Univar Solutions announces corporate name change

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Univar Inc., a global chemical and ingredient distributor and provider of value-added services, announced its Board of Directors has approved a Certificate of Amendment of the Certificate of Incorporation of the Company, to officially change the corporate name from Univar Inc. to Univar Solutions Inc., effective September 1, 2019, said the company.

"This name change marks another completed milestone as we progress on the integration of the legacy Univar and Nexeo chemical, ingredient and distribution businesses," said David Jukes, Univar Solutions president and chief executive officer. "I'm pleased to see our integration consistently moving forward as we combine the best of the best and deliver increased value to our customers and suppliers."

The shares of common stock of the Company will continue trading under the ticker symbol UNVR on the New York Stock Exchange, and the Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures (CUSIP) number assigned to the Company's common stock will remain the same. The name change also will not affect the rights of the Company's stockholders.

Univar Solutions is a leading global chemical and ingredient distributor and provider of value added services to customers across a wide range of industries. With the industry's largest private transportation fleet and North American sales force, a vast supplier network, deep market and regulatory knowledge, world-class formulation and recipe development, unparalleled logistics know-how, and industry-leading digital tools, Univar Solutions is a committed ally to customers and suppliers, helping them anticipate, navigate, and leverage meaningful growth opportunities.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Honeywell announced that PetroChina Guangdong Petrochemical Company will adopt advanced heavy oil processing technology from Honeywell UOP for its integrated petrochemical complex in China, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The new facility will have an annual crude processing capacity of 20 million tons, helping to meet a national energy security strategy while transforming PetroChina Guangdong into a more fully integrated petrochemicals supplier.

Honeywell UOP will provide a range of technology licenses, engineering design, key equipment, and state-of-the-art catalysts and adsorbents, operator training, technical services for startup and continuing operation.

"This is the most economically sound solution for the scale and complexity of PetroChina's operations," said Bryan Glover, vice president and general manager for Honeywell UOP's Petrochemicals and Refining Technologies business. "Our technologies will enable PetroChina Guangdong to produce aromatics on a large scale because of its ability to integrate refining operations with a full aromatics complex. We are working to make it one of the most efficient plants in the world."

The project includes a 3.7 million tons per annum (mtpa) Unicracking™ hydrocracking unit, which converts heavy vacuum gas oil into the raw materials for motor fuels and petrochemicals. The facility also will include two Honeywell UOP CCR Platforming™ units, each with a capacity of 3.0 mtpa, to produce fuels and aromatics, and hydrogen essential for other processes in the plant.

In addition, the plant will have a 2.6 mpta Light Desorbent Parex™ aromatics complex to produce high-purity paraxylene, the primary component of many plastic resins, films and fibers. This complex will be the largest single-train paraxylene unit in the world. The aromatics block includes the UOP Sulfolane™, Isomar™ and Tatoray™ processes and a UOP Olefin Removal Process unit to ensure maximum performance of the Parex process.

Honeywell UOP is the world's leading licensor of process technology to produce aromatics. As of 2018, Honeywell licensed more than 100 complexes and more than 700 individual process units for production of aromatics, including more than 370 CCR Platforming process units, 160 Sulfolane units, 80 Isomar units, 60 Tatoray units, and 100 Parex units worldwide.

PetroChina Guangdong is a subsidiary of the China National Petroleum Corporation. PetroChina Company Ltd. is the largest producer and distributor of petroleum and natural gas in China.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Axion Polymers has made further investments in its Manchester plastics recycling facility to improve waste processing capacity, said Plasticsnewseurope.

In addition, the company has increased the extrusion potential for its 100% recycled polymer grades. Looking at the recycling facility, additional equipment has been installed at the Shredder Waste Advanced Processing plant (SWAPP) in Trafford Park. This has ‘de=bottlenecked’ throughput of waste material. As a result, capacity has improved by 30%.

Materials currently being reprocessed are sourced from vehicle shredders and end-of-life vehicles, together with waste electronic and electrical equipment (WEEE). These are processed into Axpoly PP and ABS grades.

The increased processing capacity has resulted in a 20% increase in recycled polymer production, supporting additional reprocessing volumes.

Operated jointly with S Norton, one of the UK’s leading ferrous and non-ferrous metal recyclers, the SWAPP facility has an annual capacity of 200,000 tonnes. The process sees separation of non-metallic fractions (ASR or shredder ‘fluff’) from the equivalent of about 80,000 cars per year.

Judith Clayman, GM at Axion, said: “[The team] all pulled together to design and install the plant modifications as efficiently as possible and I am very pleased with the result."

The plant supports a 95% recycling recovery rate for cars to create a circular economy model for automotive materials.

Recycled Axpoly polymer can be used as a direct replacement for virgin material, or combined with virgin as necessary.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A London-based newspaper is reporting that the fast food chain McDonald’s is having recycling issues with the new paper straws it began using in place of plastic straws, said Plasticsnewseurope.

In an internal memo obtained by tabloid The Sun, McDonald’s says the new paper straws cannot be recycled and should be thrown in the garbage until further notice.

According to a spokesman for the fast-food chain, the paper straws were strengthened to prevent them from dissolving and the materials are recyclable, but the thickness of the paper straws makes it difficult for them to be processed.

"While the materials are recyclable, their current thickness makes it difficult for them to be processed by our waste solution providers, who also help us recycle our paper cups," a McDonald's spokesman told Press Association news agency.

Plastics straws have come under fire from environmental groups because they aren’t recycled, and can end up in the environment. US recycling experts have said material recovery facilities are not set up to recover plastic straws, even if the material itself is recyclable.

In an effort to help protect the environment, the new paper straws were introduced last fall and were planned to be rolled out to all 1,361 McDonald’s restaurants in the UK and Ireland this year, according The Sun.

Chicago-based McDonald’s previously said no feasible alternative exists that can handle its 60 million daily US customers, but it planned to test non-plastic options in some US markets late last year.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's output of chemical products dropped in July 2019 by 2.5% month on month.
However, production of basic chemicals increased by 2.9% in the first seven months of 2019, according to Rosstat's data.

According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, the largest increase in production volumes on an annualized basis accounted for mineral fertilizers and polymers in primary form. Thus, 223 ,000 tonnes of ethylene were produced in July, compared to 260,000 tonnes a month earlier.

Angarsk Polymers Plant and Gazprom neftekhim Salavat shut down their production capacities for maintenance in July. Thus, 1,801,000 tonnes of this olefin were produced in January-July 2019, up by 2.4% year on year.

Benzene production in July amounted to 108,000 tonnes against 124,000 tonnes a month earlier, which was also a result of the shutdowns in Angarsk and Salavat. Overall output of this product reached 851,000 tonnes in the first seven months of 2019, up by 0.4% year on year.

July production of sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) were 97,900 tonnes (100% of the basic substance) versus 110,000 tonnes a month earlier.

SayanskKhimPlast and Bashkir Soda Company shut their capacities for scheduled maintenances in July. Overall output of caustic soda totalled 742,900 tonnes over the stated period, compared to 736,500 tonnes a year earlier.

1,990,000 tonnes of mineral fertilizers (in terms of 100% nutrients) were produced in July versus 1,920,000 tonnes a month earlier. Overall, Russian plants produced 14,314,000 tonnes of fertilizers in January-July 2019, up by 3.3% year on year.

Last month's production of polymers in primary form decreased to 690,000 tonnes, up 7.6% from June due to scheduled maintenance works of several manufacturers. Overall output of polymers in primary form totalled 4,934,000,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by only 3.2% year on year.
MRC