SK Geo Centric commercializes biodegradable plastic through collaboration with Kolon Industries

SK Geo Centric commercializes biodegradable plastic through collaboration with Kolon Industries

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SK Geo Centric, the chemical wing of battery maker SK Innovation, commercialized a type of biodegradable plastic called polybutylene adipate terephthalate through collaboration with Kolon Industries, a chemical and textile manufacturing company in South Korea, said company.

Polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT) is a petroleum-based biodegradable plastic that rapidly degrades through enzyme reactions with oxygen, heat and light. Unlike regular plastic products which take about 100 years to decompose, 90 percent of a PBAT product degrades naturally when buried. PBAT is widely being used in eco-friendly products such as agricultural vinyl and disposable bags. To commercialize the petroleum-based biodegradable plastic, SK Geo Centric and Kolon Industries launched a joint research project in 2020.

SK Geo Centric said in a statement on December 22 that the company will supply raw materials of PBAT to Kolon Industries. SK Geo Centric is the only South Korean company that produces "1,4-butanediol," a chemical compound that is used as the main raw material of PBAT. Using SK Geo Centric's raw materials, Kolon Industries will produce PBAT at its plant located in Gumi some 202 kilometers (126 miles) southeast of Seoul.

3,000 tons of PBAT can be produced at Gumi Plant annually. SK Geo Centric plans to increase the production capacity to 60,000 tons per year by 2024 through cooperation with the textile manufacturing company. "PBAT decomposes quickly after it is buried in a landfill. We expect it will be widely used in various sectors because of its eco-friendly feature," Kang Dong-hoon, SK Geo Centric's Green Business Bureau Vice President, was quoted as saying.

As per MRC, in September 2021, LG Chem, a chemical unit of South Korea's LG Group, partnered with domestic chemical fiber producer TK Chemical to establish a PBAT production line by the second half of 2021. In March 2021, South Korea's ocean ministry distributed biodegradable fishnets for crabs and yellow croakers by spending some 5.2 billion won (USD4.7 mln).

As MRC informed before, SK Advanced, a joint venture between Saudi Arabia's Advanced Petrochemical and Korea's SK Gas, intends to halt production at the propane dehydrogenation plant in Ulsan (Ulsan, South Korea) in the second half of December for scheduled maintenance. It is expected that preventive measures at this enterprise with a capacity of 600 thousand tons of propylene per year will continue until the end of January - beginning of February next year.
MRC

ORLEN Unipetrol to launch DCPD unit in H2 2022

ORLEN Unipetrol to launch DCPD unit in H2 2022

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ORLEN Unitpetrol, the largest Czech petrochemical company, continues building the unit for a new product, dicyclopentadiene (DCPD), which is expected to be launched in the second half of 2022, as per the company's press release.

The construction also continues in winter when four large-capacity tanks and rectification columns are installed. During the production process, these units are used to distil the final product, DCPD, to the required purity. The heaviest column, which is 2.3 m in diameter, 33.9 m long and weighs 33 tonnes, arrived at the ORLEN Unipetrol site in Litvinov on Monday, 20 December 2021. The column was provided by Intecha. The convoy set out from Pardubice on 20 December, and after passing the 200 km-long route, it arrived in Litvinov at around 7am.

“There has been a high demand for this product on global markets. Europe is currently seeing a deficit in DCPD production capacities. We expect the demand to grow by another 20% by 2030. On the American markets, the demand may rise by 40%, and in Asia, even by 60%. That is why we have decided to invest in constructing our DCPD manufacturing technology. It is another example of how our R&D supports the business,” explains Tomas Herink, Member of the Board of Directors of the ORLEN Unipetrol Group. He adds: “This product launch will contribute to our margin increase and will help expand the product portfolio in the petrochemical segment.”

Liquid hydrocarbon dicyclopentadiene will be produced using a technology developed by ORLEN Unipetrol researchers in cooperation with the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague. The product can be broadly used in the automotive industry, construction industry, electrical engineering, medicine and pharmaceutical industry. It will be used to produce polymer materials, resins, and chemical specialities that can be used to produce adhesives, dyes, automotive and ship components, optical fibres, special lenses, medical components, packaging materials or sanitary products for kitchens and bathrooms, etc.

As MRC reported earlier, Orlen Unipetrol (part of PKN Orlen) will expand the capacity of its steam cracker in Litvinov (Czech Republic) by installing a new furnace, PKN Orlen said in October, 2021. The new cracking unit will be built by Technip Energies in Zaluzi, the largest chemical plant in the Czech Republic, and is due to be commissioned in 2022. Orlen is investing over 700 mln Czech crown (CZK) in the project.

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.

The ORLEN Unipetrol Group is the largest refinery and petrochemical company in the Czech Republic. It focuses on crude oil processing and the production, distribution and sale of vehicle fuels and petrochemical products – particularly plastics and fertilisers. In all these areas, it belongs among the critical players in the Czech and Central European markets. The ORLEN Unipetrol Group encompasses refineries and production plants in Litvinov and Kralupy nad Vltavou, Paramo, with its Mogul brand in Pardubice and Kolin, Spolana Neratovice, and two research centres in Litvinov and Brno.
MRC

Hanwha Solutions to invest in caustic soda capacity expansion in South Korea

Hanwha Solutions to invest in caustic soda capacity expansion in South Korea

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Hanwha Solutions plans to increase its caustic soda, chlorine and ethylene dichloride (EDC) capacity annually at its Yeosu facility in South Korea, the company said.

Hanwha Solutions currently produces 840,000 tonnes of caustic soda per year and is the No. 1 company in the CA field in Korea. Caustic soda is a raw material necessary for cleaning, smelting, and bleaching of industrial materials such as metals, and it is essential to remove impurities in the cathode material production process, which is a core material for secondary batteries. It is also used to extract aluminum, a key material for lightweight materials, from rough bauxite. With this investment, Hanwha Solutions will build a caustic soda production facility with a total annual production capacity of 1.11 million tonnes by adding up to 270,000 tonnes, and leap forward as a major global producer.

As caustic soda production expands, the production of chlorine, a by-product, will also increase by 250,000 tonnes. In addition, the production of ethylene chloride (EDC), which is used as a raw material for polyvinyl chloride (PVC) by reacting chlorine with ethylene, will also increase by more than 280,000 tonnes. Hanwha Solutions is actively reviewing PVC facility expansion based on the additionally secured EDC volume.

Hanwha Solutions expected that additional sales of more than 300 billion won per year would be generated by commercial production of capacity expansion in the first half of 2025.

Earlier it was reported that Hanwha Solutions carried out planned annual preventive measures at the ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) plant in Ulsan (Ulsan, South Korea). Thus, maintenance at this enterprise with a total capacity of three lines of 120,000 tonnes of EVA per year began on 18 October of this year and was completed on 10 November.

As MRC reported earlier, the June production of sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) amounted to 103,000 tonnes (100% of the main substance) against 105,000 tonnes a month earlier. For the first half of the year, the total production of caustic soda amounted to 642,500 tonnes, which is 1.2% less than the same indicator of the last year.

South Korean Hanwha Chemical was established in 1965. It is the first company in the country to start producing PVC, HDPE, linear polyethylene and chlor-alkali products.
MRC

COVID-19 - News digest as of 23.12.2021

1.Crude oil prices recover on large inventory draw as markets ignore gasoline build

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Crude oil prices recovered on Wednesday morning despite word from the Energy Information Administration of an inventory draw of 4.7 million barrels for the week to December 17, according to OilPrice. At 423.6 million barrels, crude oil inventories remain 8% below the five-year average - compared to 7% below the five-year average last week. Last week’s draw adds to last week’s huge draw of 4.6 million barrels from crude oil inventories. On Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute estimated a crude oil inventory draw of 3.670 million barrels for the week to December 17.

MRC

Fire broke out at ExxonMobil Baytown complex

Fire broke out at ExxonMobil Baytown complex

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A fire erupted on Thursday morning at an Exxon Mobil Corp complex in Baytown, Texas, one of the largest refining and petrochemical facilities in the United States, reported Reuters.

Four people were injured. There were no fatalities and those injured were in a stable condition, while other personnel were accounted for, Exxon said.

Emergency response teams were working to extinguish the blaze more than five hours after it erupted at about 1 a.m. on Thursday, the company said.

The fire occurred in a hydrotreater unit at the oil refinery that had been shut on Wednesday due to a bypass line leak, people familiar with plant operations told Reuters. The injured were contractors who had been repairing the leak.

Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said initial reports had indicated there had been some type of explosion at the plant. Social media users said on Twitter that a blast shook buildings in the area.

An Exxon official told a news conference the blaze had affected a unit that produces gasoline.

The Baytown plant houses a chemical plant, an olefins plant and the country's fourth biggest oil refinery, with capacity to process 560,500 barrels per day of crude.

The olefins facility, which began operations in 1979, is one of the largest ethylene plants in the world, according to the company's website.

Production was reduced across the Baytown refining and petrochemical complex in August 2019 because of a fire in a propylene recovery unit at the olefins plant. And as many as 37 workers were injured in another fire at the olefins facility in July 2019.

As MRC wrote previously, ExxonMobil said in late August, 2021, a small debris fire near an out-of-service tank was quickly extinguished at its 369,024 barrel-per-day (bpd) Beaumont, Texas, refinery. There were no injuries.

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.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
MRC