German Ticona added to its range a new high-tech POM

(PlastEurope) -- With ⌠Hostaform ⌠XT20, German plastics producer Ticona has added to its range a new high-tech POM that it says ⌠sets a new scale for cold impact- and fuel-resistance and extends the polymer's possibilities into regions previously open only to impact-resistant modified PA 11/12.

The extrudable polymer is designed in particular for pipes and hoses used in such automotive applications as protective sleeves of hand brake cables and elastic shafts of seat adjusters or sun roofs. It is also claimed to hold promise in applications such as fuel lines, pneumatic braking systems, clutches, air-conditioning and power steering.

Ticona says the third-generation Hostaform product exhibits burst strength and impact toughness that meet most of the requirements set for technical pipe applications, including greater low-temperature impact strength and improved chemical resistance as well as low water absorption, excellent mechanical and tribological properties.

MRC

(Plastemart) -- Nigeria has become a net-exporter of polymers like polyethylene a(PE) and polypropylene (PP), courtesy Indorama-Eleme Petrochemicals Company Limited (EPCL). The polymers are being exported to various countries in Europe, Asia, and parts of Africa. Since EPCL was privatized in 2006, it has been producing various grades of PE and PP, and accounts for 10% of Nigeria's non oil exports.

MRC

(ICIS) -- Spot prices of benzene and xylenes in the domestic Chinese market look set to weaken, as supply will increase once a huge aromatics facility at Huizhou in Guangdong province resumes operations, while demand is still weak, market sources said on Tuesday.

The facility owned and operated by China National Offshore Oil Corp Oil (CNOOC) subsidiary, CNOOC Oil & Petrochemicals, is the country's second biggest aromatics plant. It is expected to come back on stream in the middle of the month after an outage of about four months. The facility can produce 350,000 tonnes/year of benzene, 220,000 tonnes/year of toluene and 900,000 tonnes/year of xylenes, a company source said. The company is also expected to resume operations at its 850,000 tonne/year paraxylene (PX) plant at the site at around the same time.

With more supply coming into the market amid soft demand, spot prices of aromatics products are likely to come off, market sources said.


MRC

(ICIS) -- Contract ethylene cracker margins based on naphtha feedstock have fallen to the lowest level since April on a combination of a lower November contract price, firmer naphtha prices and the strength of the US dollar against the euro, ICIS margin analysis showed on Monday. Contract margins fell by 30%, dropping ┬162/tonne ($222/tonne) week-on-week because of a 4% rise in feedstock costs.

A slight rise in naphtha values was magnified by a 3% strengthening of the US dollar.
Spot margins fared a little better, supported by higher spot ethylene euro-based prices and co-product credits. However, spot margins remain significantly below contract margins, at a ┬347/tonne disadvantage.

The November ethylene contract settled at ┬1,095/tonne FD (free delivered) NWE (northwest Europe), down ┬20/tonne from October.


MRC

(ICIS) -- Mexico-based polyvinyl chloride (PVC) producer Mexichem is in discussions to take an ownership stake in a new US ethylene cracker, a senior executive said on Monday. ⌠We are in the very preliminary stages of discussions to partner on a condo cracker in the US, said Juan Francisco Sanchez Kramer, strategic procurement manager at Mexichem.

Sanchez Kramer spoke to ICIS on the sidelines of the 31st annual meeting of the Latin American Petrochemical Association (APLA).⌠We are talking to three potential partners on this, he added.
Two of the potential partners have announced firm plans to proceed with crackers in the US based on greater shale gas availability, while the third has announced its intention to build a cracker, noted Sanchez Kramer.⌠The cracker would have to be on the Gulf Coast, so it is close to our VCM [vinyl chloride monomer] and PVC plants in Mexico, he said.

Companies that have announced firm plans to build a cracker in the US include Netherlands-based LyondellBasell, US-based Dow Chemical, and Anglo-Dutch company Shell. However, Shell announced its intention to build its cracker near the Marcellus shale gas formation in the northeast US.
Many others, including US-based Chevron Phillips Chemical and Brazil's Braskem have announced they are studying a new US cracker.

Mexichem is interested in obtaining a share in the cracker that would allow it to take 500,000-600,000 tonnes/year of ethylene to produce ethylene dichloride (EDC), which would be used to make vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) and then PVC.


MRC