Mogilevkhimvolokno invests EUR20mln in upgrades

(polyestertime) -- Belarus PET polymer and polyester fibres producer Mogilevkhimvolokno is investing more than EUR20mln this year in its continuing project to upgrade and expand its plants in Mogilev.

This will include the launch of a scheme to boost the company's capacity to produce bottle grade PET resin and
equipment installation is already underway to increase its moulding output of PET bottle preforms. The new PET
line is set to raise the firm's PET polymer capacity to over 160,000 tpa. - three times the current output,
according to the company.

Later in the year, Mogilevkhimvolokno will install a new 50,000 tpa plant to produce fatty acid methyl esters for the production of biodiesel engine fuel.

Mogilevkhimvolokno, the chemicals subsidiary of the country's state oil and chemicals group Belneftekhim, is steadily growing its exports which will be boosted further on completion of the current investment programme.
The majority of the company's products are exported to 30 countries around the world, among them Russia,
China, Poland, Romania, Lithuania, the US, Germany and Italy.

MRC

(basf) -- With the addition of Ecovio F Mulch, BASF is expanding its line of biodegradable plastic compounds in the form of a grade for use in the manufacture of agricultural films. In contrast to agricultural film made from conventional polyethylene (PE), film made from Ecovio F Mulch biodegrades.

It is no longer necessary for farmers to retrieve the film from the field for disposal or recycling after the harvest. They can simply plow it under along with what remains from the plants. This saves time and reduces costs. Production of the film is also economical, since it can be manufactured at a lighter gauge than conventional PE film without any loss in performance. Moreover, Ecovio F Mulch represents a drop-in solution for the film producer: Since this resin can be processed on conventional PE extrusion machines without extensive modification, the processor can convert his equipment quickly and without great effort. The material is now available in commercial quantities around the world.

BASF has been offering Ecoflex F Mulch for years, a grade of biodegradable polyester that compounders have mixed with other components to produce individual formulations of mulch films for their customers in agriculture. The new plastic grade is suitable for the production of classical black and transparent but also for colored films. Moreover it is available in custom formulations for different vegetation times and climates.

MRC

(chemmonitor) -- The Belgium-headquartered company SolVin operates polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plants at Tavaux site (France) and at Jemeppe site (Belgium). The company recommenced the operations at the facilities after the shutdown caused by force majeure in early February.

This force majeure was driven by weather conditions, which influenced the production of K70 and K57 at Tavaux plant and all the grades at the Jemeppe one.

MRC

(arkema) -- Arkema has expanded its Rilsan HT (high temperature) range with an ultra-flexible grade that is close to the flexibility of polyamide extrusion grades. Launched in 2009, Rilsan HT is the first flexible polyphthalamide (PPA)-based material to replace metal in high-temperature tubing applications.


With this breakthrough in ultra-flexibility, new opportunities for cost-effective alternatives to metal, rubber or fluorinated polymers in tubing assemblies are becoming a reality. With up to 70% renewable carbon content, Rilsan HT aptly fits many industries' focus on environmentally sustainable solutions.

In the PPA material class known for its success as a metal substitute as well as its inherent brittleness and restriction to rather rigid injection-molded parts, the first flexible Rilsan HT grade with an 820 MPa modulus marks a significant step-change. This latest member of the Rilsan HT family now shifts the modulus boundaries even further downward, close to 500 MPa.

MRC

(news.szenergy.biz) -- The Chinese government's expansionary fiscal policy along with the first signs of stabilizing petrochemical and plastic prices in China will lead to a better performance of the Chinese petrochemical sector in 2012 compared with 2011, Barclays Capital said in a research note Wednesday.

A healthier petrochemical sector would propel a stronger performance of petrochemical feedstock naphtha in Asia in 2012, and would also be positive for gasoline. Naphtha plays a very important role, required for blending into finished gasoline.

"In 2011, a weakening petrochemical sector backed off a significant amount of naphtha, which weakened the gasoline balance by blending into it," the note said, adding that with the demand for naphtha underlined by the health of the Asian petrochemical sector, the cost of production of the gasoline chain was now closely tied with petrochemicals.

The note added that gasoline supplies were "comfortable" in 2011 due to the modification in the average output mix of those refineries endowed with some flexibility.

MRC