tonnes in 2021, up by 13% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 1,494.280 tonnes, up by 21% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas shipments of PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

As a leader in the global chemical industry, LyondellBasell strives every day to be the safest, best operated and most valued company in our industry. The company's products, materials and technologies are advancing sustainable solutions for food safety, access to clean water, healthcare and fuel efficiency in more than 100 international markets.
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Japan's chemical exports rose by 15.7% year on year to yen (Y) 1,028bn in March, supporting the overall growth in shipments abroad, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said in a statement.

The country's exports of organic chemicals rose by 14.6% year on year to Y192.2bn in March while shipments of plastic materials were up by 11.6% at Y291.8bn.

On a volume basis, exports of plastic materials fell by 6.6% year on year to 551,455 tonnes in March.

Japan's overall exports rose by 14.7% year on year to Y8,461bn in March while imports were up by 31.2% at Y8,873bn, resulting in a trade deficit of around Y412bn.

We remind, Japan's chemical exports rose by 19.8% year on year in February to Yen (Y) 913.4bn, supporting the overall increase in shipments abroad. Exports of organic chemicals rose by 32.3% year on year to Y179.7bn in February while shipments of plastic materials were up by 17.4% at Y254.7bn, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement.
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Wanhua Chemical, a major petrochemical producer in China, says it will spend USD3.6 billion to build a chemical complex in Penglai, China, by 2024, according to C&EN.

The project’s centerpiece will be a propane dehydrogenation plant (PDH) with 900,000 metric tons per year of capacity.

The complex will also make propylene oxide, polyether polyols, ethylene oxide, acrylic acid, polypropylene (PP), and other products.

Wanhua has grown quickly to become one of the world’s largest producers of polyurethane chemicals. In recent years, it has been branching out into other chemistries. In 2019 it shelved plans to build a polyurethane chemical plant in the US.

As MRC informed earlier, in April, 2021, Wanhua Chemical announced plans to build a new PDH plant in Fujian Province, southern China, adding to the PDH plant it operates at Yantai, eastern China. The new plant will be built within the Fujian Jiangyin economic zone, near the city of Fuqing. According to sources, the plant is expected to be completed in 2023.

Besdies, in January, 2020 Wanhua Chemical Group disclosed plans for a second ethylene cracker project at its Yantai, China, site with local government officials. The project will include a 1.2-million metric tons/year (MMt/y) ethylene unit; pyrolysis gasoline hydrogenation; aromatics extraction; and production facilities for butadiene, high density polyethylene (HDPE), low density polyethylene (LDPE), polyethylene (PE) plastomers and elastomers, polypropylene (PP), and other derivatives. Timing and other details were not disclosed. The second ethylene project will use naphtha and C4s as feedstock.

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 2,487,450 tonnes in 2021, up by 13% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 1,494.280 tonnes, up by 21% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whreas.shipments of PP random copolymers decreased significantly.
MRC