Honeywell UOP commissions second propylene plant for Zhejiang Satellite

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Honeywell has announced that Zhejiang Satellite Petrochemical Co., Ltd. is using Honeywell UOP’s C3 OleflexTM technology to produce 450 000 tpy of polymer-grade propylene for a new petrochemicals complex in China, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

This is the second C3 Oleflex unit now operating with Satellite. Honeywell UOP delivered Satellite’s first Oleflex unit in 2014.

Oleflex technology is helping to meet the growing demand in China for propylene, a key ingredient in plastics. Oleflex technology has been selected for a number of dehydrogenation projects globally since 2011, including applications for propane, isobutane, and mixed propane and isobutane feeds.

In addition to technology licensing and basic engineering design, Honeywell provided services, equipment, catalysts and adsorbents for the Satellite plant.

"Zhejiang Satellite chose this second Oleflex unit based on the operation of its first unit, which has been running for nearly five years," said Bryan Glover, Vice President and General Manager of Honeywell UOP’s Petrochemicals and Refining Technologies business. "The second unit started up and quickly reached its design capacity, so the two units together now can produce 900 000 tpy of propylene."

Honeywell UOP’s C3 Oleflex technology uses catalytic dehydrogenation to convert propane into propylene, the primary component of polypropylene. The technology is designed to have a lower cash cost of production and higher return on investment compared with competing technologies.

The technology’s impact on the environment is minimised by its low-energy consumption, low-emissions and fully recyclable, platinum-alumina-based catalyst system. The independent reactor and regeneration design of the technology helps maximise operating flexibility and onstream reliability.

Propylene has historically been produced as a by-product of refining fuels, but demand for propylene has exceeded the supply from refining processes. Propane dehydrogenation such as the Oleflex process can bridge this gap by producing ‘on-purpose’ propylene from propane that is derived from natural gas as well as from refining processes.

Propylene is the main feedstock for producing polyprolypele (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, the estimated consumption of PP in the Russian market totalled 694,210 tonnes in January-June 2019, up by 14% year on year. The supply of propylene block copolymers (PP-block) and propylene homopolymers (PP-homo) increased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Zhejiang Satellite Petrochemical Co. has received regulatory approval from the Jiangsu provincial government to ethane from the US in a new polyethylene (PE) plant to be built in Lianyungang, China, reported Apic-online.

The 1.25-million-t/y ethylene facility, on which con-struction is expected to begin this month, is estimated to cost USD4.2-billion. Completion is anticipated in about one year.

Zhejiang will receive the ethane from Energy Transfer Partners, starting in the fourth quarter of 2020, under a 10-year supply agreement.

"This is the first entirely gas-based cracker to begin operating in China and also the first to import US ethane as feedstock," said the report citing Kelly Cui, senior analyst at Wood Mackenzie.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,255,800 tonnes in the first seven months of 2019, up by 9% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Dow Chemical began major maintenance on the LHC 1 cracker at Terneuzen, Netherlands from 9 September, said the company on its web-site.

More than 1,500 extra employees from various external companies will carry out maintenance work in the subsequent period.

LHC stands for Light Hydro Carbons, or hydrocarbons. The cracker splits naphtha - a derivative of crude oil - into hydrocarbons such as ethylene and propylene. These are the raw materials for the other Dow factories that make chemicals and plastics from them. Together with two other naphtha crackers, LHC 1 forms the heart of the Terneuzen Dow site.

The maintenance stop is expected to create extra traffic. Together with the Terneuzen Municipality, the Westerscheldetunnel N.V. and the Water Board, we looked at how to direct traffic to the Dow site as well as possible. The Wevelswaaldijk is open to traffic in the morning and evening rush hour.

In order to stop the cracker from the beginning of September and to restart it safely later, the use of the torch installation is necessary. The flame of the torch can be accompanied by a humming sound and a bright glow. Dow will also keep the environment up-to-date via the social media channels about the flares.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polyprolypele (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,255,800 tonnes in the first seven months of 2019, up by 9% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, the estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 796,120 tonnes in January-July 2019, up by 11% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.

Dow believes that plastic waste has value and can be transformed into new products and energy. In addition to plastic roads, Dow is working with key partners in South America to use recycled plastics to develop construction materials for schools in Colombia. Dow is also at the forefront of developing and scaling chemical recycling technology to take recycled plastic waste back to feedstock for the creation of new products. By reimagining new ways to reuse, recycle and repurpose plastic waste, Dow and its partners are leading the way in the development of innovative circular economy solutions.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- US propylene stocks fell to 4.062 million barrels the week ended September 6, reported S&P Global with reference to the US Energy Information Administration data released Wednesday.

This represented the first decrease for propylene inventory after steadily increasing for the past three weeks.

The lowest level of 2019 was reached one month ago when stocks fell to 3.885 million barrels the week ended August 9.

Non-fuel-use propylene stocks were down 101,000 barrels from a week earlier, though still up by 1.255 million barrels from the same time last year. The decrease came alongside slightly higher refinery utilization rates of 95.1%, up 0.3% week on week.

A source attributed the decline in propylene stock to propane dehydrogenation issues. Dow is expected to have a turnaround at its Freeport, Texas, PDH unit in early September. The company would not confirm any turnaround, but sources say the PDH unit is expected to be down for 30-60 days.

As MRC wrote previously, US propylene stocks rose to 4.117 million barrels in the week ended August 23. The increase also represented a second consecutive weekly increase for propylene inventory. The uptick comes on the heels of lower stockpiles, with levels having reached the lowest level of 2019 as recently as the week of August 9.

Propylene is the main feedstock for producing polyprolypele (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, the estimated consumption of PP in the Russian market totalled 694,210 tonnes in January-June 2019, up by 14% year on year. The supply of propylene block copolymers (PP-block) and propylene homopolymers (PP-homo) increased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chemplast, is in plans, to undertake a planned shutdown at its polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant, in Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in India, informed that, the company is likely to start a maintenance turnaround at the plant, by mid-September, 2019. The plant is expected to remain off-line, for about 15 days.

Located at Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu, India, the plant has a production capacity of 300,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote before, in May 2017, Kem One and Chemplast Sanmar signed an agreement to establish Kem One Chemplast, a 50:50 joint venture to manufacture chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (CPVC) in India. The new facility will come up at a coastal location at Karaikal, Puducherry, India. The project which is being set up at an estimated cost of Rs. 325 crores (about 48 MUSD) will have technology from Kem One and a capacity of 22,000 TPA of CPVC resins. It will also manufacture CPVC compounds.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, demand in the Russian unmixed PVC market increased only in the emulsion segment in January-July 2019, the market of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) decreased by 7%. Only producers of plastic compounds and plasticized films showed the growth in demand for the suspension. Scheduled maintenance works simultaneously at two Russian plants did not result in an acute shortage of SPVC in the market. Higher imports helped to avoid shortages.

Chemplast Sanmar Limited is a chemical company based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It is part of Sanmar Group which has businesses in Chemicals, Shipping, Engineering and Metals. It has a turnover of over Rs.65 billion and a presence in some 25 businesses, with manufacturing units spread over numerous locations in India.Chemplast Sanmar's manufacturing facilities are located at Mettur, Panruti, Cuddalore and Ponneri in Tamil Nadu, Shinoli in Maharashtra, and Karaikal in the Union Territory of Puducherry. It is a major manufacturer of PVC resins, chlorochemicals and piping systems. The Cuddalore PVC project commissioned in September 2009 is the largest such project to come up in Tamil Nadu. It's aggregate capacity of 235,000 tons makes it one of the largest PVC players in India.
MRC