Clariant supports Chinese E&E market with high-performance and reliable compound solutions

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Clariant, a world-leader in specialty chemicals, is investing in further enhancements to its local capabilities in manufacturing EP and HTR in China to satisfy a growing demand in the electronics and electrical markets, as per the company's press release.

In addition to expanding its existing Shanghai facility, vast manufacturing knowledge and experience will be leveraged from Clariant's global sites in the U.S., Singapore and Germany to ensure the output of Chinese locations is consistent with high global standards for product safety and performance.

Around the world, Clariant's customers will soon have a local source of supply for these advanced materials, which means product-development and delivery lead times as well as back-up supplies that are critical to Business Continuity Planning will be substantially reduced.

Fueled by an increasing number of new products in the automotive, small consumer electronics and electrical markets, the use of engineering materials is growing at an annual rate of 7-8%, well above the growth rate of the plastics industry as a whole. Coupled with the Chinese Government's 13th Five Year plan, in which the importance of value-adding industries such as advanced materials is highlighted, the demand for EP and HTR is expected to surge in China.

In anticipation of the rising demand for small-lot compounds of EP and HTR supplied under a tight product pipeline, Clariant has leveraged its existing international expertise in engineering and high-temperature materials to upgrade its facilities in China. Since 2016, more than CHF7.5 m has been invested in equipment upgrade and facilities expansion to boost capacities and capabilities of the Clariant plants in Shanghai, Singapore and the U.S.

In regards to the Singapore site, Clariant has added new physical, chemical and weathering test capabilities there in the first half of 2017. In addition, Clariant will add additional resources during the remainder of 2017 in line with its plan to create a Global Competence Center in Singapore. Such additions will facilitate the site's primary responsibility of developing the global standards for formulation, manufacturing and quality control for both EP and HTR polymer families. Thanks to the local availability of these advance materials, Clariant's customers enjoy better Business Continuity Planning with reduced product-development and delivery times as well as back-up supplies.

"By transferring knowledge and technologies from our three U.S. sites in Maine, Massachusetts and Michigan, as well as the Singapore site and Germany site in Ahrensburg, we are bringing our Chinese plants quickly up to speed in supplying local customers with EP and HTR in small-lot compounds," said Peter Dufour, Senior Business Development Director, EP-HTR, Clariant Masterbatches Business Unit. "Extensive training is being conducted to our local personnel in order to help them meet the high expectations of customers in our target industries."

Following the new investment last year, the Shanghai manufacturing site is planning to further increase additional production lines especially for EP and HTR compound, in order to enhance capacity for satisfying the growing local market’s needs from the automotive, electrical, electronics and consumer goods industries, which are increasingly demanding new product types in lower quantities within shorter production intervals. Our two other manufacturing locations in Taoyuan and Guangzhou have simultaneously also received large investments to boost its advanced manufacturing capabilities.

As MRC informed earlier, in March 2017, Clariant was awarded a contract by Dongguan Grand Resource Science & Technology Co. Ltd. to develop a new propane dehydrogenation unit in cooperation with CB&I. The project includes the license and engineering design of the unit, which is to be built in Dongguan City, Guangdong Province, China. The Dongguan plant will be one of the largest single-train dehydrogenation units in the world.

Clariant AG is a Swiss chemical company and a world leader in the production of specialty chemicals for the textile, printing, mining and metallurgical industries. It is engaged in processing crude oil products in pigments, plastics and paints. Clariant India has local masterbatch production activities at Rania, Kalol and Nandesari (Gujarat) and Vashere (Maharashtra) sites in India.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Solvay, a leading global supplier of specialty polymers, is supplying KetaSpire PEEK (polyetheretherketone) to Shin-Etsu Polymer for the manufacture of its ultra-thin, high-performance Shin-Etsu Sepla Film, which is widely used in speaker diaphragms for mobile devices and loudspeakers, and other related consumer goods such as headphones and microphones, as per Plastemart.

"KetaSpire PEEK’s unique combination of excellent mechanical properties, high temperature tolerance, high purity, flame retardancy, and superior resistance to wear, abrasion and fatigue meets the stringent performance requirements for Shin-Etsu Sepla Film,"says Kazuhiro Kiroko, Managing Director for Solvay Specialty Polymers Japan K.K. "Also, the processing ease of Solvay’s PEEK has enabled Shin-Etsu Polymer to optimize its fabrication process and develop a broad range of grades and gauges to help boost market end-use growth."

Thanks to its ability to minimize acoustic output distortion and suitability for post-lamination, Shin-Etsu Sepla Film is already used extensively in speaker diaphragms in smartphones and other mobile devices. "Consumers are demanding better sound quality, and our ultra-thin film helps optimize acoustic performance through more effective resonance concerning volume and loudness," says Katsuhiko Seriguchi, Director GM, Group II Sales & Marketing Division IV at Shin-Etsu Polymer. "Our ultra-thin film technology is also being used to develop and grow end-use applications in other industrial market segments."

Shin-Etsu Sepla Film is also suitable for applications in a wide range of industries that include electrical wiring insulation and other insulative applications such as in cable wrapping, automotive components, electronic circuit boards, aerospace, robotics, and medical devices. Because of its high-temperature performance, Shin-Etsu Sepla Film® can be used as a masking material for lead-free soldering in electronic applications.

KetaSpire is a registered trademark of Solvay, Shin-Etsu Sepla Film is a registered trademark of Shin-Etsu Polymer.

As MRC informed before, in 2015, Shintech Inc. added almost 700 million pounds of PVC capacity as part of a USD500 million expansion of its plants in Louisiana. Shintech's parent firm - Shin-Etsu Chemical Co. Ltd. of Tokyo - said in a June 19 2013 news release that the firm would addd 660 million pounds of PVC capacity in Louisiana by 2015. Houston-based Shintech makes PVC in Plaquemine and Addis, La. The project also includes 660 million pounds of new capacity for PVC feedstock vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) and 440 million pounds of new capacity for caustic soda.

Shin-Etsu is the world and US' largest polyvinyl chloride (PVC) producer.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- S-Oil Corp., Seoul, has let a contract to Lloyd's Register Group Ltd. (LR), London, to provide a fully integrated risk-based inspection (RBI) system for its new USD4.2-billion residue upgrading complex (RUC) and olefin downstream complex (ODC) under construction in Ulsan, South Korea, said OGJ.

As part of the contract, which begins this month, LR will implement its proprietary RBI Axxim software package to make management of failure probability more systematic and efficient at the RUC-ODC plant, the service provider said on June 20.

Alongside software implementation, LR also will deliver additional RBI consultancy services across areas such as systems, software training, and inspection management modules, as well as services to assist S-Oil in selecting thickness measurement locations for equipment and pipes.

A value of the contract was not disclosed.

The RUC-ODC projects remain on schedule for startup in 2018, according to Dong-Hak Lee, S-OIL’s inspection department manager.

As MRC informed earlier, S-Oil Corp expects healthy refining profits this year, buoyed by growing demand for oil products in places such as China and Southeast Asia.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mexico's antitrust watchdog has fined a division of state-owned oil company Pemex for failing to establish a competitive fuel market, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Pemex's Industrial Transformation unit, responsible for a range of refining and transport activities, was fined nearly $20.3 MM for the "possible commission of a monopolistic practice in the diesel market."

According to a statement from the Federal Economic Competition Commission (Cofece), the Pemex unit has not complied with its obligations following a 2014 energy reform to refrain from offering discretional benefits for selected buyers and not arbitrarily suspend some sales and marketing contracts.

The Cofece decision can be challenged by Pemex within 15 days of being notified of the fine.

Pemex, which has 15 work days to challenge the ruling, said it respected Cofece's decision, but said it was incomplete and would fight it once it had conducted a full analysis of the resolution.

As MRC informed before, Pemex is investing almost USD5.5bn in upgrading its refineries, increasing pipeline capacity and modernising a fertiliser plant.

Pemex, Mexican Petroleum, is a Mexican state-owned petroleum company. Pemex has a total asset worth of USD415.75 billion, and is the world's second largest non-publicly listed company by total market value, and Latin America's second largest enterprise by annual revenue as of 2009. Pemex has two steam crackers, one at Morelos and one at Cangrejera, and each has a similar capacity. Ethylene production at the crackers is estimated at 500,000 mt/year each. Company produces such polymers, as polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) — For the third month in a row, Russia has maintained its spot as China's top crude oil supplier and Angola clung onto the second spot over Saudi Arabia, data from Chinese customs for May imports showed on Friday, as per Reuters.

The data release follows the decision from Saudi Arabia and Russia, the world's two-biggest oil producers who are vying for market share in China, to extend a global oil supply cut agreement to bolster prices in an oversupplied market.

Russia supplied a record 5.74 MMt, or 1.35 MMbpd, to China last month, the General Administration of Customs said, rising from April's 1.15 MMbpd.

Russia was also the largest supplier for the first five months of the year with shipments averaging 1.16 MMbpd, followed by Angola at 1.11 MMbpd and Saudi Arabia at 1.1 MMbpd, customs reported. Angolan shipments were 5.56 MMt last month, or 1.31 MMbpd, up 79.5% from a year ago, the data showed.

Saudi exports were 4.43 MMt, or 1.04 MMbpd, which was 8.6% higher compared to May last year, the data showed. That was down from April's 1.147 MMbpd.

"Declining premiums in Russian export grade ESPO (East Siberian Pacific Ocean) starting in around April may have attracted Chinese buying," said a Beijing-based trading executive.

China's total crude oil imports rebounded to the second highest on record in May, making China the world's top buyer for the month, but the pace is expected to ease from June through August after some local importers ran out of quotas and as refiners contemplate run cuts.

The data also showed China's May imports from Iran gained 10% from a year ago to 681,800 bpd while purchases from Iraq sunk 36% year-on-year to 513,800 bpd.
MRC