Herbold Meckesheim up and running again after massive fire in September

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Plastics recycling machinery maker Herbold Meckesheim GmbH is returning to a normal production level following a major fire on Sept. 10 at its plant and headquarters in Meckesheim, Germany, as per Canplastics.

The fire destroyed the company’s central warehouse and dispatch department; the office space, test centre, and the production halls were not affected. There were no casualties in the fire, and cause of the blaze was eventually traced to a technical defect in electrical equipment.

"As of the second half of October, [we] are producing again at almost the same level as before the blaze,” Werner Herbold, one of the family-owned company’s managing directors, said in a statement. “The insurer approved our measures to restore an interim operation and granted a sufficient advance so we can realize the necessary investments without delay. The restocking of the parts destroyed in our central warehouse is also in full swing…and all parts of the buildings, undamaged by the fire, will continue to be used as usual."

Herbold Meckesheim is also planning to expand as it rebuilds facilities. “In our direct neighbourhood an incoming goods department and a warehouse have been established and not too far away, a one-time 2,500-square-meter machine hall will be transformed for production,” Werner Herbold said.

The new storage facility is expected to open in November.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- In a bid to expand its packaging solutions portfolio, blow molding machinery maker Sidel Group has acquired blow molder and packaging designer PET Engineering Srl, as per Camplastics.

The terms of the deal have not been disclosed. Founded in 1999 and based in San Vendemiano, Italy, PET Engineering has 40 employees and a global customer base.

"With packaging increasingly playing a key role in any marketing mix, we are confident that Sidel and PET Engineering’s complementary strengths in packaging design, qualification and blowing process will bring the Sidel Group more business opportunities while offering customers a diversified choice of partners to materialise their creative requirements," Pavel Shevchuk, Sidel Group’s executive vice president of services, said in a statement.

"PET Engineering is perfectly established to help Sidel expand its packaging offering – especially regarding the design of containers for water, soft drinks, liquid dairy products and beer," PET Engineering CEO Moreno Barel said in the statement.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- TechnipFMC announced the completion of construction of a new ammonia production unit called “Ammonia 4”, executed for Duslo a.s, part of the Agrofert group, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The plant successfully passed performance tests in July. This new unit operates in the existing fertilizer complex located in Sal’a, in Slovak Republic.

TechnipFMC’s scope included the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of this new ammonia unit. The contract awarded in 2014 was executed by the company’s operational center in Rome, Italy.

The new Ammonia 4 unit is based on Haldor Topsoe[1]’s last generation technology. It has a capacity of 1,600 tons per day of ammonia with an estimated operating life of forty years. It incorporates the most advanced engineering and technological solutions for minimum energy consumption and reduction of pollutants emissions.

With the timely completion of the Ammonia 4 plant Duslo a.s has become one of Europe's top ammonia producers in terms of energy efficiency and volume of emissions.

"This milestone confirms TechnipFMC’s long-lasting relationship with Haldor Topsoe, the global market leader in ammonia technology and catalysts. The completion of this new generation unit also reflects TechnipFMC’s leadership in the engineering and construction in the chemical, refining and petrochemical sectors," Marco Villa, President EMIA said.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lanxess A.G. is expanding production of high-performance plastics at its Krefeld-Uerdingen site in Germany by building a new compounding facility at the North Rhine-Westphalia site, as per RubberNews.

The Cologne-based specialty chemicals company said Sept. 19 that it was investing a "mid-double-digit million euro" amount in the new facility, which is scheduled to start operation in the second half of 2019.

Lanxess declined to comment on the capacity of the new facility, citing "competitive reasons."

The site will produce Durethan and Pocan engineering plastics, which are used primarily in the automotive, electrical and electronics industries. In addition, the investment will see the construction of a new warehouse and a silo facility at the site.

"The high-performance plastics business is a central pillar of our growth strategy. By expanding capacity, we are further strengthening our position as a provider of innovative product solutions for modern mobility," said Hubert Fink, member of the Lanxess board of management.

The German materials supplier already operates a polymerization and compounding plant for high-performance plastics in Krefeld-Uerdingen and added a new production line at the existing plant in March.

"Krefeld-Uerdingen is our central production platform for high-performance plastics, especially for the European markets. The expansion will enable us to better serve the continuing high demand from this market region in the future," said Michael Zobel, head of Lanxess' high performance materials business unit.

Metal replacement in vehicles is a major application for these materials, helping to reduce vehicle weight, fuel consumption and emissions. Depending on the part, lightweight construction can yield a weight-saving of up to 50 percent, Lanxess claims.

Lanxess has stepped up investments in expanding its compounding capacities in recent years in a bid to expand its value chain.

In November, the company unveiled plans to invest a USD21.7 million investment in Changzhou, China, to produce 25,000 metric tons of Durethan- and Pocan-branded plastics each year. The plant in Changzhou is scheduled to come on stream in the second quarter of 2019.

Lanxess already operates a plant for high-performance plastics in Wuxi, China.

The company also operates compounding sites in Jhagadia, India; Gastonia, S.C.; Porto Feliz, Brazil; and Hamm-Uentrop, Germany.

As MRC reported earlier, in December 2017, Lanxess announced the expansion of its Additives segment and plans to acquire the phosphorus chemicals business with a US production site from Belgian chemical group Solvay. Both companies signed an agreement to this effect.

Lanxess is a leading specialty chemicals company with about 19,200 employees in 25 countries. The company is currently represented at 74 production sites worldwide. The core business of Lanxess is the development, manufacturing and marketing of chemical intermediates, additives, specialty chemicals and plastics. Through Arlanxeo, the joint venture with Saudi Aramco, Lanxess is also a leading supplier of synthetic rubber.
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MOSCOW (MRC) - Mexico’s Salina Cruz oil refinery is operating normally after three people were injured in an electrical accident, a spokesman for state oil company Pemex said, as per Reuters.

The 330,000 barrel-per-day capacity facility, Pemex’s largest, had a short-circuit on Tuesday evening that sparked flames, the spokesman said.

As MRC informed earlier, Pemex is planning to begin restart of propylene production at two of its refineries next week as it brings key processing units back online. Pemex will restart a fluid catalytic cracker next week at its Salina Cruz refinery in Oaxaca, which has been shut following a June 14 fire. Pemex's Minatitlan refinery in Veracruz will see the first of two FCC units come back online August 5, and the second unit would be restarted on August 12. The Minatitlan units had been offline for maintenance, the source previously said.

Pemex, Mexican Petroleum, is a Mexican state-owned petroleum company. Pemex has a total asset worth of USD415.75 billion, and is the world's second largest non-publicly listed company by total market value, and Latin America's second largest enterprise by annual revenue as of 2009. Company produces such polymers, as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS).
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