JXTG Nippon Oil restarts ethylene cracker

MOSCOW (MRC) -- JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy has resumed operations at its cracker following an unplanned shutdown, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Japan informed that the company has brought on-stream its cracker on June 17, 2018. The cracker was taken off-line in end-May 2018 owing to Furnace issues.

Located at Kawasaki in Japan, the cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 540,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote before, seven naphtha crackers in Japan are expected to be shut in 2018 for scheduled maintenance, industry and company sources said in early 2018.

Thus, Mitsubishi Chemical shut its 539 Mtpy naphtha cracker from May 9 to July 3, followed by a scheduled restart on July 4, a company spokesman said. Other ethylene manufacturers operating crackers include oil refiner JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy, and Osaka Petrochemical Industries Ltd, a wholly owned unit of Mitsui Chemicals.
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BASF opens new construction chemicals manufacturing plant in Myanmar

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF has opened its first construction chemicals manufacturing plant in East Dagon Township, Myanmar, as per Chemicals-technology.

The new facility will be used for producing tailor-made concrete admixtures to meet increasing demand for the construction chemicals in Myanmar.

BASF Asia-Pacific construction chemicals senior vice-president Dr Hicham Abel said: "Myanmar is one of the fastest growing markets in the Asia-Pacific, and is important for BASF.

"We are proud to open our first manufacturing facility in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city and its business centre, to support the rapid urbanisation and industrialisation of Myanmar. "The new plant will enable us to stay close to our customers and offer solutions that meet the growing demands for residential construction, and industrial and infrastructure developments."

BASF’s new plant features production units, warehousing facilities and a laboratory for quality control purpose.

"Myanmar is one of the fastest growing markets in the Asia-Pacific, and is important for BASF."
The chemical company produces standard and custom-made performance admixtures, including MasterEase, MasterGlenium, MasterRheobuild, MasterPozzolith and MasterKure under the Master Builders Solutions brand.

BASF Thailand and responsible for Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam managing director Petrus Ng said: "The opening of the new plant in East Dagon Township marks another milestone for us as we expand our manufacturing footprint in a new market and support the rapid growth of Myanmar’s construction industry with durable and energy-efficient products."

With this new plant, BASF expects to become one of the largest local producers of construction chemicals in Myanmar.

The plant is located 25km from Yangon downtown, and lies in close proximity to Thilawa Sea Port, Yangon Sea Port, and Yangon International Airport.

Its location enables the company to receive raw materials, as well as deliver to customers across the country.


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Air Products holds ribbon-cutting for SMR at Covestro in Texas

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Air Products, the leading global hydrogen provider, held a ribbon-cutting event at the Covestro LLC Baytown, Texas, industrial park, where Air Products has invested over USD350 million to build, own and operate a world-scale steam methane reformer (SMR), as per the company's press release.

The SMR is producing hydrogen and carbon monoxide (CO) to be supplied at Baytown to Covestro and to other customers linked to Air Products’ Gulf Coast Hydrogen and CO Pipeline Networks.

"Our decades-long relationship with Covestro and its predecessor companies continues to grow with this new facility in Baytown. Our new plant is important to our host site customer Covestro for the carbon monoxide produced, but the facility also offers other benefits to Air Products, other customers, and even the general public. The new SMR strengthens Air Products’ position in the Texas CO market, and it increases the product capacity of our well-established hydrogen pipeline supply network while creating a product necessary to making cleaner burning transportation fuels, which helps to keep the air we breathe cleaner," said Marie Ffolkes, president?Industrial Gases Americas at Air Products.

The SMR and cold box are both located on land leased from Covestro, a world-leading manufacturer of high-tech polymer materials for diverse industries, such as automotive, construction and furniture. The SMR produces approximately 125 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) of hydrogen and a world-scale supply of carbon monoxide, a critical raw material for Covestro’s chemical production in Baytown.

"We’re proud to host Air Products and its world-class SMR facility at our Baytown Industrial Park,” said Rod Herrick, vice president, Covestro Baytown Industrial Park. “We’re always exploring new opportunities to increase the reliability and efficiency of our Baytown operations, and today marks an important milestone on that journey. The new SMR facility will strengthen our regional supply network, which in turn allows us to better serve our customers."

Air Products’ new SMR was built through the global hydrogen alliance between Air Products and TechnipFMC, a global leader in subsea onshore/offshore, and surface projects for the energy industry. The plant features the latest technology to maximize energy efficiency and reduce emissions, and includes optimal heat integration, which in turn lowers feedstock consumption. The plant configuration and deployed technologies support Air Products’ overall sustainability goals of reducing energy consumption and emissions.
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Haldia Petrochemical restarts petrochemical complex

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL) has brought on-stream its downstream plants at Haldia in the eastern Indian state of west Bengal, according to Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in India informed that the company has resumed operations at the downstream polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) plants, following a turnaround. The plants were shut for maintenance on May 10, 2018. The upstream cracker at the complex was restarted last week.

Located at Haldia in the eastern Indian state of west Bengal, the complex has a 330,000 mt/year high density polyethylene (HDPE) plant, a 370,000 mt/year HDPE/linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) swing plant and a 350,000 mt/year polypropylene plant.

As MRC informed before, in October 2016, HPL reported a massive fire at the petrochemical complex located in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal.

Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd is a modern naphtha based petrochemical complex at Haldia, West Bengal, India. Haldia has played the role of a catalyst in emergence of more than 500 downstream processing industries in West Bengal with a capacity to process more than 3,50,000 TPA of polymers, among which are PE and PP.
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INEOS Oxide to move forward with construction of Ethylene Oxide, Ethylene Oxide Derivatives facility in U.S. Gulf

MOSCOW (MRC) -- INEOS Oxide announced that following a detailed study it is moving forward with the next stage of its project to construct an Ethylene Oxide (EO) and Ethylene Oxide Derivatives (EOD) facility on the U.S. Gulf Coast. It is planned that the asset will be operational in 2022, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Frederick Rulander, COO INEOS Oxide North America, said "This exciting project for INEOS is an important part of our expansion plans in the U.S. It allows us to address a fast-growing EO merchant market as well as our own requirements. The project builds on our experience in Europe as the largest EO and Ethoxylate producer."

INEOS is planning a plant that is initially capable of producing around 270 ktpa (600 million pounds) of EO, with ethoxylate derivative capacity on-site. In addition to supply by rail, the project will allow third-parties to co-locate on site and consume EO by pipeline, as required. A similar approach to our highly successful asset-based in Antwerp.

INEOS is considering several sites on the U.S. Gulf Coast and is well advanced in evaluating competing EO technologies.

Confirmation of the investment location and technology partner are expected later this year.

As MRC informed earlier, INEOS Oxide announces that it is progressing plans to expand Dipropylene Glycol (DPG) capacity at its site in Koln Germany. The company confirmed that it has started the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) and expects to complete the engineering studies during the course of 2018.


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