Mitsubishi & Mitsui Form JV
to Produce MMA Monomer
Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd. and Mitsui
& Co., Ltd. have signed a memorandum
of understanding to agree to commence
detailed feasibility studies for the establishment of a joint venture in the U.S. to
produce methyl methacrylate (MMA)
monomer with a newly built world-scale
unit. MRC will be the majority shareholder of this joint venture. MRC and
Mitsui have also entered into a NonBinding Material Terms of Agreement
with The Dow Chemical Company concerning potential partial supply of feedstock from Dow to the JV through Mitsui
for the production of MMA monomer
and potential supply of MMA monomer
from the joint venture to Dow.
MRC is one of the global leaders in the
design, development, and manufacture
of acrylic-based products, and aims to
further expand its activities in the methacrylate’s industry by applying the innovative ethylene-based production process
“Alpha technology,” developed and commercialized by Lucite International, a
subsidiary of MRC, to the competitive
feedstock benefited from the shale gas/oil
revolution in the U.S. Mitsui is multilaterally pursuing business that ranges from
product sales, worldwide logistics and financing, through to the development of
major international infrastructure and
other projects by utilizing its global operating locations, network, and information resources. The joint venture intends
to secure access to ethylene from Dow’s
U.S. Gulf Coast production network. The
joint venture plans to supply a part of
the 250,000-ton annual MMA output to
Dow. Operations are targeted to start at
the end of 2018.
Perstorp Acquires
Chemko’s Penta Business
Perstorp has acquired the pentaerythritol, pent and calcium formate businesses
from Chemko a.s. Strážske, a Slovakian
chemicals producer. The transaction is
part of Perstorp’s investment plan to increase polyol capacity.
“Penta is a core business area within
Perstorp and these products have been
key in the development of Perstorp as an
international company. This acquisition
is an opportunity to increase efficiency,
expand output and further grow together
with our customers,” Perstorp president
and CEO Jan Secher said.
“Perstorp plans to satisfy all cus-
tomer needs out of the plants we are
running at present and we will have
sufficient capacity to supply both our
current and new customers. Going for-
ward, we plan to further increase capac-
ity to support our customers’ long-term
growth,” said Ulrika Andersson, VP
Business Unit Penta.
The polyalcohol Penta is used in applications such as alkyd resins, PVC stabilizers, synthetic lubricants and varnishes.
Perstorp is now producing Penta in three
different production plants in Germany,
the U.S. and Sweden.
BASF First Styrodur Plant
Completely Switched to
New Flame Retardant
BASF is the first European manufacturer
to have completely switched a production
plant for XPS (extruded polystyrene rigid
foam) to a new polymeric flame retardant (PolyFR). Styrodur insulating panels produced at BASF’s plant in Tudela,
Spain, are now made exclusively with
the polymeric flame retardant, which
has a superior environmental profile
while offering the same flame retardancy.
BASF’s other Styrodur production plants
in Ludwigshafen and Schwarzheide,
Germany, and Bibbiano, Italy, will all be
switched to the new flame retardant by
the end of 2014. BASF thus continues its
successful strategy as the market leader
for polystyrene-based insulating materials in Europe.
Saint-Gobain Acquires
Phoenix to Expand Coating
Solution for Aeronautics
Industry
Saint-Gobain has finalized the acquisition of Phoenix Coating Resources Inc., a
company based in Mulberry, Florida that
manufactures ceramic ingots used to produce high-resistance thermal coatings on
metal parts for the aeronautics industry.
The aim is to improve the energy efficien-
cy of aircraft engines by enabling them to
operate at higher temperatures.
Phoenix Coating Resources Inc.
will join Saint-Gobain’s Ceramic
Materials business. The acquisi-
tion will enable Saint-Gobain to expand
the range of coating solutions it provides
to the aeronautics industry, in alignment
with the group’s strategy of strengthening
its position in high-performance solu-
tions for growing markets.
Oxea Completes Specialty
Esters Plant in Nanjing,
China
The chemical company Oxea announced
that its specialty esters plant in Nanjing,
China, is now mechanically complete.
After a construction period of slightly
more than fifteen months the new state-of-the-art plant is currently in the commissioning and start-up phase. The new
plant is Oxea’s first production site in
Asia. It will complement Oxea’s three
existing specialty esters plants in Europe
and will boost Oxea’s global production
capacity for specialty esters by 40 percent.
Specialty esters are used to manufacture a large variety of industrial products
for, among others, the automotive, architectural and medical sectors.
Linde and BASF Team Up
for Production of Linear
Butenes & Butadiene
Technology
The Linde Group and BASF SE have entered into a cooperation to develop and
license processes for the on-purpose production of linear butenes and butadiene.
BASF has developed process technology
and catalysts as well as the extraction
technologies, while Linde is providing its
expertise for the integration, optimization
and commercialization of the process.
The newly developed process will deliver an on-purpose route from butane
to butadiene via butenes. Currently, the
industry relies mainly on butadiene as
a co-product from naphtha-cracking
to ethylene. The shift to lighter cracker
feedstock results in reduced volumes of
co-products. Therefore, the on-purpose
production of higher olefins is gaining
more and more importance, the companies reported. CW
