Swiss Clariant launches 3D printing business

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Clariant, a world leader in specialty chemicals, has announced its new dedicated 3D Printing business to meet the demand of the fast-changing Additive Manufacturing market for premium and customized 3D printer filaments, said the producer on its site.

Additive Manufacturing (AM) is growing at a rapid pace globally, with over 28% average annual growth for each of the last 7 years, and generating a total of $6.063 billion in sales in 2016 (Wohlers Report 20171). Additive Manufacturing has moved from a niche technology to an industry where unique products are produced, for example today over 90% of the plastic shells for in-the-ear hearing aids are manufactured using AM (Wohlers Report 2017). Products manufactured using AM are often complex end-use parts such as air ducts, drones, lights, and parts for manufacturing equipment. These products can be enhanced with tailored high quality and ready-to-print materials that also withstand the wear and tear of prolonged usage.

The new Clariant 3D Printing business leverages the company's numerous years of experience in tailoring polymers for a broad range of end market applications with pigments, additives and masterbatches, to provide high-grade, 3D printer filaments and specially made solutions. Clariant 3D prints and tests all of its materials to ensure printability and the required consistent high quality. Extensive material, application and production expertise allows Clariant to work closely with customers on polymer, additive and colorant selection to address typical end-use conditions such as weathering (sunlight, UV exposure), flame retardancy and electrical properties. In addition to tailored materials, a portfolio of high quality standard material will also be offered. The 3D printing materials are manufactured by Clariant and are available in flexible lot sizes to meet the specific needs of customers.

"At Clariant we have all the capabilities to produce high-grade ready-to-print 3D printer filaments," said Richard Haldimann, Head of New Business Development of Clariant. "We are experienced in delivering specialized and tailored solutions to customers via our Plastics & Coatings businesses. The existing Clariant production infrastructure provides the 3D Printing business with a global footprint to offer desired 3D printer filaments across the world."

As MRC reported earlier, Clariant was awarded a contract by Dongguan Grand Resource Science & Technology Co. Ltd. to develop a new propane dehydrogenation unit in cooperation with CB&I. The project includes the license and engineering design of the unit, which is to be built in Dongguan City, Guangdong Province, China. The Dongguan plant will be one of the largest single-train dehydrogenation units in the world. Clariant's technology partner CB&I will base the plant's design on its Catofin catalytic dehydrogenation technology, which uses Clariant's tailor-made Catofin catalyst and Heat Generating Material (HGM).

Clariant AG is a Swiss chemical company and a world leader in the production of specialty chemicals for the textile, printing, mining and metallurgical industries. It is engaged in processing crude oil products in pigments, plastics and paints. Clariant India has local masterbatch production activities at Rania, Kalol and Nandesari (Gujarat) and Vashere (Maharashtra) sites in India.
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MOSCOW (MRC) — China exported no oil products to North Korea in November, Chinese customs data showed, apparently going above and beyond sanctions imposed earlier this year by the United Nations in a bid to limit petroleum shipments to the isolated country, as per Reuters.

Tensions have flared anew over North Korea's ongoing nuclear and missile programs, pursued in defiance of years of U.N. resolutions. Last week, the U.N. Security Council imposed new caps on trade with North Korea, including limiting oil product shipments to just 500,000 bbl/yr. Beijing also imported no iron ore, coal or lead from North Korea in November, the second full month of the latest trade sanctions imposed by U.N.

China, the main source of North Korea's fuel, did not export any gasoline, jet fuel, diesel or fuel oil to its isolated neighbor last month, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Tuesday. November was the second straight month China exported no diesel or gasoline to North Korea. The last time China's jet fuel shipments to Pyongyang were at zero was in February 2015.

"This is a natural outcome of the tightening of the various sanctions against North Korea," said Cai Jian, an expert on North Korea at Fudan University in Shanghai. The tightening "reflects China's stance", he said. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she didn't know any details about the oil products export situation.

"As a principle, China has consistently fully, correctly, conscientiously and strictly enforced relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions on North Korea. We have already established a set of effective operating mechanisms and methods," she said at a regular briefing on Tuesday, without elaborating.

Since June, state-run China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) has suspended sales of gasoline and diesel to North Korea, concerned that it would not get paid for its goods, Reuters previously reported. Beijing's move to turn off the taps completely is rare.

In March 2003, China suspended oil supplies to North Korea for three days after Pyongyang fired a missile into waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan. It is unknown if China still sells crude oil to Pyongyang. Beijing has not disclosed its crude exports to North Korea for several years.

Industry sources say China still supplies about 520 Mt, or 3.8 MMbbl, of crude a year to North Korea via an aging pipeline. That is a little more than 10,000 bpd, and worth about USD200 MM a year at current prices.

North Korea also sources some of its oil from Russia. Chinese exports of corn to North Korean in November also slumped, down 82% from a year earlier to 100 t, the lowest since January. Exports of rice plunged 64% to 672 t, the lowest since March.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lotte Chemical Titan Holding Bhd’s KBR Catalytic Olefins Technology catalytic cracking reactor (K-COT) resumed operations on 16 December 2017, following a stop-work order in early October 2017, as per GV.

The group said in a statement that K-COT within its TE3 project, now known as Fluidized Naphtha Cracker (FNC), began commercial operations on Saturday (16 Dec 2017) after successful test runs.

The Department of Environment issued a stop-work order on Lotte Chemical’s Pasir Gudang factory identified as the source of a stench, which had reached Singapore’s shores.

Lotte Chemical said it has constructed a stand-alone FNC, which is integrated to the existing Naphtha Cracker (NC) 2 plant pipeline in Pasir Gudang, Johor, but NC2 and FNC can operate independently.

"FNC is expected to increase the plant’s performance and efficiency, further improving ethylene and propylene production by utilizing existing recycled products."

With the increase in capacity, Lotte Chemical president and CEO Lee Dong Woo noted that the group will be able to deliver greater volume of ethylene to the Indonesian plants as feedstock, and the PP3 Project is undertaken to complement the additional propylene produced by FNC.

The project is expected to produce up to 93,000 t/y of ethylene, 170,000 t/y of propylene, and 134,000 t/y of BTX.

As MRC reported before, Lotte Chemical Titan, part of Lotte Chemical, shut down its Low density polyethylene (LDPE) unit for a 15-20-day maintenance turnaround in February 2017. Located at Pasir Gudang, Malaysia, the LDPE unit has a production capacity of 230,000 mt/year.

Lotte Chemical Titan produces Malaysia's most comprehensive portfolio of olefins and polyolefins which contribute to the enhancement of everyday life. Lotte Chemical Titan's production site in Malaysia consists of eleven process facilities, two co-generation plants and three tank farms. They are located on 2 sites in Pasir Gudang and Tanjung Langsat in the state of Johor. In 2006, Lotte Chemical Titan acquired PT Lotte Chemical Titan Nusantara, Indonesia’s first and largest polyethylene plant in the country. This acquisition boosted the polyolefins capacity by approximately 50%, thus making the company one of the largest producers in South East Asia. Lotte Chemical Titan was acquired by Lotte Chemical Corp., forming part of the Lotte conglomerate of Korea, in 2010. The company thus became one of Lotte Chemical Corp.’s largest overseas subsidiaries.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Tikkurila have successfully taken a great step forward in the introduction of Tikkurila industrial water-borne solutions to the German marketsaid the company.

Three customers there are already using coatings. Following global trends and in line with Tikkurila’s decision to focus on sustainable water-borne products, the German industrial management team, in cooperation with Swedish colleagues, did a great job obtaining new industrial customers. Tikkurila would like to present one of the cases here.

“We made our first contact with the Bohrtec company in October 2016. We had to fight against famous and well-known competitors such as PPG and Osnatol,” says Mr. Carsten Hummel, Tikkurila Group key account manager.

The main challenge during the negotiation and preparation work was that Tikkurila, as a producer of industrial coatings, is almost unknown in the German market. Further, our task was not only to demonstrate that our water-borne coatings perform sufficiently well, but also to prove that we offer the best water- borne solution on the market at the moment.

Bohrtec carried out three internal tests according to its own requirements: a fire test, a saltwater test and an abrasive test. The results showed that our paint systems were the best. Bohrtec accepted two paint systems, one hybrid and another one-component acrylic. The drilling area on this machine, which goes inside the hole, is painted with Fontecryl SC 50. It is a water-borne topcoat with nice performance.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF invests in the expansion of its mobile emissions catalysts production site in Sroda Slaska, Poland. The expansion includes new production lines and additional infrastructure to equip light duty diesel and gasoline vehicles with BASF’s innovative catalyst and filter solutions, as per the company's press release.

The investment will increase the existing production site by approximately 14,000 square meters - adding more than 50% to the current production area and creating new jobs within the Lower Silesian region.

"The additional capacity and our best-in-class technology further enables BASF’s customers to meet tightening NOx and particulate emissions standards for diesel or gasoline engines, such as Euro 6d," said Tilo Horstmann, BASF Vice President Mobile Emissions Catalysts Europe. "Our Sroda Slaska production is BASF’s largest emissions catalysts production site in the region Europe, and with this expansion we strengthen our commitment to our customers and to the business growth strategy in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region."

Automobile manufacturers began working with new regulations effective September 2017, when the Euro 6d “Real Driving Emissions” (RDE) regulations for the European Union were introduced. The Euro 6d emissions regulations define the specific emissions limits that must be met in real driving cycles.

"The introduction of RDE regulation-based limits ensures better air quality. Our technologies for both diesel and gasoline powered vehicles are designed to meet even the strictest regulation standards." said Dirk Demuth, BASF Senior Vice President, Mobile Emission Catalysts. "BASF’s new state-of-the-art technologies make diesel a competitively clean technology. Diesel is also crucial in the engine mix to achieve the overall fleet CO2 targets of modern mobility," he added.

The expansion will create state-of-the-art lines with a full range of catalysts and filter technologies, including Selective Catalytic Reduction on Filter (SCR.2F). This is a patented technology combining SCR with a diesel particulate filter to control nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter emissions from diesel engines on a single substrate. In addition, the nitrogen oxides adsorbers technology, Lean NOx Trap (LNT) and the innovative Four-Way conversion catalysts (FWC) will be produced.

As MRC informed before, in July 2016, BASF closed the previously announced transaction to divest its global Polyolefin Catalysts business to W. R. Grace & Co., a global leader in specialty chemicals and materials.

BASF’s Catalysts division is the world’s leading supplier of environmental and process catalysts. The group offers exceptional expertise in the development of technologies that protect the air we breathe, produce the fuels that power our world and ensure efficient production of a wide variety of chemicals, plastics and other products, including advanced battery materials. By leveraging our industry-leading R&D platforms, passion for innovation and deep knowledge of precious and base metals, BASF’s Catalysts division develops unique, proprietary solutions that drive customer success.

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.
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