Solvay invests in the modernization of a cogeneration unit in Bernburg

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Solvay has announced a EUR48 million investment in the modernization of the gas cogeneration unit in its soda ash & bicarbonate plant based in Bernburg, Germany, as per the company's press release.

This investment secures the long term position of the site and increases its competitiveness, while maintaining the current production capacity. It is also in line with Solvay’s commitment to sustainable development and CO2 intensity reduction.

"With this new project, Solvay reiterates its commitment to serve its customers and answer their needs, by providing reliable and competitive supply of high-quality soda ash and sodium bicarbonate", said Christophe Clemente, President of Solvay’s Global Business Unit Soda Ash & Derivatives.

Solvay is an advanced materials and chemical company, committed to developing chemistry that addresses key societal challenges. Solvay innovates and partners with customers in diverse global end markets. Its products are used in planes, cars, batteries, smart and medical devices, as well as in mineral and oil and gas extraction, enhancing efficiency and sustainability. Its lightweighting materials promote cleaner mobility, its formulations optimize the use of resources and its performance chemicals improve air and water quality. Solvay is headquartered in Brussels with around 24,500 employees in 61 countries. Net sales were EUR10.1 billion in 2017, with 90% from activities where Solvay ranks among the world’s top 3 leaders, resulting in an EBITDA margin of 22%. Solvay SA is listed on Euronext Brussels and Paris and in the United States its shares are traded through a level-1 ADR program. (Figures take into account the announced divestment of Polyamides.)

Solvay Soda Ash and Derivatives (SA&D) is a world leader in its sector, producing soda ash serving the glass, detergent and chemical markets and developing solutions based on sodium bicarbonate and trona serving the healthcare, food, animal feed, and flue gas cleaning markets. SA&D has 11 industrial sites worldwide, more than 3,300 employees and serves 90 countries.

As MRC informed before, in early July 2016, Solvay completed the divestment of its shareholding in Inovyn (London), bringing to an end Solvay's chlorvinyls joint venture with Ineos. Solvay received exit cash proceeds amounting to EUR335 million (USD370.7 million). The dissolution of the jv follows regulatory clearances from the relevant authorities.

Solvay, with a market share 27%, is the second largest PVC manufacturer in Europe, after Kerling with 29% of the market. Solvay is headquartered in Brussels with about 30,900 employees spread across 53 countries.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- From July 1, 2018 the new distribution partner TER ITALIA, headquartered in Milan, will market the complete portfolio of Evonik’s PLEXIGLAS and PLEXIMID molding compounds in Italy, as per the company's press release.

TER Plastics has been operating successfully in the plastics market for many years and offers its customers high-quality plastic products backed by expert technical service. The extensive product portfolio of PLEXIGLAS molding compounds for all injection-molding and extrusion applications is the ideal supplement to TER ITALIA’s existing range. The collaboration with the previous distribution partner, Vamp Tech (Italy), ended on June 30, 2018.

The existing partnership with the dealer Guberti S.p.A. in the Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, and Trentino-Alto Adige regions remains unaffected by the change. "With Guberti and TER ITALIA, our two distributors for the Italian market, we’re very well positioned for the future and have two partners with excellent knowledge of the market and sales expertise," says Peter Freisler, head of Business Management Europe.

PLEXIGLAS, Evonik’s branded polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), is the perfect solution for applications requiring exceptional brilliance and transparency, unparalleled weather resistance, and excellent surface characteristics. The main uses for these products are in medical technology, in the automotive, watch-making, and lighting industries, in optics, communication, building, and household applications

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- K.D. Feddersen Holding has acquired German full service product development company M.TEC, for an undisclosed amount, as per Plasticsnewseurope.

The Hamburg-based K.D. Feddersen announced 6 July that the motivation behind the acquisition of Herzogenrath-based M.TEC was to "systematically expand its range of services and problem-solving competence by entering the field of knowledge-based services."

M.TEC was founded in 1991 as a spin-off of the IKV plastics processing institute at the RWTH Rheinwestfalische Technische Hochschule university as "a bridge between innovation and serial production".

M.TEC’s previous main shareholder, Dr Volker Gorzelitz, remains at M.TEC as managing director, to help the Feddersen group companies benefit from the acquisition in e.g. development of electro mobility and lightweight construction in plastics. M.TEC is, for example, a founding member company of the AZL Aachen Centre for Integrative Lightweight Construction at RWTH University.

Through the acquisition, M.TEC now gives the Feddersen Group companies – compounder Akro Plastic, compounding extruder producer Feddem and colour & functional additive masterbatch producer AF-Color – closer access to RWTH as a "university of excellence" and in particular to IKV, which claims to be the world’s leading plastics technology research and training institute.

M.TEC works closely on fluid assist injection moulding process Moldflow simulation and part design with fluid assist system specialist PMEfluidtec, which in turn works actively in the water assist injection area with the Feddersen compounds subsidiary Akro-Plastic. Other software tools used by M.TEC include AutoDesk, Cadmould and Moldex3D.

Aside from providing expertise on plastics materials behaviour, and processing, M.TEC is renowned for its extensive plastics materials data base.

The company’s presentation at the 29th biannual IKV Plastics Technology Colloquium in February/March 2018, was on a "revolutionary" digital simulation and calculation means to optimise minimise warping of plastic parts.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- An explosion at a chemical plant in China has killed 19 people and injured 12, the local government said on Friday, the latest deadly industrial incident in the world's largest producer of chemicals, as per Reuters.

It is not yet clear what caused Thursday evening's blast at Yibin Hengda Technology in an industrial park several hours southeast of Chengdu, the capital of the southwestern province of Sichuan, authorities in Jiang'an county said.

The injured are in stable condition and an investigation has begun, state news agency Xinhua said.

The company did not immediately answer telephone calls from Reuters to seek information. Photographs on Chinese social media showed a huge fire and plumes of smoke rising from the facility.

The fire, which broke out early on Thursday evening, was put out by 11:30 p.m., the government said in its statement.

China has kicked off measures to improve industrial safety, ramping up checks over the last year, following some high-profile incidents at coal mines and chemical plants.

In 2015, an explosion in a chemical warehouse in the northern port city of Tianjin killed 165 people. Last year a blast at a petrochemical plant in eastern Shandong province killed eight people and injured nine.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Greiner Packaging has announced plans to close down two loss-making production facilities in Wernberg, Austria and Rastatt, Germany, as per Plasticsnewseurope.

The Kremsmunster, Austria-based packaging firm said in a 3 July statement that it would cease operations by mid-2019 at the two units, which it said had been "losing money for quite some time".

Some 110 jobs will be affected by the move. Greiner has stated that its "comprehensive restructuring in recent years" failed to secure the business case for the two plants, as the environment is becoming "increasingly competitive".

"Therefore, within the framework of a strategic process, we have decided to outsource certain production areas to other locations within the Greiner Packaging Group," explained group spokesperson, Ute Kliemstein.

According to Kliemstein, bottle production, which constitutes the bulk of the Wernberg facility's business, will be transferred to the Greiner Packaging’s plant in Kremsmunster, Austria.

Greiner Packaging had already downsized its Rastatt site back in 2016.

At the time, marketing director Joerg Sabo, told PNE that the site was not successful "because of the outdated technologies/machines we were using there."

Sabo told PNE that it was updating its machinery and technology at the site and cutting the number of jobs from 90 to around 50.

Greiner Packaging is one of five branches of the Greiner Group which consists of Greiner Packaging, Greiner Bio-One International, Greiner Foam International, Greiner Perfoam, and Greiner Tool.Tec.
MRC