Honeywell partners with Navin Fluorine to produce HFO in India

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Honeywell and Navin Fluorine International Limited, part of the Padmanabh Mafatlal Group, has announced a partnership to manufacture Honeywell’s proprietary Solstice range of hydrofluoroolefins (HFO) in India, according to Kemicalinfo.

Production is scheduled to commence by Q2-2022 at NFIL’s manufacturing facility in Gujarat.

This portfolio of next generation products has no ozone depletion potential and a global warming potential (GWP) of 1, thereby helping customers lower their carbon footprint without sacrificing end-product performance.

These products have various applications, including in blowing agents for foam insulation and refrigeration liquid for chillers.

“Many countries have pledged to be carbon neutral and promote technologies to help them meet their sustainability goals. This partnership enables these countries - including developing countries - to transition to HFOs from the more harmful hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) and hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) alternatives that are currently prevalent,” said Laura Reinhard, VP-GM, Advanced Materials FIP, Honeywell.

The demand for low-GWP solutions continues to grow. Multiple global regulations stemming from the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol require the phasedown of HFCs, driving the demand for more sustainable solutions.

Honeywell has already invested more than a billion dollars in research, development and new capacity for its Solstice technology, having anticipated the need for lower-GWP solutions to combat climate change more than a decade ago.

Honeywell’s partnership with Navin Fluorine will enable capacity expansion for its Solstice range to cater to the growing global demand for environmentally friendlier solutions.

Radhesh Welling, Managing Director, Navin Fluorine International Limited, said, “As the country’s leading producer of specialty fluorochemicals, we are pleased to partner with Honeywell for production of Honeywell’s industry-first HFOs at our Dahej facility. This will be a truly Make-in-India product that will serve global customers. We will also work together to develop new applications for Indian market. We strongly believe this project will help us further strengthen our partnership with Honeywell to do bigger and better things together in future.”

As MRC wrote previously, earlier this month, Honeywell announced that it has been selected by Spanish oil and gas company Repsol to supply an integrated control and safety system (ICSS) for the first advanced biofuels production plant to be built in Spain.

We remind that Repsol said in October, 2021, it will invest EUR2.549 billion (USD2.958 billion) in the entire hydrogen value chain by 2030. Renewable hydrogen is one of Repsol’s strategic pillars to achieve zero emissions by 2050. Thus, the company presented its hydrogen strategy for up to 2030.

We also remind that the “Cracker of the Future” consortium has recently announced two new member companies: Repsol and Versalis (Eni) have joined the consortium.

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 2,265,290 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2021, up by 14% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,363,850 tonnes in January-November, 2021, up by 25% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Graham Partners portfolio company VPET USA LLC of Fontana, Calif., is acquiring Canyon Plastics Inc., a Valencia, Calif.-based packaging moulder, said Canplastics.

The financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed. In a Jan. 25 news release, VPET officials described Canyon as a supplier of consumer-packaged goods such as vitamins, protein powders, supplements, and nutraceuticals, as well as a growing portfolio of specialized engineered products for the medical device and aerospace and defense sectors. It uses blow molding, stretch blow molding, and injection molding. Canyon was founded in 1982 and has an employee base of over 100.

We remind, in 2019, Graham Partners invested in VPET USA LLC, a Fontana, Calif.-based company that blow molds custom and stock PET plastic containers for the food packaging and beverage industries and that specializes in wide-mouth PET food packaging.

Also, in 2018, Graham Partners bought Nuconic Packaging LLC of Vernon, Calif., another maker of thermoformed packaging.

VPET is a provider of plastic containers primarily used to package food and beverage products. Graham bought VPET in 2019. Graham Partners is headquartered in Newtown Square, Pa.

Founded in 1988 and headquartered in Newtown Square, Pa., Graham Partners focuses on acquiring and investing in what it calls “higher growth, middle-market consumer and industrial manufacturing-related companies”.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ascend Performance Materials (Houston, Texas) said it has signed an investment agreement to set up a new hexamethylene diamine (HMD) and specialty chemicals plant in Lianyungang, China, to supply its global polyamide production and serve its regional customers, accordingto Apic-online.

The project, to be located in Xuwei New Area Park, will be the company?s first chemical production facility and its largest investment made outside the US Construction is expected to begin later this year with start-up targeted for the second half of 2023.

The capacity of the new plant was not disclosed.

"Our growth is driven by increasing market demand and growing collaboration with our customers globally," noted Ascend President and Chief Executive Phil McDivitt.

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) -- Sulzer Chemtech has finalized an agreement with Encina Development Group, LLC to provide technology to recover high purity circular aromatics from cracked oil products derived from Encina’s mixed-plastics-to-aromatics catalytic conversion platform, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Encina’s 1000 tpd waste plastics recycling facility will be located in Northeast US, and is expected to be operational in 2024.

Encina has developed a catalytic platform wherein the cracked products selectively contain high levels of circular aromatics as well as other valuable by-products. Sulzer Chemtech will provide its hydrotreating and aromatics extraction technology (SuRe BTX) to recover high purity circular benzene and toluene.

Sulzer Chemtech’s flagship aromatic extraction technology (GT-BTX) has been deployed worldwide for aromatics recovery from reformate and naphtha cracked pyrolysis with more than 70 licenses sold. This is the first commercial application of this technology where waste plastics is used as feedstock within a circular chemical solution to help resolve a global environmental issue.

Sander van Donk, Head Global Technology Business at Sulzer Chemtech, concludes: “We are pleased to support Encina’s mission of enabling circularity in plastics recycling by providing our SuRe BTX technology downstream of their catalytic conversion process. This novel value chain builds on Sulzer Chemtech’s commitment to circularity and opens up an entirely new market for ultra-pure circular benzene and toluene produced from waste plastics.”

As MRC informed before, India’s national objective of achieving self-sufficiency in energy and reducing its fossil fuel footprint is being supported by Sulzer’s expertise in pump manufacturing and refinery processes. The country’s first bio-refinery, Assam Bio Refinery Pvt Ltd., built by Chempolis' technology, is a ground-breaking JV that will be the only refinery in the world to create bioethanol from bamboo - available in abundance in north-eastern India. To help realize this pioneering endeavor, Sulzer is delivering a range of engineered application pumps as well as core technology such as column internals for the refining process.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,265,290 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2021, up by 14% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,363,850 tonnes in January-November, 2021, up by 25% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF is to fundamentally modernize the entire infrastructure, including the facilities for the production of chloroformates and acid chlorides at its Ludwigshafen Verbund site, said the company.

The company is investing a low three-digit million euro amount for this. The measures, which will be completed in the course of 2025, will increase the company's capacity for these products at the site by around 30 percent. BASF is one of the world's leading manufacturers of chloroformates, acid chlorides and alkyl chlorides, with a current annual capacity of 60,000 metric tons, as well as production facilities at its sites in Ludwigshafen, Germany, and Yeosu, Korea.

"With our investment project we prove our long-term commitment to these high-value specialty products," said Frank Stein, head of the Regional Business Unit Europe in BASF's Intermediates division, adding, "As a leading producer in this field, we want to continue to reliably support our customers' growth with a state-of-the-art infrastructure."

BASF sells around 30 individual products from the group of chloroformates, acid chlorides and alkyl chlorides. Customers use the chemicals for further processing in a wide range of applications, ranging from synthesis building blocks for pharmaceuticals and crop protection products to the production of organic peroxides. Peroxides prove their worth in the production of coating materials used, for example, to coat solar panels. They are also used in the production of a wide range of plastics for everyday use.

We remind, BASF, the world's petrochemical major, is strengthening its global catalyst development and helping customers to bring new products faster to the market. As part of this strategy, BASF is building a new pilot plant center at its Ludwigshafen site.

BASF will build a new hexamethylenediamine (HMDA) facility at Chalampe, near Mulhouse, in northeastern France and plans to expand polyamide 6,6 capacity at its nearby site in Freiburg in southwest Germany. BASF decided to build a new hexamethylene diamine (HMD) plant in Chalampe, France. The new plant is set to increase BASF’s annual HMD production capacity to 260,000 metric tons. Production is expected to start in 2024. Furthermore, BASF will expand its polyamide 6.6 production in Freiburg, Germany starting 2022.

BASF's Intermediates division develops, produces and markets an extensive range of more than 600 intermediates worldwide. The most important product groups include amines, diols, polyalcohols, acids and specialties. Intermediates serve, for example, as starting materials for coatings, plastics, pharmaceuticals, textiles, detergents and crop protection products. Innovative intermediates from BASF help to improve the properties of the products manufactured with them and the efficiency of production processes. The ISO 9001-certified Intermediates division operates from sites in Europe, Asia and North America. In 2020, the business sector generated sales to third parties of approximately EUR2.6 billion.

MRC