Neste Jacobs and Coolbrook to develop new olefin cracking technology

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Neste Jacobs, a technology, engineering and project management company and Coolbrook, a technology development company are developing a new technology innovation in collaboration with University of Oxford's Osney Thermo Fluids laboratory, University of Cambridge's Whittle laboratory, and major chemical producers such as Dow Chemical as well as equipment manufacturers including MANTurbo, as per Plastemart.

This innovation is based on hydrocarbon (e.g. Naphtha) cracking method, where ethylene, the core raw material for polyethylene is produced.

"Coolbrook patented RDR (RotoDynamicReactor) technology improves cracking yields of olefins with about a third compared to the best technology available today. Significant financial benefits can be gained with RDR technology. It saves non-renewable resources, decreases radically side-products from ethylene cracking, and simplifies operations of ethylene production," states Harri Johannesdahl, CEO, Coolbrook Ltd.

Neste Jacobs is involved in the collaboration and development of this new technology with a team specializing in cracker technology, reaction kinetics, and modelling. "Our team has been co-operating in this project with Coolbrook for several years now and we are happy that this fruitful cooperation is continuing. We are expecting great results from this collaboration in ethylene production and we believe that this innovation has great export potential," says Jarmo Suominen, CEO, Neste Jacobs.

"Coolbrook is a product development company that co-operates with the best partners globally. Neste Jacobs represents top knowledge and competence within the field of chemical process industry and is hence a logical choice as partner for Coolbrook. During the development of the RDR technology, completely new technical solutions will be developed and patented. The skillful team from Neste Jacobs is playing a central role in this, both in terms of traditional engineering competence as of developing new innovations," Johannesdahl continues.

During the two-year project, a pilot reactor based on RDR technology will be built and tested. The pilot reactor will verify olefin yields and confirm reactor model combining kinetics and aerodynamics and CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) results. The commercial launch of this new technology is expected during 2019.

As MRC informed earlier, in January 2017, technology, engineering and project management company Neste Jacobs was selected to optimize the recovery area of Borealis Borstar PE2 plant in Porvoo, Finland with Neste Jacobs' NAPCON Controller solution. The aim of optimization is to reduce energy consumption and production loss and enhance the plant operability.
MRC

BASF increases prices of additives for plastics applications

MOSCOW (MRC) – Effective 15 March, or as contracts allow, BASF is increasing the prices by 10% globally for a majority of products in its additives portfolio for plastic applications, as per the company's press release.

Price increases will apply to the following product classes: antioxidants, light stabilizers, flame retardants and other plastic additives.

The price adjustment is in response to increasing raw material costs.

As MRC informed before, wiithin the next five years, BASF SE plans to invest globally more than EUR200 million in its plastic additives business, approximately half of which in Asia, focusing on capacity expansions and operational excellence.

Plastic additives improve product properties such as scratch resistance or light stability, and optimize plastics manufacturing processes. As the leading global supplier of plastic additives with manufacturing assets in all regions, BASF is a major partner to the plastics industry.

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. BASF generated sales of about EUR58 billion in 2016.
MRC

PP imports to Russia decreased by 4% in the first two months of 2017

MOSCOW (MRC) - Russia's imports of polypropylene (PP) decreased to about 21,600 tonne in first two months of this year, down 4% year on year, compared to the same period of 2016. Shipments of propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) slumped, as per MRC's DataScope report.

Last month, Russian companies increased their PP imports because of low prices in foreign markets and a strengthening of the rouble against the dollar. February PP imports into Russia were about 12,100 tonnes compared with 9,500 tonnes in January. In general, PP imports into Russia totalled 21,600 tonnes in January-February 2017, compared with 22,400 tonnes year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP decreased significantly, while imports of propylene copolymers on the contrary increased.

PP imports in Russia over the reported period looked as follows.

February imports of homopolymer PP into the country grew to 3,900 tonnes, compared with 2,600 tonnes in January. Local companies significantly increased homopolymer PP raffia imports from Central Asia. Total imports homopolymer PP raffia grade into Russia exceeded 6,400 tonnes in January - February 2017, compared with 10,100 year on year.

February imports of PP block copolymers in Russia increased to 3,500 tonnes against 2,700 tonnes in January. Local companies increased purchases of PP block copolymers for extrusion of pipes. Total imports of PP block copolymers into the country reached to 6,400 tonnes in Jan-Feb 2017, compared with 4,800 tonnes year on year.

Imports of stat-propylene copolymers (PP-random) in February slightly exceeded 2,500 tonnes against 2,000 tonnes in January. Low seasonal demand for finished products forced local producers of pressure pipes to decrease purchases of PP random copolymers in the foreign markets, while demand for film copolymers increased. Total imports of PP random copolymers in Russia were 4,400 tonnes in January - February 2017, compared with 3,800 tonnes year on year.

Imports of other propylene polymers for the reported period increased to about 4,400 tonnes compared with 3,700 tonnes in the same time a year earlier.


MRC

BASF taps Hewlett Packard to digitalise global research with new supercomputer


MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF SE and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE: HPE) today announced that the companies will collaborate to develop one of the world's largest supercomputers for industrial chemical research at BASF's Ludwigshafen headquarters this year, said the company.

Based on the latest generation of HPE Apollo 6000 systems, the new supercomputer will drive the digitalization of BASF's worldwide research.

The new supercomputer will promote the application and development of complex modeling and simulation approaches, opening up completely new avenues for our research at BASF," said Dr. Martin Brudermueller, Vice Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors and Chief Technology Officer at BASF. "The supercomputer was designed and developed jointly by experts from HPE and BASF to precisely meet our needs."

The new system will make it possible to answer complex questions and greatly reduce the time required to obtain results from several months to days across all research areas. As part of BASF's digitalization strategy, the company plans to significantly expand its capabilities to run virtual experiments with the supercomputer. In addition, it will help BASF reduce time to market and costs by, for example, simulating processes on catalyst surfaces more precisely or accelerating the design of new polymers with pre-defined properties.

"In today's data-driven economy, high performance computing plays a pivotal role in driving advances in space exploration, biology and artificial intelligence," said Meg Whitman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Hewlett Packard Enterprise. "We expect this supercomputer to help BASF perform prodigious calculations at lightning fast speeds, resulting in a broad range of innovations to solve new problems and advance our world."

Developed and built by HPE, the new supercomputer will consist of several hundred computer nodes. The supercomputer will also leverage HPE Apollo Systems to give customers simplified administration efficiencies and flexibility to match their solutions to the workload and lower their total cost of ownership.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise is an industry leading technology company that enables customers to go further, faster. With the industry's most comprehensive portfolio, spanning the cloud to the data center to workplace applications, our technology and services help customers around the world make IT more efficient, more productive and more secure.


MRC

Honeywell UOP scientists recognized for methanol-to-olefins technology

MOSCOW (MRC) – Honeywell UOP announced that the American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ Fuels and Petrochemical Division has recognized four of its scientists with the 2016 Industrial Research & Development Award for the development and commercialization of the UOP Advanced Methanol-to-Olefins process, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The award recognizes the scientists’ work on the technology that converts methanol from sources such as coal and natural gas into the olefins that are the primary components in the manufacture of plastic resins, films and fibers. This is especially critical in countries that lack domestic sources of crude oil but are rich in coal or natural gas.

"Our Advanced MTO technology has played a dramatic role in petrochemicals markets in only a few short years, and it shows how innovation and the application of chemistry and chemical engineering principles can profoundly benefit society," said Jim Rekoske, VP and chief technology officer at Honeywell UOP. "The development of this technology over many years is a point of great pride within Honeywell UOP, culminating in its commercialization in 2013, with nine customers since that time."

While many engineers and scientists contributed the development of the Advanced MTO process, the AIChE recognized John Chen (who led the research team) John Senetar (who led modeling and process design), Paul Barger (who established the catalyst and process criteria), and Dan Kauff (who led the integration of MTO and OCP processes) as leaders in the effort.
MRC