Chinese source comments on PP and PE units of FREP

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Fujian Refining & Petrochemical (FREP) has restarted its No. 1 polypropylene (PP) and No. 2 polyethylene (PE) units, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the company has recently resumed operations at both the units following an unplanned outage. The units were taken off-line last weekend owing to power failure.

Located in Fujian province, China, the two PE units have a production capacity of 500,000 mt/year each, while the two PP units have a production capacity of No.1 330,000 mt/year and No.2 220,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed before, in the second half of March 2016, FREP restarted its PP and PE units following an unplanned shutdown. They were shut on March 15, 2016 owing to a technical glitch at its upstream cracker.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A leading supplier of interior and exterior automotive parts has selected a new ABS/polycarbonate blend from ELIX Polymers for the production of exterior pillar covers to be used in an upcoming premium class car from a well-known German manufacturer, according to ELIX's press release.

Maier S. Coop., in Vizcaya, Spain, is using ELIX Ultra HH4115HI in a two-component part that combines the ABS/PC with a polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA).

The central pillar cover is a technically highly demanding part that forms part of a complex assembly with other components. ELIX Ultra HH 4115 HI was chosen particularly for its high strength and temperature resistance, and for its low density. The technical departments of Maier and ELIX Polymers worked intensively together to find the best possible solution and optimize the injection conditions of the parts (one on each side of the car).

Puncture impact behaviour tests carried out according to ISO 6603-2 confirm the very good performance of ELIX Ultra HH4115HI at different temperatures for crash-relevant parts such as the exterior pillar covers produced by Maier and also for interior trim and parts that may be subject to knee or head impacts. The appearance and structure of fractures produced in the test has been evaluated very positively by several premium car manufacturers.

ELIX Polymers envisages a wide range of applications for this innovative material, including door panel parts, instrument panel parts, centre console trim, seating parts, luggage compartment trim, and interior as well as exterior pillar covers. As with other grades from ELIX Polymers, pre-coloured material in OEM colours is possible, as are tailor-made solutions with special additive packages for very demanding part and environment requirements.

ELIX Ultra HH4115HI has been tested and approved at several Automotive OEMs. Among them, Audi noted its low emissions and odor, and considers the material as very interesting for lower instrument panel parts, center console parts and door panel parts according to its TL 52231 specification. BMW has approved it under its GS 93016 specification, and first serial projects are now running. GM has approved Ultra HH4115HI under GMW 15572-T4, and Daimler has approved it under DBL 5404 AA83.

As MRC reported earlier, ELIX Polymers is developing additional specialty grades of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) optimized for 3D printing, in the wake of high interest shown in its initial offering at K 2016 in Dusseldorf last October.

ELIX is offering technical support, including recommendations on correct processing set-ups: extruder screw design, drive system and spool system. The objective is to obtain the filament with the best quality properties in typical thicknesses of 1.75 mm and 2.85 mm and validate the material to meet the requirements of the final application. ELIX has defined its own demanding material tests to evaluate the final filament quality.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Honeywell has announced that Farabi Petrochemicals Company will use Honeywell UOP technologies for a new complex in Yanbu to expand its production of biodegradable detergents, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The construction of the new complex is expected to be completed in 2020.

As part of the contract, Honeywell UOP will provide catalysts and adsorbents as well as licensing, basic engineering design and other associated services for the new complex. Honeywell UOP technologies include a Unionfining hydrotreating unit, a Molex unit to produce the linear alkylbenzene (LAB) feedstock necessary for making biodegradable detergents, a Pacol unit for dehydrogenation, a DeFine unit to improve product purity, and a Detal detergent alkylation unit.

When completed, the Yanbu complex will produce more than 120,000 mtpy of LAB and 246,000 mtpy of normal paraffins, in addition to de-aromatized specialty oils, asphalt, sulfonates, mining chemicals, process oils and lubes. As a feedstock, the complex will use diesel from the Saudi Aramco refinery and kerosene from the Saudi Aramco ExxonMobil refinery in Yanbu.

According to the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA), Saudi Arabia had 98.5 MMtpy of petrochemicals production capacity in 2016. It is the region’s second-largest industry within the manufacturing sector, creating more than 500,000 direct and indirect jobs and USD108 billion worth of products as recently as 2015.

The demand for normal paraffins as the feedstock for LAB continues to increase worldwide. The Molex process provides the most economical route to produce normal paraffins from kerosene and diesel, while also producing a by-product return stream of Jet A-1 quality jet fuel. The process operates in the liquid phase and simulates a moving adsorbent bed in a fixed-bed system using a proprietary multi-port rotary valve.

As MRC wrote before, in early March 2017, Honeywell announced that Jiangsu Sailboat Petrochemical Company, Ltd. started its UOP Advanced Methanol-to-Olefins (MTO) unit during a 10-day test to confirm successful operation.

Honeywell UOP's Advanced MTO process combines the UOP/Hydro MTO process and the Total/UOP Olefin Cracking Process to significantly increase yields and feedstock efficiency. The process converts methanol from coal and natural gas into ethylene and propylene. At the heart of the technology are UOP's proprietary catalysts, which make it possible to efficiently adjust the ratio of propylene and ethylene produced so operators can most effectively meet demand for those products.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Qatar Petroleum (QP) has successfully completed the integration of Qatar Vinyl Company (QVC) into Qatar Petrochemical Company (Qapco), six months before the deadline of this year end, as per Plastemart.

The unification of QVC, a subsidiary of Mesaieed Petrochemical Company (MPHC), into Qapco, a subsidiary of Industries Qatar (IQ) that already operates Qatofin, has been done through the integration of all operations under a single operating company, Qapco. Both IQ and MPHC are listed on the Qatar Stock Exchange.

As of July 1, the resulting new single operating organisation, Qapco, will fully operate the facilities of all three companies. This integration will bring no change to the respective shareholdings of Qapco, Qatofin and QVC, whose brands will remain fully in place, QP said.

Qapco - which is 80% owned by IQ and 20% by France’s Total Petrochemicals - is engaged in the production and sale of ethylene, polyethylene, hexane and other petrochemical products; whereas QVC - which is jointly controlled by QP, MPHC and Qapco - is into sale of petrochemical products as caustic soda, ethylene dichloride and vinyl chloride monomer.

"This successful integration is another testament to our commitment to increasing the efficiency, effectiveness, and competitiveness of all our operations," QP president and chief executive Saad Sherida al-Kaabi said.

We remind that, as MRC wrote earlier, in November 2015, QP, as part of a restructuring program, announced plans to withdraw from the joint venture Long Son petrochemical complex in Vietnam. Located in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, the complex, with an estimated cost of USD4.5-billion, involves a 1.4-million-t/y olefins cracker to feed downstream production of 2.7-million t/y of polyethylene and polypropylene. Operations are expected to begin in 2018. The project was initially a joint venture owned 25% by QP, 46% by Siam Cement Group and 29% by PetroVietnam.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF, the world's pretrochemical major, has presented a new copolyamide for packaging - Ultramid Flex F, which offers completely new properties, said the producer on its site.

Ultramid Flex F38 L is an entirely new and partly bio-based copolyamide. Thanks to its softness and transparency even at low temperatures and low humidity, this polyamide is ideally suited for soft packaging (see chart below).

Tear and puncture resistance are also increased in an even softer film.

Films made of Ultramid Flex F are even soft immediately after processing and without conditioning. This offers huge advantages for film processing at low temperatures and low humidity.

A quarter of the raw material used for the monomer is sourced from regionally-grown rapeseed oil. Ultramid® Flex F38 L supports the trend towards more sustainable packaging solutions. For the packaging industry, the new Ultramid Flex F unlocks entirely new opportunities for launching bio-based products onto the market.

With a CO2 and O2 permeability 15 times higher than in conventional polyamide 6, the new Ultramid Flex F38 L possess considerably changed barrier properties. For example, Ultramid Flex F is ideally suited for use as cheese ripening bags.

Thanks to its high flexibility and softness, the new Ultramid can also be used to produce soft vacuum and shrink bags. The product also allows for conventional stretching ratios in deep-drawing processes – without any stress whitening.

In addition to its use in the food industry, the new Ultramid Flex F is the ideal solution for a wide array of technical films that are characterized by sufficient ductility and tear strength even at lower temperatures.

Ultramid Flex F38 L has a considerably higher melt stability than conventional polyamides, allowing for an outstanding bubble stability and higher blow-up ratio. These processing properties enable users to optimize the entire film structure.

As MRC informed previously, in May 2015, BASF inaugurated its new Ultramid (polyamide 6 and 6/6.6) polymerization plant at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park in Shanghai, China. The new plant, with a capacity of 100,000 metric tons per year, further strengthened BASF’s local production and supply network and better serve the growing market in Asia Pacific.

BASF is the world’s leading chemical company. Its portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics, performance products and crop protection products to oil and gas. BASF operates Ultramid polymerization plants in Ludwigshafen, Germany; Antwerp, Belgium; Freeport, Texas/USA; and Shanghai, China.
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