Yisheng Petrochemical shut its PTA plant in China

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Yisheng Petrochemical has shut a purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant for maintenance turnaround, reported Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the plant was shut on December 10, 2013. It is likely to remain off-stream for around one month.

Located in Ningbo, China, the plant has a production capacity of 650,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed previously, China’s Xianglu Petrochemicals Co. Ltd. has planned the test run of its second purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant in the end of December 2013. Currently, the plant is under the final phase of construction and test run is planned by the end of next month. The construction of second PTA plant, with production capacity of 1.5 mln tpa, began in November 2006.

Located in the South Haicang Industrial Area of Xiamen City, the first PTA plant of Xianglu came on stream in October 2002. The plant is capable of producing 900,000 tpa of PTA, which is the world’s largest single-line PTA production capacity.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Royal DSM, the global Life Sciences and Materials Sciences company, continues to deliver on its commitment to reduce the carbon footprint of its operations, said Plastemart.

Following a dramatic reduction in water consumption at its engineering plastics site in Pune, India, announced earlier this year, the site will now meet 25% of its energy needs with renewable energy. In order to achieve this significant improvement, DSM has entered into an agreement with a local wind energy producer. Over the coming years, this share is expected to increase to 50%.

The DSM site in Pune produces compounds of thermoplastic polyesters and polyamides, and has already established a strong track-record of highly efficient water management. Thanks to increased process water recycling and rigorous monitoring of potential water leakages, the operation’s water footprint was dramatically reduced by two-thirds in 2012.

As MRC wrote before, DSM opened its first application development technical center for engineering plastics in Japan on 26 March 2013 in Yokohama City. The launch of the DSM Engineering Plastics Japan Technical Center is fully in line with DSM’s strategy to support and grow business not only with customers in Japan but also with overseas Japanese Transplants, for which material specifications are determined in Japan.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LyondellBasell has recently introduced Purell HP671T, a sterilizable, high fluidity polypropylene (PP) resin used in injection molded medical applications, said Packagingeurope.

Purell HP671T exhibits a very high stiffness, excellent transparency and an enhanced additive package offering increased resistance to gamma sterilization.

"Purell HP671T resin processes easily allowing for fast cycle times and good retention of mechanical properties after sterilization," said Rodney Fox, marketing manager of LyondellBasell's PP Healthcare business. "With more than 30 years of experience manufacturing resins used in healthcare applications, our team is highly skilled in developing innovative solutions to help customers overcome the technical and regulatory challenges faced in this specialized market."

Healthcare applications demand new levels of clarity and greater resistance to changes in physical or optical properties that may take place during the sterilization process. In addition to gamma sterilization, Purell HP671T also exhibits good resistance to other sterilization processes such as e-beam, ethylene oxide and autoclaves. Additional benefits of the resin include excellent fluidity, high stiffness compared to standard PP homopolymers and opportunities for downgauging. Purell HP671T is used by customers in rigid pharmaceutical and diagnostic applications including post-consumer recycled (PCR) plates, medical devices and lab ware.

Purell HP671T builds upon the success of LyondellBasell's portfolio of Purell polypropylene and polyethylene resins known for characteristics such as consistency of formulation, continuity of supply, single sourcing and pharmacopoeia compliance.

As MRC informed before, LyondellBasell permanently shuttered one of its HDPE production lines at its German site in Wesseling. The line, which had a capacity of 100,000 t/y, was the smallest and least efficient at the production site.

LyondellBasell is the largest polyolefin producer in Europe with a total capacity of roughly 4.5m t/y. For HDPE in Wesseling the production capacity is at 770,000 t/y even after the shutdown of the small production facility.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Demand for expandable polystyrene (EPS) had slumped in Ukraine by mid-December on the back of a seasonal drop in activity in the construction sector, according to MRC Price report.

Many traders and major EPS buyers reported falling sales of the material. After high November sales, demand had subsided substantially by the second week of December, market sources said. At the same time, market players' decreased activity was accompanied by traders' lower spot prices.

Offer prices of Russian EPS dropped by UAH400-500/tonne following SIBUR-Khimprom's lower prices for December and were heard at UAH21,900-22,200/tonne CPT Kiev, including VAT. Prices for European material were higher and were heard in the range of UAH22,800-24,000/tonne CPT Kiev, including VAT (depending on the brand). There were virtually no purchases of these grades in December because of a seasonal slowdown and higher prices.

Market players also said demand would almost totally subside in a week. The resumption of sales should be expected in the second half of January, after the New Year holidays, but EPS sales will be low until late February.

As reported earlier, the share of Russian EPS in the total consumption of the material in Ukraine increased significantly, despite the overall cuts in shipments to Ukraine. EPS imports from Russia grew in January-November 2013 by 7,000 tonnes year on year to 20,500 tonnes, thereby substantially displacing the Chinese and European suppliers.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Imports of high density polyethylene (HDPE) to Ukraine increased by 7% to 126,000 tonnes in the first eleven months of this year, compared with the same period last year, according to MRC DataScope.

HDPE imports to Ukraine rose to 10,600 tonnes in November, following the October decline at 8,300 tonnes. Structure of Ukraine's imports of HDPE by sector was as follows.

Karpatneftekhim (LUKOIL group) resumed HDPE production in September, which resulted in the reduction of HDPE imports in September and October. However, Ukrainian producer shut its HDPE production in November, and as a consequence, imports began to grow again.

November imports of film HDPE to Ukraine increased to 4,800 tonnes, compared with 2,900 tonnes in October. Total imports of film HDPE to Ukraine was 55,300 tonnes in the first eleven months of the year, up by 20% year on year.

Ukraine imports of pipe HDPE (excluding imports of Russian bimodal PE) fell almost twofold to 1,100 tonnes in November, compared with the October's level. Total imports of pipe HDPE to Ukraine reduced to 21,600 tonnes in the first eleven months of the year, compared with 25,500 tonnes year on year on the back of a weaker demand for plastic pipes.

Imports of blow moulding and injection moulding HDPE to Ukraine were 2,800 tonnes and 1,500 tonnes in November, compared with October's level of 1,600 tonnes and 1,700 tonnes, respectively. Total imports of blow moulding and injection moulding HDPE to Ukraine increased to 23,800 tonnes and 17,700 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2013, up 12% and 8% from the same period in 2012.

Total imports of HDPE to other consumption sectors declined to 7,700 tonnes in the first eleven months of the year, compared with 8,400 tonnes year on year.


MRC