MOSCOW (MRC) -- Solvay says it has inaugurated its second plant dedicated exclusively to the manufacturing of sustainable solvent in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The new facility raises the company's production capacity for the bio-based solvent from 6,000 metric tons/year to 20,000 metric tons/year, said Chemweek.
The plant, located at the company's industrial complex in Paulinia, Sao Paulo, is already operating at full capacity, serving mainly the US market, which accounts for more than 30% of exports, followed by Europe, Asia, and Latin America, Solvay says.
Solvay’s sustainable solvent derives from glycerin, a renewable source, and is used in fragrances, personal care, household, and institutional cleaning items, paints and varnishes, as well as in the agribusiness and oil and gas segments, it says.
The product line has been created by Solvay’s researchers in Brazil and is part of the company’s global objective to generate 15% of its revenue from either bio-based or recyclate-based materials by 2030, it says.
As MRC reported earlier, in August, 2020, through the acquisition of the Solvay polyamide (PA) business, BASF enhanced its R&D capabilities in Asia Pacific with new technologies, technical expertise, and upgraded material and part testing services. BASF is planning to integrate the R&D centers from Solvay into its R&D existing facilities in Shanghai, China, and Seoul, Korea. The enhanced capabilities will boost BASF’s position as a solution provider to develop advanced material solutions for key industries.
We remind that BASF-YPC, a 50-50 joint venture of BASF and Sinopec, undertook a planned shutdown at its naphtha cracker on 30 April 2020. The company initially planned to start turnaround at the cracker on April 5, 2020. The plant remained under maintenance unitl 18 June, 2020. Located in Jiangsu, China, the cracker has an ethylene capacity of 750,000 mt/year and propylene capacity of 400,000 mt/year.
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.
MRC