Mitsubishi Chemical to expand PVC compound production facility in Thailand

(JCN Network) -- Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation will expand a PVC compound production facility in Thailand, responding to growing demand, mainly for automobiles. Mitsubishi Chemical supplies PVC compounds for automobile interior and exterior parts and for electric cable & wire to Thailand and neighboring countries, through its subsidiary, Sunprene (Thailand) Co., Ltd.

Demand for automobiles in Thailand and neighboring countries has continued to increase in recent years, and is expected to increase further in the future. In response to this growing demand, Mitsubishi Chemical will expand the PVC compound production facility at the Amata Nakorn Plant of Sunprene (Thailand).

The performance polymers business, including PVC compounds, is positioned as a "growth business" in the Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Group medium-term management plan, APTSIS 15, and Mitsubishi Chemical will continue to promote global business expansion in this field.

MRC

(Food Production Daily) -- RPC Bramlage Food presented a new plastic pack at Interpack - manufactured with barrier multi-layer injection moulding and designed to rival glass and cans in the market for long shelf life products. The multilayer polypropylene (PP) pack is being marketed as a low cost alternative to glass for storing sensitive products like ready meals or pate.

RPC claims the new pack can extend the shelf life of a food product to between 12 and 24 months - depending on the food and the preservation technique used. Sterilisation, pasteurisation and heat sealing are all compatible with the new packaging.

The new technology is achieved by simultaneous injection of skin and core layers creating pack walls with an EVOH barrier layer surrounded by PP measuring 0.4mm in thickness.

MRC

(Plastemart) -- Shell has restarted its 800 KTa ethylene cracker in Bukom Island, Singapore, over the weekend, as per Platts. The cracker has been shut for about two months following an outage. The unit was taken offline for a planned month long maintenance in February this year. Shortly after it restarted, it had to be shut on March 18 due to technical problems, prompting it to declare force majeure on some chemical supplies. It was not clear at what rate the plant was operating.
The cracker is designed to use a range of raw materials including naphtha, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and heavy liquid hydrocarbons such as hydrowax.

MRC

(Bloomberg) -- Formosa Petrochemical Corp. has yet to decide when it will start its No. 1 naphtha cracker and whether it will carry out maintenance at a second unit, originally planned for September. It's still ⌠unclear whether Formosa Petrochemical will shut the No. 3 ethylene plant for work it had scheduled for the third or fourth quarter, Lin Keh-yen, a company spokesman, said by phone from Taipei. Maintenance was planned to last 40 days to 45 days, Lin said in March. Formosa also can't confirm the start-up date for the No. 1 unit, which was halted following a fire at a pipe in the Mailiao oil refining and petrochemicals complex, Lin said.

The suspended ethylene plant has an annual capacity of 700 KT and accounts for about 24% of the refiner's output capacity of the raw material, used in plastics and fabrics, according to the company's website.

MRC

(Arabian Oil and Gas) -- Shell has taken the final investment decision on the Prelude Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) Project in Australia (100% Shell), building the world's first FLNG facility. Moored far out to sea, some 200 kilometres from the nearest land in Australia, the FLNG facility will produce gas from offshore fields, and liquefy it onboard by cooling.

The decision means that Shell is now ready to start detailed design and construction of what will be the world's largest floating offshore facility, in a ship yard in South Korea.

From bow to stern, Shell's FLNG facility will be 488 metres long, and will be the largest floating offshore facility in the world - longer than four soccer fields laid end to end. When fully equipped and with its storage tanks full, it will weigh around 600 KT - roughly six times as much as the largest aircraft carrier. Some 260 KT of that weight will consist of steel - around five times more than was used to build the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

MRC