Chexpress - January 24, 2012

North America

10-year deal

Canada’s two largest railways have announced the signing of long-term deals with Canpotex Ltd., a company set up to export Canadian potash. Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. signed a 10-year agreement with Canpotex to carry a large majority of the potash to Canpotex’s main export terminal in Vancouver. It will also carry all potash shipments to Portland, Oregon in conjunction with Union Pacific railway. Canadian National Railway also announced a 10-year agreement of its own with Canpotex. It will haul product for export via its southern British Columbia line, a portion of which Canpotex exports through Neptune Terminals in North Vancouver.

Patent infringement lawsuit

Bayer CropScience has filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia against Dow AgroSciences based upon Dow AgroSciences’ unauthorized use of Bayer patents related to glufosinate-tolerance technology. The lawsuit asserts infringement of four Bayer patents and follows two previous claims involving seven Bayer glyphosate-tolerance technology patents and Bayer’s 2.4-D herbicide tolerance patent. As part of the lawsuit, Bayer has requested a permanent injunction against Dow AgroScience’s unauthorized use of its glufosinate resistance technology.

Job cuts

Ecolab Inc. plans to cut 500 jobs this year as part of restructuring and cost-cutting measures connected to its recent $8.3 billion acquisition of Nalco Holding Co. The company hopes to use attrition as much as possible and also will not fill some job openings that already have been posted. While Ecolab was not specific about which areas reductions will come in, but it is anticipated that they will come in areas where there is overlap between Ecolab and Nalco. Over time, the company expects to eliminate about 1,500 additional duplicate positions.

Test facility

Freudenberg Oil & Gas has opened its 14,000 square foot Materials and Products Testing Facility in Houston, Texas. The facility houses five specialty labs with comprehensive testing capabilities, with a sixth lab on the way. The facility will perform in-house verification testing and analysis for Freudenberg Oil & Gas sealing solutions and for customized specifications upon request. The five test labs include: Thermal Cycling, High Pressure High Temperature (HPHT), Materials Properties, Product Testing, and Sour Gas. A Rubber Mixing Lab is slated to open in June 2012.

World

Enhancement

ProSim has released a completely new version of BatchReactor, its software for batch chemical reactors simulation. The new software combines detailed equipment modeling, reaction engineering, and advanced numerical methods to create a state-of-the-art simulation environment for chemists and chemical engineers. BatchReactor enables individuals from the chemical, pharmaceutical or specialty chemicals industries to test alternative synthesis routes and new production strategies through the effective use of simulation in parallel with their lab and pilot plant experimentations.

Technology

UOP has been selected by Samsung Total Petrochemicals to provide technologies for the production of key petrochemicals and high-quality diesel and jet fuel at its complex in Daesan, South Korea. The integrated aromatics complex will be the first to employ the latest energy-efficient designs from UOP, allowing Samsung to reduce energy consumption by 33 percent and offering significant savings in greenhouse gas emissions. The facility will use several integrated UOP technologies to produce 1 million metric tons of para-xylene and 500,000 metric tons of benzene per year. UOP will provide engineering design, technology licensing, catalysts, adsorbents, equipment and technical service for the new units, which are expected to start up in 2014.

Petrochemical plant

Qatar Petroleum International will pick up a 25 percent stake in the $4-billion Long Son petrochemical project in Vietnam. The complex will be Vietnam’s first fully integrated petrochemical project, consisting of upstream, immediate and downstream plants. Detailed work on the joint venture will start next month. The venture is made up of Petrovietnam, Vinachem, SCG chemicals and Thai Plastics and Chemicals Co Pcl.

Petrochemical site

BASF has completed its $1.4 billion petrochemical site in East China’s Nanjing City with its local partner China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec). The petrochemical site is the second phase of their joint venture, BASF-YPC Co. Ltd., which focuses mainly on developing technologies to produce downstream chemical intermediates and specialties for the Chinese market.