HELM to distribute Viridis Chemical bio-based ethyl acetate and USP ethanol

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Viridis Chemical, LLC (Houston, Texas) has signed an agreement with HELM US Corporation (Houston, Texas) to market and distribute USP-grade, biobased ethanol and biobased ethyl acetate produced at Viridis Chemical’s manufacturing plant in Columbus, Nebraska, according to BiofuelsDigest.

HELM will immediately assume the exclusive responsibility for global sales, marketing and logistics management for both of Viridis Chemical’s products.

Viridis Chemical’s Columbus plant is currently undergoing capital improvements that will increase production capacity.

The plant is expected to begin production of high-quality USP-grade bioethanol in mid-2021 and production of biobased Ethyl Acetate at a global scale in the fourth quarter of 2022.

As MRC informed before, in October, 2019, Helm announced that it will increase the volume of propylene it markets from the PCK refinery at Schwedt in Germany by more than 100,000 tonnes from 1 January, 2020. An additional shareholder of PCK Schwedt had awarded Helm with the “exclusive marketing and logistic services from one of the most modern refineries in Europe”.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 141,870 tonnes in January 2021 versus 123,520 tonnes a year earlier. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.

Helm AG is a Hamburg, Germany based family company established in 1900. HELM is one of the world’s largest chemicals marketing companies. The Company secures access to the world’s key markets through its specific regional knowledge and over 100 branches, sales offices and participations in over 30 countries. As a multifunctional marketing organization HELM is active in the chemicals industry (Feedstocks and Derivatives), in the crop protection industry, in active pharmaceutical ingredients, pharmaceuticals and in the fertilizer industry. Helm AG has a total of 1,521 employees.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Berry Global, a leading global nonwovens manufacturer, announced its second investment for 2021 in the wipes segment to support the long-term consumer behavior shift towards infection prevention, amplified by the Covid-19 pandemic, said Nonwovens-industry.

The investment, located in Europe, will increase Berry’s production footprint in support of its global customers, with total investments reaching over USD110 million in nonwoven materials for products such as hard surface disinfectant wipes. Prior to the demand surge of 2020, the European impregnated wet wipes segment, for home cleaning and disinfecting, was growing at the rate of 5% in the 2014 to 2019 time frame. Covid-19 has increased heightened focus on sanitation and personal hygiene for infection prevention, suggesting permanent consumer trends away from the chore of cleaning to a health and safety priority.

"We strategically partner with many of the world’s leading brands with wipe materials, ensuring our investments align with demand for today and for the future. The reliability of our capacity and scale are paramount to our customer support and the trusted relationships we desire to maintain," says Curt Begle, president of Berry’s Health, Hygiene, and Specialties Division.

This new asset will add to the company’s existing spunlace platform, further expanding its sustainable wipes portfolio. Recognizing its customers’ ongoing environmental sustainability goals, the new asset will incorporate the production of biodegradable or recycled nonwoven substrates, increasing Berry’s capacity in Europe by more than 300 million square meters. The new line is expected to be commercially available in the September quarter of 2022.

"This multimillion-dollar investment further completes our industry-leading portfolio. Through flexible assets such as this installation in Europe, we can better serve our customers with reliable, sustainable solutions for the wipes market,” says Achim Schalk, EVP and general manager, EMEIA for Berry’s Health, Hygiene, and Specialties Division.

Berry continues to leverage its ability for continued investments in the latest technology to better serve the market. A longtime leader in the nonwovens space, Berry does not sit idle, and instead continues to push forward with its global size and scale to meet the evolving needs of its customers.

As per MRC, Berry Global Group, Evansville, Indiana, announced that Madrid-based Repsol, its longtime supplier, will supply it with circular resins. The Spanish multienergy global company will supply Berry with International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) Plus-certified circular polyolefins from its Repsol Reciclex range.

As MRC reported earlier, Repsol shut down its cracker in Tarragona (Spain) for maintenance in the fourth quarter of 2019. The turnaround at this steam cracker, which produces 702,000 mt/year of ethylene and 372,000 mt/year of propylene, was pushed back from Q3 2019. The exact dates of maintenance works were not disclosed.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2% year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market reached 1 240,000 tonnes in 2020 (calculated using the formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, excluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Bashkir Soda Company (BSK) has been excluded from the list of a number of organizations against which Ukraine has imposed sanctions, RBK said.

So, the head of state, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, signed a decree on the implementation of the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of the country on sanctions, the document was published on the president's website.

The sanctions against the BSK were imposed in May 2020 for a period of three years. Restrictions were imposed on trade operations, blocking of assets, complete cessation of the transit of resources, flights and transportation to the territory of Ukraine, suspension of the fulfillment of economic and financial obligations, as well as a ban on participation in the privatization and lease of state property.

Earlier it was reported that in March of this year, the shares of Bashkir Soda Company JSC (BSK) were transferred to the state, thereby restoring the control of the Russian Federation over the assets of the largest soda producer. Until January 17, 2013, 61.65% of Soda OJSC belonged to Bashkiria, 34.79% - to Caustic OJSC. Subsequently, Soda was merged with Caustic, with the latter renaming the Bashkir Soda Company.

According to the ScanPlast of MRC, the Bashkir Soda Company (BSK) produced about 21,700 tonnes of suspension PVC in February against 23,500 tonnes a month earlier. In January - February of this year, the total volume of resin production at the Bashkir enterprise reached 45,200 tonnes, which is 1% less than a year earlier.

JSC "Bashkir Soda Company" was formed in May 2013 by merging JSC "Soda" and JSC "Caustic". Today "BSK" is one of the largest chemical complexes in the country. The company ranks first in Russia in the production of soda ash and baking soda, and is also one of the leaders in the production of PVC, caustic soda and cable compounds.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Material supplier SI Group (Schenectady, New York) intends to turn its Bethune, France manufacturing site into a regional hub for best-in-class tackifier and reinforcing resin production and technology by doubling the tackifier resin capacity there, according to the company's press release.

The expansion addresses growing demand for tackifiers in one of the company’s core regions and is expected to be completed later this year.

Tackifiers are low-molecular weight compounds (oligomers) that are added to adhesive formulations to improve tack and peel adhesion.

“We have taken the decision to further grow capacity as another step forward in reinventing our business model,” says Robert Kaiser, vice president/rubber and adhesives solutions at SI Group.

The expansion in Bethune, France follows the company’s announcement in September 2020 to also expand resin capacity in Nanjing, China.

As MRC reported earlier, SI Group shut its phenol and acetone plant in Navi Mumbai (Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India) in late January, 2019, for an unknown reason. This plant with a capacity of 36,000 tonnes of phenol and 20,000 tonnes of acetone per year remained closed for 10 days.

Phenol is derived from benzene and largely used to produce bisphenol A (BPA), used in the manufacture of plastics such as polycarbonate (PC) and epoxy resins. It is also used in the production of phenolic resins for the construction industry.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall consumption of PC granules (excluding exports from Belarus) totalled 8,100 tonnes in January 2021, up by 20% year on year (6,800 tonnes a year earlier).

SI Group, headquartered in the United States, was founded in 1906. The company is part of the Addivant USA, LLC structure. The production facilities of the company are located on five continents, in 10 countries. SI Group manufactures petrochemical products and specialty resins, supplying its products to consumers in 90 countries.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF, SABIC and Linde have signed an agreement to jointly develop eco-friendly, electrically heated steam cracker furnaces, said companies.

The partners have already jointly worked on concepts to use renewable electricity instead of the fossil fuel gas typically used for the heating process. With this innovative approach focusing on one of the petrochemical industries’ core processes, the parties strive to offer a promising solution to significantly contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions within the chemical industry.

Steam crackers play a central role in the production of basic chemicals and require a significant amount of energy to break down hydrocarbons into olefins and aromatics. Typically, the reaction is conducted at temperatures of about 850°C in their furnaces. Today these temperatures are reached by burning fossil fuels. The project aims to reduce the CO2 emissions by powering the process with electricity. By using electricity from renewable sources, the fundamentally new technology has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions by as much as 90%.

BASF and SABIC have combined their extensive know-how and intellectual property in developing chemical processes together with their longstanding experiences and knowledge in operating steam crackers, while Linde contributed with its intellectual property, expertise in developing and building steam cracking furnace technologies and driving future industry commercialization.

BASF initially announced in January 2019 that it was exploring the use of electric furnaces in steam cracking. In August of that year BASF was among six petrochemical producers to join the Cracker of the Future consortium, a joint initiative to develop the technology.

As MRC informed earlier, BASF has restarted its No. 1 steam cracker following a maintenance turnaround. Thus, the company resumed operations at the plant on September 30, 2019. The plant was shut for maintenance in mid-August, 2019. Located at Ludwigshafen in Germany, the No. 1 cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 235,000 mt/year and a propylene production capacity of 125,000 mt/year.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2% year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market reached 1 240,000 tonnes in 2020 (calculated using the formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, excluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020).
MRC