PE imports into Belarus increased by 20.8% in the first six months of 2016

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Total imports of polyethylene (PE) into Belarus increased to 57,600 tonnes in the first six months of this year, up 20.8% year on year, according to MRC DataScope.

According to the National Statistical Office of the Republic of Belarus, June PE imports to Belarus increased to 12,200 tonnes from 9,600 tonnes a month earlier on the back of increased supply of of Middle Eastern linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) and Russian high density polyethylene (HDPE). Total PE imports into the country increased 57,600 tonnes in January-June 2016, compared with 47,700 tonnes year on year.

Structure of PE imports in Belarus was as follows.
June imports of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) increased to 7,700 tonnes, compared with 5,900 tonnes in May. Local companies increased purchases of Middle Eastern LLDPE almost two times. Total LDPE and LLDPE imports into the country exceeded 36,900 tonnes in January - June 2016, compared to 30,100 tonnes year on year.

June imports of HDPE into Belarus increased to 4,500 tonnes against 3,700 tonnes in May. Local companies increased purchases of film and pipe PE in Russia. Overall HDPE imports into the country were about 20,700 tonnes in Jan-June 2016, up by 17.7% year on year.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- There is a large demand for multifunctional biodegradable materials in biomedical applications that can mimic the properties of various tissues in the human body for efficient repair and regeneration, said Brigit-project.

A wide variety of natural and synthetic polymers are used for such applications. Although non-toxic, they may lack many desired characteristics such as mechanical and electrical properties with significant scope for improvement of their biological performance, said experts. Further, most of these materials are highly susceptible to bacterial colonisation and resultant infections, a major cause of implant failure.

To address these challenges, researchers from Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, have now developed a synthetic polymer using nanotechnology, which could be used as substitute for bone grafting. The project was funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DST).

According to Dr Sachin Kumar, who recently completed his PhD from the Biomaterial and Tissue Engineering Laboratory at IISc, while bone is one of the most widely transplanted tissues of the human body, bone grafts currently used in clinics have several problems like high costs, occasional infections and need for multiple surgeries. "We are working towards using plastics or synthetic polymers to solve this clinical challenge," he said.
Natural and synthetic polymers that are non-toxic degrade in the body over time to be absorbed or excreted safely; in the case of bone, these plastics may be too soft and lack other properties to help in regeneration, said experts. This prompted the team to explore methods that can enhance the biomedical properties of these polymers so that they could have orthopaedic applications.

Accordingly, the team prepared polymer composites of poly (e-caprolactone) (PCL), a biodegradable polyester incorporated with these nanoparticles. The lab found the resultant composite material to be "non-toxic as well as anti-bacterial". Cell studies showed that the composites were not toxic and supported the differentiation of stem cells to bone cells, making this material particularly useful for orthopaedic applications, said the research team.
According to the team, further research and trials need to be conducted before one can claim that this is a "perfect" artificial bone graft.

Besides being suitable for bone grafts, the composite was observed to have electrical conductivity as well. This property could make this material useful in designing biodegradable electronic components, which can be recycled.

As MRC informed earlier, the global bioplastics market is estimated to grow at a double-digit CAGR of 28.8% uptil 2020. The global bio-plastics market accounted for USD1.9 bln in 2014, and is expected to reach US$43.8 bln by 2020. The global bio-plastics market accounted for 0.1% to the global plastics market in 2014. Factors driving the growth of the global bio-plastics market include growing beverage packaging industry, rigid government policies about adopting bio-based materials, and rising consumer acceptance for bio-plastics.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sabic has awarded AESSEAL a 5-year managed reliability contract for their mechanical seals and seal support systems at the Geleen petrochemical complex in the Netherlands, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The fixed fee contract is based on the mechanical seal reliability strategy set by Sabic across all of its sites. This includes the supply and repair of the mechanical seals used on over 600 rotating equipment assets.

As MRC informed earlier, SABIC is modifying its Wilton cracker in the UK to enable it to use ethane feedstock imported from the US. The company is aiming to complete the project by 2016.

Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) ranks among the worldпїЅs top petrochemical companies. The company is among the worldпїЅs market leaders in the production of polyethylene, polypropylene and other advanced thermoplastics, glycols, methanol and fertilizers
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL)'s proposed setting up of Styrene and Ethylene recovery units in the existing Panipat Naphtha Cracker Complex (PNCC) at an investment outlay of Rs 593 crore has been deferred by a green panel appointed by the Centre, said Indianexpress.

The panel has deferred its decision on granting environment clearance for want of more information. "The Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) examined the IOCL’s proposal in the recent meeting. After detailed deliberation, the Committee sought additional information," a senior Environment Ministry official said. The EAC has asked IOCL to provide reasons for high carbon monoxide (CO) in ambient air and measure sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions from the existing unit and any additional SO2 emission from the proposed unit.

Presently, there is no Styrene producer in the country and entire quantity is imported by Indian Synthetic Rubber Limited (ISRL). Since IOCL is a 50% equity holder of ISRL, the proposed project will ensure steady supply of Styrene to the Styrene Butadiene Rubber (SBR) unit of ISRL. The proposal has been deferred till the desired information is submitted and site visit is conducted by the sub-committee of EAC.

The Panipat Naphtha Cracker Complex (PNCC) processes naphtha to produce ethylene and propylene streams for polymer units and Pyrolysis gasoline stream as by-product. Pyrolysis Gasoline is a feedstock for production of high purity Styrene. As per the proposal, IOCL will set up a standalone unit at PNCC with a capacity to recover 20 kilo tonnes per annum (KTA) Styrene using Pyrolysis Gasoline as a feedstock. The Styrene recovered from here would be supplied to the Styrene Butadiene Rubber (SBR) plant at the same location.

SBR, which has an installed capacity of 120 KTA, at present uses Butadiene from PNCC as major feed stock along with 25 KTA of Styrene. IOCL has also proposed another unit – Ethylene Recovery Unit (ERU), inside the PNCC to extract Ethylene (18.8 KTA), Ethane (73.6 KTA) and Propylene (12 KTA) from off gas of Panipat Refinery. Panipat Refinery, which was set up in 1998, is the seventh refinery belonging to IOCL and is one of South East Asia’s largest integrated petrochemical plants.

As MRC informed earlier, India's largest refiner and oil marketing company Indian Oil Corporation's Rs 34,555-crore 15 million tonnes per annum Paradip Refinery will be commissioned in phases from March 2015 onwards.

Indian Oil Corporation Limited, or IndianOil, is an Indian state-owned oil and gas corporation with its headquarters in New Delhi, India.
mrcplsat.com

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil Corp. put off plans to shut its Baton Rouge, Louisiana refinery after it managed to start a LPG processing unit in the adjoining chemical plant, sources familiar with plant operations said, reported Reuters.

"Contrary to some reports, the ExxonMobil Baton Rouge Complex is operating," company spokesman Todd Spitler said in an email. "It is our practice not to comment on specific unit operations at our facilities. We do expect to meet contractual commitments."

Normally, the 502 Mbpd Baton Rouge refinery sends LPG to the Sorrento, Louisiana Storage Facility where it is kept underground in salt dome caverns until needed. Flooding forced the closure of the facility, said the sources, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.

The floods, centered on the Baton Rouge area, have claimed at least 11 lives and forced thousands of people from their homes.

Last week, Exxon shut a 110 Mbpd crude distillation unit at the refinery to reduce LPG production and the company was prepared to shut the refinery if the chemical plant unit could not be started, the sources said.

The chemical plant unit will process the LPG produced by the refinery, the sources said. The refinery's production level is down to about 60% of capacity.

In addition to the chemical plant unit shut last week, Exxon cut production on a 210 Mbpd CDU in half for maintenance planned prior to the floods, the sources said.

Two other CDUs at the refinery have a combined capacity of 180 Mbpd. The CDUs do the initial refining of crude oil coming into a refinery and provide feedstock for all other units.

As MRC informed previously, in February 2016, US petrochemical producer ExxonMobil Chemical completed the start up process of its 820,000 m tpa ethylene complex in Beaumont, Texas. The Beaumont complex has two equal-sized steam cracking units with total combined ethylene capacity of 820,000 mtpa.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy
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