Huntsman starts commercial operation of new splitter in Geismar

Huntsman Corporation announced the start of commercial operation of a new methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) splitter at its Geismar site in Louisiana, said the company.

The USD180 million splitter gives Huntsman the ability to produce more high value, differentiated grades from the crude MDI manufactured at the plant, thereby enabling growth in key customer applications. "The new splitter reinforces our strategy of delivering value over volume by creating a more differentiated product portfolio,” said Tony Hankins, President of Huntsman’s Polyurethanes division. “It enables us to provide our customers in automotive, furniture, construction, adhesives and coatings markets with more options for innovative, sustainable polyurethanes products."

The completion of the MDI splitter project was celebrated at a special event on Wednesday, July 13, at the Geismar facility hosted by Huntsman Chairman, President and CEO, Peter Huntsman. Guests included Attorney General of Louisiana Jeff Landry, local officials, key customers, suppliers, members of Huntsman’s senior leadership team, and Geismar employees.

Speaking at the event, Jan Buberl, Polyurethanes’ Vice President for the Americas region said “Our new splitter bridges the gap between our upstream MDI manufacturing assets and the downstream needs of our customers – both domestic and international. Our mission is to deliver what our customers need to help them innovate and grow. This investment will strengthen our ability to meet, and exceed, those expectations."

Mark Dearman, Site Leader at Geismar, recognized the hard work of the many people associated with the project. “Our thanks go to our construction partners, suppliers and every associate and contractor involved in the new splitter,” he said. “Even without factoring in the additional health and safety measures we needed to put in place for COVID, and the extreme weather events such as Hurricane Ida, the construction of a new splitter is a major undertaking. The project was completed on time, incident free, demonstrating Huntsman’s focus and commitment to safe working practices."

As per MRC, Huntsman announced that it has launched a new range of low-emission MDI-based foam systems for automotive interiors. The ACOUSTIFLEX LE and RUBIFLEX® LE polyurethane product lines. These innovative technologies allow global automotive formulators and foam manufacturers to produce high-performance polyurethane foams, while significantly reducing interior emissions levels to meet OEMs’ requirements.

Also, Huntsman is expanding its performance products facility in Petfurdo, Hungary. The multimillion-dollar investment project will expand capacity for polyurethane (PU) catalysts and specialty amines, scheduled for completion in mid-2023.

Huntsman Corporation is a publicly traded global manufacturer and marketer of differentiated and specialty chemicals with 2020 revenues of approximately USD6 billion. Our chemical products number in the thousands and are sold worldwide to manufacturers serving a broad and diverse range of consumer and industrial end markets.
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For the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational (GLBI), Midland, Michigan-based Dow Chemical Co. has worked with partners across the value chain to reuse and recycle plastic mesh fencing—equivalent to 1 ton of plastic—to create golf tools as part of Dow’s GLBI closed loop initiative, said Recyclingtoday.

Dow; recycler KW Plastics of Troy, Alabama; molder Core Technology Molding Corp. of Greensboro, North Carolina; and sustainable golf company Evolve Golf of Wilmington, North Carolina, collaborated to reuse high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plastic mesh fencing from the previous year’s GLBI in the form of 20,000 ball markers and 5,500 divot tools for this year’s event. “As the world’s largest plastics recycler, finding innovative ways to recycle used HDPE and PP plastics with partners like Dow is at the core of what we do best,” says Scott Saunders, general manager, KW Plastics. “Finding new life for last year’s plastic mesh fencing was an exciting challenge and a continuation of our collaboration to create more sustainable solutions."

Each company plays a vital role in recycling and reusing critical materials from the annual tournament, from collecting and cleaning the used plastic mesh, to palletizing the HDPE and molding the recycled plastic into useful tools, Dow says. Last year’s closed loop initiative recycled more than 1,500 pounds of plastic mesh fencing molded into more than 20,000 golf tees, according to Dow.

“Our partners at KW Plastics, Evolve Golf and Core Technology Molding Corp. went above and beyond to create the ball markers and divot tools for this year’s Dow GLBI,” says Toby Smith, senior customer manager, Dow Packaging and Specialty Plastics. “It’s only by working together with other like-minded organizations like these that we’ll continue to discover and scale sustainable solutions that extend the useful life of materials and the resources that go into making them. I can’t thank them enough for the collaboration."

As the first ever Golf Environment Organization- (GEO-) certified Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) event, the GLBI is planned and executed with sustainability in focus, Dow says. GEO certification requires a five-year sustainability plan and commitment to establish sustainability initiatives and best practices. Previous tournaments recycled or reused 77 percent of postindustrial material generated, 80 percent of signage was reusable in the future and 26 percent of Dow GLBI shirts were made from recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic.

As per MRC, Dow signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Chinese food and beverage firm Want-Want for zero-solvent emissions and to develop a circular economy for flexible packaging, said the company.

The agreement intends to strengthen value-chain partner cooperation with customised adhesives solutions to meet the demands of the industry for more eco-friendly packaging options. With Dow’s water-based and solventless adhesives technologies, Want-Want will shift to more sustainable laminating adhesives for all of its flexible packaging.
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Cosmo Films Ltd, a global leader in Films for packaging, labelling, lamination and synthetic paper and an emerging player in Specialty Chemicals, Polymers & Pet Care today announced its new brand identity, Cosmo First Limited, said the company.

The strategic decision comes considering the company's business activities have expanded beyond films into specialty chemicals (master-batches, coatings, and textile chemicals) and D2C Pet care. The rebranding reiterates the value of Cosmo and strengthens its focus to create a better life for the people, the world, and the community we live in; built on Trust, Empathy, and Compassion. Cosmo First Limited stands for four-decade young Indian business conglomerate that thrives on innovation to unlock value in diverse sunrise sectors such as Polymer, Speciality Chemicals and D2C Pet Care.

Talking about the rebranding, Mr. Ashok Jaipuria, Chairman and Managing Director, Cosmo First said, "Cosmo at its core has always been pioneering revolutionary innovations to create a better life. All through our journey, we have prided ourselves in our ability to provide industry-first niche solutions in the areas of packaging, lamination, industrial and labelling applications. We have made inspiring diversifications into speciality chemicals, consumer care, and D2C retail, aiming to be a pioneer in these previously fragmented industries."

"We would like to be the first choice for all our stakeholders and will strive hard to always stay ahead of the curve to provide industry first solutions," he added.

Cosmo First with its continued aspiration aims to steer high growth businesses in India that are sustainable, scalable, and profitable, and deliver lasting value for all the stakeholders through innovation, excellence, collaboration, integrity and customer centricity.

As per MRC, Cosmo Speciality Chemicals, a 100% subsidiary of Cosmo Films Ltd., has launched two new eco-friendly polyester dyeing agents - POLYST PB and POLYST PLD-aiding in better results for polyester dyeing. POLYST PB is an effective acidic PH buffer for polyester dyeing which ensures uniform buffering action by maintaining PH levels of the fabric, while also reducing the risk of change in shades caused by fluctuation of PH values. It requires less dosage and is non-volatile, making it reliable. What makes POLYST PB stand out is it is foam-free and buffers in a pH range of approximately 4-7, making it well-suited for all wet processing in this pH range. Being a versatile agent, it can be used as a buffer for dyeing of Nylon (PA), Polyester (PES), Polyarcylic (PAN), and Wool (WO) or their blends.

Cosmo Speciality Chemicals is a 100% subsidiary of Cosmo Films Ltd with strong research capabilities to provide best and the most competitive products through innovations based on sustainable science to its customers. The Company is into specialty polymers& textile chemicals and has now launched 'Fabritizer' to safeguard consumers from the various viruses, bacteria and germs.

Established in 1981 and founded by Mr. Ashok Jaipuria, Cosmo Films today is a global leader in specialty films for packaging, lamination, labeling and synthetic paper. With engineering of innovative products and sustainability solutions, Cosmo Films over the years has been partnering with worlds’ leading F&B and personal care brands and packaging & printing converters to enhance the end consumer experience. Its customer base is spread in more than 100 countries with sales & manufacturing units in India and Korea and additionally sales & distribution base in Japan, USA, Canada and Europe.
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Air Liquide invested and will operate its first biomethane production unit in China by the end of 2022, said the company.

Located in Huai’an City, in the Jiangsu Province, the unit will have a production capacity of 75 GWh per year. This project demonstrates a circular economy and low-carbon approach, in line with the Group’s Sustainable Objectives and strategic plan, ADVANCE.

This new unit will produce biogas from agricultural and livestock waste coming from local farms and purify it into biomethane. With a total production capacity of 75 GWh/y, the unit will inject the biomethane into the city gas grid to be used for household consumption and generate electricity for its own consumption and injection into the electrical grid.

The biomethane unit will follow a circular economy approach. The digestate, a by-product material resulting from the biogas production, will be processed to produce bio-fertilisers. These bio-fertilisers will be used in the local agriculture, which, besides food products, will also generate some waste that will be processed in this unit to produce biomethane.

Biomethane has a high potential in China in particular as the Chinese government supports projects promoting the valorisation of waste as part of its financial plans for the development of rural regions.

Air Liquide has developed competencies throughout the whole biomethane value chain, starting with biogas production from waste to its purification into biomethane, liquefaction, storage, and transportation to distribution. Air Liquide now has 21 biomethane operational production units in the world for a yearly production capacity of about 1.4 TWh.

As per MRC, Air Products and Gunvor Petroleum Rotterdam (GPR), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gunvor Group (Gunvor), have signed a joint development agreement for an import terminal in Rotterdam, the companies said.The agreement responds to the accelerating demand for green energy sources to meet climate objectives and the need to diversify energy sources, with the import terminal expected to provide green hydrogen to the Netherlands in 2026, Air Products said.
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Hexion Inc. announced that it has begun using bio-based methanol in the production of formaldehyde at its Baytown, Texas, manufacturing site. The formaldehyde is then provided to a key customer that leverages bio-benzene to produce methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI), ultimately offering a product with more sustainable attributes through significantly lower air emissions compared to those produced with fossil fuel-based methanol, said the company.

Depending on the customers' preference, Hexion is in position to further adopt bio-based raw materials into its production processes at various locations throughout its global manufacturing grid. Similar to other sites, Hexion supplies this customer through a pipeline, which further reduces the overall energy intensity of its production processes considering the minimal logistical costs compared to alternative delivery methods, such as truck or rail.

"By leveraging renewable feedstocks, such as bio-based methanol, we are able to provide a solution that fully meets our customers' exacting performance standards and offers additional sustainable benefits,” said Dave Collins, Senior Vice President, Global Formaldehyde, Hexion. “By using bio-based methanol, Hexion is making an important contribution to achieving the climate goals of its customer industries. In addition, using bio-based methanol, also known as renewable methanol, in our products aligns with our overall sustainability goals, particularly those related to new product development and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We remain committed to continuous improvement in all facets of our sustainability initiatives."

Compared to conventional fossil fuels, renewable methanol cuts carbon dioxide emissions by up to 95 percent, reduces nitrogen oxide emissions by up to 80 percent, and eliminates sulfur oxide and particulate matter emissions, according to the Methanol Institute. Renewable methanol is an ultra-low carbon chemical produced from sustainable biomass, often called bio-methanol, or from carbon dioxide and hydrogen produced from renewable electricity.

As part of its strategic sustainability initiatives, Hexion previously announced its commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2030. Hexion’s commitment encompasses “Scope 1” and “Scope 2” emissions, which are direct and indirect greenhouse emissions from operations and consumed energy. The Company is also reviewing its “Scope 3” emissions, which are those associated with all other aspects of our business. In addition, for two consecutive years, Hexion has received the ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year award, bestowed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR Program, for the Company’s many successes in waste reduction and energy efficiency.

As per MRC, Hexion is strategically strengthening its manufacturing footprint in support of its ArmorBuilt Fire Protection product through an expansion of its Missoula, Montana site. To meet the continued strong demand, Hexion previously announced two capacity expansions at its Portland, Oregon manufacturing site in 2021. The Missoula site expansion will enable Hexion to significantly increase its capacity to serve customers more easily in the Western United States and beyond, which are areas prone to wildfires. The new capacity is expected to come online in fourth quarter of 2022.
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