Chexpress - June 2, 2011

North America

Energy from Recycled Plastics

Dow Chemical Co. recently completed an energy recovery pilot study at its Michigan Operations site in Midland. The study found that 96 percent of available energy was recovered after incinerating 578 pounds of used plastic in a kiln at one of Dow’s waste treatment facilities. The energy recovered was about 11.1 million BTUs of natural gas, which was used as fuel for Dow’s incinerator during the test. After the plastics are incinerated, heat energy is produced through the combustion process.

Five-Year Contract

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. was awarded a contract from Infineum under a master services agreement (MSA) for the company’s operations in Europe, Asia and North America. The contract value was not disclosed. Under the five-year MSA, Jacobs will provide engineering services at various Infineum manufacturing facilities in the U.S., France, Germany, U.K., Italy and Singapore.

Workers Killed

Two workers at Shintech Louisiana died after they were overcome by chemical fumes at the facility south of Plaquemine. One of the workers went into a container to retrieve tools and was overcome by fumes. The other then went into the container. Investigators aren’t sure what chemical killed the workers.

World

License Deal

Huntsman Corp. has signed a license agreement with Yantai Wahua Polyurethanes Co., Ltd. for the production of Propylene Oxide (PO) and Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE), a co-product of PO. The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Restart

Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. resumed operations at a key ethylene plant knocked out of commission by the March 11 tsunami. The Kashima plant in Ibaraki Prefecture suffered the heaviest damage of the nation’s chemical production facilities. It is now partially back online and able to supply basic petrochemical materials to roughly 20 firms that have facilities inside the same petrochemical complex. Mitsubishi is postponing periodic repairs at the site that were scheduled for the end of June by two months to ensure a stable supply of chemical products.

Gas-Chemical Facilities

Citic Construction Co. Ltd. will take part in the establishment of gas-chemical production facilities in Uzbekistan in 2011 to 2015. The Citic, Uzbekenftegaz and Uzkhimprom national joint stockcompany have signed a tripartite memorandum of understanding providing for the participation of the Chinese company in several strategic investment projects related to the gas-chemical industry. The parties will study the possibility of producing 200,000 tons of methanol and 100,000 tons of dimethyl ether at the FerghanaAzot base in order to further productiono f alternative liquid fuels.

Adhesives Plant

H.B. Fuller Company has officially opened its adhesive producing plant in Nanjing, China. The new plant, with a total investment of $12 million, is the first multinational reactive adhesives plant in China. The plant has a capacity of 10,000 tons/year and will produce urethanes and other reactive chemistries for customers in the construction, filter, flexible packaging, solar, textile, window and woodworking markets.

Floating Gas Plant

Royal Dutch Shell PLC has made a final decision to construct a massive natural gas plant for use off the Australian coast. The cost of the “Prelude FLNG” facility was not disclosed. The facility is designed to take in the equivalent of 110,000 barrels/day in gas from undersea fields 200 kilometers off the coast and cool it into liquefied natural gas (LNG). The facility will be longer than six football fields and made of 260,000 tons of steel. Shell estimates that the facility will operate for 25 years and can withstand the worst hurricanes.