Huntsman starts up new aromatic polyester polyols in Taiwan

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Huntsman officially inaugurated its new 22,000 tonne/year aromatic polyester polyols plant in Kuan Yin, Taiwan, said the company.

The 3,600-square meter polyols plant, completed in May, expands Huntsman’s downstream polyurethanes capabilities in the Asia-Pacific region and marks the first time Huntsman has manufactured its TEROL polyols outside the United States.

TEROL polyester polyols are critical components in the production of MDI-based polyurethane insulation systems – the most effective insulants available in the market, as measured by R-value. Insulation products based on TEROL® polyols, include polyisocyanurate (PIR) boardstock systems, spray polyurethane foam (SPF) and pour-in-place applications, including entry doors, garage doors, coolers, refrigerators and commercial freezers.

To produce its TEROL polyols, Huntsman utilizes a proprietary process that upcycles scrap polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles, some of which otherwise would have ended up in landfills, rivers and oceans.

In remarks at the opening ceremony, Peter Huntsman, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Huntsman Corporation, said: “The work we are doing in Taiwan and throughout the Asia Pacific region will truly transform our industry. By recycling the equivalent of nearly half a billion PET bottles from the oceans, landfills and refuse facilities, we are creating the building blocks that transform plastic waste into something of real value – highly efficient insulants that help conserve energy and reduce emissions.

Huntsman manufactures TEROL polyols for the Americas and European regions from its plant in Houston, Texas, where it upcycles the equivalent of one billion 500ml PET bottles per year. Additionally, Huntsman manufactures polyols from scrap PET bottles at its Huntsman Building Solutions site in Boisbriand, Canada.

Commenting on the new facility, Tony Hankins, President of Huntsman’s Polyurethanes business and CEO of Asia Pacific said: “Taiwan is a critically important base for the achievement of our strategic objectives in the region, which are focused on moving downstream and creating more differentiated solutions for our customers. The TEROL polyols from this plant are already being used in PIR boardstock systems, cold chain applications and spray polyurethane foam, or SPF. Earlier this year, we established Huntsman Building Solutions, the leading SPF company in the world, through the integration of two major SPF businesses that we recently acquired. As a result, Huntsman is now able to effectively supply energy-efficient SPF systems to customers throughout Asia-Pacific, leveraging the TEROL® polyols from the Taiwan plant. We see significant growth opportunities for SPF in the cold chain, modern agriculture, and the insulation of buildings."

As MRC informed earlier, Nanjing Jinling Huntsman, a joint venture between Huntsman and Sinopec Jinling, plans to close the propylene oxide plant in Nanjing (Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China) on November 1 for scheduled maintenance. This plant with a capacity of 240,000 tonnes/year of propylene oxide will be closed until approximately 25 November.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, overall PP production in Russia increased in January-July 2020 by 24% year on year to 1,063,700 tonne. ZapSibNeftekhim accounted for the main increase in the output.

Huntsman Corporation is a publicly traded global manufacturer and marketer of differentiated and specialty chemicals with 2019 revenues of approximately $7 billion. Our chemical products number in the thousands and are sold worldwide to manufacturers serving a broad and diverse range of consumer and industrial end markets. We operate more than 70 manufacturing, R&D and operations facilities in approximately 30 countries and employ approximately 9,000 associates within our four distinct business divisions.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Americas Styrenics (AmSty; The Woodlands, Texas) has announced that all of its products designed for food-service and food-packaging applications will contain 25% recycled content by 2030, according to Chemweek.

AmSty has been working toward the goal through Regenyx, its chemical recycling joint venture (JV) with Agilyx. Regenyx has to-date converted over 1 million lbs of polystyrene (PS) to virgin styrene monomer (SM).

As MRC reported earlier, in September, AmSty announced that it had joined Ineos Styrolution’s plans to build in Channahon, Illinois a 100-metric tons/day recycling facility based on the same technology.

"AmSty is fully committed to circular recycling of polystyrene," says Randy Pogue, president and CEO at AmSty. "Our Regenyx facility has proven that sustainable long-term solutions for our products are possible. That fuels our excitement for the Channahon facility and the meaningful advancement it will bring for polystyrene as a circular recycled product.”

According to ICIS-MRC Price report, October prices of Russian PS continued their upward trend. A shortage of material remained in the domestic market. Traders said Nizhnekamskneftekhim reduced its offer prices for this month's PS purchases to 40%. October prices of Nizhnekamskneftekhim's GPPS grew for the agreed with buyers quantities to Rb89,000-95,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, whereas HIPS - to Rb93,000-99,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT.

AmSty is a JV between Trinseo and Chevron Phillips Chemical (CPChem).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Soft drinks manufacturer Britvic has announced its intent for all its plastic bottles in the UK to be produced entirely from 100% recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) by the end of 2022, three years ahead of its original schedule, said Chemweek.

The company says the move covers its entire UK portfolio of Britvic-owned brands, and also those it produces under a newly signed 20-year franchise bottling agreement with PepsiCo for its carbonated brands in the UK. Britvic was a founding signatory of The UK Plastics Pact, and says it has already removed more than 1,500 metric tons of primary plastics from its supply chain since 2017, with all its primary packaging already fully recyclable.

In 2019 it entered into a long-term agreement with Esterform Packaging, a UK plastics convertor, for the supply of rPET and invested GBP5 million (USD6.5 million) to support construction of a new rPET manufacturing facility at Esterform’s site in North Yorkshire, UK. Britvic is also part of the cross-industry consortium promoting BP’s Infinia recycling technology, which is targeting difficult-to-recycle PET plastic waste.

As per ICIS-MRC Price Report, rhe activity in the Russian polyethylene terephthalate (PET) market was not strong last week, which is typical for this period of the year. Some converters reported a weaker demand in the market of finished PET products. Spot prices for Russian PET increased in mid-October.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Dow announced that the Jiangsu High People's Court in China ruled that Shanjun Clean Energy Technology Co. (the defendant) infringed the trade secrets of LP Oxo technology, jointly owned by affiliates of Dow and Johnson Matthey, according to Apic-online.

The court ruled that defendant illicitly obtained and infringed trade secrets owned by Dow Global Technologies, a subsidiary of Dow Chemical, and Johnson Matthey, through its Johnson Matthey Davy Technologies Ltd. subsidiary.

"Dow thanks the Jiangsu High People's Court for its final decision on this case," said Yoke Loon Lim, president of Dow Greater China. "The ruling demonstrates fair enforcement of trade secret rights and commitments of the US and China's Phase One Agreement and China's commitment to improve intellectual property rights.

"This enforcement is critical to protect the legitimate operations and economic resiliency of domestic manufacturers in China, the US and around the globe. Dow will continue to vigorously exercise our full legal rights to protect our intellectual property in all countries."

LP Oxo technology is a catalyzed low pressure process for the production of oxo alcohols.

As MRC reported earrlier, in September, 2020, Dow and Luhai, an integrated waste management company located in Xiamen, China, announced their collaboration to give plastics waste collected by Luhai a second life, thereby increasing the circularity of plastics in China. The agreement is in line with Dow’s new sustainability targets to Stop the Waste by enabling one million metric tons of plastic to be collected, reused or recycled through its direct actions and partnerships by 2030.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,496,500 tonnes in the first eight months of 2020, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of all ethylene polymers increased, except for linear low desnity polyethylene (LLDPE). At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 767,2900 tonnes in the eight months of 2020 (calculated using the formula - production minus exports plus imports - and not counting producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply increased exclusively of PP random copolymer.

The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational chemical corporation. Dow is a large producer of plastics, including polystyrene, polyurethane, polyethylene, polypropylene, and synthetic rubber.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Nova Chemicals (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) has agreed to sell its expandable styrenics business to a subsidiary of Alpek (Monterrey, Mexico) for an undisclosed sum, said Chemweek.

The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter, it says. The sale encompasses Nova’s expandable polystyrene (EPS) and Arcel-brand resin product lines, with manufacturing facilities in Monaca, Pennsylvania, and Painesville, Ohio, as well as commercial operations in Asia, it says. The plant at Monaca has an EPS production capacity of 123,000 metric tons/year, with 36,000 metric tons/year of capacity for Arcel, as well as an R&D pilot plant. The facility at Painesville has an EPS capacity of 45,000 metric tons/year, according to Alpek subsidiary Styropek, which is acquiring Nova’s business.

Nova, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mubadala Investment Co. (Abu Dhabi, UAE), says the sale is an “important step” in its plan to focus on its olefin and polyethylene (PE) business, which includes additional investments to advance a circular economy for plastics. The transaction, if it proceeds to completion, would see Nova entirely exit the styrenics sector.

The sale will provide the company with “immediate cash generation to further strengthen our balance sheet,” says Luis Sierra, Nova’s president and CEO, and enable it to focus on the completion and start-up of its 450,000-metric tons/year PE plant under construction in Ontario. The new plant, as well as the expansion of the company’s existing Corunna steam cracker that will supply ethylene feedstock to the adjacent PE facility, is scheduled for completion in late 2021.

Alpek sees “strong business opportunities associated with this purchase,” says Jose de Jesus Valdez, Alpek’s CEO. “Our team is focused on executing a seamless integration to welcome our new team members, while quickly capitalizing on all the identified synergies and business opportunities,” he says.

The company says it will optimize costs at its newly acquired facilities and that the additional sites will allow it to serve both existing and new customers with increased efficiency and lower logistics costs. It intends to continue growing its business in the construction and reusable packaging segments, both of which require long-term use of EPS, as well as developing more sustainable products, such as biodegradable EPS, it adds.

According to ICIS-MRC Price Report, Russian HIPS and GPPS producers traditionally did not adjust their prices of material in the middle of the month. A shortage of Nizhnekamskneftekhim's material remained in the domestic market. The situation with the shortage of Russian polystyrene (PS) is also expected to remain in November.

Alpek operates two main business segments, focused on polyester, and plastics and chemicals, and is a leading producer of purified terephthalic acid (PTA) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). It is also the largest EPS manufacturer in the Americas.
MRC