BASF to expand India emissions catalysts capacity

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF is expanding its mobile emissions catalysts production capacity in Chennai, India, the company said in its statement.

Construction of a new 47,000 square meter facility will begin in December 2013, enhancing the company’s existing emissions catalysts operation in Chennai with new production lines and manufacturing capabilities.

Start-up is planned in the first quarter of 2015.

Upon project completion, a total of nine manufacturing lines will be housed in the new operating site, producing light duty, heavy duty and motorcycle emissions control catalysts to meet growing market demand and customer technology needs. Once operating at full capacity, the site is expected to employ approximately 300 people.

"BASF is investing to more than double our manufacturing capacity in India to help customers meet these emerging needs. At the same time, this expansion project will allow us to establish Chennai as our regional production hub to serve the fast-growing motorcycle manufacturing markets in India and ASEAN," said Anup Kothari, vice president of BASF's mobile emissions catalysts business in the Asia-Pacific region.

"In the past, BASF has successfully delivered advanced emissions control catalysts for cars, trucks and motorcycles to customers in India and throughout South Asia. The expansion project further demonstrates our strong commitment to achieving ambitious growth in the region, and our focus on delivering effective solutions to leading OEMs to prepare them for future challenges."

As MRC wrote previously, as part of BASF's major innovation investment in China, the company opened the first Innovation Campus Asia Pacific and its new Greater China headquarters at its site in Pudong, Shanghai in November 2013. The investment amounts to EUR 55 million. With this expansion the company's site will be one of BASF's largest outside of Germany. The further expansion of the facility is also planned.

BASF’s Catalysts division is the world’s leading supplier of environmental and process catalysts. The group offers exceptional expertise in the development of technologies that protect the air we breathe, produce the fuels that power our world and ensure efficient production of a wide variety of chemicals, plastics and other products, including advanced battery materials.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Heat transfer company Alfa Laval has won an order to supply its OLMI heat exchangers to a petrochemical plant in the US, said Hydrcarbonprocessing.

The order, booked in the Process Industry segment has a value of approximately SEK 60 million. Deliveries are scheduled for 2014 and 2015.

The Alfa Laval OLMI heat exchangers will be used to increase the yield and recover energy in the production of ethylene, an important ingredient for the manufacturing of industrial chemicals and plastics products. "This order is an example of the reindustrialization we see, driven by shale gas," says Lars Renstrom, President and CEO of the Alfa Laval Group.

Alfa Laval is a leading global provider of specialized products and engineering solutions based on its key technologies of heat transfer, separation and fluid handling.

The company’s equipment, systems and services are dedicated to assisting customers in optimizing the performance of their processes. The solutions help them to heat, cool, separate and transport products in industries that produce food and beverages, chemicals and petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, starch, sugar and ethanol.

Alfa Laval is listed on Nasdaq OMX, and, in 2012, posted annual sales of about SEK 29.8 billion (approx. 3.5 billion Euros). The company has today about 16 400 employees.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Eastern Petrochemical (SHARQ) is in plans to shut its No. 4 monoethylene glycol (MEG) plant for maintenance turnaround, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Saudi Arabia informed that the plant is planned to be shut in mid-December 2013. It is likely to remain off-stream for around one month.

Located in Al-Jubail, Saudi Arabia, the plant has a production capacity of 700,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed previously, CNOOC and Shell Petrochemicals Co (CSPC) shut its MEG plant on 10 November, owing to mechanical issues. A restart date for the plant could not be ascertained. Located in Guangdong province, China, the plant has a production capacity of 320,000 mt/year.

Besides, Xinjiang Tianye Group is in plans to start a new MEG plant in August 2014. To be located in Xinjiang province, China, the plant will have a production capacity of 250,000 mt/year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Qatar Petroleum (QP) and two Japanese companies, Zeon Corporation and Mitsui & Co Ltd, on Sunday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the development of an integrated butadiene extraction and elastomer complex in Ras Laffan Industrial City, reported Bernama.

Under the agreement, the partners will undertake a detailed feasibility study to evaluate the technical, commercial and economic aspects of the integrated world scale butadiene and synthetic rubber/elastomer project. The feedstock will come from the planned Al-Sejeel Petrochemicals Complex and the Al-Karaana Petrochemicals Complex, both of which are currently under development, as well as from the existing plant of Ras Laffan Olefins Company (RLOC).

The butadiene will be extracted from feedstock and then converted into high-value elastomers like styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) and polybutadiene rubber (PBR) using Zeons state-of-the-art technology.

The MoU was signed by Qatar's Minister of Energy and Industry and Chairman & Managing Director of QP, Dr Mohammed bin Saleh Al-Sada; Director & Executive Corporate Officer of Zeon Corporation, Yoshimasa Fushimi; and Representative Director & Executive Vice President of Mitsui & Co Ltd, Seiichi Tanaka.

Meanwhile, Al-Sada expressed his pleasure at the signing of the MoU, describing it as "an important step that adds value to Qatar's natural resources, and creates future value chain opportunities."

"The elastomers from this project will create new opportunities to develop small and medium scale enterprises and private industries in the downstream sector, as well as other automobile related industries.

As MRC wrote before, Qatar Petroleum and Qatar Petrochemical Company signed technology licence contracts for the multibillion dollar Al Sejeel petrochemical complex with Univation Technologies for the polyethylene technology and Dow Chemical Company for polypropylene technology.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Hyundai Cosmo Petrochemical has shut its No 2 aromatics plant owing to technical issues, reported Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in South Korea informed that the plant was shut on December 11, 2013. A restart schedule for the plant has not been confirmed.

Located at Daesan, South Korea, the plant has a PX production capacity of 800,000 mt/year and benzene production capacity of 120,000 mt/year.

As MRC informed ealier, PTT Global Chemical has recently awarded an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to SK Engineering and Construction and PTT Maintenance and Engineering for a debottlenecking project that will increase aromatics capacity by 16% to about 1.2-million t/y at its Aromatics II complex in Rayong, Thailand, said Apic-online.

The approximately USD128.8-million project will increase paraxylene capacity to 770,000 t/y from 655,000 t/y, benzene capacity to 390,000 t/y from 355,000 t/y and will add 20,000 t/y of orthoxylene capacity. Completion of the expansion is scheduled for the end of 2015.

HC Petrochemical manufactures and markets paraxylene. The company was founded in 2009 and is based in Seosan Si, South Korea. HC Petrochem is a joint venture between Cosmo Oil and Hyundai Oilbank.
MRC