US ethylene capacity could increase by 4%

(ICIS) -- US ethylene capacity could increase by 4% if Chevron Phillips Chemical moves forward with a plan to build a new steam cracker in the US Gulf, a market source said on Monday. The planned unit could have as much as 1m tonnes/year of capacity, the source said on the sidelines of the International Petrochemical Conference (IPC) in San Antonio. US ethylene capacity is estimated at around 27m tonnes/year.

Chevron Phillips Chemical on Monday announced it was conducting a feasibility study to build a cracker, saying that it would be a world-scale unit using ethane as a feedstock. The new facility will utilise the advantaged feed sources expected from development of shale gas reserves, the company said.

The company's feasibility study is expected to be complete by the end of 2011. If Chevron Phillips Chemical decides to go ahead with the project it would likely take around 3-4 years to finish construction and bring the unit online, the source said.

MRC

(The Nation) -- PTT Group will further consolidate its downstream petrochemical businesses later this year after completing the merger of its upstream units, CEO Prasert Bunsumpun said yesterday.
He said the merger of PTT Aromatics and Refining and PTT Chemical should be finalised just before he completes his term as chief executive in September. A new upstream petrochemicals unit will then be listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand. Afterwards, PTT Group will go ahead with consolidation of its downstream businesses, namely the merger of HMC Polymers and PTT Phenol.

HMC Polymers, which produces polypropylene, is 41.44 per cent owned by PTT. PTT Phenol, which is 40 per cent owned by the company, produces and distributes phenol and acetone.

A new company will be set up as part of the consolidation process so that PTT Group can further boost its efficiency and competitiveness in the downstream sector.

MRC

(RedOrbit) -- Royal DSM, the global Life Sciences and Materials Sciences company, hosted Her Excellency the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the United States Ms. Renee Jones-Bos at its Greenville, North Carolina facilities on March 28, 2011. Ambassador Jones-Bos met with DSM's management from their pharmaceuticals business and Dyneema-Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene fiber operations, and toured their sites to gain insight and understanding into DSM's business, and the Greenville community.

DSM is one of Greenville's, and Pitt County's, largest employers with nearly 1.200 employees working at its Greenville Pharmaceutical and Dyneema facilities, which operate at the same location. DSM has additional operations in North Carolina in Stanley, and has 28 operating sites in the United States with nearly 4.000 employees; and 22.000 employees world wide.

DSM has been in continuous operation for more than 100 years, originating in the Limburg Province of the Netherlands as a coal mining company. It has transformed itself into a well established Life Sciences & Material Sciences company, focused on creating brighter lives for people today and generations to come.

MRC

(Plastics Today) -- With nine extruders that can be configured to provide numerous stripe and layer combinations, Welex (Blue Bell, PA) says its new five-layer sheet-extrusion system for multicolored food packaging sets a new mark for the number of extruders on one die. Built for a European custom-sheet manufacturer for use in thermoformed yogurt cups, the system has already been shipped and is expected to begin production in April.

The five-layer sheet construction includes a crystal PS gloss layer, a five-color custom-configurable stripe layer, a white layer, a scrap foam layer, and a white bottom layer. The scrap foam layer is produced via a proprietary gas-blown foam process. Welex notes that the system can also run polypropylene with no equipment changes.

Each mobile-mounted extruder includes a slide-plate screen changer and gear pump for high-precision output. The machines feed into a valve-distribution block before the multi-manifold and feed-block-equipped die for easy control of the individual component's destinations.

The sheet extrusion line's Welex Evolution individual roll drive sheet take-off system also has automatic roll-gap controls and a set of water-flow-driven secondary cooling rolls to promote uniform sheet temperature at the end of the line prior to winding onto jumbo rolls.

MRC

(Plastemart) -- In a bid to capitalize on the advantaged feedstock position that shale gas resources could bring to the US chemical industry, Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LP is advancing a feasibility study. The feasibility study is for a project to construct a world-scale ethane cracker and ethylene derivatives unit at one of its existing facilities in the U.S. Gulf Coast region using advantaged feed sources expected from development of shale gas reserves. "We are finalizing our evaluation of potential sites and advancing discussions with EPC contractors," said Tim Taylor, COO for Chevron Phillips Chemical. ⌠Our company is already a leading light cracker operator in the U.S. Gulf Coast region and an established supplier of olefins, polyolefins, and alpha olefins globally. Our technology portfolio, organizational capability, integration with our parent companies, and petrochemical infrastructure make us uniquely suited to execute this potential investment.

MRC