Sasol USD1.1 billion FT Wax Expansion project complete, successfully commissioned

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sasol inaugurated the full completion of its USD1.1 billion FT Wax Expansion Project (FTWEP). Phase 2 began beneficial operation in March 2017, while phase 1 was commissioned in 2015, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

"With completion of this project, South Africa is now one of the leading countries of wax production globally. "We're enormously proud of this achievement and believe it is a fine symbol of South Africa's industrial prowess," said Bongani Nqwababa, Joint President and Chief Executive Officer, Sasol Limited.

"As one of the leading producers of medium and hard waxes worldwide, Sasol leverages our expertise and proprietary technologies to produce premium waxes that offer unique properties and superior performance for our customers," added Stephen Cornell, Joint President and Chief Executive Officer, Sasol Limited.

Marketed by the Performance Chemicals team, hard waxes, medium waxes, liquid paraffins and waxy oils are supplied to a variety of industrial and speciality applications. Hard waxes are used in hotmelt adhesives, PVC processing, inks, paints, coatings, and asphalt applications; medium waxes are used in candle markets and emulsions in the manufacturing of construction boards.

Throughout the duration of the project, there were 49 service providers and approximately 5,500 construction workers on site. The project was resourced by 450 engineers with some 22,000 isometric drawings created and 904 pieces of mechanical equipment installed. In excess of 31 million hours were worked with an exceptional safety record of 0.15 recordable case rate (RCR), below the benchmark of projects of this scale.

FTWEP is one of a number of major capital investments the company has made in South Africa, further entrenching the country's reputation as Africa's leading industrial nation.
MRC

SABIC demonstrates commitment to sustainable development at WEF with iconic structure, ICEhouse

MOSCOW (MRC) -- For the third consecutive year, SABIC is displaying a concept of an energy-efficient, quick to construct, and reusable building at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, from January 23 to 26, demonstrating the company’s commitment to invest heavily in innovative sustainability projects, said the producer in its press release.

Dr. Abdulaziz Saleh Al-Jarbou, SABIC Chairman, will host a reception for a number of global business leaders attending the WEF at the iconic structure, called ICEhouse - where ICE stands for "Innovation for the Circular Economy."

ICEhouse was built using SABIC’s LEXAN sheet and systems for the walls, ceiling, roofing and windows. It promotes breakthrough technology and the architect William McDonough’s concept of the importance of closed-loop, durable carbon systems. William McDonough, sustainability pioneer, and his companies, William McDonough+Partners and WonderFrame LLC, designed and built ICEhouse with SABIC’s collaboration and support. ICEhouse represents a prototype for innovative building designs and structures that can be rapidly erected, and are useful in applications such as addressing the housing needs of people in extreme distressed situations.

Commenting on SABIC’s sustainability-centered participation at the WEF, SABIC Vice Chairman & CEO, Yousef Al-Benyan said, "We believe that sustainability provides short-term gains while strengthening long-term prospects for any organization, both internally and externally. This is why we have embedded sustainability in the fabric of our business and actively seek collaboration with thought leaders, such as William McDonough. In the process, we are benefiting global society, while, at our home base in Saudi Arabia, we are enabling Vision 2030 by stimulating downstream growth."

Complementing the ICEhouse at the WEF, SABIC will outline its work to underpin its continued commitment to help solve the issue of plastic waste. It is the company’s key ambition to decouple plastic from purely fossil-based feedstocks and drastically reduce the leakage of plastics into nature.

SABIC General Manager for Corporate Sustainability, Frank Kuijpers said, "Plastic waste that is today being incinerated or used for landfill, will in future be chemically recycled. We are the first in the industry that is committed to scale up high-quality recycling processes for chemical recycling of mixed plastic waste to the original polymer. SABIC has the know-how, the resources and the resolve to help reduce the waste-stream."

Kuijpers added, "Plastics are valuable and have many benefits. We believe that the steps we are taking today will directly affect the world, the economy and the quality of life in decades to come."

As MRC reported earlier, SABIC continued its global expansion with the inauguration of a new polypropylene (PP) pilot plant in Geleen, the Netherlands, in mid-September 2017, and the announcement of a new investment in a state-of-the-art PP extrusion facility to be built at the same location.

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

Clariant made a major revision to its pioneering ColourForward trend-watching platform

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Clariant, a world leader in specialty chemicals, together with its Masterbatches business unit, has announced plans for a major revision to its pioneering ColorForward trend-watching platform, which is used by designers and brand managers to forecast colors for use in plastics products and packaging, as per the company's press release.

The changes took place with the ColorForward 2019 edition in early January 2018.

"The 2019 edition of ColorForward will be the 13th we have published," notes Maurizio Torchio, Global Head of ColorWorks, Clariant’s global network of color design and technology centers. "When we began this mission to help our customers better understand the link between global trends, consumer preferences and colors, it was the first of its kind in the plastics industry. Since then several other companies have begun to copy our concept. That’s one of the reasons we decided to update the package. We also want to ramp up the ‘WOW’ factor."

ColorForward springs from the minds and experience of Clariant color, design, marketing and polymer experts from all over the world. Each year they come together for a week-long workshop during which they share what they have observed over the last twelve months about consumer trends and interests. After much discussion and debate, they distill all the ideas and input and eventually agree on four trends that seem to be truly global in scope, and which can be expected to influence consumer behavior in the near- and mid-term future. The ColorForward team then selects different color aesthetics that evoke an emotional response related to each trend.

Torchio notes that this basic approach has been very successful and, therefore, will not change. "We will be changing how the trends are presented," he says.

In the past, Clariant has published three different versions of ColorForward - the classic edition for consumer products and packaging, an Interiors editions for the fiber and textile market and a third edition for automotive customers. "What has become very evident recently is that, even though they make use of plastics and polymers in different applications, there is not much distinction in how these different markets look at trends and color," explains Torchio. "They are very open to ideas that transcend specific industries and applications."

With that in mind, the new ColorForward package will include elements from all three versions, including prototypes specifically tailored to the interests and requirements of the different markets. The ColorForward 2019 kit will include a smaller box of color plaques that can be used by itself when required. Overall, the package will be 20% smaller in volume, making it more portable, and easier to use.

At the same time its scope will be expanded and it will get a new subtitle: Society | Trends | Aesthetic. These three words encompass the essence of ColorForward, which is based on the idea that ColorForward’s observations of ‘Society’ worldwide are contextualized into four major ‘Trends.’ Those societal trends are then translated into tangible form in colored plastic materials.

"How those colors can be applied to products and packaging represents a new ‘Aesthetic," Maurizio Torchio explains. "ColorForward helps us gain a better understanding of how consumer emotions are shaped by the complex world around them and how those emotions influence their preferences and the choices they make in day-to-day life. That understanding, in turn, helps designers and brand owners harness the power of color and other visual cues to help their products stand out in the marketplace. This is what has made ColorForward so successful and why the new design for 2019 will be even more valuable."

As MRC wrote previously, in March 2017, 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.

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.
MRC

PE imports into Russia rose by 12% in 2017

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Imports of polyethylene (PE) into the Russian market increased by 12% in 2017 compared with the level of 2016 to about 603,800 tonnes. Imports of high density polyethylene (HDPE) and ethylene-vinyl-acetate (EVA) grew significantly, according to MRC's DataScope Report.

December PE imports into the Russian market decreased to 55,400 tonnes from 60,600 tonnes a month earlier, local companies cut their purchases of film HDPE and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) . Overall PE imports into the country increased to 603,800 tonnes over the stated period versus 537,100 tonnes a year earlier. The HDPE and EVA segments accounted for the increase in imports, whereas other PE grades accounted for the decrease in import shipments.

The structure of PE imports looked the following way over the stated period.

December imports of HDPE fell to 15,000 tonnes from 28,900 tons in November, local companies reduced their purchasing of film grade and blow moulding HDPE in Ukraine. In general, the total imports of HDPE reached 261,300 tonnes in 2017 against 153,600 tonnes a year earlier, long scheduled maintenance works at several plants and a reduction in output at Nizhnekamskneftekhim were the main reasons for the growth of imports.

December LLDPE imports into Russia decreased to about 10,400 tonnes against 14,000 tonnes a month earlier, local converters increased their purchases of film PE. Imports of LLDPE into Russia in 2017 amounted to about 175,800 tonnes against 219,300 tonnes a year earlier, an increase in production volumes from Nizhnekamskneftekhim was the main reason for reducing dependence on external supplies.

December imports of low density polyethylene (LDPE) decreased to 8,000 tonnes from 8,300 tonnes in November, shipments of PE from Europe decreased. Overall 2017 LDPE imports fell to 90,500 tonnes from 93,000 tonnes a year earlier.

December imports of EVA were 4,100 tonnes against 2,900 tonnes in November; demand for EVA for compounds grew. Imports of this ethylene copolymer grade grew by 16% over the stated period to 37,300 tonnes.

Imports of other ethylene polymers in 2017 totalled about 48,900 tonnes, compared to 39,000 tonnes a year earlier.

MRC

Yansab starts maintenance at PE units

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Yanbu National Petrochemical Company (Yansab) has shut its high density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) units for maintenance, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Saudi Arabia informed that the company has commenced turnaround at the units last week. The planned outage is expected to remain in force for around 6-7 weeks.

Located in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia the HDPE and LLDPE units have a production capacity of 400,000 mt/year each.

As MRC informed before, on March 6, 2017, Yansab announced contract award for the ethylene glycol DBN project to (eTEC E&C Limited) for Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) of the project, the total contract is at lump-sum USD 99.4 Millions. The project will be financed from Yansab own resources. Noting that the expected completion of the project will be end of 2018, after project completion the ethylene glycol plant production is expected to be increased by not less than 80 thousand tons/year.

Yansab is the most recent SABIC, (Saudi Basic Industries Corp), affiliate in Saudi Arabia, and will be the largest Sabic petrochemical complex. It will have an annual capacity exceeding 4 million metric tons (MT) of petrochemical products including: 1.3 million MT (metric-tons) of ethylene; 400,000 MT of propylene; 900,000 MT of polyethylene; 400,000 MT of polypropylene; 700,000 MT of ethylene glycol; 250,000 MT of benzene, xylene and toluene, and 100,000 MT of butene-1 and butene-2.
MRC