Lubrizol factory struggles to stop foul gas leak

MOSCOW (MRC) -- At approximately 8 a.m. local time on Monday, January 21, Lubrizol Corporation, a leading global supplier of fuel and lubricant additives for transportation and industrial applications, detected instability with a batch of one of the products at the plant in Rouen, France, said Lubrizol in its press release.

The resulting unpleasant smell is caused by mercaptan, which is a non-toxic compound at the quantities involved. This is the same substance commonly used to give natural gas a detectable smell. Neutralizing the mercaptan smell is a slow process, and the unpleasant smell can linger until the process is complete.

The company expressed a deep regret for any inconvenience. Plant operations have been temporarily suspended, and company's teams continue to work in close cooperation with local authorities to stop the smell as quickly as possible.

French Ecology Minister Delphine Batho said there was no health risk after she visited the factory in the northern city of Rouen in Normandy, said BBC.

Thousands of people, from as far away as Paris and London, have complained of nausea and headaches.

The gas is mercaptan, an additive to natural gas said to be harmless.

Authorities will investigate what caused the link and whether the company should be held responsible, the ecology minister said.

he Lubrizol Corporation, is a specialty chemical company that produces and supplies technologies, which are designed to improve the quality and performance of products in the global transportation, industrial and consumer markets.

Headquartered in Wickliffe, Ohio, United States, Lubrizol is divided into two distinct segments, the Lubrizol Additives division and the Lubrizol Advanced Materials segment.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Gurit Holding AG, a leading global supplier of composite materials, engineering, tooling, parts, and systems has won a second supply contract from a prestigious car manufacturer in the Italian market and announces a further expansion of its UK-based automotive parts manufacturing site, resulting in doubling the capacities by mid-year, said Gurit in its statement.

Building on its achievements of last year, Gurit has successfully secured a second supply agreement with a prestigious OEM in the Italian automotive market. The prototype deliveries of the new composite parts will commence in Q1 2013, with series supply starting in the second half of the year. The whole new contract is worth some EUR 1.5 million.

The continued demand for Gurit’s high-end SPRINTTM CBS components in the UK, German and Italian markets has resulted in the need to further expand its existing parts manufacturing capacity at its UK site. The expansion will start in Q1 2013 and will be completed by the summer, doubling the overall automotive composite car parts production capacity.

Martin Starkey, Managing Director of Gurit Automotive, commented: "Securing our second series programme in Italy so quickly after the first, is further proof for the technology and skills we provide our customers. Clearly, the trend towards the adoption of carbon fibre composite parts in automotive continues to grow at a considerable pace. To ensure we can maintain our market leading position as an advanced composite parts Tier 1 supplier, I am also pleased to announce the next expansion of our manufacturing capacity in our UK site".

The companies of Gurit Holding AG, Wattwil/Switzerland, are specialised on the development and manufacture of advanced composite materials, related technologies and select finished parts and components. The comprehensive product range comprises fibre reinforced prepregs, structural core products (man-made materials and balsa wood), gel coats, adhesives, resins and consumables.

As MRC wrote earlier, Gurit expanded its position in the materials market for rotor blades built using infusion technology through the introduction of the “PVCell” G-Foam family of structural foams. Developed and produced by Gurit’s subsidiary in Qingdao, China, the range is used in the manufacture of wind turbine rotor blades for the local Chinese market where PVC foams are widely employed.

Gurit supplies global growth markets with composite materials on the one hand and composite tooling equipment, structural engineering and select finished parts on the other. The global Group has production sites and offices in Switzerland, Germany, the UK, Canada, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, the USA, Ecuador, Brazil, India and China.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- With the plant's annual output of 800,000 metric tons of paraxylene and 120,000 tonnes of benzene, the two companies aim to grab a sizeable chunk of Asia's growing petrochemical market. Hyundai Cosmo Petrochemical (HCP) is a 50-50 venture between Japan’s Cosmo Oil and South Korea’s Hyundai Oilbank, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

A paraxylene plant jointly built by Cosmo Oil and Hyundai Oilbank in South Korea began commercial operations Friday, five months earlier than planned.

With the plant's annual output of 800,000 metric tons of paraxylene and 120,000 tons of benzene, the two companies aim to grab a sizeable chunk of Asia's growing petrochemical market.

Paraxylene is used in producing polyester, a raw material for plastic bottles and textiles.

Cosmo also aims to reduce local light distillate supply by exporting to the paraxylene plant, as demand for gasoline is on the decline in Japan.

Cosmo and Hyundai are partly owned by the Abu Dhabi government's investment arm, International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC), and the two companies had been considering areas of cooperation after they signed a broad agreement last April.

The venture is expected to post annual revenues of around 200-300 billion yen and earn 10 billion to 30 billion yen in profit after the paraxylene unit begins operations, Kimura said.

Many global energy firms have cancelled or delayed projects since last year and several Japanese firms have halted domestic production of paraxylene.

But Cosmo Oil officials said the margins for paraxylene are expected to improve between now and 2013. China and other Asian nations are expected to be the main export market.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SABIC Innovative Plastics strengthens its position in the market of auto components. The company's new post-industrial recycled (PIR) grade of NORYL GTX™ resin has been successfully adopted by Renault S.A., the French autoproducer, according to SABIC's press release.

This new SABIC's material for the fenders of Renault's 2013 Clio IV makes it a new milestone in the partners' 25-year collaboration in developing thermoplastic fenders.

The new NORYL GTX grade is a step forward to comply with the European Union’s end-of-life vehicle (ELV) requirements. The OEM adopted the new SABIC material for the fenders and will expand the usage of the new material to the upcoming ZOE electric vehicle. Thus, SABIC demonstrates its ongoing commitment to improve its materials technologies in response to changing regulations and advanced customer's requirements.

NORYL GTX resins are conductive blends of polyamide (PA) and modified polyphenylene ether (PPE).

As MRC informed earlier, in the second half of 2012, after a two-year development project with Styron, Renault launched the New Renault Clio with a thermoplastic lift-gate made with Styron's material solutions.

Sabic is ranked among the world's largest petrochemicals manufacturers. It is the largest public company in Saudi Arabia. The comany manufactures chemicals and intermediates, industrial polymers, fertilizers and metals. It is currently the second largest global ethylene glycol producer. Among its products are propylene, paraxylene, styrene, vinyl chloride monomer.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Canada-based NOVA Chemicals has resumed commercial production of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) at its facility in Moore, Ontario , reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The company's plant is operating at its full capacity.

The plant was shut down for months after an incident involving the reactor in late December 2011, a MRC informed ealier. It reportedly ran at very reduced rates in the second half of 2012. The damage, caused by the shutdown of the production in the first half of this year, amounted to USD40-50 million (EUR32-36 million).

"During the period between the incident in late 2011 and now, we committed resources and capital to not only rebuild the reactor, but also enhance our ability to operate more safely and reliably, with a streamlined product slate to better serve our customers," said Chris Bezaire, senior vice president of NOVA's polyethylene business.

Growth in the LDPE market is part of NOVA 2020, the company's long-term asset strategy to capitalize on emerging feedstock opportunities and growing North American demand. Restoring the Moore facility is the first step in NOVA Chemicals’ plan to strengthen its commitment to the LDPE market to better meet the needs of customers. According MRC DataScope, in 2006, NOVA Chemicals was not represented in the Russian PE market. From 2000 to 2005, the company imported to Russia on average 1,000-2,000 tonnes of the material.
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