Thailand's IVL completes Glanzstoff acquisition

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited (IVL), a global chemical producer, has announced that the deal to acquire the Glanzstoff Group tire cord and single-end cord business has been concluded and will add to the company’s portfolio of choice auto sector solutions, said Technicaltextile.

Glanzstoff is Europe’s largest manufacturer of both tire cord fabrics and single-end cords, projecting IVL into a strong position for further growth with its extant pre-eminence in the Rayon, Aramids, Nylon 6.6 and Polyester businesses within the auto segment.

Indorama Ventures entered into the tire cord business in 2014 with the acquisition of German-based PHP Fibers. The company also owns one of the most prominent polyester tire fabric businesses in China, Performance Fibers. Work commenced at the beginning of 2017 to expand the Performance Fibers manufacturing line due to increased demand from China’s improving economy. Glanzstoff is also currently implementing a single end cord project in China that will commence production in Q4, 2017.

Aloke Lohia, Group CEO of Indorama Ventures said, "This is an outstanding asset in our portfolio and one we have acquired as part of our long-standing ambition to establish a solid foothold in the European auto sector, especially in relation to the tire business. Over the past five years, IVL has invested substantially into creating a diversified earnings stream via its High Value-added (HVA) portfolio. Diversification into HVA, which now accounts for 50% of the Company’s core EBITDA, has allowed us to deliver robust earnings on a sustained basis. In order to ensure sharp focus, the business is further segmented into high-growth industry verticals, including Automotive and Hygiene, and is driven by investments in intellectual property and innovations."

"The key," Mr. Lohia added, "is the focus on our core areas of strength and a willingness to invest and then reinvest to take advantage of our global resources. The Glanzstoff acquisition takes us from Polyester and Nylon 6.6 into Rayon but that is still not far removed from our current portfolio as it will enhance our product offering to major customers. In a few short years, the HVA segment has skyrocketed and now delivers revenues of around USD3 billion and serves segments that individually grow at around 7% year-on-year.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Braskem, the largest thermoplastics resins producer in the Americas and the leading producer of biopolymers in the world, along with Sealed Air Corporation, an innovative packaging, cleaning and hygiene solutions company, and Naturepedic, the leading manufacturer of certified organic mattresses and bedding products for the whole family in the U.S., announced their partnership to create a new-to-world formula for renewable polyethylene foam, said the company on its website.

With this initiative, Sealed Air aims to advance their strategy to create a better way for life by re-imagining the industries they serve around the globe, and develop a more efficient and sustainable supply chain for them. "Renewable polyethylene foam technology is a patent pending innovation which is helping us re-think the polyethylene foam industry. By using innovation, creativity and bio-based polymers we are promoting sustainability and creating a better value for life," says Dr. N.S. Ramesh, Senior Engineering Fellow, Product Care R&D.

This innovation was first announced by Sealed Air in Frankfurt, Germany, in April of 2017. Now Braskem and Sealed Air will attend the Sustainable Brands Conference, in Detroit, from May 22 through 25, to share this breakthrough product at Braskem's booth in the Good Materials section in the Activation Hub.

Braskem's I'm Green Polyethylene (PE) is a bio-based resin made from ethanol, a renewable and sustainable resource produced from Brazilian sugarcane, and a drop-in substitute for conventional oil-based polyethylene. Cultivation of sugarcane utilizes CO2 and releases O2, which means the material has a negative carbon footprint. The use of Braskem's Green polyethylene in the production of one ton of Sealed Air's foam equates to 3.09 tons of CO2 captured from the atmosphere from a cradle to Braskem gate life cycle perspective.

"Sealed Air's vision perfectly aligns with our purpose at Braskem, which is to improve peoples' lives by creating sustainable solutions in chemicals and plastics. The renewable polyethylene foam is a phenomenal achievement and we are proud to partner with Sealed Air and be involved with this innovation," said Gustavo Sergi, director of Renewable Chemicals at Braskem.

"We have been watching the industry moving more and more toward renewable materials and noticed a great deal of energy being dedicated specifically to bio plastics," said Chad Stephens, VP of Research and Development for Sealed Air. "For Sealed Air, the next logical strategic step was to progress the advancement of renewable polyethylene foams in our product offerings, enabling our clients to further reduce their packaging footprint with more sustainable and enviro-friendly solutions while still providing superior protection against damage."

The first application of the renewable polyethylene foam will be in Naturepedic's mattresses. Naturepedic was responsible for introducing Sealed Air to Braskem while searching for an alternative to polyethylene made from petroleum for its crib mattresses. Barry Cik, Founder of Naturepedic, strongly believes in the importance of responsibly sourcing the company's raw materials. "I firmly believe that making choices with the future in mind is the right, responsible behavior we all should strive for. Using renewable materials decouples us from fossil based plastics, and this is a key tenant of our company's purpose."

Having pioneered the use of bio-based materials in the mattress industry, Naturepedic never uses polyurethane foam or associated flame retardants in any of its products and has now been able to eliminate virtually all petroleum-based materials from its products. Using polyethylene foam made from non-GMO sugarcane sourced from existing plantations also provides the company with a lightweight alternative to latex or steel coils.

Braskem is one of the world's leading plastics and chemical companies with 41 industrial plants in Brazil, the United States, Germany and Mexico. Braskem is the largest producer of thermoplastic resins in the Americas and the leading producer of biopolymers in the world, creating more environmental-friendly, intelligent and sustainable solutions through chemicals and plastics.

Sealed Air Corporation creates a world that feels, tastes and works better. In 2016, the Company generated revenue of approximately USD6.8 billion by helping our customers achieve their sustainability goals in the face of today's biggest social and environmental challenges.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- KBR Inc. has been awarded Operator Training Simulator (OTS) and Reliability Based Maintenance (RBM) services contracts by JSC EuroChem Northwest for their ammonia plant under construction in Kingisepp, Russia, said Worldfertilizer.

The OTS will provide a cost-effective solution for training operators for a safe and efficient plant start-up and continued on-going operational training. The RBM will enable proactive monitoring of assets and formulation of appropriate reliability strategies, which will lead to continuous improvement of performance, improved safety and higher productivity.

Under the terms of the contracts, KBR will provide turnkey delivery of the OTS and RBM solutions and services for the Kingisepp ammonia plant with design capacity of 2700/2890 tpd, or 1 million tpy. The new plant uses KBR's highly efficient Purifier Ammonia technology.

"KBR is pleased to have the opportunity to provide OTS and RBM for JSC EuroChem Northwest," said John Derbyshire, President, KBR Technology and Consulting (T&C). "KBR is committed to providing state-of-the-art solutions for safe plant start-up and operations and providing an environment to achieve preventative and predictive maintenance activities of the ammonia plant."

"This project is indicative of KBR's strategic commitment to growing our presence in Russia," Derbyshire continued.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) is scouting for land as it plans to expand its petrochemical complex at Paradip, according to Plastemart.

New units are likely to be established on this land. The company is also planning to ramp up the refinery to make it compliant with BS-IV emission norms.

According to a government official, IOCL has asked for additional 2700 acres of land to the Odisha Government for its expansion plans. The company may infuse additional investments worth Rs 25,000-30,000 crore to commission new units of its petrochemical complex.

As MRC wrote before, Indian Oil Corporation's Rs 34,555-crore 15 million tonnes per annum Paradip Refinery was commissioned in phases from March 2015 onwards. Indian Oil Corporation is conducting feasibility studies to set up a petrochemical complex at Paradip in Odisha for Rs 20,000 crore. The petrochemical complex would be built in the vicinity of the company’s to-be-commissioned 15-mln tpa greenfield refinery at Paradip. The petrochemical complex would be in addition to the already announced Rs 3,150-crore polypropylene (PP) project at the same location, the foundation stone for which was laid by MOS for petroleum and natural gas.

Indian Oil Corporation Limited, or IndianOil, is an Indian state-owned oil and gas corporation with its headquarters in New Delhi, India.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ningbo Fortune Petrochemical Co. Ltd. and Zhangjiagang Yangzi River Petrochemical Co. Ltd. (YRPC), both subsidiaries of Oriental Energy Co. Ltd., are utilizing Honeywell UOP's C3 Oleflex process technology to each produce 600 Mtpy (thousands of tonnes per year) of on-purpose propylene from propane, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

YRPC, located in Zhangjiagang in China's Jiangsu Province, and Ningbo Fortune, in Ningbo City in Zhejiang Province, are the fourth and fifth Chinese companies to commercialize Honeywell UOP's C3 Oleflex process to make propylene for plastics, packaging and synthetic fibers. Global production capacity of propylene from Oleflex technology now stands at approximately 6.8 MMtpy.

"The demand for domestically produced on-purpose propylene continues to be very strong in China, due to the increasing demand for polypropylene and other downstream chemical and plastic products," said John Gugel, Vice President and General Manager of Honeywell UOP's Process Technology and Equipment business.

Until recently, 70% of the world's propylene was produced as a byproduct of making ethylene from petroleum. However, the increased use of ethane as a source of ethylene produces almost no propylene. The resulting propylene supply gap has necessitated the production of on-purpose propylene from propane dehydrogenation technologies such as the Oleflex process.

Demand for propylene in China, which consumes more than 15% of the world's propylene, is growing more than 4%/yr, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

In addition to licensing technology from Honeywell UOP, YRPC and Ningbo Fortune are using catalysts and adsorbents for their Oleflex units that are produced at Honeywell's manufacturing site in Zhangjiagang City. Honeywell UOP also provided the engineering design, equipment, staff training and technical service for both projects.

As MRC wrote before, this week, Honeywell announced that Honeywell UOP will open a new research, development and engineering center in China to further strengthen its business presence and meet its growing engineering and technical service needs. The new center, located in Zhangjiagang in Jiangsu Province, will facilitate local development and manufacturing of products for customers in China, and improve collaboration with China-based contractors and equipment vendors.
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