Nova announces force majeure for polyethylene

MOSCOW (MRC) -- NOVA Chemicals has declared a force majeure on its Polyethylene resins, including both HDPE and LDPE, produced at its facilities in Ontario, Canada, said Theplasticsexchange.

The announcement, made on September 14, attributes the disruption to an unplanned outage at its nearby Corunna Cracker which supplies the Ethylene feedstock for the Moore and St. Clair sites. The Moore facility has an annual production capacity of 840 million lbs of Polyethylene; the St. Clair River site has an annual PE capacity of nearly 400 million lbs.

INEOS Olefins & Polymers has declared a Force Majeure (FM) on its Polypropylene Homopolymer (HoPP) production at its Carson, California facility. The announcement, made September 12, cites complications associated with the acquisition of Polymer Grade Propylene (PGP) feedstock as the reason for the disruption and may potentially extend to all grades of Polypropylene, not just those produced at the Carson plant. INEOS' Carson plant has a production capacity of approximately 500 million lbs. It is the only Polypropylene production facility located west of the Rocky Mountains.

CPChem previously declared Force Majeure on August 16 for its HDPE resins produced at its Orange, TX facility with 900 million lbs of annual production capacity. The move was triggered by an equipment failure.

These force majeure declarations are not isolated incidents but part of a larger, more complex Petrochemical industry issue currently straining the supply chain. Other recent upstream disruptions include Dow Chemical's PDH unit that makes PGP monomer in Freeport, TX and Enterprise PDH 1 in Chambers County, TX as well as the recent shutdowns of two of the nation's largest refineries due to fire, BASF / TotalEnergies in Port Arthur, TX and Marathon in Garyville, LA.

We remind, Nova Chemicals is investing in a mechanical recycling facility located in Connersville, IN, US. The recycling facility will process post-consumer plastic films to make Syndigo branded recycled polyethylene (rPE) at commercial scale as early as 2025. By 2026, the company anticipates delivering over 100 M lbs of rPE to the market. The facility will be run by Novolex Holdings. Nova Chemicals intends to boost its recycling footprint over the next several years to help it attain its 2030 ambition of 30% recycled content as a share of its overall polyethylene sales.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF, alongside a leading company for natural cosmetics, has partnered with Indonesian non-profit organization Kaleka to support the sustainable management of palm and palm kernel oil production in Indonesia, said the company.

The smallholder project will be implemented by Kaleka and will follow a jurisdictional approach. Over the next one and a half years, all three partners aim to promote sustainable land use in Selunuk Village in the Seruyan District in Central Kalimantan and to involve local authorities in the active management of the project.

The project partners support the creation of policies and regulations to replicate and scale up regenerative agriculture and ensure living wages through legal certification. The aim is to certify 200 hectares of land to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RPSO) Smallholder Standard in the first and second years of the project, thereby supporting 100 farmers in the long term.

These farmers will benefit not only from the technical know-how and improved framework conditions, but also from the social and economic benefits through ongoing training in the implementation and maintenance of sustainable palm oil practices.

We remind, BASF has calculated the Product Carbon Footprints (PCFs) for vitamins, carotenoids, beverage processing polymers, feed enzymes and feed performance ingredients for the human and animal nutrition markets.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- INEOS Styrolution, the global leader in styrenics, announced the introduction of a new ASA “MED” material dedicated to applications in the healthcare industry. It was designed specifically having small medical device housings and casings in mind, said Polymerupdate.

The new Luran S MED 797S SPF30 is a member of INEOS Styrolution’s ASA product family Luran S. Luran S excels with strong property performance such as chemical resistance, UV resistance, and impact strength. Suitable for injection moulding applications, Luran S offers excellent flowability for easy processing.

Luran S MED 797S SPF30, available in NR (Natur) and in white (WT000112), builds on these strengths. The product shows excellent chemical resistance against alcohols (e.g. IPA, ethanol, propanol) or alcohol based disinfectants. It also shows good resistance against quaternary ammonium or glutaral based disinfectants making it a material of choice for clinical environments.

High impact strength specifically at room temperature and at lower temperatures (5°C) contribute to a better protection of devices, e.g. avoiding cracking failures when a device drops to the floor. This particular performance trait makes Luran S MED 797S SPF30 a compelling alternative to standard ABS materials.

The new Luran S grade is also available using renewable feedstock, based on a mass balance process certified under ISCC PLUS. Luran S ECO MED 797S SPF30 BC40 contains 40% renewable content resulting in a carbon footprint reduction of up to 52% compared to fossil-based Luran S.

We remind, INEOS and SINOPEC signed a shareholder agreement for the formation of a 50:50 joint venture to build a new 300ktpa ABS plant in Tianjin, said the company. The plant, which is currently under construction by SINOPEC, will be based on INEOS’ world-leading Terluran® ABS technology and is planned to come on stream in April 2025.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Covestro and Poland-based construction chemicals producer Selena Group are collaborating to craft a more sustainable range of polyurethane (PU) foams for enhancing building thermal insulation, said Sustainableplastics.

Selena has incorporated Covestro’s bio-attributed methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) in an enhanced version of its Ultra Fast 70 one-component foam, primarily used in the installation of windows and doors. The material is ISSC Plus certified to include plant-based feedstocks through the mass balance method, purportedly resulting in a 60% reduction in carbon footprint compared to fossil-derived counterparts.

The Ultra Fast 70 foam formulation significantly reduces the time needed to install doors and windows, which considerably increases the number of projects that can be completed over the same time, according to Selena. It reportedly fully cures within 90 minutes, a major improvement on the curing times of other products on the market which amount to around 24 hours. The foam also has an increased yield of 70 litres per container, which reduces the total amount of foam needed for the installation of windows or doors.

The new product is said to offer the same properties as its fossil fuel counterparts, allowing customers to seamlessly integrate them into their existing operations without loss of quality. Apart from the bio-attributed PU foam, Selena also includes bio-based polyols and recycled PET materials in its range of foams.

Covestro’s new partnership announcement comes amid reports that it has started talks with Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) on a potential acquisition of the German firm.

We remind, Covestro has completed construction on a new production facility for polyurethane dispersions (PUDs) in Shanghai, China. The plant will be producing waterborne PUDs that boast properties equal to the performance of solvent-based types, and in 2024 also grades with more circular contents.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- The European Parliament has overwhelmingly approved RED III, an updated Renewable Energy Directive, with 470 votes in favor and 120 against, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

RED III aims to increase the share of renewable energy in the EU's final energy consumption to 42.5% by 2030 (with a 45% target for member states) and streamline approval processes for renewable energy projects.

Notably, biomass from wood remains classified as renewable, and a 'Positive silence' principle will expedite approvals when no administrative feedback is given. Additionally, FEDIOL, representing the EU's vegetable oil and protein industry, supports RED III's ambitions, emphasizing the role of crop-based biofuels in reducing GHG intensity in the transport sector and contributing to the EU's emissions reduction goal of at least 55% by 2030 while supporting farmers' incomes.

We remind, China's oil refinery throughput in August rose to a record, data showed on Friday, as processors in the world's second-largest crude consumer kept run rates high to meet summer travel demand and capitalize on strengthening export margins. Total refinery throughput was a record 64.69 million metric tons last month, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed, up 19.6% from a year ago, the fastest annual growth since March 2021.

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