Biesterfeld granted distribution rights for fluoroelastomers from Solvay

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Biesterfeld is expanding its partnership with Solvay Speciality Polymer and, as of August 2019, is taking on the distribution of fluoroelastomers in Europe, Russia, and Brazil, said Britishplastics.

This will include the new FKM polymers from the Tecnoflon brand, which are characterised by excellent chemical resistance to a large number of different media such as fuels, lubricants, oils, and solvents

Due to its specific properties, Tecnoflon FKM is commonly used in seals and hoses and is displayed predominantly in the automotive industry.

Jorn Thomsen, Product Manager for Specialty Polymers at Biesterfeld Performance Rubber, said: “With the new distribution rights, we are expanding our range of high-performance polymers and are adding to our specialist product portfolio."

“With Tecnoflon FKM, we are pleased to be able to offer our customers technically refined, high-quality products from market leader Solvay. Existing and new customers will benefit from our service and our efficient supply chain solutions.”

Giovanni Biressi, Tecnoflon FKM and FFKM Global Product Manager for Solvay Specialty Polymers, said: “The new agreement has now enabled us to expand our many years of successful cooperation with Biesterfeld to the area of rubber products.”

“Thanks to Biesterfeld, we have at our side an experienced and established partner with the expertise to place our products on the market in the best possible way. We are pleased that we can now join forces to drive forward the success of Tecnolon FKM.”

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Total and IFPEN to accelerate carbon reduction R&D

MOSCOW (MRC) -- IFP Energies Nouvelles (IFPEN) and Total announced they signed a strategic R&D partnership that includes an agreement to endow a chair at the IFP School, on carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) and technologies to curb CO2 emissions, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The roughly EUR40 million partnership covers a period of five years.

The agreement has two parts: a strategic R&D partnership on carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) aims to reduce the cost of infrastructure and improve the CCUS chain’s energy efficiency to secure its large-scale deployment. The partnership steps up the long-standing collaboration between Total and IFPEN by marshaling additional resources. The research will focus on fields related to new materials, process scale-up, underground carbon storage in deep saline aquifers, technical and economic feasibility studies and the quantification of environmental benefits for the entire CCUS chain.

The Carbon Management and Negative CO2 Emissions Technologies to Net-Zero Carbon Future Chair will help train a new generation of international researchers and experts who will develop technologies to reduce carbon in the atmosphere. Overseen by a scientific committee comprised of world-renowned, independent experts, the chair will bring together seven doctoral and five post-doctoral researchers for five years.

"We are delighted to accelerate the R&D partnership between Total and IFPEN. We want to pool our innovation capabilities to reduce the cost of CCUS technologies and improve their efficiency - both of which are necessary for large-scale deployment. Total wants to help make the planet carbon neutral and boost the competitiveness of an industrial-scale CCUS sector," Patrick Pouyanne, Chairman and CEO of Total said.

Didier Houssin, Chairman and CEO of IFPEN, commented: "IFPEN has been actively researching carbon capture, utilization and storage technologies for nearly 20 years. Our strengthened partnership with Total will allow us to combine our teams’ skills and know-how with Total’s and thus to accelerate the deployment of CCUS technologies, which are a key solution for drastically cutting CO2 emissions."

According to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Sustainable Development Scenario, which corresponds to a less than 2°C rise in the global average temperature, it will be necessary to capture and store 6 billion tons of carbon by 2050. This will require developing viable, cost-competitive CCUS technologies.

As MRC wrote before, in December 2017, Total inaugurated the new units at its Antwerp integrated refining & petrochemicals platform, which had progressively started up in the previous few months.

Total S.A. is a French multinational oil and gas company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world with business in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. The company's petrochemical products cover two main groups: base chemicals and the consumer polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene) that are derived from them.
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PVC exports from Russia rose by 42% in H1 2019, imports up by 10%

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Exports of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) from Russia totalled 97,300 tonnes in the first half of 2019, up by 42% year on year. Imports also increased by 10% year on year to 13,100 tonnes, according to MRC's DataScope report.


Russian producers have kept fairly high exports of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), even amid the upcoming scheduled shutdowns for maintenance at two major production capacities. Last month's exports of Russian suspension (excluding shipments to the countries of the Customs Union ) were 15,700 tonnes, compared to 12,800 tonnes in May. Thus, overall exports of resin from Russia totalled 97,300 tonnes in the first six months of 2019, compared to 68,500 tonnes a year earlier.

Indian buyers were the main foreign importers of Russian resin this year. Overall sales of resin were 55,200 tonnes over the stated period.


Sufficient supply of PVC from domestic producers, even given high exports and weak demand from converters, led to lower imports in the first three months of the year. But purchases in foreign markets have begun to grow gradually since April.

June SPVC imports were 5,200 tonnes, compared to 2,800 tonnes a month earlier. And if in January-May, Chinese polymer accounted for the bulk of shipments, then in June, Russian companies resumed deliveries from the United States.

Overall imports totalled slightly over 13,100 tonnes over the stated period versus 11,900 tonnes a year earlier.

MRC

DOMO Chemicals renames cfp flexible packaging to DOMO Film Solutions

MOSCOW (MRC) -- DOMO Chemicals, a leading integrated high quality material engineering company, underlines its position as one of the main providers of nylon film solutions in Europe by renaming its business currently known as cfp flexible packaging S.p.A. to DOMO Film Solutions S.p.A., said the company.

The name change is effective immediately. The purpose is to visibly incorporate the company within the DOMO Group brand identity and to clearly indicate its core business and related scope: providing customers with solutions based on more than 40 years of expertise and full upstream integration with the nylon 6 chemical chain.

The company has been part of the DOMO Chemicals Group since July 2014 and has operated a new German BOPA plant since 2018.

Domo Film Solutions has a strong focus on sustainability and innovation of films for flexible packaging and other technical applications. A good example is the launch of its new Nyleen™ brand.

This family of nylon films has a low carbon footprint compared to standard nylon film, according to a comparison between Ecoinvent 3.3 data and an LCA assessment performed by Quantis. Details of the study are available on request

Introducing DOMO Film Solutions, the company’s Managing Director, Attilio Annoni said: “DOMO Film Solutions is committed to the sustainable future of nylon. The introduction of Nyleen™ is only the first step. We want to go further: in the short term, the company will launch the first-ever vertically recycled/recyclable nylon film; the film team is also developing strategic partnerships with the aim of investigating bio-based solutions."

Jani Vuorenpaa – Business Development – Innovation & Sustainability Director added: “Our message to the market is clear: we want to make nylon film environmentally sustainable and we set out to continually improve our production processes, designed to achieve – and maintain – our leadership in low carbon footprint nylon film."
MRC

McDermott awarded sizeable offshore engineering contract by Qatar Petroleum

MOSCOW (MRC) -- McDermott International, Inc. (NYSE: MDR) announced it has been awarded a sizeable* contract by Qatar Petroleum (QP) to carry out front-end engineering and design (FEED) work for offshore wellhead platforms, pipelines and cables associated with the North Field Expansion (NFE) project, said the company.

The scope includes the design of four offshore trunk lines with intra-field pipelines, eight wellhead platforms and power and fiber optic (PFO) subsea cable rings. The FEED contract will be executed from McDermott's Doha offices, with drafting to be executed in Chennai.

Work on the project will begin immediately, and the contract award will be reflected in McDermott's second quarter 2019 backlog.

McDermott defines a sizeable contract as between USD1 million and USD50 million.

McDermott is a premier, fully integrated provider of technology, engineering and construction solutions to the energy industry. For more than a century, customers have trusted McDermott to design and build end-to-end infrastructure and technology solutions to transport and transform oil and gas into the products the world needs today. Our proprietary technologies, integrated expertise and comprehensive solutions deliver certainty, innovation and added value to energy projects around the world. Customers rely on McDermott to deliver certainty to the most complex projects, from concept to commissioning.
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