Styron develops new thermoplastic lift-gate solution for the new Renault Clio

(plasticsinformart) -- Styron has unveiled the first full-thermoplastic, mono-material lift-gate ever produced in series on a commercial vehicle featured in the New Renault Clio.

After a two-year development project with Styron, Renault is now launching the New Renault Clio with a thermoplastic lift-gate made with Styron’s material solutions. The lift-gate is manufactured in thermoplastic from three separate parts:

- the inner skin is injection moulded using a talc filled polypropylene compound from Styron and connects to the structural part;

the structural part is produced with long glass fiber polypropylene resin (LGF-PP) concentrate developed by Styron. This concentrate is diluted directly on the moulding machine with appropriate PP copolymer resin through dry-blend directly;

- the outer skin is made with Styron’s INSPIRE at-press talc masterbatch concept, which injection moulds through blending of the different components (polypropylene impact copolymer, specifically designed 70% talc masterbatch and the required color concentrate), allowing for a tailored mechanical performance to meet the OEM specific application requirements.

Styron LLC is a plastics (including polystyene, ABS and compounds&blends), rubber, and latex producer.
MRC

Gazprom and Gail enter into a 20-year agreement

(hydrocarbonprocessing) -- India's state-run Gail Ltd has signed a 20-year deal to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Singapore unit of Russia's state-owned gas giant, Gazprom.

The Gail/Gazprom deal may also help revive development of the long-delayed Shtokman natural gas field in Arctic Russia, which Gazprom has been delaying since the beginning of the year, as MRC reported earlier.

The deal will help India meet its growing demand for energy and the government's target of doubling the share of natural gas in the nation's energy mix to 20% by 2025. India has struggled with an energy shortage that has limited its economic growth in recent years.
MRC

Westlake to increase PVC output along with ethylene production

(cnbc) -- Westlake has announced an expansion of the existing PVC plant in Calvert City, Kentucky, and the plans to convert the feedstock for its Calvert City ethylene plant from propane to ethane along with increasing ethylene capacity from 450 million pounds per year to 630 million pounds per year.

This expansion and feedstock conversion will add approximately 200 million pounds per year of PVC capacity to the existing 1,100 million pounds of annual capacity, enhance Westlake's vinyl chain integration and leverage low cost ethane being developed in the Marcellus shale area.

This PVC expansion will allow Westlake to take advantage of the increased ethylene production at the site and to provide additional PVC resin to meet the growing demands of global customers.

The construction costs for these projects are estimated to range between USD210 to USD240 million. The ethylene expansion and feedstock conversion project is targeted for start-up in the second quarter of 2014 and the PVC expansion is projected to start up in late 2014.

Westlake Chemical Corporation is a U.S. manufacturer and supplier of petrochemicals and polymers, headquartered in Houston, Texas. The range of company's products includes ethylene, polyethylene (PE), styrene, propylene (PP), caustics, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and plastic products.
MRC

Arkema finalizes the acquisition of an Acrylic Emulsions site in Brazil

(arkema) -- Announced on July 16th this year, the project for the acquisition by the Arkema subsidiary Coatex of an acrylic additives and emulsions production site from Brazilian company Resicryl, was closed on October 1st 2012 as scheduled.

The production site that has been acquired, located in Aracariguama on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, will be part of Coatex which already runs commercial operations in Brazil. Current Coatex sales in Brazil and those from the new site will generate a turnover of around 20 million U.S. dollars.

The site’s production plants will gradually be developed to manufacture without delay Arkema’s full range of rheology additives and waterborne emulsions for the mineral industry, paper, construction, water treatment, paint and adhesives, and cosmetics markets.

Arkema is a leading European supplier of chlorochemicals and PVC. A subsidiary of the Arkema Group, Coatex specializes in the manufacture and marketing of flow additives used in a large number of markets. With a global presence, industrial sites in France, the Netherlands, the United States, China and Korea, and sales offices on five continents, Coatex reported sales of around EUR180 million in 2011.
MRC

KBR gets a license and process design contract for China new olefins recovery facility

(KBR) -- This week, KBR has been awarded a license and process design package contract for a new olefins recovery unit in Yulin city in China’s Shanxi Province.

That plant with the capacity of 600,000 tpy of olefins (ethylene plus propylene) is the first and largest coal-to-olefin project in the world using coal as the feedstock to produce polyethylene and polypropylene by coal gasification to methanol, then methanol to olefin (MTO), and then olefin polymerization, according to KBR. It is planned to be put into production in 2014.

KBR officials say MTO opens up a new approach to the implementation of the energy substitution strategy and the founding of coal to the olefin industry.

Apart from being the largest contractor for the United States Army and a top-ten contractor for the U.S. Department of Defense, KBR is also an industry leader in transforming hydrocarbon resources into value across all sectors of the energy and chemicals industries. By designing and constructing energy and petrochemical projects that offer the latest and best process and design technologies.
MRC