Nouryon adding metal alkyls capacity in Rotterdam

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Nouryon has made a series of investments at its metal alkyls plant in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, to improve efficiency and increase capacity, said Plasticseurope.

The investment includes automating raw material handling, improving overall efficiency and safety at the site by reducing potential exposure risks, Nouryon announced 21 Aug without giving the financial details of the project.

“The Rotterdam plant has increased production capacity by more than 40% in the last three years, and this latest investment series positions us for sustained growth,” said Jeroen Jungschlager, Rotterdam plant manager.

“It will enable us to move greater volumes with improved reliability and consistency to our customers.”

Organometallics such as metal alkyls are used as co-catalysts in olefin polymerisation processes and are used to produce polyethylene, polypropylene and certain types of synthetic rubber.

Nouryon expects the upgrades to enable it to meet the growing demand from customers in the polymer industry and improve supply reliability in Europe.

The former AkzoNobel speciality chemicals business has strengthened its position in metal alkyls with the recent acquisition of Zhejiang Friend Chemical Co.

The company is the largest Chinese producer of triethyl aluminium (TEAL) – a metal alkyl used in the production of high-volume polymers, including polypropylene and polyethylene.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- With an ever-growing demand for recycled-content packaging from consumer product brand owners, the world's largest PET maker is investing at least USD1bn (EUR900m) to meet that upcoming need, said Reuters.

Indorama Ventures Public Co. Ltd. has established what it calls a separate vertical within the company's structure to combine all the company's recycling assets.

"And we've allocated a budget of USD1bn (EUR900m) to recycling so that by 2025, when the brand owners want 25% content in packaging, ILV will be able to deliver," CEO Aloke Lohia said on a recent quarterly conference call. "IVL is the largest PET company in the world. So all the brand owners are talking to us on whether we understand the importance."

"They're wanting to keep PET as a main packaging choice. We also see more plastic packaging diverting towards PET packaging. So that is good news for us. We just have to ensure that we can deliver 25% recycling content," Lohia said.

Along with the USD1bn (EUR900m) total mentioned on the conference call, the CEO told Reuters the company plans an additional USD500m (EUR451m) investment to help its customers meet 25% recycled content rate. News of Indorama's bigger push into recycling comes at a time when chemical and virgin resin companies increasingly look to get involved in that segment of the market.

Pressure from both governments and consumers are causing these large firms to take a more holistic view of market. Indorama, just earlier this year, purchased a PET recycling facility in Athens, Alabama, from Custom Polymers PET LLC. That location has a capacity to reprocess about 34,000 tonnes of material each year. The acquisition joined existing Indorama recycling facilities in Mexico, Thailand and Europe.

The company viewed acquiring the Alabama site as a launching point for its deeper involvement in recycling. Indorama is known as a virgin PET maker, but Lohia believes embracing recycling will not harm that portion of the business. That's because the move will increase the company's profile as demand for recycled-content packaging grows.

"It does not disrupt anything at the IVL front. Actually, it helps IVL gain more recognition and improve its profitability," he said on the conference call. Lohia believes container deposit rules will "become much more viable globally" and increase the number of bottles collected for recycling. That will help push recycling rates higher and provide more material for new packaging.

Indorama, based in Bangkok, Thailand, makes both feedstocks for PET and PET resin itself. The company also makes fibres as well as packaging, including preforms, bottles and closures. The company began in 1994 as the first worsted wool yarn producer in Thailand. That business, still operating, now is a niche for the plastics giant.

Indorama also recently announced the purchase of the chemical intermediates and surfactants of Huntsman Corp. in a USD2bn (EUR1.8bn) deal. The company expects to be "quiet" during the next 18 months — except for recycling assets — in terms of future acquisitions as it digests the Huntsman deal. "We'll be concentrating on M&As revolving the recycling space," Lohia said on the call.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sinopec Yanshan Petrochemical (part of Sinopec) has restarted its No. 1 low density polyethylene (LDPE) plant in Beijing, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the company has resumed operations at the plant on August 19, 2019. The plant was shut for maintenance on July 29, 2019.

Located in Beijing, China, the plant No. 1 LDPE plant has a production capacity of 70,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed before, Sinopec Yanshan Petrochemical restarted its No. 2 LDPE plant in Beijing on April 14, 2019. The plant was shut for maintenance on March 19, 2019. Located in Beijing, China, the plant No. 2 LDPE plant has a production capacity of 70,000 mt/year.

China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation or Sinopec Limited is a Chinese oil and gas company based in Beijing, China. Sinopec's business includes oil and gas exploration, refining, and marketing; production and sales of petrochemicals, chemical fibers, chemical fertilizers, and other chemical products; storage and pipeline transportation of crude oil and natural gas; import, export and import/export agency business of crude oil, natural gas, refined oil products, petrochemicals, and other chemicals.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- US crude oil stockpiles fell more than expected last week with supplies at the Cushing, Oklahoma hub dropping for a seventh week, while gasoline and distillate inventories rose, reported Reuters with reference to the Energy Information Administration.

Crude inventories fell by 2.7 million barrels in the week to Aug. 16, compared with analysts’ expectations for a decrease of 1.9 million barrels.

Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub fell by 2.5 million barrels, EIA said, the seventh consecutive weekly fall in stocks at the delivery point for US crude futures.

At 42.3 million barrels, Cushing stocks were at their lowest since February, as the startup of pipelines from the Permian region to the US Gulf Coast has reduced the number of barrels going to Cushing.

"The report was supportive with the overall crude oil inventory decline and the continuing declines at the Cushing delivery hub, which is a trend that needs to be monitored, as pipeline build out dynamics play out," said John Kilduff, partner at energy hedge fund Again Capital Management.

Crude futures were largely steady after the report. US West Texas Intermediate crude was up 21 cents to USD56.34 a barrel as of 10:49 a.m. ET (1449 GMT), while Brent crude rose 61 cents to USD60.64 a barrel.

Net US crude imports fell last week by 616,000 barrels per day, and crude production was steady at 12.3 million bpd.

Refinery crude runs rose by 400,000 bpd, EIA data showed. Refinery utilization rates rose by 1.1 percentage points to 95.9 percent of total capacity.

Gasoline stocks rose by 312,000 barrels, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 169,000-barrel gain.

Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 2.6 million barrels, versus expectations for a 314,000-barrel increase, the EIA data showed.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Leading European pharma group Boehringer Ingelheim recently inaugurated an advanced EUR120m production plant for its ‘Respimat’ inhalation device in northern Spain, as per Plasticsnewseurope.

The innovative 17,000m2 centre at Sant Cugat del Valles, Barcelona includes production, warehousing and technical areas and offices. It will manufacture and package 25 million of the plastics-based devices per year with a workforce of up to 200.

‘Respimat’ propellant-free soft vapour inhalers deliver measured doses of medication to treat asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. Output from the Catalan unit will meet the demand for the Boehringer products in worldwide markets.

Plant production represents more than half the annual sales of ‘Respimat’ around the globe being distributed to more than 100 countries including all of Europe, Japan, The US, Brazil and Canada.

Work on the site began just two years ago when the plant foundation stone was formally laid in Barcelona in 2017 and developed rapidly to become what Boehringer Ingelheim described as a “fast track project”.

An inauguration ceremony of the new operation was attended by national, regional and national officials along with group executives. They included Spain’s Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism Maria Reyes Maroto, Catalan Government president Quim Torra i Pla and Sant Cugat del Valles mayor Carmela Fortuny i Camarena.

"The inauguration of this new plant is recognition of the excellence and professionalism of hundreds of workers who .... have positioned the Boehringer Ingelheim facilities in Sant Cugat as one of the group’s innovation hubs in Europe...” commented Peter Ploeger, general drector of Boehringer Ingelheim Spain.

The ‘Respimat’ facility includes production equipment incorporating technologies of Industry 4.0 such as digitalisation, systems integration, robotics and a high degree of automation.

Last year, the group, based in Ingelheim am Rhein, Germany, invested around EUR86.1m in research and development in Spain where it also operates several pharmaceuticals manufacturing plants. On a global level, Boehringer Ingelheim group sank more than EUR3.2bn in R&D.

Respimat inhalers are also manufactured by a group subsidiary at a plant in Dortmund in western Germany. Boehringer’s new Spanish facility moulds the device components in sterile conditions in the production hall and includes several laboratories and a waste management unit.
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