Mitsui to launch Milastomer production in the USA

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mitsui Chemicals has announced plans to set up a new production facility for Milastomer thermoplastic olefin elastomer at the Ohio plant of its US subsidiary Advanced Composites, Inc., as per GV.

There will be one production line with a capacity of 6,000 t/y. Construction start is scheduled for January 2019, completion in June, operations will then commence in October 2019. Mitsui Chemicals currently owns production sites in Japan, Europe, and China. The new facility in the USA will address growing demand in North America and serve as the company’s fourth production base worldwide. Mitsui Chemicals America will sell Milastomer in North America, while Advanced Composites will handle production.

Advanced Composites, Inc. was established in June 1986 as a joint venture of Mitsui Chemicals America, Inc. (59.8 %), Prime Polymer Co. Ltd. (3 %), Mitsui & Co. Ltd. (27%), and Marubeni America Corporation (10.2%). Its main business is the production, sale and research of polypropylene compounds. Contract production of Milastomer will be added from October 2019 on.

With its low density and good mouldability, Mitsui Chemicals markets Milastomer as a substitute for PVC and vulcanised rubber. The many uses include auto parts, building gaskets, toothbrushes, golf club grips and more. Global demand is projected to rise, primarily for applications such as automotive interior covers, weather strips, air bag covers and steering bellows. Demand for use in automotive interior covers is expected to expand especially in North America.

As MRC wrote before, in March 2016, Mitsui & Co., Ltd. and Hankuk Carbon Co., a company listed on the Korea Exchange, entered into a strategic alliance agreement to engage in collaborative business activities relating to the processing of composite materials.

Mitsui Chemicals is a leading manufacturer and supplier of value added specialty chemicals, plastics and materials for the automotive, healthcare, packaging, agricultural, building, and semiconductor and electronics markets. Mitsui Chemicals is a Japanese Chemicals company, a part of the Mitsui conglomerate. The company has a turnover of around 15 billion USD and has business interests in Japan, Europe, China, Southeast Asia and the USA. The company mainly deals in performance materials, petro and basic chemicals and functional polymeric materials.
MRC

Scotland plans Chemical Sciences Hub in Grangemouth

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A new eight-year strategic plan by Chemical Sciences Scotland Industry Leadership Group foresees creating a key European hub in Grangemouth for the government-backed chemical sciences cluster, as per Chemanager-online.

The hub, which would be built up in cooperation with Ineos, is one of four priorities outlined in the new plan backed by energy minister Paul Wheelhouse, whose brief also includes business and innovation.

One of the strategy’s key points is to exploit Scotland’s potential in the industrial biotechnology sector and to establish the country as a “world-class center of high-value manufacturing,” as well as delivering a skills investment plan to provide easy-to-access training and education at all levels to support the growth of the chemical sciences sector.

Tom Shields, acting chair of the group, said Chemical Sciences Scotland's aim is to "sustain a vibrant and competitive Scottish chemicals industry driving growth in the Scottish economy". He said the organization will seek to attract investment through innovative new models and inspire more businesses to develop innovative new products, processes and services.

Work on the Grangemouth hub is being overseen by Ian Little, a member of Chemical Sciences Scotland and site business development manager at Ineos O&P UK. Little said the plan, which will build on recent investment in Grangemouth by Ineos and other companies, “aims to engage all stakeholders to create in Grangemouth a compelling, sustainable, competitive position in chemicals manufacturing, creating a focal point for investment in high-value chemicals manufacturing and significantly expanding the local and Scottish economy."

Scotland’s chemical sciences products supply a number of sectors including food and drink, energy and pharmaceuticals. A regards manufacturing, Ineos – which got its start in Grangemouth, buying businesses from BP – is by far the largest player. Several years ago, it launched a plan to attract investment to share services at its vast site.

Scant outside investment on the site has been seen up to now.

Ineos itself has concentrated its infrastructure investment at Grangemouth largely on facilitating the import of US shale gas and fighting the local council for permission to close local traffic arteries near its production facilities.
MRC

10,000 tonnes of PP were sold in Stock Exchange of Turkmenistan

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The regular export trades for polypropylene (PP) were held at the State Commodity and Raw Materials Exchange of Turkmenistan on Monday. 10,000 tonnes of PP were sold during one trading day, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Export quantities of PP (10,000 tonnes) were put up for auction at the State Commodity and Raw Materials Exchange of Turkmenistan on 4 June, and despite long delivery terms (8 months), buying activity was very high in the trades partially because of low starting prices.

All PP quotas were sold out in the first trading day in June, deals were done by USD20/tonne higher than the starting prices - USD1,120/tonne FOB/FCA.

The previous trades were held on 23 May, deals were done at USD1,100/tonne FCA/FOB Turkmenbashi port with shipments within 8 months from the date of contracting. 20,500 tonnes of PP were bought out in the trades.
MRC

Total plans growth along U.S. Gulf Coast in petrochemicals

MOSCOW (MRC) - Adding petrochemical plants is how French energy conglomerate Total SA plans to expand along the U.S. Gulf Coast in the coming years, a company executive said, as per Reuters.

Christophe Gerondeau, country chairman for Total in the United States, described the plans at the ground-breaking ceremony for a new 1 million ton per year ethane cracker.

The cracker is being built at Total’s 225,500 barrel per day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas, refinery and alongside a joint-venture steam cracker owned by Total and BASF, the company said.

"We love the U.S. for expansion in petrochemicals,” Pinatel said. “It’s a country in which we’d like to further expand."

Tariffs proposed by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump on steel imports are not expected to impact construction of the ethane cracker, Port Arthur refinery General Manager Bryan Canfield said.

“We don’t feel we’re very exposed,” Canfield said.
MRC

Amcor refreshes manufacturing assets with Kautex machine

MOSCOW (MRC) -- As it grows through acquisition and reputation, Amcor Rigid Plastics of Ann Arbor, Mich., is adding machinery and technology to meet packaging demands for personal care, food and health care products, as per Plasticsnews.

Investments in an injection blow molding (IBM) machine from Italy's Meccanoplastica Group and an extrusion blow molding (EBM) machine from Germany's Kautex Maschinenbau are part of a new effort to update manufacturing operations.

Amcor is the No. 1 blow molder in North America, based on estimated 2017 sales of $2.26 billion in the region, according to Plastics News' latest ranking.

With a focus on two segments, Amcor's global business, Amcor Ltd., has 69 production sites in its rigid packing unit and 131 sites producing flexible packaging. The company says it saw overall sales of USD9.1 billion in 2017, including USD2.9 billion in rigid packaging sales of PET products as well as containers and closures made from other resins.

At NPE2018, Amcor joined Kautex at its booth, where the first Kautex machine it purchased, the KBB40D, is producing an HDPE stock oval package for the personal care industry. Amcor officials say that their expanding technology and capabilities are an important growth driver.

"We're looking around and we're trying out new things," Chuck Simpson, manager of household and personal care products, said at the booth. "Certainly, a really nice thing about this machine is it's all-electric and the quick changeability of the molds. From what I've seen you can change these molds in 30 minutes to an hour. That's substantially different than other machines out there."

Suresh Krishnan, senior director of platform strategy for Amcor Rigid Plastics' Diversified Products division, referred to the purchases of IBM and EBM platforms as investments that "enable us to refresh our manufacturing assets, delivering greater quality with the latest technologies to meet today's demands of the packaging industry."

Amcor says its Jet series IBM machine will produce polypropylene and HDPE health care packaging in the form of 7-ml to 50-ml vials and the KBB series EBM machine will produce 4-ounce to 32-ounce containers for personal shampoo, body washes and bathroom cleaners.
MRC