Valero Meraux Oil Refinery Restarts Crude Unit After July Fire

(bloomberg) -- Valero Energy Corp. (VLO)’s Meraux oil refinery in Louisiana has restarted its crude unit, which has been shut since a July 22 fire.

It will take "several days" for the unit to run at full rates, according to a company source.

The company shut the entire 135,000-barrel-a-day refinery, 10 miles (16 kilometers) east of New Orleans, after the fire. It restarted downstream production units at the plant Aug. 6 and ran them at reduced rates.

However, Hurricane Isaac, which hit Louisiana in late August, as MRC reported earlier, delayed Valero’s plans to restart the crude unit in the first week of September.

Valero restarted the downstream units Sept. 4 and has been running them at reduced rates. The downstream units will advance to full rates with the crude unit, said a source.
MRC

Sabic introduces new HDPE grade for healthcare applications

(pressreleasefinder) -- SABIC has developed a new grade of high density polyethylene (HDPE) - SABIC HDPE PCG4906 - for large containers used in healthcare applications in close cooperation with Mauser, a well-known supplier of blow moulded industrial packaging solutions.

The new grade is aimed for production of such products as jerry cans, open-head and tight-head drums, and Intermediate Bulk Containers (IBCs), as well as for blow moulded bottles.

"With the new grade, SABIC is expanding its portfolio of healthcare thermoplastics to cover all types of packaging used in the sector," says Hery Randrianantoandro, Business Development Manager Healthcare, SABIC, region Europe.

Sabic is a diversified manufacturing company, active in chemicals and intermediates, industrial polymers, fertilizers and metals. It is the largest public company in Saudi Arabia. Sabic is currently the second largest global ethylene glycol producer, the third largest polyethylene manufacturer, the fourth largest polyolefins manufacturer and the fourth largest polypropylene manufacturer.
MRC

Malaysian Scientex buying major film rival

(plasticsnews) -- Malaysia’s Scientex Bhd has reached an agreement to buy GW Plastics Holdings Bhd for 283.2 million Malaysian ringgit (USD92.63 million) in cash and guaranteeing current debts.

Scientex subsidiary Scientex Packaging Film Sdn Bhd will take over Great Wall Plastic Industries Bhd and GW Packaging Sdn Bhd, GW Plastics said in a filing.

The takeover, to be completed by the first quarter of next year, will boost Scientex’s industrial cast film production capacity to 154,000 metric tons per year, from 120,000 metric tons.

The acquisition increases Scientex’s export base, since 97% of GW Plastics products are exported to international markets.

Though global markets were impacted by the ongoing economic crisis in the West, the plastics packaging market was projected to maintain a steady growth. Growth market patterns would also switch to Asia Pacific and other emerging economies from the traditional European and American markets, said Scientex, in its own filing with the Malaysia stock exchange.

The company also cited plans by GW Plastic and GW Packaging to increase production capacity in the United States, China, Russia and Africa.
MRC

Food-grade PET recycling joint venture with Coca-Cola Enterprises

(plasteurope) -- Thanks to a new EUR 9m joint venture with Coca-Cola Enterprises France, APPE will raise output at its PET recycling facility in Beaune / France by 70%. The packaging business of La Seda de Barcelona (LSB, Barcelona,Spain) did not specify when the added capacity – some 20,000 t/y of food-grade PET – would come on stream, merely saying that once complete, the site would be able to turn out 48,000 t/y of "SuperCycle" PET.

Part of the money will go towards installing a new SSP tower from Buhler (Braunschweig, Germany) in Beaune that will allow APPE and CCE to trial new recycling techniques. The announcement comes after several investments undertaken by APPE at the site, including EUR 10m in new equipment in 2010.

The LSB subsidiary said that aside from a continuous development of its PET food grade recycling capacity, the joint venture underlined its strategic objective to develop materials, preforms and containers with a lower carbon footprint.
MRC

Polyethylene to see more use during switch to 1-piece caps

(plasticsnews) -- In the U.S., processors use injected molded, high density polyethylene closures to cap water bottles. However, carbonated soft drinks and hot-fill applications are usually topped with compression molded, two-piece closures, an outer polypropylene shell and a liner, usually made from ethylene vinyl acetate.

The U.S. preference for two-piece caps is unique - one-piece closures are common on soft drinks in other locations, primarily Europe and Asia.

Switching from a two-piece to a one-piece closure requires changing both material and manufacturing process, and, according to the experts, these changes offer several economical and environmental advantages.

PE is now a more cost-effective material than PP. The material also has a balance of toughness and stiffness that can make it a prime replacement for PP in most applications, said Eric Vignola, research and development manager for PE products at Nova Chemicals Corp. of Calgary, Alberta.

And processors are taking advantage of those opportunities - HDPE is the fastest-growing material in the caps and closures arena and it’s taking some of that market share from PP, partly thanks to the growing one-piece market, said Ashish Chitalia, project manager at Houston-based Chemical Market Resources Inc.

Switching to one-piece caps can eliminate material in both the cap and the bottle, said Lothar Brauer, marketing and business development director at Bericap GmbH & Co. KG.

MRC