Mitsubishi Forms Alliance with Refinverse In Efforts to Pursue a Circular Economy

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. (MCC), as part of its efforts to pursue a circular economy, has entered into a capital and business alliance with Refinverse, operator of an industrial waste collection, treatment and recycling business, according to Apic-online.

Refinverse, which started out collecting and transporting construction-related waste for treatment, has built an integrated system extending from waste treatment to production of resin, thereby supplying a diverse range of recycled resources.

The alliance will enable MCC to combine Refinverse's know-how regarding all aspects of industrial waste with its own technologies and knowledge to promote appropriate recycling and effective use of waste.

It will also allow MCC to further its understanding of final disposal methods for its products and leverage that understanding to design materials that are more environmentally friendly, MCC explained.

Refinverse has granted stock to MCC through third-party allotment to raise capital, and the two companies have signed an outsourcing agreement.

Accordingly, on 1 Apr. 2020, MCC established a Circular Economy Dept. to promote the proposal and commercialization of solutions relating to the circular economy and proactively pursuing tie-ups with external parties including customers, academic institutions and start-ups to contribute to the creation of a sustainable society.

As MRC reported earlier, Mitsubishi Chemical's naphtha cracker has being operating normally following a planned outage. The company resumed operations at the cracker on July 7, 2020. The cracker was shut for maintenance on May 9, 2020. Located at Kashima, Japan, the cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 540,000 mt/year and a propylene capacity of 270,000 mt/year.

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

According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia dropped in January-June 2020 by 7% year on year to 328,000 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the main decrease in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia rose in the first six months of 2020 by 21% year on year to 105,300 tonnes. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.

Mitsubishi Chemical with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, is a diversified chemical company involved in petrochemicals, polymers, agrochemicals, speciality chemicals and pharmaceuticals. The company's main focus is on three business pillars: petrochemicals, performance and functional products, and health care.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Trinseo (Berwyn, Pennsylvania) has partnered with Coexpan (Madrid, Spain) to validate technologies for the production of recycled polystyrene (PS) suitable for use in form-fill-seal (FFS) dairy applications, according to Chemweek.

Using materials and input supplied by Trinseo, Coexpan will perform testing at Innotech, its innovation technology center. Trinseo and Coexpan expect industrial volumes to be in production by the third quarter of 2022.

“The dairy FFS packaging market, which has historically preferred the use of polystyrene due to its technical superiority over alternative polymers, has recently seen greater interest in alternative materials owing to misperceptions regarding the circularity and recyclability of PS,” the companies say in a joint statement. “PS offers a unique potential for not only closed-loop recycling, but also a lower carbon footprint and extended life cycle due to its simplicity and ease to fully recycle, giving polystyrene a major competitive advantage versus all alternatives.”

Coexpan, a division of Grupo Lantero, specializes in the manufacture of rigid plastic sheets and thermoformed products for the packaging industry. The company has 13 production plants in 8 countries in Europe and Latin America.

As MRC informed before, Trinseo, a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex binders, and synthetic rubber, and its affiliate companies in Europe, have announced a price increase for all PS, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) and acrylonitrile-styrene copolymer (SAN) in Europe. Effective August 1, 2020, or as existing contract terms allow, the contract and spot prices for the products listed below rose as follows:

- STYRON general purpose polystyrene grades (GPPS) -- by EUR30 per metric ton;
- STYRON and STYRON A-Tech and STYRON X- Tech and STYRON C- Tech high impact polystyrene grades (HIPS) - by EUR30 per metric ton;
- MAGNUM ABS resins - by EUR50 per metric ton;
- TYRIL SAN resins - by EUR40 per metric ton.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated consumption of PS and styrene plastics was 225,870 tonnes in the first half of 2020, down by 8% year on year. PS consumption increased by 2% year on year in June 2020, totalling 39,590 tonnes.

Trinseo is a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex and rubber. Trinseo's technology is used by customers in industries such as home appliances, automotive, building & construction, carpet, consumer electronics, consumer goods, electrical & lighting, medical, packaging, paper & paperboard, rubber goods and tires. Formerly known as Styron, Trinseo completed its renaming process in 1Q 2015. Trinseo had approximately USD3.8 billion in net sales in 2019, with 17 manufacturing sites around the world, and approximately 2,700 employees.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Hurricane Laura left most of the US Gulf Coast unscathed, but Lake Charles, Louisiana, was hit hard, and petrochemical production units in the area could be offline for weeks, reported Chemweek.

Producers with assets there include Sasol, Westlake Chemical, Lotte Chemical, and LyondellBasell. Products affected include polyolefins, ethylene glycol, vinyls, and chlor-alkali.

"The Lake Charles area will be dealing with the impacts of the storm for weeks, if not the entire month of September," says a bulletin issued by IHS Markit on 31 August.

The Lake Charles area is home to 9% of US linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) capacity (by way of Sasol and Westlake Chemical), 10% of US low-density polyethylene (LDPE) capacity (Westlake), and 8% of US polypropylene (PP) capacity (LyondellBasell). All of this capacity is believed to be offline. On 31 August, Sasol declared force majeure on LLDPE and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) produced at its joint-venture site with Ineos in La Porte, Texas. Ineos also has force majeures in place for polyethylene, and Ineos, Formosa Plastics, and LyondellBasell have force majeures for PP.

Sasol says that manufacturing at its Lake Charles Chemicals Complex (LCCC) remains shut down. "The storm resulted in widespread electrical blackouts and other damage, preventing Sasol from operating most utility systems," says a statement from the company. "High voltage transmission line corridors into the Lake Charles area are damaged, and the full assessment is still in progress by a local power company." The company says cooling towers at the facility suffered wind damage, but process equipment at the facility does not appear to have been affected, nor has flooding been an issue.

Sasol has two steam crackers totaling 2 million metric tons/year of ethylene capacity at the LCCC. Downstream derivatives produced at the facility include ethylene glycol (EG; 300,000 metric tons/year of capacity), LLDPE (470,000 metric tons/year), alpha-olefins (110,000 metric tons/year), Ziegler alcohols (300,000 metric tons/year), and ethoxylates (110,000 metric tons/year). A 420,000 metric tons/year LDPE unit is slated for start-up by year-end.

"Start-up of the plants will depend on the availability of electricity, industrial gases, other feedstocks, and the restoration process," Sasol says. "We are engaging with our customers and suppliers regularly regarding the impacts on production." The statement notes that the hurricane is not expected to have "an adverse impact on any potential divestment transaction related to Sasol's base chemical portfolio in the United States."

Westlake Chemical on 27 August said that an initial assessment found "limited physical damage" at its Lake Charles facility. Like Sasol, the company said restart would depend on the availability of electricity and feedstocks. Products of the facility include ethylene dichloride (EDC; 1.8 million metric tons/year of capacity), vinyl chloride monomer (VCM; 990,000 metric tons/year), LLDPE (150,000 metric tons/year), LDPE (136,000 metric tons/year), and chlor-alkali, according to data from IHS Markit.

As of the morning of 31 August, operations at the facility had not resumed.

Westlake's Lake Charles complex accounts for 9% of US chlorine capacity, 10% of VCM capacity, and 14% of EDC direct chlorination capacity. While there is no polyvinyl chloride (PVC) capacity at Lake Charles, the complex supplies feedstock to PVC production facilities in Louisiana and Mississippi.

"The PVC market was already in a tight situation before the hurricane, and this setback in vinyls operations will definitely put more stress on the PVC market," says IHS Markit. "Chlorinated intermediates and the merchant chlorine markets are likely to see tightening supply, as a result, until operations are able to resume."

Lotte's 720,000 metric tons/year EG plant at Lake Charles is the largest in the world. That unit and Sasol's together account for 25% of North American EG capacity, and it will likely be several weeks before they return to normal operations, says IHS Markit. "Downstream derivatives and exports will be negatively impacted, as the EG market in the US has been very tight amid planned and unplanned EG outages earlier this year." Additional turnarounds have been planned for September and beyond, but they may be postponed, depending on how the supply situation plays out.

As MRC informed earlier, the US Energy Department announced the shutting of two of four sites of the national emergency oil reserve temporarily to remove workers ahead of Hurricane Laura, but that the remaining sites could deliver oil if the facility gets any requests for deliveries.

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

According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia dropped in January-June 2020 by 7% year on year to 328,000 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the main decrease in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia rose in the first six months of 2020 by 21% year on year to 105,300 tonnes. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Citgo Petroleum Corp said an early assessment of its 418,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Lake Charles, Louisiana, refinery revealed “no major structural damage to operating equipment”, reported Reuters.

Sources familiar with plant operations have said that significant damage was done by the winds of deadly Hurricane Laura, especially to cooling towers, and it would be four to six weeks before the refinery restarts.

“The refinery itself fared well and our very initial assessments have revealed no significant safety issues or hydrocarbon releases and no major structural damage to operating equipment,” Citgo said in an emailed statement.

Citgo said repairing the refinery would depend in part on when the Lake Charles power grid is repaired.

On Monday, local power provider Entergy said all seven power line corridors to Lake Charles, of which it operates five, received catastrophic damage.

“We do not currently have a timeline from the local power utility as to when the electricity supply will be re-established in the Lake Charles area,” Citgo said.

While the power supply to the refinery is being repaired, “Citgo will be repairing any critical items required to safely restart our facility,” the company said.

Citgo did not identify items needing repair.

Citgo’s Lake Charles refinery is located in Sulphur, Louisiana, which is 135 miles (217 km) east of Houston.

As MRC wrote earlier, in the first week of July, 2020, Citgo Petroleum Corp restarted the large gasoline-producing fluid catalytic cracker at its 167,500-barrel-per-day (bpd) Corpus Christi, Texas, refinery.

Propylene is the main feedstock for the production of polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's DataScope report, PP imports into Russia rose in the first six months of 2020 by 21% year on year to 105,300 tonnes. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Total SA is waiting for the external power supply to be restored at its 225,500 barrrel-per-day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas, refinery before restarting units, reported Reuters with reference to sources familiar with plant operations.

The refinery was shut on Aug. 25 when Hurricane Laura’s forecast was included a possible landfall near Port Arthur.

Total spokeswoman Marie Maitre declined to discuss the status of the refinery.

“The refinery’s management and teams on the ground continue taking measures to safely work towards restarting operations,” Maitre said.

As MRC wrote before, in November 2019, Total disclosed that itis evaluating construction of a new gas cracker at its Deasan, South Korea, joint venture (JV) with Hanwha Chemical.

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

According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia dropped in January-June 2020 by 7% year on year to 328,000 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the main decrease in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia rose in the first six months of 2020 by 21% year on year to 105,300 tonnes. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.

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.
MRC