BASF presents new products, technologies and services

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF, the world's petrochemical major, has presented its latest solutions for applications in the home care and industrial & institutional Cleaning (I&I) markets as well as personal care, reported the company on its site.

In Home Care, there is an increasing demand for detergents and cleaners that clean quickly and efficiently, provide care, are safe and easy to use, and that save resources. BASF enables various choices for its customers to meet these needs. With Sokalan HP 20, BASF is presenting a special polymer for the formulation of liquid detergents. Even at low temperatures, it actively disperses particulate soil from clothes and prevents graying - this ensures clean laundry with low energy consumption.

Trilon M is a high-performance product that contributes to more sustainable dishwashing. The readily biodegradable chelating agent actively binds water hardness ions and also removes stubborn tea and coffee stains. The chelating agent thereby offers an environmentally-friendly alternative to phosphates in dishwashing tablets without compromising on performance.

When it comes to cleaning hard surfaces, BASF has various choices of nonionic surfactants to present at SEPAWA which meet the market’s demand for safer, faster, and more convenient cleaning. Additional benefits such as spot-free drying, gloss, and easy-to-clean-again effects can be achieved by adding surface-modification polymers to premium products. They enable time-saving in cleaning making consumers household tasks easier to fulfill.

In the I&I sector, the focus is on the convenient and safe use of cleaners that efficiently achieve their cleaning results while saving resources. BASF will present a new solution at SEPAWA for the cleaning of membranes which are used in various applications in the dairy and beverage production. The BASF innovation consists of the use of readily biodegradable, nonionic surfactants that offer advantages in terms of cleaning performance as well as in application.

Besides, BASF has introduced its innovative SWOP technology, an emulsion concept that enables the formulation of personal care products with new textures and unusual sensory perception. SWOP emulsions are oil-in-water emulsions that become water-in-oil emulsions during application and thus combine the advantages of both. Products based on this technology moisturize, nourish and protect the skin. They absorb quickly and produce a fresh and light skin feel during application.

Cetiol Ultimate answers to the rising market demand for new textures with excellent skin feel in cosmetics industry. Here, this ultrafast- spreading, 100 percent natural based, fresh and dry emollient meets a wide range of claims - from ultra-thin water-in-oil formulations and dry face oils to pleasant feeling face and sun creams. Personal care products with Cetiol Ultimate are easy to apply, absorb quickly and leave a smooth skin feeling. At the same time, the emollient provides good pigment wetting and enhances color shade stability. Thus, it also performs well in color cosmetics formulations - like light foundations with improved coverage and a powdery sensation. As it is readily biodegradable and approved by Ecocert, COSMOS and Natrue, Cetiol Ultimate is also suitable as a sensory booster for natural cosmetics.

As MRC reported earlier, in April 2014, BASF unveiled that it had developed new ingredients and innovative concepts for the personal care market. Driving forward the development of the brand Care Creations, the company is taking a more and more science based approach to explore consumer needs: the focus is on a validated typology system with which users can define different consumer personalities.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It 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.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Expansion by Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd’s Kochi (BPCL-Kochi) refinery is 60% complete, and scheduled for completion in December 2015, said Plastemart.

Total investment outlay of Rs 20,000 crore is expected by BPCL-Kochi. BPCL Kochi’s integrated refinery expansion project (IREP), which will see the refining capacity increasing by 60% from the present 9.5 mln tpa to 15.5 mln tons. The project would produce 0.5 mln tpa of propylene.

As MRC wrote before, Technip has been awarded a contract by Air Products for a new industrial gas complex in Kochi, India. The contract covers project management, as well as engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) services for the new industrial gas complex for Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited – Kochi Refinery (BPCL-KR) located in the state of Kerala.

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) is an Indian state-controlled oil and gas company headquartered in Mumbai, India. Bharat Petroleum owns refineries at Mumbai, Maharashtra and Kochi, Kerala (Kochi Refineries) with a capacity of 12 and 9.5 million metric tonnes per year.

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МOSCOW (MRC) -- Mexican state-owned oil giant Petroleos Mexicanos said Wednesday it has signed a letter of intent with San Antonio, Texas-based NuStar Energy to form a pipeline infrastructure joint venture, Pemex said in a statement.

The proposed venture would help meet the growing demand in Mexico for liquefied petroleum gases and refined products.

Although NuStar and PMI, Pemex's oil trading arm, have previously partnered to ship propane into Mexico, this proposed deal would be the first joint venture between the two companies and would give PMI access to various LPG and refined product suppliers on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Because the agreement involves pipeline transport, it would reduce the cross-border flow of petroleum products via truck and thus result in "more efficient, clean and reliable" shipment of products from the United States to Mexico, Pemex said.

Under the proposed joint venture, the two companies would jointly finance the construction of new pipeline infrastructure and storage assets, which NuStar would manage and operate.

The LPGs and refined products would be delivered from Mont Belvieu and Corpus Christi, Texas, to Nuevo Laredo and Burgos-Reynosa, Mexico.

"This landmark alliance is one of the very first commercial agreements between energy companies from the U.S. and Mexico to create a JV focused on infrastructure, and it resulted from Mexico's recently enacted energy reforms, which call for major investments in energy infrastructure and attracting foreign investment in Mexico's energy sector," PMI Director General Jose Manuel Carrera said.

NuStar Energy is one of the United States' largest independent liquids terminal and pipeline operators with nearly 14,000 kilometers (8,700 miles) of pipeline and 82 terminal and storage facilities that store and distribute crude oil, refined products and specialty liquids.

As MRC informed before, The PMI Trading arm of Pemex will build the first solidifying sulfur plant in Mexico,seeking to ensure the movement of sulfur from different refineries and gas processing complexes in the country. The new plant will be located in the Port Authority of Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, with a processing capacity of 360,000 tpy and over USD38 million in investment.

Pemex, Mexican Petroleum, is a Mexican state-owned petroleum company. Pemex has a total asset worth of USD415.75 billion, and is the world's second largest non-publicly listed company by total market value, and Latin America's second largest enterprise by annual revenue as of 2009. Company produces such polymers, as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS).

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- German specialty chemicals company Lanxess has added two new polyamide 6 (PA 6) grades to its already wide range of injection molding materials for lightweight construction, as per the company's press release.

Polyamides and polybutylene terephthalates reinforced with a glass fiber content of 50% and more are ideal for applications in lightweight construction thanks to their strength and stiffness. They frequently are a lightweight and economical alternative to sheet molding compounds (SMC) and other reinforced thermosets, as well as to metals like steel, aluminum and die cast zinc.

Durethan BKV 60 XF is an advancement of Durethan DP BKV 60 H2.0 EF, which already is established in mass production for articles such as lightweight front ends, spare wheel recesses and large transmission oil pans. The new product is also reinforced with 60% glass fibers, but with a comparably high-quality set of mechanical properties, it displays better melt flow by 30%.

The new polyamide results in smooth surfaces with virtually no protruding glass fibers. This excellent surface quality is based on an optimized crystallization process and higher injection rates, which are possible thanks to the high flowability of the melt. Another advantage of this engineering material - which also permits laser marking - is its improved resistance to thermal aging. For example, the tensile stress at break of test samples was still above 200 MPa after over 3,000 hours of hot-air aging at 180 C.

The second material innovation is a polyamide 6 that is to be marketed under the name Durethan BG 60 X XF. It is reinforced with 60% of a special mixture of glass fibers and glass microspheres. Its stiffness and strength are similarly high to those of Durethan DP BKV 60 H2.0 EF.

"The unique feature of this material is that its shrinkage is significantly more isotropic, and components therefore hardly tend to warp at all. We see major application opportunities in thin-walled, high-stiffness back shells for tablet PCs, but also in automotive interiors. Another contributing factor for these applications is the excellent surface qualities that can be achieved with this material," says Dr. Stefan Theiler, specialist for highly reinforced polyamides at Lanxess. Initial manufacturing trials with mass production molds already have confirmed that the material can deliver these advantages.

As MRC informed before, in March 2014, Lanxess and Korean Hankook Tire signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to co-develop synthetic rubber technologies for high-performance tire. Under the agreement, the two companies will jointly study the development of new high-performance synthetic rubber grades and applications that increase the performance of tires from early stages of product development.

Lanxess is a leading specialty chemicals company with sales of EUR 8.3 billion in 2013 and roughly 17,300 employees in 31 countries. The company is currently represented at 52 production sites worldwide. The core business of Lanxess is the development, manufacturing and marketing of plastics, rubber, intermediates and specialty chemicals.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Occidental Petroleum Corporation announced that its Board of Directors declared a regular quarterly dividend, authorized the spin-off of its California oil and gas business and increased the company’s share repurchase program, said the company in its press release.

The Board declared a regular quarterly dividend of USD.72 per share on common stock payable on January 15, 2015, to stockholders of record as of December 10, 2014. Occidental has paid quarterly dividends continuously since 1975 and has increased its dividend each year since 2002. The current annual rate is USD2.88 per share.

The Board approved the spin-off of subsidiary California Resources Corporation through the distribution of approximately 80.1% of the outstanding shares of California Resources to holders of Occidental common stock. Subject to the satisfaction of the conditions to the spin-off, the distribution is expected to occur on November 30, 2014.

The Board also authorized the repurchase of an additional 60 million shares of the company’s common stock, leaving the program with 76 million shares, as of September 30, 2014. Share repurchases will continue to be funded from available cash from operations, excess cash on hand and proceeds from asset sales as part of the previously announced strategic review, including a dividend of approximately USD6 billion from California Resources to Occidental. The program does not require purchases to be made within a particular timeframe.

As MRC wrote before, Ingleside Ethylene, the 50/50 joint venture between Occidental Chemical (OxyChem) and Mexichem, announced that it received the necessary permits for its new ethylene cracker in Ingleside, Texas. Issuance of the permits, combined with the already completed front-end engineering and design study, will enable Ingleside Ethylene to construct the 550,000 tpy cracker and start commercial operations in the first quarter of 2017.

Occidental Petroleum Corporation (Oxy) is a California-based oil and gas exploration and production company with operations in the United States, the Middle East, North Africa, and South America. Oxychem is Oxy"s Texas-based subsidiary which manufacture polyvinyl chloride (PVC) resins, chlorine and caustic soda used in plastics, pharmaceuticals and water treatment chemicals.
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