Evonik commissions production plant for a new generation of PVC plasticizers

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Evonik is launching a new generation of PVC plasticizers under the ELATUR product brand. With this strategic portfolio expansion, Evonik is consistently developing its range of sustainable plasticizers, said the producers in its press-release.

In June 2013 production started for the phthalate-free plasticizer 1,2-Cyclohexa dicarboxylic acid diisononyl ester. Evonik’s new production plant came on stream at Marl Chemical Park with an annual production capacity of 40,000 metric tons. Investment was in the double-digit million euro range. The phthalate-free plasticizer is sold under the ELATUR CH brand name. Evonik started construction of the production facilities at the Marl Chemical Park in early 2012.

Consistent research will help to add further innovative products to the new generation of plasticizers. To develop the plasticizers further, Evonik operates its own research and development laboratory at Marl Chemical Park, offering also technical customer service.

"The expansion of the portfolio with phthalate-free and bio-based plasticizers is an ideal addition to our existing VESTINOL product family that has been tried and tested for decades," explains Dr. Rainer Fretzen, Head of Evonik’s Performance Intermediates Business Line. "With our new plasticizers from the ELATUR brand, our customers now have an even wider portfolio from which to choose the plasticizer that best suits their individual requirements. We thus offer our customers a complete service including logistics and technical support from a single source."

Plasticizers from Evonik are primarily used in the plastics, automotive, and construction industry.

Evonik, the creative industrial group from Germany, is one of the world leaders in specialty chemicals. Profitable growth and a sustained increase in the value of the company form the heart of Evonik’s corporate strategy. Its activities focus on the key megatrends health, nutrition, resource efficiency and globalization.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF aims to continue growing faster than the market with its downstream plastics, as well as large-volume monomers and commodity polymers, said the producer in its press-release.

By bundling all specialty polymers in the newly created Performance Materials division, the company has further strengthened its focus on the needs of its customers.

BASF is investing not only in its specialty business but also in basic products required for the specialty polymers business, for example methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) and toluene diisocyanate (TDI). BASF is currently constructing world-scale MDI and TDI production plants. An MDI plant with an annual capacity of 400,000 metric tons in Chongqing, China, is scheduled to start production in 2014 . A TDI plant with an annual capacity of 300,000 metric tons is also planned to go on stream in 2014 in Ludwigshafen. Integration into the BASF Verbund structure enables a high level of supply security and cost leadership in MDI and TDI, which is a crucial advantage for BASF’s downstream specialties too.

BASF is strengthening its specialty polymer business with a number of investments. These include expanding production of engineering plastics in Ludwigshafen and the acquisition of Mazzaferro’s polyamide polymer business in Brazil. BASF started construction of a new manufacturing plant for the high-performance polymer Ultrason in Korea in 2012. The company is expanding thermoplastic polyurethane production capacity at the Lemforde site. In Ludwigshafen, the production capacity for the innovative insulation material Neopor is being expanded.

The increasing use of biopolymers presents another growth market. BASF plans to expand its business in this area. "We are currently stepping up research into a biodegradable, primarily biobased foam with properties similar to those of polystyrene foam for use as packaging for food and electric and electronic goods,"said Brudermuller.

The main driver of profitable growth is innovation. BASF’s spending on research and development hit another record high of EUR1.7 billion in 2012. "We will create key future innovations not only with new polymers but, above all, with novel functional materials and system solutions. BASF has an excellent technology and skills portfolio in polymers and additives that we have enhanced even further by the Ciba and Cognis acquisitions," said Brudermuller. BASF has combined its polymer and additives research in a single technology platform and developed it into the division Advanced Materials & Systems Research.

BASF is the largest diversified chemical company in the world and is headquartered in Ludwigshafen, Germany. BASF produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A fire occurred at the Bratislava-based oil refinery Slovnaft on Monday, June 24, said Spectator.

"We started an ethylene unit, and there was a smaller fire during this start, but it was soon extinguished by our factory firemen," Slovnaft spokesperson Anton Molnar told the TASR newswire. "We did not need any help from outside, it was just a minor accident."

One man was examined at the hospital in Ruzinov, but his condition did not require further hospitalisation. "The man complained about problems with breathing, but examinations finally didn’t reveal intoxication by combustion gasses,”" the spokesperson of the University Hospital Bratislava, which operates the Ruzinov hospital, Petra Stano Matasovska, said. "After the treatment, he felt better."

According to MRC data, Slovnaft has not been supplying PP-random to Russia since 2008. Several years before the company's shipments to Russia had been negligible. Slovnat had mostly supplied block copolymers and homopolymers of polypropylene to the Russian market. Overall, since 2008, Slovnaft has reduced imports of polypropylene to Russia by 6.5 times.

Slovnaft Petrochemicals, s.r.o., represents the Petrochemicals Division of Slovnaft Group. It produces polymers of high quality which are base materials with a broad range of uses. The geographical position of company gives it an important advantage when penetrating the quickly growing polymer markets of Central Europe.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - In May, the output of suspension PVC (SPVC) in Russia totalled 54,300 tonnes, up 2% from April, according to MRC ScanPlast.

Russian producers of SPVC continue to keep a high level of capacity utilisation. May increase in production resulted from calendar factor (there are 31 days in May).

SayanskKhimPlast last month produced 27,600 tonnes of resin, from 26,800 tonnes in April.

Kaustik (Volgograd) in May increased the capacity utilisation rate by 2%, the total output of PVC made about 18,600 tonnes. Kaustik, (Volgograd), traditionally has the maintenance works in April - May, but this year the plant is going to have turnaround in the fall.
In May the output of SPVC by the plant made 8,100 tonnes.

Sibur-neftekhim in early April completely stopped its chlorine production in the framework of the project RusVinyl.


Over the first five months of this year the total production of SPVC in Russia totalled 267,200 tonnes, up 3% compared to the same period in 2012. The main increase in production provided SayanskKhimPlast.


MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Royal DSM, the global life sciences and materials sciences company, has launched Arnite A-X07455, the first high performance polyethylene terephthalate (PET) engineering plastic that is highly resistant to hydrolysis, according to the company's press release.

This breakthrough development opens up opportunities for significant weight and cost benefits over metal in automobile engine compartment applications.

"Injection moulded parts from conventional PET lose as much as half of their tensile strength after 1000 hours at 85°C and 85% relative humidity," says Wouter Gabrielse, Automotive Segment Manager for DSM. "Parts made from DSM’s new hydrolysis resistant Arnite A PET keep around 90% of their initial strength under the same conditions. This was proven in simulated conditions in our laboratory. The performance we have achieved is quite spectacular."

Arnite A-X07455 enables substitution of metals or higher cost engineering plastics such as polyphthalamides (PPA) and polyphenylene sulphide (PPS) in automotive parts that require high dimensional accuracy, good chemical resistance, and very good mechanical properties. It will enable car makers to save costs and improve fuel efficiency through light weighting.

This hydrolysis resistant Arnite A is being targeted at a variety of automotive under-the-hood applications, including throttle valve bodies, sensors, air control valve housings, electronic throttle control (ETC) and exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) covers, and ignition systems.

"Arnite A has been proven to be the material of choice in automotive safety applications like brake booster valve bodies for many years” says Gabrielse. “With the new hydrolysis resistant grade we can enter into applications that are closer to the engine and which until now have never been achievable with PET."

As MRC informed previously, Magna Auteca, one of the world's leading suppliers of automotive micro-actuator systems for various kinds of adjustments, has chosen Arnite A, a high performance compound based on polyethylene terephthalate (PET), from DSM for use in its latest generation of exterior mirror adjustment units.

DSM delivers innovative solutions that nourish, protect and improve performance in global markets such as food and dietary supplements, personal care, feed, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, automotive, paints, electrical and electronics, life protection, alternative energy and bio-based materials.
MRC