BASF and INEOS signed a joint venture contract

(BASF) -- BASF SE and INEOS Industries Holdings Limited have made an important step towards the establishment of the joint venture company Styrolution. On May 27, 2011 the companies signed a joint venture contract, which regulates the formation of the joint venture company Styrolution. The establishment of the joint venture is subject to approval by the appropriate antitrust authorities.


BASF and INEOS plan to combine their global business activities in styrene monomers (SM), polystyrene (PS), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), styrene-butadiene block copolymers (SBC) and other styrene-based copolymers (SAN, AMSAN, ASA, MABS) as well as copolymer blends into the new joint venture called Styrolution. The business with expandable polystyrene is not part of the transaction. BASF and INEOS will retain their respective businesses.


The company headquarters will be located in Frankfurt/Main, Germany. In the joint venture 50% of the shares will be owned by BASF and 50% by INEOS. BASF will receive cash consideration following the completion of the transaction.


MRC

Injection molders to benefit from new products

(PlasticsToday) -- Injection molders stand to benefit from new products recently introduced including temperature control units from Conair and a Universal needle valve unit from Hasco. Extrusion systems manufacturer Davis-Standard, meanwhile, reports on a customer pleased with its HDPE recycling systems.


Conair is introducing two new mold temperature control units (TCUs). The TW-HT Series TCUs use superheated water instead of hot oil to achieve mold temperatures as high as 392╟F (200╟C). The TW-ALT temperature control unit sends sequential bursts of hot and then cold water through a mold to help reduce cycle times and improve quality and surface finish in injection molded parts. This sort of pulsed heating/cooling of a mold often makes sense when a mold is made of high-thermal-conductivity steel and includes contoured cooling channels.


For molders running PEEK, polyetherimide (Sabic Innovative Plastics' Ultem is the best known) and other materials that may require mold temperatures as high as 435╟F (225╟C), a special TW-HTM model is available.


The closed-loop TW-HT and TW-HTM systems operate under pressures to 218 psi (15 bar) and 250 psi (17.24 bar) respectively, so the circulating water remains liquid even at temperatures that are twice as high as the sea-level boiling point. Any leak in the closed-loop system rapidly depressurizes and the water evaporates immediately on exposure to the atmosphere, so there is very little risk of injury.


Also new from the company is its TW-ALT alternating TCU, which shoots bursts of alternating cold and hot water through a mold. These are marketed especially to molders of parts used in appearance-critical applications and components requiring optical clarity.


MRC

Taiwanese supplier to cease manufacturing foam grades

(Plastics Today) -- The booming solar encapsulant film market has prompted one Taiwanese supplier to cease manufacturing foam grades for footwear altogether and instead focus 1500 tonnes/month of its capacity on this application alone. The supplier in question, USI Corp. (Taipei) has now outsourced footwear grade production to sister company Asia Polymer Corp. (Taipei).


Solar grade prices have peaked at USD 3300 per tonne, according to Kevin Huang, Deputy Marketing Manager at USI. Foam grades are reportedly currently pegged at USD 2850-2900 per tonne CIF Ningbo, while hot melt grades have reached USD 3250.


Huang does feel the market for EVA sheet may have peaked, however, because sheet converters have over-invested in extrusion capacity in Japan, China and the U.S. just as some countries are starting to withdraw subsidies for solar panel insulation and a large inventory of unsold solar panels starts tp build.


MRC

Oil futures reached their highest since May 11

(Bloomberg) -- Oil traded near a two-week high in New York on signs of increased U.S. fuel demand after a government report showed inventories of diesel and heating oil fell in the world's biggest crude-consuming nation.


Futures reached their highest since May 11 today after the Energy Department said yesterday that U.S. distillate supplies declined 2.04 million barrels to 141.1 million last week, the lowest since April 2009. Fuel demand climbed 2.2 percent. Oil may rise to USD 106 a barrel in coming weeks as prices mirror an early-May pullback in 2010 that launched a rally in the rest of that year, Societe Generale SA said.


Crude for July delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange was at USD 101.22 a barrel at 9:14 a.m. London time, down 10 cents, after gaining as much as 58 cents to USD 101.90. Brent crude for July settlement was at USD 114.73 a barrel, down 23 cents, on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London. The contract yesterday climbed USD 2.40, or 2.1 percent, to USD 114.93, the highest settlement since May 10.


MRC

UOP technology to be selected for a new transportation fuel refinery in Iraq

(Arabian Oil and Gas) -- UOP, a Honeywell company, announced that its technology has been selected for a new transportation fuel refinery to be built in Iraq.


The State Company for Oil Projects (SCOP), under the Ministry of Oil for Iraq, has selected Honeywell's UOP to provide key technologies to process 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) of domestic crude oil into gasoline and diesel fuel at the new facility in Nassiriya, Iraq.


Honeywell's UOP previously received awards in 2010 from South Refineries Company and North Refineries Company for new refineries in Maissan and Kirkuk, Iraq, each rated at 150,000 bpd.


⌠We are pleased to be working with the SCOP again as Iraq focuses on doubling its oil refining capacity, said Rajeev Gautam, president and CEO of UOP. ⌠The high yields delivered by our technologies combined with our methodology for process unit integration and optimization will enable SCOP to produce the maximum yields of high-quality gasoline and diesel product while also maximizing the economic value of the project.


MRC