PPG, Corning working to secure EPA registration for COVID-19-repllant paint

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Corning and PPG industries say they are working to register an antiviral paint product with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA; Washington, DC) that contains Corning Guardiant, a glass-ceramic technology that has proven efficacy in killing the COVID-19 virus, reported Chemweek.

The technology’s efficacy was demonstrated in tests approved by EPA.

The product contains copper, which has shown antimicrobial efficacy when applied to surfaces, according to Corning. “Our scientists have developed this unique paint additive using our highly engineered glass-ceramic technology,” says Corning chairman and CEO Wendell Weeks. “We are excited about the new lab results and look forward to working with our valued partner PPG.”

PPG’s antiviral paint product will be called Copper Armor. “Following registration with the EPA, we look forward to launching a paint product in the coming months that contains Corning Guardiant, providing customers with an additional safeguard from (COVID-19) in areas that pose a higher health risk,” says PPG chairman and CEO Michael McGarry.

Corning is collaborating with paint and coating makers globally, including PPG, to develop coatings that include the Guardian technology and meet regulatory requirements around the world, the company says.

As MRC wrote previously, in February 2020, PPG said it had completed its acquisition of Industria Chimica Reggiana (ICR, Reggio Emilia, Italy), a maker of automotive refinish products. Financial terms of the deal, including purchase price, were not disclosed. The deal was announced on 8 January. ICR was founded in 1961 and employs about 180 people. ICR manufactures automotive refinish products, including putties, primers, basecoats and clear coats. It also makes a range of coatings, enamels and primers for light commercial vehicles and other light industrial coatings applications. ICR employs about 180 people and sells its products in more than 70 countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the US and Latin America.

We remind that Russia"s output of chemical products rose in November 2020 by 9.5% year on year. At the same time, production of basic chemicals increased in the first eleven months of 2020 by 6.6% year on year, according to Rosstat's data. According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, polymers in primary form accounted for the greatest increase in the January-November 2020 output. November production of polymers in primary form rose to 896,000 tonnes from 852,000 tonnes in October. Overall output of polymers in primary form totalled 9,240,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 17.1% year on year.
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1. Pandemic hastens threat of closure for struggling oil refineries

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The collapse in oil demand from the COVID-19 pandemic is hastening the reckoning for those refiners already struggling as new capacity overtakes demand, posing an existential threat to many, particularly Europe’s ageing plants, said Chemweek. Even before the pandemic struck, which at its height destroyed over 20% of global oil demand, analysts expected global refining capacity would have to rationalize, particularly in Europe. According to consultants WoodMac, 1.4 million barrels per day, or around 9%, of refining capacity is under threat of rationalization in Europe in 2022-2023. WoodMac declined to name specific refineries, but in a list sent to its clients and seen by Reuters, BP’s 377,000 bpd Rotterdam refinery, Total’s 102,000 bpd Grandpuits refinery in France and Petroineos’ 200,000 bpd Grangemouth refinery in Scotland were among 11 plants mentioned. The three companies did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment. Last week, energy trader Gunvor said it was considering mothballing its loss-making Belgian refinery.


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MOSCOW (MRC) -- India's HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd (HMEL), will shut its 226,000 barrels per day (bpd) Bathinda refinery in northern Punjab state for about 40 days from end-January for maintenance, two sources said, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

During the shutdown HMEL will also carry out work to be able to hook petrochemical units, including a 1.2 million tons a year ethylene cracker, sources with knowledge of the plan said.

The 40-day shutdown is expected to start around Jan. 25-26, said one of the sources, adding the company plans to commission petrochemical units in September-October.

The sources declined to be named as they are not authorized to speak to media. HMEL's chief executive Prabh Das said 'no comments' when asked about the shutdown plan.

Indian refiners have turned their focus to raising production of petrochemicals to cater for rising demand and help hedge against lower refined fuel margins.

State-refiner Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Mittal Energy Investments Pvt Ltd own 49 percent stake each in the project.

As per MRC, HPCL-Mittal Energy Limited (HMEL) plans to commission a new polypropylene (PP) plant in Bhatinda, Punjab, India in 2021. The capacity of the new enterprise will be 500,000 tonne/year of PP. The company already operates an operating PP plant with a capacity of 440,000 tonnes per year at this site, which was launched in 2012.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market reached 1 090,900 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2020 (calculated using the formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, excluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively PP random copolymer increased.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Rohm (Darmstadt, Germany) has put methyl methacrylate (MMA) and all its other methacrylate monomer products in Europe on sales control with immediate effect, said Chemweek.

The sales control measure has been imposed due to a shortage of raw material, it says. The company has also separately announced it will carry out planned maintenance on four of its MMA and methacrylate production facilities in Germany, China, and the US in the first half of 2021.

Rohm’s plant at Worms, Germany, is scheduled to be shut down from 10-22 March, while its facility at Fortier, Louisiana, will also be closed in March but with no specific start date given for the two-week maintenance program. The MMA plant at Wesseling, Germany, is scheduled to be shut down from 19 May-26 June, with Rohm’s MMA plant at Shanghai, China, planned for a 10-day closure starting “mid-June,” it says.

In December 2020 Rohm raised its prices for MMA and other methacrylate monomer products, effective as of 1 January 2021. It also hiked prices for the same products in October and November.

In a market update earlier in December it highlighted a tightening of the MMA market, with “prices surging in Asia and continuously firming in Europe” on strong demand in critical end-user applications such as coatings, construction, and healthcare. The market was also suffering from production and supply issues that are limiting availability, with prices for raw materials such as acetone also on the rise, it said.

In October 2020 Rohm lifted sales control in Europe for MMA after resuming production following annual maintenance at its Worms plant, having imposed it mid-September due to increased demand and limited availability of raw materials. The Worms plant has a production capacity of 225,000 metric tons/year of MMA, while the Wesseling facility has a nameplate capacity of 95,000 metric tons/year of MMA.

As per MRC, despite the coronavirus pandemic, the demand for unmixed polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in Russia did not decrease at the end of 2020, but actually remained at the level a year earlier. At the same time, prices hit record highs and continue to rise.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Piedmont Lithium says it has agreed to invest USD12 million acquiring an ownership stake in lithium and spodumene developer Sayona Mining (Paddington, Queensland, Australia) and its wholly owned Canadian subsidiary Sayona Quebec, as well as entering into a supply agreement for at least half of Sayona Quebec's planned spodumene concentrate production, said Chemweek.

Piedmont will buy an initial 9.9% ownership stake in Sayona for approximately USD3.1 million and two unsecured convertible notes for USD3.9 million that on conversion would result in it buying an additional 10% interest. It will also buy a 25% stake in Sayona Quebec for approximately USD5 million in cash as a "project investment," and has entered into a binding agreement with Sayona for the Quebec company to supply Piedmont with the greater of either 60,000 metric tons/year or 50% of the spodumene concentrate it produces at market prices on a life-of-mine basis, it says.

The share placement and notes issue are expected to close this week, while the Sayona Quebec project investment is expected to close in February 2021, it adds.

Sayona has assets in a “favorable location” in the Val-d’Or region of central Quebec, Canada, with the investments being made at an attractive valuation, according to Piedmont’s CEO Keith Phillips. “The investments are additive to Piedmont from a resources and reserves perspective, and the spodumene supply agreement will offset our Tesla commitments in the near term and position us for longer term growth in lithium hydroxide production,” he says. Quebec is “poised to become an important lithium hydroxide production center,” he adds.

Piedmont is under way with initial development plans for a 160,000-metric tons/year spodumene mine and 22,700-metric tons/year lithium hydroxide project in North Carolina, with an integrated definitive feasibility study due to start in the first quarter of this year. In September it signed a five-year deal with Tesla to supply spodumene concentrate for high-nickel batteries.

As MRC informed earlier, Piedmont Plastics (Charlotte, North Carolina) say it has acquired rival plastics distributor Empire Plastics (Sioux Falls, South Dakota), marking the company’s expansion into the Upper Midwest region of the US. Terms of the transaction, including purchase price, were not disclosed. Empire also increases the number of Piedmont branch locations in North America to 50.

We remind that Russia's output of chemical products rose in October 2020 by 7.2% year on year. At the same time, production of basic chemicals grew in the first ten months of 2020 by 6.3% year on year, according to Rosstat's data. According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, polymers in primary form accounted for the greatest increase in the January-October output. October production of polymers in primary form grew to 857,000 tonnes from 852,000 tonnes in September. Overall output of polymers in primary form totalled 8,340,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 17% year on year.

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