Engel Wintec expands sales to North America, Brazil

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Austria's Engel Holding GmbH is expanding the reach of its Chinese subsidiary Wintec into North America and Brazil, using the upcoming NPE show to begin selling Wintec's standard grade injection molding machines in the United States, as per Plasticsnewseurope.

Wintec, which is based in Changzhou, China, has focused on Asia since launching as a separate unit within Engel in 2014. But Engel now says it sees opportunities for Wintec's offering of simpler machines in Brazil, Canada, Mexico and the United States, in areas like single-component molding, where special technologies may not be needed.

"In addition to sophisticated applications that require tailor-made injection molding solutions, we see a strong demand in America for injection molding machines that handle standard applications," said Engel Chief Strategy Officer Christoph Steger. "By expanding the sales area to the American markets, as the Engel Group we can provide tailored solutions at an attractive price/performance ratio."

The company said it will offer its hydraulic Wintec t-win series from 500 tons to 1,900 tons clamping force, and its electric e-win series from 55 to 310 tons clamping force.

The company said it plans to start selling the machines in the American markets in May and has already set up a network of local service technicians, along with a spare parts warehouse.

Longtime Engel executive Peter Auinger will head the new push as Wintec President Americas. Auinger started the Wintec operations in China, and prior to that had been head of Engel's subsidiary in Mexico.

Wintec machines are not customized, but instead are delivered preconfigured, shortening lead times.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- The US Environmental Protection Agency has approved the request of 25 small refineries to be exempted from the nation’s biofuels laws, an agency source said last Wednesday, marking a big increase from previous years and triggering an outcry from farm groups worried the move will hurt ethanol demand, reported Reuters.

The expansion of the waiver program represents the Trump administration’s latest clash with the powerful corn lobby, as it seeks to help merchant refiners that claim the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard costs them hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

The decade-old law requires refiners to blend increasing amounts of biofuels like corn-based ethanol into the nation’s fuel each year, or purchase blending credits from other companies - a policy intended to provide a boost to Midwestern corn growers, reduce pollution and cut fuel imports.

In the past, the EPA has issued between six and eight waivers from the RFS per year to small refining operations of less than 75,000 barrels per day that can demonstrate they are struggling financially to comply, according to a former official familiar with the waiver program under past administrations.

This time that number has ballooned.

"While the applications continue to come in, EPA has granted roughly 25 so far," said the EPA source, who asked not to be named discussing the waivers. The source said the waivers cover the refineries’ obligations for 2017, which would come due this year.

A spokeswoman for the EPA, Liz Bowman, said nothing had changed under the administration of President Donald Trump. "The criteria used to grant waivers has not changed since previous administrations," she said.

Reuters had reported on Tuesday that Andeavor, one of the nation’s biggest refining companies, recently won exemptions from the EPA covering its 2016 obligations at three of its smallest refineries - the first evidence of the agency providing relief to a large and profitable company.

Biofuel groups blasted the EPA for apparently expanding the use of the hardship waivers, with two of them calling on the agency to immediately halt issuing new exemptions until the public gets a chance to review the agency’s actions.

EPA does not disclose the waiver recipients, arguing the information is business confidential.

"EPA appears to be operating under the cover of night in a secretive process where the agency acts as judge, jury, and executioner to effectively reduce the overall demand for biofuels in this country absent any public discourse," said Emily Skor, CEO of biofuel producer Growth Energy.

The National Farmers Union said it was particularly incensed by the waiver Andeavor had acquired.

"Hardship waivers were not designed for large corporations who net billions in profit each year. The National Farmers Union (NFU) is deeply disturbed by these reports, and requests that EPA cease granting these waivers," it said in a letter to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt.

The news of the number of waivers EPA has granted drove down prices for biofuel blending credits to their lowest levels since 2015, on fears that refiners that typically have to buy them would sell them instead, traders said.

Lower demand for ethanol could hurt biofuel and agricultural companies like Archer Daniels Midland Co, POET and Green Plains Inc.

As MRC wrote previously, Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Phillips 66 also own refineries small enough to meet the barrel-per-day standard, as does billionaire investor and Trump ally Carl Icahn - whose efforts last year to overhaul the biofuels program drew scrutiny from federal investigators.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lehigh Valley, Pa. Air Product and Huntsman jointly gathered for a groundbreaking ceremony held at the site of what will be Air Products’ new steam methane reformer (SMR) and cold box in Geismar, Louisiana, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Air Products will build, own and operate the facility under a long-term agreement and industrial gases including carbon monoxide(CO), hydrogen and steam will be produced and supplied to Huntsman’s neighboring Geismar operations. The new facility is to be commercially onstream in early 2020.

"It is always exciting to break ground for a new world-scale facility, and especially to do so at a location where it will primarily serve a long-standing customer. We have supplied Huntsman with industrial gases at other facilities where they have operations and we are pleased to expand our relationship through this new supply supporting Huntsman at Geismar. The Air Products plant will be state-of-the-art in terms of high reliability and sustainability, with enhanced energy efficiency and reduced emissions," said Corning Painter, executive vice president - Industrial Gases at Air Products.

Tony Hankins, president of Huntsman Polyurethanes said, "The reliability and environmental performance of the new industrial gases plant from Air Products will be an important foundation in supporting the delivery of our North American Polyurethanes strategy. As a business, we are focused on rapidly building our downstream footprint and capabilities. This strategic shift can only be achieved with a strong upstream asset position at our Geismar MDI facility. We look forward to the successful commissioning of the Air Products plant in early 2020."

The new facility, to be located on land leased from Huntsman, will produce approximately 6.5 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD) of CO, 50 MMSCFD of hydrogen, and up to 50,000 pounds per hour of steam. There is also the ability for the facility to be expanded to increase CO in the future to support additional growth.

Beyond supply to Huntsman’s production facility in Geismar, Air Products’ new plant will also be connected to its Gulf Coast hydrogen pipeline and network system (GCP). Dedicated in 2012, the 600-mile pipeline span is the world’s largest hydrogen plant and pipeline network system. The GCP stretches from the Houston Ship Channel in Texas to New Orleans, Louisiana, and supplies customers with over 1.4 billion feet of hydrogen per day from 22 hydrogen production facilities.

"We recently announced increased hydrogen capacity to the Gulf Coast pipeline for customers with an onstream project in Texas, and now we will again have added enhanced and reliable hydrogen supply to the pipeline network when this Geismar facility is placed onstream. We continually seek additional sources of hydrogen to add product supply capacity to our customers along our well-established pipeline network system along the Gulf Coast," said Painter.

As MRC wrote before, in February 2016, world-leading industrial gas company, Air Products and Unipetrol RP (part of Unipetrol), signed a new long-term agreement extending their successful relationship. The contract, which will run until 2027, sees Air Products continuing to supply industrial gases from its existing air separation unit (ASU) to meet Unipetrol's needs.

Huntsman Corporation is a publicly traded global manufacturer and marketer of differentiated chemicals with 2016 revenues of approximately USD10 billion. The company's chemical products number in the thousands and are sold worldwide to manufacturers serving a broad and diverse range of consumer and industrial end markets. Huntsman operates more than 100 manufacturing and R&D facilities in approximately 30 countries and employ approximately 15,000 associates within our 5 distinct business divisions including the Pigments and Additives division that the company intend to IPO or spin-off as Venator Materials Corporation.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- An oil spill that caused a fire that killed five people and sickened hundreds in an Indonesian port city came from a broken pipe the state-owned energy company was using to transfer crude oil, as per Nbclosangeles.

A preliminary investigation had identified the leaking substance as marine fuel oil, but East Kalimantan police spokesman Ade Yaya Suryana said the latest sample confirmed it was crude oil from a pipe laid on the seabed and owned by state oil and gas company Pertamina.

The oil leaking from the broken steel pipe caused a fire at a fishing boat and a ship carrying coal at its stern Saturday. Four people were confirmed killed earlier, and rescuers found another body of a missing person late Wednesday.

Balikpapan city secretary Sayid Fadli said Wednesday the waters offshore reeked like a gas station and the city on the island of Borneo was in its third day of a state of emergency following the weekend spill around Semayang Port.
"We have warned workers and residents around the bay to refrain from lighting cigarettes and make safety the priority," Fadli said.

The city has distributed masks, and more than 1,300 people have suffered breathing problems, nausea and vomiting.
Suryana said the cause of the broken pipe was still being investigated, but local media cited Pertamina as saying the pipe had been dragged out of position so far it broke.

Togar M.P. Manurung, Pertamina's Refinery Unit general manager, was quoted in the The Jakarta Post as saying the pipe had been shut to prevent further leaks and the firm was still trying to discern how much oil had spilled into the bay. The port authority was working with Chevron Indonesia and Pertamina to clean up the spill, Fadli said.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Unilever has announced a partnership with start-up company Ioniqa & the largest global producer of PET resin Indorama Ventures to pioneer a new technology which converts PET waste back into virgin grade material for use in food packaging, as per the company's press release.

Ioniqa has developed a proprietary technology that is able to convert any PET waste - including colored packs - back into transparent virgin grade material. The technology has successfully passed its pilot stage and is now moving towards testing at an industrial scale.

PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) is widely used to produce plastic packaging, yet worldwide only around 20% of this material makes its way to recycling plants with the rest either incinerated, disposed of in landfills or leaking into the natural environment. Through its R&D Foods team, Unilever has partnered with Indorama Ventures & start-up company Ioniqa, a spin-off from the Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands, to tackle this challenge.

Ioniqa’s new technology takes non-recycled PET waste - like colored bottles - and breaks it down to base molecule level, while separating the color and other contaminants. The molecules are converted back into PET which is equal to virgin grade quality at Indorama’s facility.

If proven successful at industrial scale, in future it will be possible to convert all PET back into high quality, food-grade packaging. The three partnering companies believe that this fully circular solution could lead to an industry transformation, since the new technology can be repeated indefinitely.

In 2017, Unilever committed to all of its plastic packaging being reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025. Chief R&D Officer David Blanchard said that Unilever is proud to support another sustainable packaging innovation.
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