SIBUR to use Milliken's Millad NX 8000 for new grades of PP

(Milliken) -- Leading Russian petrochemical company SIBUR will use Milliken's pioneering clarifying agent Millad╝ NX≥ 8000 for new grades of highly transparent polypropylene that it is launching to enter the local market for transparent packaging materials.

SIBUR says the Russian market for plastics products is currently one of the most dynamic in the country, and the demand for attractive and cost-effective packaging for food, household chemicals and cosmetics is constantly growing. The company is the largest polypropylene producer in Russia and the first in the country to offer high-quality clarified homopolymer PP.

The company has already produced pilot quantities of the first grade of clarified PP, a homopolymer, and will begin full-scale production before the end of June. Initial output will be up to 500 tonnes per month. As it develops the market, SIBUR plans to expand its range of PP products by adding several homopolymers and one clarified random copolymer grade.

Milliken's Millad NX 8000 clarifier provides unparalleled improvements in clarity and gloss in polypropylene products. It provides an improvement of at least 50% in clarity of PP over the previous benchmark grade, taking it to a level very close to that of more expensive solutions using other polymers. It is enabling a growing number of processors to take advantage of the polymer's performance and cost advantages. Haze values are around half of those obtainable with the previous top-performing PP clarifier.

MRC

(Lanxess) -- Specialty chemicals group Lanxess reopened its office in Tokyo on Wednesday after just over two weeks. The approximately 60 Lanxess employees in the Japanese capital returned to their desks after an assessment of the current safety situation in Tokyo. The Group's management team in Japan is also working out of Tokyo again. These managers had temporarily performed their duties from the site of Lanxess subsidiary Rhein Chemie in Toyohashi.

Lanxess is a leading specialty chemicals company with sales of EUR 7.1 bln in 2010 and currently around 14.850 employees in 24 countries. The company is represented at 45 production sites worldwide. The core business of Lanxess is the development, manufacturing and marketing of plastics, rubber, intermediates and specialty chemicals.

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(Dow) -- The Dow Chemical Company and Befar Group Co., Ltd. announced a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for a new 50-50 joint venture to produce perchloroethylene (PCE), a key building block material for non-ozone depleting refrigerants used in industrial, automotive, consumer, commercial, building and construction, and other applications.

Under the MOU the two companies will explore development of a new, world-scale, PCE manufacturing facility in Binzhou, Shandong Province, China. The new facility would have an initial target capacity of 40 KTa, with the ability to double production to 80 KT soon thereafter. Assuming the terms and milestones of the MOU are met and subject to customary government approvals, Dow and Binhua estimate production would begin in 2014.

According to Dow President of Chemicals & Energy, Carol Williams, the proposed joint venture with Binhua is another critical milestone toward fulfillment of the Company's business strategy.

Global demand for PCE as a feedstock is increasing for non-ozone-depleting fluorocarbon refrigerants in industrial, automotive and home applications. In China, the market for PCE is growing rapidly, but to date, local supply has been limited. The proposed Dow-Binhua joint venture is designed to meet this significant market opportunity.

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(PRNewswire) -- Today at the annual JEC Composites Show, Owens Corning, a leading global producer of glass fiber reinforcements for composite systems, announced two new grades of short glass fiber (GF) reinforcements for polypropylene (PP) specifically engineered for automotive applications. They are available worldwide and provide alternatives to short GF reinforced polyamide (PA) and long glass fiber reinforced PP in automotive applications.

Owens Corning is a leading global producer of residential and commercial building materials, glass-fiber reinforcements and engineered materials for composite systems.

MRC

(Arabian Oil and Gas) -- Sahara Petrochemicals Company has said in a statement that its subsidiary Al Waha Petrochemicals Company, successfully completed its performance test on Wednesday March 23, paving the way for commercial production to begin next month.

⌠After the successful completion of the performance test of the PDH unit, which is regarded as the last unit to undergo this test, we expect the commercial operations of Al Waha Petrochemicals Company to start on April 1, 2011, the statement read.

Esam Himdy, Sahara's managing director, appreciated the teamwork spirit of all personnel who participated in the test programme. He also referred to the support received by Saudi Aramco, RCJU, Marafiq, SEC, HCIS, PIF and all participant banks.

The world-scale petrochemical complex in Jubail Industrial City in Saudi Arabia has a capacity of 467 KTa of propylene utilising Oleflex technology, which serves as a feedstock for the 450 KTa Polypropylene Unit. The plant is considered to be largest, producing high-quality polypropylene using LBI's technology, sphereizone.

Al Waha Petrochemicals Company is owned by Sahara Petrochemicals Company, which holds 75% of its share capital with LyondelBasell owning 25%.

MRC