November 19, 2008

BASF "the world's biggest chemical company" is to shut down 80 production units and reduce production at another 100 as a temporary measure to avoid overcapacity "as a result of a massive decline in demand."

     Since the company acknowledged the difficult economic situation at the end of October, customer demand in key markets has declined significantly, said chairman Dr Jürgen Hambrecht. "In particular, customers in the automotive industry have cancelled orders at short notice." This has been further exacerbated by increased reduction of inventory by customers.

     The measures mainly affect operations that supply the automotive, construction and textile industries and include the manufacture of ammonia, styrene and polyamide. The shutdowns will be coordinated throughout BASF's global production Verbund (backwards integration structure) at all six Verbund sites in Europe, Asia and North America, as well as other sites. Implementation of most of the measures has already started - for instance reductions in polystyrene and caprolactam production were announced in September and October. Reduced capacities are expected to last until January 2009 - or beyond if the period of weak demand continues and all other flexible working time models have been exhausted. Worldwide, around 20,000 employees will be affected.



BASF announcement

November 19, 2008

A multi-billion dollar project to make elastomers in Saudi Arabia is being considered by Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) and ExxonMobil Chemical. The two companies have signed a heads of agreement and are progressing detailed studies for the venture, to be based on their petrochemical joint ventures Saudi Yanbu Petrochemical Company (Yanpet) in Yanbu and Al-Jubail Petrochemical Company (Kemya) in Jubail.

     The project would generate more than 400,000 tonnes of carbon black, EPDM, TPO, butyl, and SBR/PBR for sale in both local and international markets. It would include a vocational training institute and product application development and support centre and is aligned with Saudi Arabia's National Industrial Cluster Development Program which is responsible for accelerating growth and diversification of the manufacturing sector, including the automotive manufacturing industry.



More detail from SABIC

November 19, 2008

New president and chief executive of Milacron is Dave Lawrence, president of global mould technologies for Milacron for the past five years. He succeeds Ronald Brown who has been chief executive since 2001, and is to retire by the end of this year. Dave Lawrence came into Milacron with its acquisition in 1996 of D-M-E, which he joined in 1988 as a plant manager.

November 13, 2008

Arkema Group company Alphacan is to sell its cross linked polyethylene pipes business to French company COMAP, a subsidiary of the Dutch group Aalberts Industries. PEX pipe is produced for sanitary and heating applications at the Nevers industrial site in France, which employs 85 people. Annual sales are around Eur 25 million.

Alphacan intends to focus on its core PVC pipe and profile business which produces around 110,000 tonnes of product annually at 10 other sites in France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands.

November 13, 2008

The European Plastics Recyclers association EuPR has adopted the rules published last month by Petcore (PET containers recycling Europe) for the use of Mitsubishi Gas Chemical's nylon MXD-6 (polyarylamide) as a barrier layer in PET bottles. Addition of a barrier layer constitutes a contaminant in the recycled PET, and EuPR has been concerned that this contaminant should not have a negative effect on the quality of recycled bottles, particularly as it, and other barrier materials used in the past, can accumulate as material is re-used.

     Petcore approved the use of MXD-6 in multilayer containers with no tie layer or adhesive for bottle-to-bottle applications up to a maximum of 2 per cent of the collected bottle stream. This followed its approval at the beginning of the year for the use of recyclate containing MXD-6 in bottle-to-fibre recycling.

     The bottle-to-fibre tests involved dark mono-layer PET bottles with up to 9 per cent MXD-6 content, and concluded that R-PET containing up to 20 per cent of 91 PET:9 MXD-6 blend met fibre specifications, and as a result approved the use of dark coloured PET/MXD-6 blends for bottle-to-fibre recycling at up to 10 per cent of the bottle stream. At the time Petcore examined the use of MXD-6 in bottle-to-bottle recycling, but was unable to come to any conclusions as its tests were based on the use of coloured PET, which traditionally goes into fibres.

     Now Petcore has tested clear, three-layer bottles containing around 5 per cent MXD-6 as a barrier layer and passed them for inclusion up to 2 per cent of the bottle stream. It stipulated that the preform must be injected so that the MXD6 layer is only in the bottle wall; the container must be multi-layer with no tie layers; and that there must be good air elutriation - sorting of particles in an air stream - during the recycling process.



EuPR announcement

November 13, 2008

Production has started at Quality Plated Plastics' new factory alongside its old premises at Great Barr in Birmingham. The new plant increases the company's capacity both in volume and the size of moulding that can be plated.

     The company offers a range of finishes, including chrome, gold, satin chrome and nickel as well as "Twilite" smoked chrome, and its customer base includes automotive, sanitaryware, brewery dispense, point of sale and signage manufacturers.

     Co-owner John Timmins said that although its investment has coincided with the economic turndown, the improved efficiency and quality from the plant will keep the company competitive and give it the opportunity to enter new markets. "We are already seeing a move back to the UK from the Far East, driven by the fall in the pound and reduced volumes, which has enabled us to win several new contracts."



Quality Plated Plastics

November 12, 2008

The upstream and downstream operations of Ineos' European polyethylene and polypropylene business are to be combined in a single entity. From December 1 Ineos Olefins, which makes ethylene, propylene, butadiene, benzene and other C4s and aromatics will be combined with Ineos Polyolefins which makes HD/LD/LLDPE, PP and various copolymer products, to form Ineos Olefins & Polymers Europe. Ineos already runs its US olefins/polyolefins business this way, as it does its ChlorVinyls business.

Tom Crotty, currently chief executive of Ineos Olefins, will become chief executive of the combined business as well as retaining his position as chairman of Ineos ChlorVinyls and of Ineos Fluor. The chief executive of Ineos Polyolefins, Bill Reid, will become business director of Ineos Olefins & Polymers Europe and chairman of Ineos Phenol in addition to his position as chairman of Ineos ABS. Rob Ingram is to be appointed procurement director of the new business, with Hans Niederberger taking up the post of operations director, olefins and Jeff Seed, operations director, polymers. Philip de Klerk, will become chief financial officer.

Ineos sees the move as maximising flexibility throughout the production chain to improve margins.Olefins & Polymers Europe will become the largest business in the Ineos group, employing around 3,600 people at 10 sites and with a turnover of around Eur 9 billion.

November 12, 2008

DuPont has played a further card against Invista's accusation of theft of trade secrets and has filed its own intellectual property violation suit relating to Invista's production of nylon 66 engineering materials. It claims Invista misappropriated DuPont trade secrets, infringed on the company's patents and breached a patent and technical information agreement, under the terms of which Invista is not allowed to use DuPont technology to make nylon 66 engineering materials for several years.

In its suit filed in the US Federal Court in the Southern District of New York DuPont is seeking a permanent injunction, declaratory relief and damages.

The Invista action against DuPont and Rhodia, started in August, accuses them of using adiponitrile technology - which Invista bought from DuPont - to compete against Invista's adiponitrile business.

Invista and DuPont were already embroiled in another action in which Invista is seeking damages from DuPont relating to the cost of putting right safety and environmental problems in the textiles and fibres business which it bought from DuPont in 2004.

November 12, 2008

White goods manufacturer Indesit is, according to WRAP, "the first company to successfully incorporate recycled content derived from the UK waste stream within white goods on a large scale." The company worked with WRAP - the Waste & Resources Action Programme - and Axion Recycling to develop a component using material sourced from waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). This is a cover plate used on two premium washing machine models, the Hotpoint Aquarius and Ultima, moulded from material recovered from domestic refrigerators. The part was originally moulded in filled polypropylene, but this had caused some dimensional stability problems. The new material is Axion's Axpoly PS01 polystyrene which has brought cost savings of around 15 per cent by slightly lowering the density and also having a lower cost per tonne.

     WRAP head of manufacturing, Peter Maddox, said: "This groundbreaking project has demonstrated that closed-loop recycling in electrical equipment from UK WEEE is commercially viable on a large scale for the first time, with no negative effect on performance. We encourage other manufacturers to follow this example.

     "Our recent research has also demonstrated that some consumers are willing to buy products that contain some recycled content over those that do not - further strengthening the business argument for this approach."

     Indesit now intends to extend the use of WEEE-based recyclate to other washing machines and washer dryers. "The cumulative cost and raw material savings will be significant. For us the improved price was an enabler to help deliver a project with environmental benefits - we felt it was the right thing to do. We are now considering how further environmental improvements and savings can be made by using recycled content within other components and parts, throughout our manufacturing operation."

      Keith Freegard, sales director of the company which supplied the material, Axion Recycling, made a strong call at a conference recently for greater control over the disposal of WEEE scrap. He said it was being exported to third world countries for uncontrolled processing as a method of disposal, rather then being processed responsibly in Europe to create a useful stream of materials for re-manufacture.

November 11, 2008

Lucite International is being bought by Mitsubishi Rayon Co of Japan for approximately $1·6 billion. This is more than the $1·3 billion anticipated when Lucite announced in early September that it was seeking a buyer, but substantially less than the $2·5 billion it was reported to be asking for in 2006 when it called off discussions with Mitsubishi Rayon and some other potential buyers. The company's annual turnover is in excess of $1·5 billion.

     Lucite, formed out of ICI's acrylics business, is owned by Charterhouse Capital Partners with an 11·5 per cent stake by Ineos. It is a major manufacturer of acrylics with its Perspex and Lucite brands, and its acquisition by Mitsubishi Rayon, also a major acrylics producer, makes the Japanese company global leader in the market. The acquisition is expected to be completed by the end of January 2009, subject to approval by the relevant regulatory authorities.

     A key asset of Lucite is its new Alpha technology which makes methyl methacrylate from ethylene, methanol and carbon monoxide instead of the more usual acetone, HCN and isobutylene at a much lower process cost: Lucite says 40 per cent less. So it was perhaps no coincidence that Lucite timed the revelation of its sale with the announcement of the start up of the first Alpha plant. The 120,000 tonnes plant on Jurong Island in Singapore will supply customers in Asia, where Lucite says demand for MMA has grown most rapidly. Planning for the next plant, of 250,000 tonnes, is at "an advanced stage" although Lucite has yet to confirm where it will be built. The company is understood to be forward planning three more plants after Singapore, one of which is thought likely to be a joint venture with Sipchem in Saudi Arabia.

      Another cost-saving acrylics process was unveiled in September by Evonik Industries. Its Aveneer process is more traditional, based on ammonia, methane, acetone and methanol, but without the additional use of sulphuric acid. Both Lucite and Evonik point to the wider availability of the raw materials used in their processes, enabling new plants to be sited anywhere.

November 11, 2008

The publicity machine for the K fair in 2010 has now lurched into motion with news of a special presentation at the show, "Visions in Polymers". This will aim to answer questions like "What will our everyday life look like in 20 years' time?", "What contribution can plastics make to solving important problems?" and "Which potential applications that still appear visionary today will already have been introduced in two decades?". Special focus will be given in the presentation to energy efficiency and resource conservation.

The presentation will be organised by PlasticsEurope Deutschland, and exhibition organiser Messe Düsseldorf.

The slogan for K2010 will be "It's K time". The show is from October 27 to November 3. The closing date for exhibitor registration is May 31, 2009.

K 2007 had 3,130 exhibitors and 242,000 trade visitors.



www.k-online.de

November 11, 2008

Borealis will be using LyondellBasell's Lupotech T technology to build a 350,000 tonnes LDPE plant for start-up in 2013. The location has yet to be decided. It is the second LyondellBasell license taken by Borealis in the past three years.

November 10, 2008

Two American polypropylene lines are to be shut down by Ineos. The bulk phase units at the Ineos Olefins & Polymers USA Battleground Manufacturing Complex in La Porte, Texas, total around 235,000 tonnes of homopolymer and random copolymer capacity. One line will close by the end of this year and the other at the end of January 2009. A majority of grades will be switched to other Ineos plants.

Ineos describes this as an optimisation of its asset base which "coupled with our focus on new product development for our remaining assets, demonstrates our long term commitment to serving the polypropylene market."

November 10, 2008

What is described as "the world's single largest polypropylene train" has been started up in Saudi Arabia by Saudi European Petrochemical Co (Ibn Zahr), a Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) joint venture. The plant, with a capacity of 500,000 tonnes, is the third at the Ibn Zahr-SABIC JV in Al Jubail to use Dow's Unipol gas phase process. Another plant is being built in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, which will bring SABIC's Unipol PP capacity to nearly 1·8 million tonnes.

     Dow says that when this latest plant and others currently being built enter service, the Unipol process will be used to produce nearly 11 million tonnes of polypropylene per year, representing more than 16 per cent of global capacity.

November 10, 2008

German pelletiser manufacturer C F Scheer has been bought by Reduction Engineering of the USA. Scheer has been making pelletisers since 1962 and currently builds both strand and underwater pelletisers in Stuttgart.

Reduction Engineering has been expanding its pelletiser business through acquisition and strategic partnerships. It bought Conair's strand pelletiser business in 2006 and last year entered an agreement with ECON to provide sales and service throughout the Americas for the Austrian company's range of underwater pelletisers.

The company also builds rotational moulding machines and pulverisers and has expanded pulveriser production by building machines at the Brazilian headquarters of its Rotoline rotomoulding equipment operations. Reduction Engineering pulverisers will now also be built at the Scheer plant in Germany and both Scheer and ECON pelletisers will be built at the company's new $3·5 million headquarters plant in Kent, Ohio.

November 7, 2008

A welcome note from Ineos Nova in these troubled times: it has reduced the price of polystyrene. The company says that in light of the higher than expected fall in the styrene monomer contract price, the prices for all polystyrene products in Europe have been lowered by Eur 150 - 180/tonne effective from November 6. The price could have fallen further, but Ineos Nova says that the size of the anticipated fall in contract styrene pricing will have such a negative effect on the value of its stock that it has no other option other than to hold back a significant proportion of the reduction.

The lower price for polystyrene will have a further effect on the premium for high impact PS. Ineos Nova says that because the price difference between polybutadiene rubber and styrene monomer has reached a record high it will have to increase the premium for HIPS to Eur 100/tonne over GPPS.