Kuokuang Petrochemical conducts feasibility assessment for project with Malaysia

(plastemart) -- The Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co. will complete a feasibility assessment by May 2013 for a planned cooperation project with Malaysia, as per CNA. CPC, which holds a 43% stake of Kuokuang, said that upon completion, the assessment report will be submitted to the Ministry of Economic Affairs for approval.

Since a proposed petrochemical investment project in western Taiwan was scrapped in 2011, Kuokuang has been scouting for suitable overseas locations ever. Both Indonesia and Malaysia were options, and Kuokuang's board of directors chose the latter after careful evaluation. Additionally, CPC's fifth naphtha cracker in Taiwan will be closed in 2015 and that since the equipment in the plant still has a life expectancy of 20-25 years, the company will therefore consider relocating the equipment to Malaysia.

The other Kuokuang shareholders are Far Eastern Group, Chang Chun Group, the China Man-made Fiber Corp., Fubon Financial Holding Co. and Ho Tung Chemical Corp.
MRC

(plastemart) -- The development of a new copolymer, combining sugar-based with oil-based macromolecules, makes it possible to design ultra-thin films capable of self-organization on a scale of just 5 nm. This opens up new horizons for increasing the capacity of hard discs and the speed of microprocessors.

The result of a French-American collaboration spearheaded by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), published in ACS Nano, this work has led to the filing of two patents. This new class of thin films based on hybrid copolymers could give rise to numerous applications in flexible electronics, in areas as diverse as nanolithography, biosensors and photovoltaic cells. the team headed by Redouane Borsali, CNRS senior researcher at the Centre de Recherches sur les Macromolecules Vegetales (CERMAV), came up with a hybrid material, combining sugar-based and petroleum-derived (silicon-containing polystyrene) polymers with widely different physical and chemical characteristics.

This copolymer, formed of highly incompatible elementary building blocks, is similar to an oil bubble attached to a small water bubble. The researchers have shown that this type of structure is capable of organizing itself into sugar cylinders within a petroleum-based polymer lattice, each structure having a size of 5 nanometers, i.e. much smaller than the resolution of "old" copolymers, exclusively composed of petroleum derivatives.
MRC

(naturalgaseurope) -- The Nabucco pipline project today submitted a revised proposal to the Shah Deniz II Consortium for the construction of the ?Nabucco West? pipeline.

The modified concept of the original "base case" for the Nabucco project, foresees the construction of a 1,300 km pipeline running from the Bulgarian-Turkish border to the Central European Gas Hub in Baumgarten, Austria.

The shorter ?West? pipeline option reduced the length and cost of the originally submitted design by starting at Turkey's western border, leaving gas transport through Turkey to existing infrastructure or a new pipeline such as TANAP.

The Nabucco corsortium said that Nabucco West is designed to transport gas initially from Azerbaijan, but is fully scalable to meet future gas transport demand from the Caspian Region and Middle-East to the European markets.

The consortium stated that Nabucco West will benefit from the existing legal framework, namely the Intergovernmental Agreement, Project Support Agreements and third party access exemptions as the Nabucco base case and will follow exactly the same route on European Union territory.
MRC

(acron) -- Through subsidiary Norica Holding, Acron Group has announced a tender offer for purchase shares in WSE-listed Zaklady Azotowe totaling up to 66% of total votes on general shareholders meeting.

The offered price is PLN 36 per share, representing a premium of 18.3% over Azoty Tarnow 6-month average market price and 12.1% over the closing price on 15 May 2012. Investors may tender their shares between 6 June and 22 June 2012.

Acron Group is one of Europe?s ten largest mineral fertiliser manufacturers, with assets in Russia, China, Estonia and Canada. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and Moscow?s MICEX-RTS.

Acron Group is a leading global mineral fertiliser producer with a diversified product portfolio including 40 chemical products sold in 60 markets around the world. Acron Group owns substantial potash and phosphate reserves and has a significant ammonia production capacity (1.7 million tonnes annually), a key component in mineral fertiliser manufacture.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In April, imports of EPS decreased and reached 1,650 tonnes, according to MRC analysts.

From the beginning of 2012 the import volumes of EPS increased significantly having reached 3,800 tonnes, which was up 27% than in Q1 of 2011. Such high volumes were provided by the Asian EPS, contracted in late 2011. The level of material consumption in Ukraine in Q1 of 2012 was low.

In this April, the imports decreased by 5% compared to the previous month to 1,650 tonnes. Thus, from the beginning of the year the total supplies of EPS made 5,530 tonnes, which was up 8.5% than in January-April 2011.

The major share in the supplies still fell on EPS from company Loyal, which makes one third of the deliveries in 2012. Russia's Sibur-Khimprom expectedly increased the supply of EPS. The share of Alfapor makes 26% from the total imports of material in the current year, which equals 1,500 tonnes.

MRC