Catalysts producer inaugurates new services and support office

MOSCOW (MRC) – Clariant announced that the company’s Catalysts business inaugurated a new services and support office in Jubail, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Located in the eastern coast of the country, Jubail is the world’s largest industrial city and an important site for the petrochemicals market, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Clariant’s new office is thus ideally positioned to serve regional customers with its advanced catalysts for petrochemical and refinery applications, as well as offer dedicated assistance and technical services. The new branch is Clariant Catalysts’ fourth office in the Middle East and will play a key role in the company’s plan to strengthen its presence and partnerships in the region. The local team will be actively supported by Clariant experts from around the world.

Stefan Heuser, Senior Vice President & General Manager Business Unit Catalysts at Clariant, commented, “We are extremely pleased to forge closer ties with valued customers in the Middle East. The expansion demonstrates our commitment to the region, and will allow us to showcase our state-of-the-art catalysts, which are designed to deliver excellent performance, and enable highly economical and sustainable production of numerous petrochemicals."

Clariant’s portfolio for refinery applications includes catalysts for extremely efficient fuel upgrading and purification, as well as for removing sulfur, chlorine, arsenic and mercury. The company’s solutions for the petrochemicals industry comprise high-performance catalysts for producing main petrochemical building blocks, such as ethylene, propylene, butadiene and styrene, in addition to a complete range of catalysts for producing various grades of polypropylene.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Rising demand for thermoplastic materials for various applications in electrical & electronics, automotive and manufacturing industries is expected to propel the global recycled thermoplastics market, said Plastemart.

The market is expected to grow from USD48.93 bln in 2018 to USD104.76 bln by 2026, at a CAGR of 9.98% during the forecast period from 2019-2026, according to a report published by Fior Markets.

Thermoplastics are widely used across all the industries due to their ideal properties of corrosion resistance, low density, high strength, and user-friendly design. They are gradually replacing the aluminium and other similar metals in various applications. Most of the thermoplastics belong to the non- biodegradable category. It does not rot, decompose, break down or is in any other way affected by the micro-organisms that are normally responsible for breaking down the organic materials. Also, majority of thermoplastics are derivatives of petroleum products. Thus, threat of petroleum products getting exhausted is progressively leading to increased recycling of the thermoplastic materials. Rising demand for the thermoplastic materials for the various applications in electrical & electronics, automotive and manufacturing industries is expected to propel the global recycled thermoplastics market.

Even though the factors such as growing institutional support for the plastic recycling activities, wide-ranging use in the agricultural sector as well as growth of automotive and construction sector in the Asia Pacific region are driving the global recycled thermoplastics market. The unsuitability of recycled thermoplastics for food and beverages applications and threat of contamination from the chemical and microbiological sources are expected to dampen the growth of the market overt the forecast period. However, increasing use of bio-degradable thermoplastic as well as rising awareness among people pertaining importance of plastic recycling is expected to drive the market in upcoming years.

Key players operating in the global recycled thermoplastic market are KW Plastics, Plastipak Holdings, Inc., PARC Corporation, Clear Path recycling, B. Schoenberg and Co., Custom Polymers Inc., RJM International Inc., Suez SA, Merlin Plastics Alberta Inc., Ricova International Inc., JP Industrial, Revital Polymers, MRC, Replas, Veolia, B&B Plastics, United plastic recycling, Arkema, APC recycling, Maine plastics incorporation, Toho Tenax Co., Ltd., Envision Plastics, and Fresh Pak Corporation among others. Key players active in the market are involved in collaborative agreements and expansion to bolster the growth of the market. To align themselves with the latest plastic recycling norms within European Union, major players are specifically focusing research and development activities. For instance, in 2017, Toho Tenax Europe GmbH announced that it has developed a new compound, based on recycled thermoplastic carbon fiber material and PEEK (polyetheretherketone) thermoplastic. TENAX-E COMPOUND rPEEK CF30 is a reinforced material combination of waste materials generated during processing of TENAX ThermoPlastics and recycled semi crystalline PEEK polymer, which contains 30% of carbon fiber by weight and offers a high performance in strength and stiffness for injection molding applications.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Covestro is expanding offerings and capabilities in continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic (CFRTP) composites in response to market trends and a growing demand from customers, said Plastemart.

Its Maezio™ brand of CFRTP composites are based on continuous carbon fibers impregnated with thermoplastics like polycarbonates. A new tape line is now commissioned in its Leverkusen laboratory to develop new products with different fiber and resin combinations. Their manufacture will in turn be scaled and commercialized at the production site in Markt Bibart in South Germany.

"We’re witnessing strong market demand for thinner, lighter, and aesthetically competitive products where thermoplastic composites like Maezio™ are making a difference,” says Lisa Ketelsen, head of the thermoplastic composite business of Covestro. “To meet the needs of a growing range of applications we need a broader base of portfolio with different matrix materials and properties. The new tape line in combination with our mass production lines will allow us to do quick iterations and scaling based on market demand."

One such product under development is thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) -based CFRTP, which boasts excellent chemical resistance properties and superior flexibility in a wide temperature range. There’s a strong demand especially from the footwear and sports equipment industries for such a strong and versatile product. “Thermoplastic composites enable significant increases in production speed for mass production, and their ability to be molded with features and produced to near net shape eliminates the need for many secondary operations,” says Dr.-Ing. Christian Wilms, Head of Technology of the thermoplastic composite business of Covestro. “Also, they are inherently recyclable, making them a genuine answer to the growing need for scalable and sustainable material solutions."

At the same time, new hybrid injection molding machines are commissioned in Covestro’s CFRTP locations in Germany and China to build on processing know-how of complex, three-dimensional composite parts in support of application development across industries. A hybrid injection molding machine combines the thermoforming of semi-finished composite parts with in-mold injection molding – a fully automated one-step processing technology which reduces cycle times and improved productivity of mass produced composite parts.

“We’re working closely with our machinery and processing partners such as Krauss Maffei and Engel to offer customers full support in their product development process,” says Dr.-Ing. Olaf Zoellner, head of application development Europe at the Polycarbonates business unit at Covestro. “A fully functional and supportive value chain with the know-how for mass production of composite parts is critical to bringing such solutions to the mainstream market."
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Valero Energy Corp shut a hydrocracking unit (HCU) and sulfur recovery unit (SRU) at its 335,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas, refinery on Monday, said sources familiar with plant operations, said Reuters.

The 45,000-bpd 942 HCU is scheduled to be shut until mid-September while the 545 SRU will be out of production for about 25 days, the sources said.

As MRC reported before, in early May 2018, CB&I has announced that its CDAlky technology had been selected by Valero Refining - New Orleans LLC for its St. Charles Alkylation Project located in Norco, Louisiana.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- August contract price of ethylene in Europe was agreed up by EUR10/tonne from July level.
However, some European producers announced a decrease in export PE prices for August shipments to the CIS markets, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Negotiations on August prices of European PE began last week. All market participants said that European producers have actually kept export prices of ethylene polymers for shipments in the current month at the level of July despite the increase in the price of monomer in the region.

At the same time, some producers, on the contrary, cut their export prices by EUR20/tonne, and in some cases, the price reduction reached EUR35/tonne. Deals for August LDPE were negotiated in the range of EUR950 -1,020/tonne FCA. July deals were agreed in the range of EUR970 -1,020 per tonne, FCA.

Deals for August deliveries of high density polyethylene (HDPE) were done in the range of EUR975-1,040/tonne FCA, for film and blow moulding polyethylene, while in the first half of July prices were in the range of EUR1,010 -1,060/tonne FCA.

August prices for injection moulding HDPE decreased to EUR970-1,000/tonne FCA, versus EUR995-1,020/tonne FCA, a month earlier.

Because of current and upcoming scheduled maintenance shutdowns, export quotas for some producers were limited, but these restrictions were not critical for most buyers.
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