Dow Polyurethanes presented new insulation technology

(Plastemart) -- Dow Polyurethanes, a business unit within The Dow Chemical Company, along with Haier, presented a Dow-patented breakthrough rigid polyurethane insulation technology for household refrigerators and freezers. PASCAL technology is an advanced combination of excellent polyurethane insulation and efficient appliance case filling that addresses the productivity needs of manufacturers and the energy efficiency demands of consumers. PASCAL technology increases energy efficiency in refrigerators and freezers and supports appliance companies to meet the energy efficiency standards of governments around the world for the next 25 years.

MRC

(Arabian Oil and Gas) -- Homs Refinery Company in Syria is aiming to conduct a study to expand and rehabilitate its refinery located in Homs in central Syria, a source close to the project told arabianoilandgas.com. The company aims to reduce emissions by upgrading to the latest technology. ⌠They want to introduce a new isomerisation unit, a mild hydrocracking unit, said the source. ⌠They also want to build a new cooker and hydrotreating unit along with another unit for sulphur management, he added. The refinery has a processing capacity of 110.000 barrels per day and processes mainly Iraqi oil.

The refinery also aims to introduce an alternative sulphur management unit to convert the sulphur gas to H2SO4 (or sulphuric acid). ⌠The main issue facing the execution is securing the necessary funds to execute such a big project, said the source.

The Homs refinery came on stream in 1959 as the first refinery in Syria to meet the local market's demand for oil derivatives and export the rest. The refinery is currently causing significant environmental pollution obliging the government to look for ways to reduce its emissions.

MRC

(ICIS) -- Offers of polyethylene (PE) from China to Europe have grown quickly as prices in Europe rise and those in Asia remain flat, sources said on Tuesday.

An HDPE buyer, who admitted paying well above ┬1,300/tonne FD (free delivered) NWE (northwest Europe) to its European supplier, said: ⌠I have been offered product at ┬1,250/tonne [DDP]. The sticking point for buyers to accept offers from overseas sellers is the amount of time it will take for the material to arrive.

The trader said the minimum amount of time it would take to receive material would be six weeks, plus time for clearing and loading the material onto pallets. ⌠If you ask me, it's closer to eight weeks than six in total. Sailing time alone is six weeks, the trader said.

A major European producer agreed with the trader, adding that that April would be another strong month. ⌠We expect a slender increase in the April ethylene monthly contract, and we will go for margin improvement in HDPE. Product is still tight and imports won't arrive before May, the producer said.

Not all European producers are expected to target margin improvement in April, however. Some major sellers had aimed to cover just the increase in ethylene in March, and they are also expected to follow this strategy in April, maintaining that the PE market cannot support continued price hikes, which have led to record high prices for some grades.

MRC

Within a new service - MRC Video - MRC prepared Infographics abouth the situation in the Russian polymers market. In the Infographics You may hear the opinion of leading experts in FSU market of polymers concerning balance and formation of pricing in the internal market of Russia.

The growth of consumption along with limits in reduction of internal prices because of logistic shield brought the Russan market to the ⌠market of the seller. Within next three-five years polymers market will remain in such situation and it will support high prices for converters. This seems to be the main summary of MRC Annual reports.

In theory prices for polymers as well as a share of domestic producers in the internal market may be reduced after Russia's joining WTO that may occur till the end of 2011. But, from our point of view, sharp changes aren't expected in the market and the average custom for polymers will reduce from current 10% to the world's average 4-6.5% not at once but within the transition period, let's say, 5 years.

To download file with Infographics is available here (20 Mb). To watch the Infographics video, please, save the file and open in Acrobat Reader of 9.4.0 version and higher. You can download it for free here. Detailed information on development of volume polymers markets in Russia is presented in MRC Annual reports.

MRC

(Bayer) -- Following the devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan, Bayer and its employees are providing help. First of all, Bayer is providing immediate financial aid to the value of EUR 880.000 - which is the equivalent of Yen 100 Million - to the Japanese Red Cross. The funds are intended to help assist communities or individuals severely affected by the catastrophic events. Furthermore, the company intends to provide the Japanese health authorities with around EUR 120.000 worth of health products that are urgently needed.

In addition to the immediate relief, Bayer is also calling on its employees worldwide to make donations through the Bayer Cares Foundation. The company will match the donations up to the amount of EUR 250.000. These funds are to be used for a reconstruction project yet to be defined in one of the worst affected areas.

Bayer has been operating in Japan for more than 100 years and employs some 3.660 people there. None of the employees was injured as a consequence of the earthquake or the tsunami.

MRC