Clariant and Saudi Kayan to evaluate alkoxylates joint venture

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Clariant, a world leader in specialty chemicals, has announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Saudi Kayan, a Saudi joint stock company leading in the field of chemicals, polymers and specialty products, as per the company's press release.

As defined by the MoU, both parties have agreed to evaluate the formation of a joint venture with the aim of establishing a manufacturing facility for alkoxylates. This facility is planned to combine Clariant’s alkoxylates production technology with Saudi Kayan’s raw materials and would therefore be based within Saudi Kayan’s Petrochemical Company complex in Jubail Industrial City, Saudi Arabia.

Alkoxylates are a downstream product of ethylene oxide and are used in a variety of specialty applications in Clariant’s home care, personal care and industrial applications segments.

Saudi Kayan is an affiliate of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC). SABIC is also Clariant’s largest strategic anchor shareholder with a 24.99% stake. This MoU between Clariant and Saudi Kayan is a part of the further evaluation of additional collaborative businesses opportunities between Clariant and SABIC, as previously communicated by both parties.

As MRC wrote before, in March 2017, Clariant was awarded a contract by Dongguan Grand Resource Science & Technology Co. Ltd. to develop a new propane dehydrogenation unit in cooperation with CB&I. The project includes the license and engineering design of the unit, which is to be built in Dongguan City, Guangdong Province, China. The Dongguan plant will be one of the largest single-train dehydrogenation units in the world. Clariant's technology partner CB&I will base the plant's design on its Catofin catalytic dehydrogenation technology, which uses Clariant's tailor-made Catofin catalyst and Heat Generating Material (HGM).

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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Honeywell has announced that Zhejiang Petrochemical Co. Ltd. (ZPC) will use a range of process technology from Honeywell UOP, the world's leading licensor of refining and petrochemical process technology, for the second phase of an integrated refining and petrochemical complex in Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The complex is one of several new large industrial sites that are part of China's current national economic development plan.

In the first phase of the project announced in 2017, ZPC selected Honeywell UOP technologies for hydroprocessing and heavy oil upgrading, and to make aromatics for plastic resins, films and fibers that are the basis for millions of products.

For this second phase of the project, Honeywell UOP will supply a wide range of technology licenses, engineering design, key equipment, and state-of-the-art catalysts and adsorbents, more than doubling the plant's aromatics capacity. In addition, the Honeywell Experion Process Knowledge System will provide process controls and automation systems for the complex.

"This second phase of the complex by itself will process 20 million tons per year of crude oil and produce another six million tons per year of aromatics when completed," said Bryan Glover, vice president and general manager, Process Technology and Equipment, at Honeywell UOP. "It will be the largest crude-to-chemicals complex in the world, with more than 50 percent of the crude converting to petrochemicals. Due to its sheer scale, the complex will help China move closer to achieving self-sufficiency in paraxylene while serving as a major new source of propylene, jet fuel and more."

The second phase of the project will include:

- a two-train LD Parex aromatics complex - including the UOP Sulfolane, Isomar and Tatoray processes - for the production of 4.8 million metric tons per year of paraxylene, a primary ingredient in plastics;
- a refining section with three Honeywell UOP Unicracking™ process units to convert vacuum gas oil and distillate into petrochemical feedstock,
- two Continuous Catalyst Regeneration (CCR) Platforming units to produce aromatics and blend stocks for making high-octane fuels, and a reverse Butamer unit to produce normal butane.

Honeywell Experion Distributed Control Systems designed and configured especially for Honeywell UOP processes
Honeywell UOP is the world's leading licensor of process technology for the production of aromatics. As of 2018, UOP licensed more than 100 complexes and more than 700 individual process units for the production of aromatics, including more than 300 CCR Platforming process units, 158 Sulfolane units, 85 Butamer units, 80 Isomar units, 58 Tatoray units, 100 Parex units worldwide.

As MRC wrote before, BASF has opened a state-of-the-art control room equipped with Honeywell Experion technology at its waste incineration complex in Ludwigshafen, Germany. The control room was officially inaugurated on November 28, 2017.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Evonik has acquired Structured Polymers Inc., a US-based technology startup for 3D printing materials headquartered in Austin, Texas. A corresponding agreement and plan of merger was executed and the transaction has been closed recently, as per the company's press release.

The acquisition will provide Evonik access to a new patented technology that will allow the company to expand its portfolio of specialty polymer powders in the additive manufacturing market.

"The acquisition of Structured Polymers’ technology excellently complements our existing activities with high-performance polymers for additive manufacturing,” says Dr. Ralph Marquardt, the head of Strategy and Growth Businesses for Evonik Resource Efficiency GmbH. “Thanks to our decades of expertise in polymer chemistry, this means we will expand our portfolio of customized, ready-to-use polymer materials for the highly attractive, rapidly growing 3D printing market, thus giving us a key role in shaping development of that market."

Structured Polymers will be entirely integrated into Evonik’s North American organization, while its company headquarters will remain in Austin, Texas.

"We are very pleased to harness the power of Evonik to expand our innovative technology platform even further. In the near future, this will allow us to diversify the 3D printing materials market to a significant degree and to work with our customers on developing new business opportunities," says Vikram Devarajan, CEO of Structured Polymers Inc.

Evonik already laid the foundations for an acquisition of the technology startup in the fall of 2017 through a venture capital investment.

Structured Polymers’ innovative technology starts with a polymer granulate, which is converted to a fine powder through various process steps. This makes it possible to produce polymer powders with controlled particle sizes ranging in diameter between 0.1 and 400 µm, while achieving excellent material properties.

"The new technology allows us to take virtually any semi-crystalline thermoplastic, such as polybutylene terephthalate, polyether ketone, or polyamide 6, or polymer powders with specialized properties like color, conductivity, or flame protection, and produce them for common powder-based 3D printing processes, such as selective laser sintering, high-speed sintering, or multi-jet fusion," says Thomas Grosse-Puppendahl, the head of the Additive Manufacturing Innovation Growth Field at Evonik. "In addition, we anticipate that Structured Polymers’ technology can be scaled up easily and economically."

The 3D printing market is booming with double-digit growth rates. Within this market, Evonik is the world’s leading manufacturer of polyamide (PA) 12 powders, which have been used in additive production technologies for over 20 years. In addition to its PEEK filament and PA 12 powders, the company’s product portfolio also includes flexible PEBA powders and a wide array of additives such as dispersing agents, flow enhancers, and reactive modifiers.

As MRC informed before, last summer, The Linde Group and the specialty chemicals company Evonik Industries concluded an exclusive cooperation agreement on the use of membranes for natural gas processing. The two companies will jointly promote membrane technology - Evonik on the membrane and polymer side and Linde’s Engineering Division as the system integrator for the complete membrane package units. Evonik’s established membrane technology will serve as the basis. The joint product will be marketed by Linde as the "HISELECT powered by Evonik" high-performance membrane package unit.

Evonik, the creative industrial group from Germany, is one of the world leaders in specialty chemicals. Its activities focus on the key megatrends health, nutrition, resource efficiency and globalization. Evonik benefits specifically from its innovative prowess and integrated technology platforms. Evonik is active in over 100 countries around the world.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited has started commercial production of purified isophthalic acid (PIA) plant at Indorama Ventures Xylenes & PTA, LLC (IVXP), located at Decatur, Alabama, according to WorldOfChemicals.

The Decatur PIA plant would complement the existing PIA plant of IVL at IVL Quimica, Spain. The two PIA plants have a combined name plate capacity of 440,000 MT/Annum and IVL is the only PIA producer with dual facilities in the two large consumption continents of EMEA and America’s serving the needs of PET and Speciality chemicals.

Significant part of aromatic feedstock used in PIA production is secured on long-term basis from suppliers in USA and Europe. Decatur, Alabama is IVL’s largest PET Value Chain location with paraxylene, PTA, NDC and PET polymers production and now is complemented with PIA production. The combined site capacity is over 2 million tons of integrated production with MEG coming from IVL’s Olefins plant in Clear Lake, Texas by barges.

Recently approved JV investment by IVL in Corpus Christi, Texas integrated PTA & PET project together with IVL Decatur plant and Clear Lake Olefin plant is expected to be the most supply chain efficient PET Value Chain nexus in America’s. The PIA technology is proprietary and owned by Indorama Ventures Quimica, Spain, the company said.

As MRC reported previously, in Q1 2016, BP PLC sold its petrochemical complex in Decatur, Alabama, to Indorama Ventures Public Co. Ltd., for an undisclosed sum, as part BP's plan to restructure its global petrochemicals business. The divestment was in line with BP’s global petrochemicals strategy of pursuing a competitively advantaged portfolio through world-scale, low-cost facilities that utilize BP proprietary technology, including the production of purified terephthalic acid, or PTA, a key raw material in the production of polyester.

Indorama Ventures is a leading producer in the polyester value chain in Thailand with strong global network and manufacturing across Asia, Europe and North America. Its products serve major players in diversified end use markets, including food, beverages, personal and home care, health care, automotives, textile, and industrial. The company’s main products are PTA, PET and polyester fibre, which are distributed across the world.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Royal Dutch Shell will begin “major maintenance work” on a number of units at its Pernis oil refinery in Rotterdam beginning on 25 January, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The maintenance is expected to last two months and at its peak will require 3,000 extra workers at the site, Shell said.

Shell did not specify the units involved in the turnaround.

The refinery is Europe’s largest and has the capacity to process 404,000 barrels per day of crude.
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