Spainish Teknia launches second Czech plant

(europeanplasticsnews) -- Spanish automotive parts manufacturer Teknia Group recently launched a new plastic moulding plant in the Czech Republic.

The first phase of this 11,200m2 facility just completed by Teknia’s Automotive Plastic Division, at Nivnice, Czech Republic comprises a 2,000m2 injection moulding hall and warehouse also of 2,000m2.

Initially, the unit has been equipped with five Engel injection machines with clamping force of up to 1,000 tonnes, but the plant is scheduled to house up to 20 in the short term, according to Teknia, a young company founded in 1992 in Erandio, Spain.

The group already runs a plastic components moulding plant in Uhersky Brod in the Czech Republic as well as others in Rzeszow, Poland; Azuqueca de Henares and Jaen in Spain; Tangier,Morocco; San Luis Potosi in Mexico and in Jacarei, Brazil.

Teknia’s Czech project is part of the group’s strategic plan to boost its group turnover and invest around EUR50m to expand its international production with additional plants in Poland, Brazil and the Czech Republic by 2015. The group is also planning to launch a manufacturing unit in Asia, initially in either China or India, it says.

The Spanish group has forecast it will increase its annual sales for 2012 to around EUR200m. That figure should rise to about EUR285m by 2015, it predicted.

Teknia, which runs injection machines of up to 2,700 tonnes, produces a range of parts including seating, trim and steering wheel components; exterior parts such as bumpers and lighting and tanks as well as products for the engine compartment. It also moulds parts for the solar energy industry. The group also manufactures a range of metallic components.
MRC

(plastemart) -- Oman's Octal Petrochemicals continues to offer polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in Europe despite a force majeure, as per the company’s managing director.

According to few unconfirmed sources, the producer had contacted buyers to inform about postponing availability of PET until January, as MRC wrote earlier. However, the MD confirmed that the company continues to offer PET in the European spot market for December. Despite a technical force majeure on one piece of equipment at its 1 mln tpa PET plant in Salalah, it was still producing ample material, with two reactors running at 120%.

Established in 2006 to meet the accelerating demand for PET sheet and PET resin, OCTAL has emerged as the largest PET resin manufacturer in the Middle East and the largest integrated PET sheet manufacturer in the world. Strategically located in the port city of Salalah on the southern coast of the Sultanate of Oman, OCTAL is well positioned to meet customer requirements from production to delivery.
MRC

(hydrocarbonprocessing) -- Sulzer Pumps will supply 40 pumps to PetroChina, the largest oil producer in China, for phase two of the Guangxi refinery project, officials said on Monday.

Located in Guangxi Province in southern China, the project will refine imported high-sulfur crude oil. It will have a capacity of 10 million tpy to supply fuels to southwestern areas of China, according to the companies.

The scope of Sulzer Pumps' supply includes 12 pumps for the residue hydrodesulfurization unit, 18 pumps for the diesel oil hydrotreating unit, and 10 pumps for the oil storage and transportation unit and utility unit.

Phase two of the Guangxi refinery project is scheduled for operation in October 2013. All of the pumps will contribute to the refinery's capacity to produce gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and liquefied petroleum gas as well as petrochemical products, the company says.

We remind that PetroChina Co Ltd. brought on stream a new 800,000 tpa ethylene unit at its Fushun refinery in October. With this capacity addition, total ethylene capacity at the refinery will be 1 mln tpa, as MRC informed ealier.

PetroChina Company Limited is a Chinese oil company and is the listed arm of state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), headquartered in Dongcheng District, Beijing. It is China's biggest oil producer and the most profitable company in Asia.
MRC

(pressreleasefinder) -- Magna Auteca, one of the world’s leading suppliers of automotive micro-actuator systems for various kinds of adjustments, has chosen Arnite A, a high performance compound based on polyethylene terephthalate (PET), from DSM for use in its latest generation of exterior mirror adjustment units.

Magna Auteca required a replacement for PBT, which improved the durability performance for this new application. As a result of this, the company looked at a wide range of compounds based on different engineering thermoplastics. The DSM's material outperformed several rivals in a series of qualification tests.

"This is a major success for DSM and for Arnite A,” says Andreas Weinmann, Account Manager at DSM. “Magna Auteca is a trendsetter for next generations mirror adjustment units with reduced weight and improved quality. We expect the competition will follow Magna shortly, and we are looking forward working with them too!"

As MRC reported earlier, DSM had recently introduced its new thermally conductive thermoplastic polyester for such components, as foglamp housings, lens holders and AFL (Adaptive Forward Lighting) frames. The new grade is a further development of Arnite PET-XL, which DSM successfully introduced in 2009. Both products are based on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and are highly suitable for engineering applications.

DSM delivers innovative solutions that nourish, protect and improve performance in global markets such as food and dietary supplements, personal care, feed, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, automotive, paints, electrical and electronics, life protection, alternative energy and bio-based materials.
MRC

(hydrocarbonprocessing)-- State-run Kuwait National Petroleum Co., or KNPC, has awarded engineering firms Amec and Foster Wheeler consultancy contracts for its new refinery and clean fuel projects, according to the official Kuwait News Agency, or KUNA.

The contracts allow the two companies to prepare the bids and technical specifications for the projects. The Kuwaiti firm has previously said that other tenders for the construction will be issued by year end or early 2013.

The two projects will be implemented simultaneously and are expected to boost the refining capacity of KNPC's parent company, Kuwait Petroleum Corp., to 1.4 million bpd of crude oil and will cost about USD25 billion.

The new refinery to be located in Kuwait's Al Zour region and environmentally-friendly fuel projects will be completed by 2017 and 2018, respectively.

Since its incorporation in 1960, KNPC was engaged in different activities of the oil industry. Kuwait National Petroleum Company was established as a joint venture between the government and the private sector. KNPC became fully government-owned in 1975. The company was also founded to develop the downstream sector in Kuwait.

We remind that, as MRC informed previously, Foster Wheeler has been awarded a contract by Shell Global Solutions to develop the basic engineering package for a world-scale mono-ethylene glycol (MEG) facility at the Gulf region (Qatar).
MRC