PP imports in Kazakhstan increased by 12% in January-October, exports up by 34%

MOSCOW (MRC) - Imports of polypropylene (PP) in Kazakhstan grew to 37,300 tonnes in first ten months of this year, up 12% compared to the same period of 2020. PP exports increased more significantly by 34%, reported MRC analysts.

October PP shipments to Kazakhstan grew to 3,600 tonnes from 4,600 tonnes a month earlier, local converters increased their purchasing of homopolymer PP in Russia. Overall PP imports into the country exceeded 37,300 tonnes in the first ten months of the year, compared to 33,300 tonnes a year earlier.

At the same time, the stable operation of the local producer during this period of time allowed to increase export sales of polypropylene by almost one and a half times. October imports of homopolymer PP and propylene copolymers increased to 2,300 tonnes and 1,300 tonnes, respectively, versus over 3,800 tonnes and 800 tonnes a month earlier, local companies significantly increased their PP purchases in Russia, while purchases of homopolymer PP declined.

Overall imports of homopolymer PP and propylene copolymers reached 26,500 tonnes and 10,800 tons, respectively, in January-October 2020, compared to 26,300 tonnes and 7,000 tonnes a year earlier. The October volume of PP exports from Kazakhstan fell to 800 tonnes against 6,000 tonnes a month earlier, such a significant drop was due to both a scheduled maintenance works of a local producer and a decrease in demand.

Kazakhstan's PP exports over the first ten months increased to 26,500 tonnes, whereas this figure was 19,800 tonnes a year earlier.
About 92% of total exports accounted for Russia.


MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ascend Performance Materials (Houston, Texas) has announced plans to purchase a compounding facility in San Jose Iturbide, Mexico, growing its global footprint and expanding production capacity for high-performance engineered materials, according to Chemical Engineering.

The purchase agreement includes the assets of DM Color Mexicana, a joint venture between Dainichiseika and Mitsubishi Corp. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2022.

“We continue to invest in and grow our engineered materials business with a focus on regional production,” said Phil McDivitt, Ascend’s president and CEO. “This acquisition establishes our footprint in Latin America and allows us to produce our world-class materials closer to our global customers.”

Ascend, a fully integrated producer of durable engineered materials, has grown its global production footprint with four acquisitions over the last three years.

As MRC reported earlier, in January 2021, Ascend Performance Materials acquired Eurostar Engineering Plastics (Fosse, France), a compounder with a broad portfolio of flame-retardant (FR) engineered plastics and expertise in halogen-free formulations.

And in June 2020, Ascend acquired the assets of NCM (Changshu) Co. and Tehe Engineering Plastic (Suzhou) Co. located in Changshu Yushan High-tech Industrial Park near Shanghai. Ascend intends to expand the compounding assets at the site and to establish a global research and development center.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Honeywell announced that a CVR Energy, Inc. subsidiary has selected Honeywell UOP Ecofining technology to study conversion of seed oils, tallow and white/yellow greases into renewable diesel fuel at its facility in Coffeyville, Kansas, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

CVR Energy is currently evaluating the conversion of an existing hydroprocessing unit at the plant to a single-stage Ecofining unit for the production of approximately 11,000 bpd of renewable diesel and jet fuels.

Honeywell’s single-stage Ecofining process is a fast-to-market, capital efficient solution ideal for repurposing hydroprocessing units to produce high yields of renewable diesel. The process produces renewable diesel fuel, which has chemically substantially similar molecules to petroleum-based diesel and jet and can be used as a drop-in replacement with no engine modifications.

Depending on feedstock choice, renewable diesel also features a 50% to 80% lifecycle reduction in GHG emissions compared with conventional diesel.

“As we previously announced, CVR Energy is laser focused on the development of its renewable initiatives,” said Dave Lamp, president and CEO of CVR Energy. “Adding Ecofining technology to our Coffeyville refinery could complement the renewable diesel project in process at our Wynnewood refinery. These projects, combined with others under development, could help us decarbonize our operations.

The new single-stage Ecofining process uses a combination of catalysts in a single operating environment to remove oxygenates and other contaminants from the feedstock, and then isomerize the feed to improve its cold-flow properties. Due to its simplified design, single-stage Ecofining technology can be put into service quickly, with lower capital expense than other designs.

The Ecofining technology is used in most 100%-biofeed units producing renewable diesel and the only 100% production of SAF in the world today. UOP currently has licensed 24 Ecofining units in eleven countries around the world, processing 12 different types of renewable feedstocks.

As MRC reported previously, Honeywell has recently announced the commercialization of a revolutionary process that expands the types of plastics that can be recycled and can produce feedstock used to make recycled plastics with a lower carbon footprint. The new technology can reduce the need for fossil fuels in the creation of virgin plastics while enabling hundreds of cycles of recycling, with the goal of enabling a circular economy for plastics. Honeywell's UpCycle Process Technology utilizes industry-leading molecular conversion, pyrolysis, and contaminants management technology to convert waste plastic back to Honeywell Recycled Polymer Feedstock, which is then used to create new plastics.

Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,047,100 tonnes in the first ten months of 2021, up by 17% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,226,530 tonnes in January-October 2021, up by 26% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding stat-copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) decreased significantly.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Teijin Limited announced that it has started to carry out a life-cycle assessment (LCA) of its carbon fibers to calculate their total carbon emissions, an industry first, said the company.

Teijin previously calculated the carbon footprint of its carbon fibers used in sports, recreational and industrial applications and more recently its carbon fiber filaments used in aircraft applications, which will make it possible to now calculate emissions for all of its carbon fiber filament applications.

Teijin’s LCA methodology has been certified by an independent third-party organization in accordance with the ISO14040 and ISO14044 standards and will provide customers with reliable emission data on Teijin’s carbon fiber filaments to help them evaluate their own footprints. Teijin’s LCA is useful in identifying carbon hotspots in manufacturing processes and evaluating options for emissions reduction.

Looking ahead, Teijin expects to expand its LCA scope beyond carbon fiber filaments to also include intermediate products such as short fibers and prepregs. Furthermore, in cooperation with customers such as final product manufacturers, Teijin eventually plans to evaluate the entire life cycle of its carbon fiber products.

The Teijin Group has set climate change mitigation and adaptation as one of the five materialities that it prioritizes as important societal issues. Accordingly, Teijin is striving to reduce its energy consumption and introduce renewable energy and recycling methods, among other initiatives. By further positioning its business to help realize a sustainable circular society, the Teijin Group aims to reduce its group-wide in-house carbon emissions to net-zero by 2050 as part of fulfilling its long-term vision of being a company that supports the society of the future.

As MRC reported before, Teijin Ltd. is expanding its footprint in Europe with Teijin Automotive Center Europe GmbH, a new base in Wuppertal, Germany, that will house technical functions for the company’s automotive composites business.

As per MRC, Teijin says that its subsidiary Teijin Carbon Europe (Heinsberg, Germany) has increased the production capacity of chopped carbon fiber by 40%. The company says that it is responding to the growing demand from European electronics manufacturers in recent years, as well as the current increase in demand for compounds for medical devices.

Teijin is a technology-driven global group offering advanced solutions in the areas of sustainable transportation, information and electronics, safety and protection, environment and energy, and healthcare. Its main fields of operation are high-performance fibers such as aramid, carbon fibers & composites, healthcare, films, resin & plastic processing, polyester fibers, products converting and IT. The group has some 150 companies and around 17,000 employees spread out over 20 countries worldwide.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PPG has announced the appointment of Tim Knavish, executive vice president, as chief operating officer, effective March 1, 2022, according to BusinessWire.

Knavish will have executive oversight responsibility for all of PPG’s strategic business units and operating regions and for the information technology (IT), environment, health and safety (EH&S), and procurement functions. He will remain based at PPG’s global headquarters in Pittsburgh and will continue to report to Chairman and CEO Michael McGarry.

“Tim’s proven experience and leadership throughout his 35-year career at PPG have been instrumental in driving PPG’s performance as a leading coatings and specialty materials company,” McGarry said. “Tim has worked in virtually all of PPG’s businesses and has made structural improvements in each business that he managed. He also played a key role in the most recent Tikkurila and Ennis-Flint acquisitions. Plus, in his primary role as leader of our global architectural business, Tim is delivering further global collaboration, leading the adoption of new digital processes and delivering improved financial performance. In this new role, Tim’s broad operational expertise, global experience and demonstrated ability to lead our business strategies will play a key role in our continued focus to drive growth and deliver increased shareholder value.”

Since 2019, Knavish has served in his current role as executive vice president, where he has been responsible for the global architectural coatings businesses, excluding the Latin America business which was added to his responsibilities this year; the global automotive refinish business; the Latin America region; and the digital and information technology functions.

As MRC reported earlier, in September 2021, Roald Johannsen, PPG vice president of automotive coatings for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, was elected chairman of the board of the European Council of the Paint, Printing Ink and Artists’ Colours Industry (CEPE). He succeeds Andre Vieira de Castro, CEO of Portugal-based Argacol - Tintas e Vernizes, who had been CEPE chairman since October 2020.

We remind that in June 2021, PPG announced an expansion of its coatings manufacturing capacity in Europe for packaging applications. The investments at sites in The Netherlands and Poland will support growing customer demand in the region for the latest generation of coatings for aluminum and steel cans used in packaging for beverage, food and personal care items. The projects include a further expansion of the company’s location in Tiel, The Netherlands, which will increase the plant’s production capacity for PPG INNOVEL non-BPA internal coatings for beverage cans by 30%. Expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2022, the project follows a 50% expansion completed at the end of 2020.

BPA is the main feedstock for the production of polycarbonate (PC).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall consumption of polycarbonate (PC) granules (excluding imports and exports to/from Belarus) decreased in January-October 2021 by 15% to 67,300 tonne from 79,500 tonnes a year earlier.

PPG Industries Inc. is an international American company manufacturing paints and varnishes, chemicals, optical components, specialty materials, glass and fiberglass. The company includes over 150 production units and representative offices in more than 60 countries around the world. PPG is one of the 500 largest US corporations by sales.
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