Celanese raises prices of EVA-based emulsions in China

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Celanese Corporation, a global technology and specialty materials company and a global leader in vinyl acetate ethylene (EVA) emulsions, has announced that it will increase the price of EVA emulsions sold in China, as per the company's statement.

EVA emulsions will increase by CNY200/MT for China effective November 20, 2016, or as contracts allow.

This price increase affects all applications including, but not limited to, adhesives, paints and coatings, waterproofing, building and construction, carpet and paper.

This increase is attributed to the continued pressures on raw materials, notably ethylene and vinyl acetate monomer (VAM).

As MRC informed before, in November, 2016, Celanese raised its prices of EVA-based emulsions sold in the Americas. Vinyl acetate homopolymer and vinyl acrylic emulsions rose by up to USD0.03/wet pound effective November 15, 2016, or as contracts allow. Vinyl acetate ethylene (VAE) emulsions grew by up to USD0.05/wet pound effective November 15, 2016, or as contracts allow. This price increase affects all applications including, but not limited to, adhesives, paints and coatings, building and construction, nonwovens, glass fiber, carpet, paper and textiles.

Celanese Corporation is a global technology leader in the production of differentiated chemistry solutions and specialty materials used in most major industries and consumer applications. Based in Dallas, Celanese employs approximately 7,000 employees worldwide and had 2015 net sales of USD5.7 billion.
MRC

Trinseo announces price increases for latex binders in North America

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Trinseo, a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex binders, and synthetic rubber, has announced that effective November 22, 2016 or as contract terms permit, the company is increasing the prices of all styrene butadiene latex and styrene acrylic latex products sold into the carpet, paper, and performance latex markets in North America, said the producer in its press release.

The company said that the increase will be USD0.05/wet lb.

This price increase is being driven by increased costs in the manufacturing of these latexes.

We remind that, as MRC wrote earlier, Trinseo last raised prices for all styrene butadiene latex products in North America on 18 July 2016. The increase was USD0.05/wet lb (USD0.11/kg or USD110/tonne) for all styrene butadiene latex products.

Trinseo is a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex and rubber. Trinseo's technology is used by customers in industries such as home appliances, automotive, building & construction, carpet, consumer electronics, consumer goods, electrical & lighting, medical, packaging, paper & paperboard, rubber goods and tires. Formerly known as Styron, Trinseo completed its renaming process in 1Q 2015. Trinseo had approximately USD4.0 billion in revenue in 2015, with 18 manufacturing sites around the world, and more than 2,200 employees.
MRC

PTTGC plans maintenance at LLDPE plant in Thailand

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC) has planned to shut its linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) plant next year, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Thailand informed that the company has schedule to halt operations at the plant early-June 2017 for a maintenance turnaround. The plant is likely to remain off-line for around 3 weeks.

Located at Map Ta Phut in Thailand, the LLDPE plant has a production capacity of 400,000 mt/year.

As MRC reported before, earlier this year, PTTGC restarted its LLDPE plant in Thailand on April 3, 2016. The plant was shut for maintenance in early-March 2016.

PTT Global Chemical is a leading player in the petrochemical industry and owns several petrochemical facilities with a combined capacity of 8.45 million tonnes a year.
MRC

Jacobs wins contract for new MEGlobal production facility in Texas

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. has received a contract from MEGlobal, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Equate Petrochemical Company and a world leader in the manufacture and supply of merchant monoethylene glycol (MEG) and diethylene glycol, to provide engineering, procurement and construction management services for a new MEG manufacturing facility near Freeport, Texas, said the producer on its site.

"Jacobs' chemical industry expertise and proven track record were key factors in the selection process. The completion of this complex project will help MEGlobal establish a US Gulf Coast presence and expand its position in the MEG market," said President, MEGlobal International FZE of MEGlobal Ramesh Ramachandran.

This award follows Jacobs' successful delivery of the facility's front end engineering package, which incorporates The Dow Chemical Company's licensed process technology as well as non-process equipment and piping both inside and outside the new facility's battery limits.

"Our global MEG and local chemical project experience combined with our thorough understanding of the engineering package will contribute significant value and an efficient, high-quality approach to this important project," said Jacobs Senior Vice President Petroleum and Chemicals Manuel Junco.

As MRC informed before, in March 2016, MEGlobal unveiledits plans to construct a new world-scale MEG plant at Dow’s Oyster Creek site in Freeport, Texas. The new Oyster Creek MEG facility will be owned by MEGlobal and is the company’s first manufacturing unit in the US. The new MEGlobal plant will create 1,400 construction jobs at the project’s peak, and the company will employ approximately 50 new workers when it goes on stream in mid-2019. Additionally, the new site will benefit through a long-term ethylene supply agreement with Dow from its new ethylene cracker.

MEGlobal is a world leader in the manufacture and marketing of merchant monoethylene glycol and diethylene glycol (EG). Established in July 2004, the company is a joint venture between The Dow Chemical Company and Petrochemical Industries Company of Kuwait and is headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. With approximately 200 employees worldwide, MEGlobal serves customers around the world, and has production facilities in Fort Saskatchewan and Prentiss, Alberta, Canada.

Established in 1995 as Kuwait’s first international joint-venture in this industry, Equate Petrochemical Company embodies its “Partners in Success” slogan through the partnership between Petrochemical Industries Company, The Dow Chemical Company, Boubyan Petrochemical Company and Qurain Petrochemical Industries Company. Commencing production in 1997, EQUATE is currently the owner and single-operator of several fully integrated world-class units in Kuwait, North America and Europe that annually produce over six million tons of the highest quality petrochemicals.

Jacobs is one of the world’s largest and most diverse providers of full-spectrum technical, professional and construction services for industrial, commercial and government organizations globally. The company employs 50,000 people and operates in more than 30 countries around the world.
MRC

New PP pilot plant enables SABIC to meet key industry needs

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SABIC will have a new pilot plant for development of next-generation polypropylenes (PP) on-stream in Sittard-Geleen, the Netherlands, by the end of March next year, said the producer in its press release.

The plant, which will use gas-phase polymerization technology, will support the production at nearby full-scale plants of superior materials that meet the needs of the different industries like automotive, pipe, appliances and advanced packaging.

The pilot plant is the latest in a series of investments being made by SABIC at the Brightlands Chemelot R&D and manufacturing campus in Sittard-Geleen. The company opened a new research facility there in May. Lina Prada, Global PP Technology Director, says the pilot plant is a further demonstration of SABIC’s commitment to invest in innovation. "When it starts up next year, we will have considerably more capacity to develop new PP materials for commercialization in our current European assets in Geleen and in Gelsenkirchen, Germany," says Prada.

SABIC is taking a fast-track approach to construction and installation of the pilot plant. It has contracted the work to Zeton, a leading designer and builder of innovative pilot and demonstration-scale plants with facilities in Enschede, the Netherlands and Burlington Ontario in Canada. Zeton has developed a skid-mounted system that accelerates implementation times and allows full design flexibility. Installation will begin in December after Zeton has built and tested the plant in Enschede before partially disassembling it into around 15 modules for delivery to Geleen.

SABIC is looking in particular to develop grades with improved stiffness/impact, flow properties and other specific secondary properties needed in different industries. SABIC plans to concentrate on development of impact grades of PP, as well as random copolymers and homopolymers. It will also carry out experiments on advanced catalysts. The plant will complement pilot plants used by SABIC at other strategic locations, and would support the strategic innovation initiatives to address continuously evolving market needs.

As MRC informed before, a decision on whether SABIC will go ahead with a JV with ExxonMobil will likely be made by Q2 2017, SABIC's acting chief executive Yousef Abdullah al-Benyan said in an interview with Reuters this summer.

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