Clariant breaks ground on JV production in Cangzhou, China

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Clariant, a world leader in specialty chemicals, and Beijing Tiangang Auxiliary Co., Ltd. (Tiangang), today conducted a groundbreaking ceremony in Cangzhou (China), just over 200 km south of Beijing, as per the company's press release.

The ceremony marked the start of the construction of a world-class production facility for stabilizers for plastics and textiles that will form the heart of the joint venture between both parties. The event was marked by a special event with representatives from both companies, as well as local officials.

The joint venture between Clariant and Tiangang was established in September 2017, and combines the technology and production knowledge of both companies to provide even better process and light stabilizers for various growing industries in China, including automotive and textiles. China is a key market for Clariant high-end process and light stabilizers, which include the state-of-the-art Nylostab S-EED chemistry – invented by the company – a unique multifunctional hindered amine light stabilizer, or HALS. Tiangang, which was founded in 1991, is already an important manufacturer of light stabilizers and UV absorbers, with two plants in China backward integrated with production of key intermediates.

During the ceremony, Clariant Global Business Unit Head of Additives, Stephan Lynen, said: "This new facility enables the successful implementation of our joint venture, and we are excited about the improved proximity to customers and raw material suppliers." Mr. Gang Liu, Deputy General Manager of Tiangang announced: "We look forward to the facility coming on-stream in the first half of 2019 and start serving the growing demand for high-end additives solutions in Asia even faster. The Cangzhou National Coastal-Port Economy & Technology Development Zone is an ideal production base for additives, with very good access to necessary raw materials and other support."

The ground-breaking took place just one day after Clariant officially opened wholly-owned plants for Ceridust® micronized waxes and AddWorks® synergistic additive solutions in Zhenjiang, 1250 km further south. Lynen added that "Clariant is committed to sustainable growth in China and therefore continues to invest across the country to increase its local production capability and competitiveness. I am proud to announce these two instances of the Business Unit Additives making progress on this expansion strategy in such short succession and look forward to leveraging this new capacity towards achieving sales growth supported by new and sustainable developments."

As MRC informed earlier, Clariant announced the official opening of two new, fully-owned additives facilities at its site in Zhenjiang, China. This completes a multi-million CHF investment originally announced last year and puts Clariant’s Additives business in China on track to further expand its offering of customized, high-end solutions for the plastics, coatings & ink industries.

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

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.
MRC

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.


MRC

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.
MRC

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.
MRC