CHEMICALS Archives - Iberica Martima

Covestro successfully starts up a new world-scale chlorine plant in Tarragona

Gobalo Gobalo — Tue, 18 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Covestro has successfully started up a new world-scale facility for the production of chlorine in Tarragona, Spain. It is the first world-scale production plant for chlorine based upon the highly innovative and energy efficient ODC (oxygen depolarized cathode) technology invented by Covestro and its partners. The new plant ensures an efficient, sustainable and independent supply of chlorine and caustic soda to MDI production in Tarragona.

This will strengthen the European production network for MDI – a precursor for the manufacture of rigid polyurethane foam used to insulate refrigeration appliances and buildings. The 200 MEUR investment has created 50 new jobs on site.

The new chlorine facility is the first industrial-scale plant in the world to use ODC, the innovative oxygen depolarized cathode technology which has been developed by Covestro in collaboration with ThyssenKrupp Nucera.

Compared to the currently predominant conventional chlor-alkali electrolysis, the new process requires a lower voltage, which results in energy savings of up to 25 percent. At the new plant in Tarragona, this can avoid up to 22,000 metric tons of CO2
emissions per year compared with existing processes – based on the energy mix at the start of construction planning in 2018. The new plant will thus make an important contribution to Covestro’s goal of being operationally climate-neutral by 2035.

The chlorine is used on site as a raw material for the production of MDI, a precursor for the manufacture of rigid polyurethane foams as used for producing energy-efficient insulation solutions for buildings and refrigerating devices. In 2019, the global MDI market had a volume of around 7,500 kilotons and is expected to further grow in the long term. In addition to chlorine, the plant will also produce caustic soda for the Iberian and European markets. Both chlorine and caustic soda are two indispensable basic chemicals for the chemical industry, and are also key raw materials for many other strategic sectors.

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Iqoxe resumes its activity at the ethylene oxyde plant

Gobalo Gobalo — Thu, 14 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Four months after the explosion at Iqoxe’s Ethylene Oxide plant in Tarragona, the Government has given authorization to reopen the area, which was not affected by the incident, after verifying that the installation complies with all current regulations. For this, the company ordered the preparation of the compulsory safety report and its evaluation, which grant the safety in the activity of all industrial chemical risk establishments, as well as to make a new inspection of all pressure equipment. The evaluation of the Safety Report has been carried out by different external companies, while the Safety Report has been prepared by a certification company.
The activity restarted so far at 20% of the factory’s capacity, in order to meet customer’s demand of ethylene oxide and glycols.
The damaged plant remains sealed, under judicial investigation being carried out by the Norwegian company DNV GL, while other five plants derived from ethylene oxide and propylene oxide that the company has at the same industrial site remain stopped awaiting the authorization from the Government to return to activity.

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ETHYLENE OXYDE ARRIVES BY ROAD FROM MARSEILLE TO TARRAGONA

Gobalo Gobalo — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Iqoxe’s plant explosion, on January 14, left the Tarragona chemical industry without the supply of ethylene oxide.
To solve this, Repsol started buying it in southern France since the beginning of March and every week nine trucks carry twenty tons each by road.
It is produced at the Ineos facilities in Lavera (near Marseille) and this same company is in charge of ensuring the transport.
Repsol signed a three-year contract with Ineos, although during this period the volume of the order may vary.
A traffic of such intensity is expected to be regulated in the coming years, and Repsol plans to make investments and improvements in the process of receiving this substance.
On the other hand, DOW, the other large industry that used ethylene oxide, would have looked for alternatives and, at the moment is not using this product.

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CEPSA STARTS UP METAXYLENE AT SAN ROQUE

Gobalo Gobalo — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Cepsa’s Gibraltar San Roque refinery has started up its new Sorbex-2 metaxylene plant, one of the latest industrial advances made in this production process.
The new unit started up production after an investment of around €70 million and thanks to the work of a team from the Construction, Engineering and Operations departments, which assured it was started up on time.
Sorbex-2 will have a production capacity of 150 tons a day of high quality metaxylene, which is used as the raw material to make polymers and plastics. The new unit will work in tandem with the Sorbex-1 unit, which started production in 2008 and produces 210 tons a day. Part of the load of xylene needed for the process will come from Cepsa’s La Rábida Refinery in Huelva.

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FERTIBERIA OPENS THE SULPHURIC ACID TANK IN AVILÉS PORT

Gobalo Gobalo — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Fertiberia Trasona counts already with the 12,000 tons sulfuric acid storage tank which has built at Valliniello pier in Avilés port. The MT ‘Tour Pomerol’, a 120m LOA chemical tanker flagged in Malta, discharged the first parcel, 5,200 tons, from Hamburg.
Used to produce ammonium nitrosulfate, a compound that reinforces the needs of sulfur as a fertilizer in different crops, sulfuric acid is one of the main raw materials in the processes of Trasona’s plant.
This storage tank allows the reception of sulfuric acid by sea from different suppliers other than Asturiana de Zinc, which was supplying it by road.

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France’s Total to shut Barcelona’s polystyrene plant

Gobalo Gobalo — Tue, 07 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000

French oil and petrochemicals group Total S.A. is reducing its production of polystyrene with the planned shutdown of a smaller European plant near Barcelona later this year.

The France-based company is reported to have confirmed it intends to close the 110,000tpa PS production unit with a loss of up to 56 jobs.

Total said it is in talks with representatives of the Spanish plant’s workforce. Total is understood to be planning to close the operation gradually through the year with one of its two PS lines expected to stop in the summer while the second would shut down by the end of 2019.

The French petchems group decided on the closure because this plant lacks “critical size” and is not integrated in terms of raw material supply, industry media quoted the firm as explaining. The plant’s lack of scale in today’s mature market for polystyrene is believed to have left the Spanish Total facility uncompetitive. Falling demand and fewer PS packaging applications in a declining market are thought to have hastened the French group’s decision to close down the plant.

Total is reported to be consolidating its PS production at integrated sites in France and the US. Manufacturing will be focused on the French petchems centres of Gonfreville-l’Orcher in Normandy and at Carling Saint-Avold in the east of the country. Production will also take place at what Total claims as the world’s biggest styrene centre in Carville, Louisiana in the USA. Total Group’s Spanish subsidiary is also responsible for selling high-density polyethylene and polypropylene across the Iberian Peninsula. Another group affiliate in Iberia, speciality chemicals company Hutchinson markets elastomers produced by its Spanish operations to the aerospace and automotive industries.

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Indukern sells its Industrial Chemical division to the German Stockmeier Group

Gobalo Gobalo — Wed, 06 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Indukern, a company owned by the Indukern Group, has signed a sales agreement with the Stockmeier Group, in which the German group will acquire the Industrial Chemical division. This transaction aligns with Indukern’s growth strategy, whose aim is to focus on its other four global business divisions currently: Flavours and Fragrances, Food Ingredients, Animal Nutrition and Pharmaceutical and Animal Health, which are priorities within the company’s business plan.

The purchase of Indukern’s Industrial Chemical division means Stockmeier Química S.L. will acquire the Indukern production plant located in Sentmenat (Barcelona) and the business in Paterna (Valencia). Similarly, the 60 people that currently make up the team at the Indukern Industrial Chemical division will be integrated into the Stockmeier Group structure, which has over 1,300 employees.

The Stockmeier Group is a family business based in Bielefeld (Germany) with a significant presence in its national market as well as branches in Austria, Benelux, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. The group’s current strategy is to expand within the European market.

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Ercros has started up the second expansion of its chlorine plant at Tarragona

Gobalo Gobalo — Mon, 07 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Ercros has started a second expansion capacity of 26,000 t/year at the chlorine and caustic soda production plant of its factory in Vila-seca I, in accordance with the investment plan announced by the company.

At present, Ercros is undertaking a third expansion, also of 26,000 t/year, which it expected to be operational by mid-2019. Following this expansion, Ercros’ global chlorine production capacity will be 217,000 t/year and will consolidate its leading position in the Iberian market.

The purpose of all these actions is to restore the real Ercros’ chlorine and caustic soda production to the level the company had before the cessation of mercury technology on December 11, 2017, following the European ban on the use of mercury in electrolytic plants. Currently, all the chlorine and caustic soda in Ercros is manufactured using membrane technology, which is considered the best available technology (BAT).

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Covestro invests 5.5 million at its plant in Barcelona

Gobalo Gobalo — Tue, 20 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Covestro’s CEO, Markus Steilemann and the technological head of the company, Klaus Schäfer, announced a EUR 5.5 million investment to expand the production capacity of its plant in Barcelona.
At present this plant, dedicated to the manufacture of resins and the production of coatings, treatments of textiles and fabrics, has a production of about 30,000 tons per year, which expects to grow “20%” after the expansion of capacity.
This investment of 5.5 million, which adds to the three million that Covestro already allocated in 2017, will boost the production of aliphatic blocked isocyanates with a solvent or aqueous base – a special catalyst used mainly in high-end automotive lacquering – and water-based isocyanates used for the coating in the textile sector.
Likewise, an advanced distillation technology will be installed and will allow the development of new water-based products, as well as a new production line for special isocyanates.

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Cepsa starts up the second metaxylene production unit in San Roque

Gobalo Gobalo — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Gibraltar-San Roque Refinery started its new metaxylene production unit called Sorbex-2, on a EUR 70 million investment.
The plant will produce 150 tons per day of high purity metaxylene that will be sent entirely to Indorama, which uses it as a raw material in the manufacture of polymers and plastics.
The production of the new Sorbex unit is added to the production of the Sorbex-1 unit, which has been operating since 2008, of 210 tonnes per day.

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