MOSCOW (MRC) -- Vantage Specialty Chemicals (Chicago, Illinois) says it completed in October an expansion of capacity for n-methyltaurine at Leuna, Germany, to support growing demand for sulfate-free and mild surfactants. N-methyltaurine is an intermediate for the synthesis of taurate surfactants, reported Chemweek with reference to the company's statement.
Ramping up production is a first step toward making the Leuna site the company’s expertise center for sulfate-free solutions, says Alexander Snell, senior vice president/EMEA at Vantage. The company is creating a platform that will support customers looking for sulfate-free surfactant systems, “by leveraging our existing infrastructure and integration within the Leuna industrial complex and improving its potential,” says Snell.
Vantage acquired the Leuna complex through the acquisition of specialty surfactants maker Leuna Tenside in 2018.
As MRC informed before, in December 2019, the Total's refinery in Leuna awarded Bilfinger two further major contracts worth roughly EUR30 million: the first involves exchanging the reactor systems; the second, performing the turnaround for the plant’s POX methanol facility. Total’s refinery Mitteldeutschland in Leuna is one of the most modern industrial plants in Europe.
We remind that Total is evaluating new gas cracker project in South Korea as part of petchems growth strategy.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
ccording to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,594,510 tonnes in the first nine months of 2020, up by 1% year on year. Only high denstiy polyethylene (HDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 880,130 tonnes in the nine months of 2020 (calculated using the formula: production minus exports plus imports, exluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply increased exclusively of PP random copolymer.
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