My Turn – Commentary on Global Polyolefins and Elastomers – Dr. Balaji B. Singh
Going to India – India is currently the land of opportunity for new and innovative petrochemicals and plastics developments. However, the outside opinion of India is much influenced by Reliance’s operations, plans, and forecasts.
There is a whole world out there in India beyond Giant Reliance and the seven dwarfs. The converting industry, so far maintained as a cottage industry, prevented economies of scale and large significant investments, is now ripe for a major converter to enter and shake up the industry.
There is life beyond Bombay, and Delhi, where five-star hotels cost more than in New York and Tokyo. Time for the Global petrochemical players to expand their Indian horizons to other class-A cities – Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Vishakhapatnam, Trivandrum, etc.,
Our new study on “Indian Commodity Plastics” addresses these opportunities and lets organizations explore beyond five-star hotels, limousines, and twice-distilled bottled waters – bringing you closer to “Real Customers” and Opportunities.
Dow and Rompetrol Petrochemicals enter into a commercial agreement for polyethylene resins
The Dow Chemical Company (Dow) and Rompetrol Petrochemicals, a member of The Rompetrol Group, announced an agreement for the manufacture and marketing of low-density and high-density polyethylene resins (LDPE and HDPE).
Rompetrol Petrochemicals will supply Dow with HDPE and LDPE resins, manufactured according to Dow’s high-quality standards and quality assessment and control practices over the following 14 years. The annual output is expected to reach 100,000, and deliveries to Dow in the initial phase of the agreement will total up to 60,000 tons per annum.
According to Dow, this agreement underscores Dow’s commitment to securing low-cost opportunities that will strengthen the company’s position in key growth regions around the globe. It also provides an effective way for Dow’s polyethylene business to develop new market opportunities in Eastern Europe.
Rompetrol Petrochemicals considers that the partnership sparks the beginning of a major development age that will allow the company to become a key player in the region.
Rompetrol Petrochemicals will receive technical support, feedstock, and technical specifications for polymers from its partner. Furthermore, Dow will provide ethylene (polyethylene production feedstock) supplies to Rompetrol Petrochemicals until the Romanian company will start up its pyrolysis installation.
Comments: Dow has been very active in the past few years as it realigns its polyolefins business. Part of Dow’s strategy is to invest in regions and form partnerships that will allow it to leverage advantaged feedstock and obtain lower operational costs. Besides, the Middle East, Dow has been actively engaged in expanding its participation in E. Europe, a region poised for above-average growth. The alliance with the Rompetrol Group fits in well with Dow’s initiatives in this region. The Rompetrol Group is Romania’s largest privately held oil & gas company. The company was established in 1974 and today has operations in refining, petrochemicals, and wholesale/retail distribution. The petrochemicals segment consists of ethylene, propylene, polyethylene, and polypropylene.
Braskem SA to acquire a majority stake in Politeno Industria e Comercio SA
Braskem SA acquired an additional 62.75% majority stake in Politeno Industria e Comercio SA for US$111.3 million. Braskem SA acquired the 62.75% stake from Politeno Industria e Comercio SA’s current shareholders, SPQ Investimentos e Participações Ltda (about 35% stake), Sumitomo Chemical Co Ltd (20% stake) and ITOCHU Corp (10% stake).
Under the terms of the agreement, Braskem offered US$60.6 million to Suzano, the parent of SPQ Investimentos e Participações Ltda, and US$50.7 million to both Sumitomo and ITOCHU. Following the completion of the transaction, Braskem SA holds a total of 96.15% of Politeno’s total capital and 100% of its voting capital. The acquisition marks an important step in the continuity of the consolidation process of the Brazilian petrochemical industry. Politeno Industria e Comercio SA produces about 320,000 tons of polyethylene per annum. The transaction was approved by the Board of Directors of all companies involved as well as the Brazilian authorities.
Comments: The creation of Braskem was the start of the consolidation phase in the Brazilian petrochemical industry integrating the first and second-generation industries. Braskem S.A. is the largest Brazilian petrochemical company with a head office in Sao Paulo. The company was formed in 2002 as part of a major restructuring of the Brazilian petrochemical industry that saw Copene merge with petrochemical companies controlled by Odebrecht, a heavy engineering and construction company owned by the Odebrecht family, and another family-owned conglomerate, the Mariani Group.
Braskem operates 13 chemical plants with a production capacity of 5 million tons per year of chemical and petrochemical products. Many of the plants are located in three major complexes – at Camacari in Brazil’s northeastern Bahia state, at Triunfo in Rio Grande do Sul, and in Sao Paulo State.
The structure of the Brazilian petrochemical industry today is a reflection of the Brazilian government’s plan, developed during the 1970s, to establish a domestic petrochemical industry to serve Brazilian markets. First and second-generation producers are located within proximity of each other to allow the common use of facilities, such as utilities, and to facilitate the delivery of feedstock.
First-generation producers are essentially the producers of the basic 6 materials (ethylene, propylene, butadiene, benzene, toluene, and xylenes). Second-generation producers process the basic petrochemicals obtained from the crackers to produce intermediate petrochemicals. Braskem and RioPol are the only integrated first and second-generation producers in Brazil.
Braskem’s acquisition of a majority stake in Politeno illustrates the continuation of the consolidation process of the Brazilian petrochemical industry. Since early 2005 the petrochemical sector in Brazil had been projected to undergo intense M&A activity with Braskem being an important player in the process.
Basell signs agreement with KazMunayGaz and SAT for a petrochemical complex in Kazakhstan
Basell announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with KazMunayGaz Exploration & Production and SAT & Company for the first integrated world-scale petrochemical complex in Western Kazakhstan.
The project is expected to include an ethane extraction unit in Kulsary and an integrated petrochemical complex in Atyrau. The planned petrochemical complex includes a world-scale ethane cracker and polyethylene facilities, as well as a propane dehydrogenation unit and polypropylene facility. The start-up is planned for 2010.
In addition to providing technology and sales and marketing services, Basell intends to participate directly as a shareholder in the project.
KazMunayGas (KMG) was founded in 2002 as a result of the merger of CJSC National Oil Company Kazakhoil and NC Oil and Gas Transportation. This state-owned company was created with the goal of developing Kazakhstan’s oil and gas resources. KMG EP is the operating subsidiary responsible for the exploration and distribution of oil and gas. KMG is also a shareholder in TengizChevrOil (TCO) and Agip KCO. SAT is a privately owned, diversified conglomerate with industrial, commercial, and service activities.
Comments: Basell continues to leverage its expertise in polyolefins licensing as well as its strategy to hold equity interest in companies in emerging regions. In this venture, Basell will hold a 35% share, while SAT and KazMunayGaz will hold a 50% and 15% share, respectively. The complex will have an 850 KT ethylene plant and a 400 KT propane dehydrogenation unit. These units will be integrated into the following downstream polyolefins units: 400 KT LDPE; 400 KT LL/HDPE; and a 400 KT PP plant. Basell is expected to off-take the majority of the product and market it in Europe and Asia-Pacific (China in particular).
Total Petrochemicals puts US & European PP investments on hold
Total Petrochemicals announced that it is postponing plans to build new polypropylene (PP) plants in Europe and the US. In 2005, Total was planning to build a plant with a “minimum capacity for 300,000 MT/year” at La Porte, TX, as well as a 300,000 MT/year unit at Feluy, Belgium for a startup in 2008 or 2009. The company was planning to close 100,000-MT/year capacity in Europe, which would have given it a 200,000-m.t./year net increase in that region.
According to the company, it is gaining a lot of capacity from existing lines without having to invest in it.
Comments: In 2005, Total Petrochemicals announced its plans to increase its PP capacity significantly. The company was planning to build a PP line at its La Porte, TX site or another, undisclosed location, with a “minimum capacity of 300 KT per annum by 2008 or 2009.
Total also added 100 KT per annum of PP capacity at La Porte at the end of 2005, raising the total there to 1.06 million MT/year and making La Porte the world’s largest PP site. The company also debottlenecked its Feluy, Belgium plant by 10%, to 800 KT per annum of PP. The company is gaining from economies of scale at La Porte and it did not close 100 KT capacity in Europe. This is helping them meet the PP requirements and hence the decision to put US and Europe PP investments on hold.
IndianOil board approves refinery-cum-petrochemicals complex at Paradip
Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (IndianOil) will construct a 15 million metric tons per annum grassroots Refinery-cum-Petrochemicals Project at Paradip in Orissa.
The project, consisting of a 15-MMTPA capacity refinery and facilities for the production of front-end petrochemicals, including paraxylene, polypropylene, and styrene, together with a product pipeline from the refinery to Ranchi was cleared by the IndianOil Board.
The IndianOil Board has sanctioned over Rs.1,100 crore for the initial activities of the project, including technology selection, basic engineering design, site development activities, etc. As a first step, IndianOil has already installed a large crude oil terminal along with the Single Point Mooring (SPM) terminal on the coast for handling very large crude carriers (VLCCs) for its refineries at Haldia and Barauni, and the same terminal will be expanded for receipt and handling of crude oil for the Paradip refinery.
The site for the project, consisting of over 3,000 acres of land, was acquired by IndianOil a few years back and has been fully developed by dredging and filling along with the construction of approach roads, bridges, water & power supply, boundary wall, etc. The contracts for the remaining infrastructure facilities are being awarded currently to make the site ready for starting construction of the mega refinery and petrochemical project within the next year.
The Government of Orissa had earlier given a package of incentives, including sales tax deferment for 11 years, for the refinery project. Paradip, which already has a fully developed port, with a draft of over 13 meters handling large volumes of bulk cargo and petroleum products, and two fertilizer units in operation, promises to become one of the largest industrial hubs in the country with the implementation of this mega refinery project together with a large capacity steel plant being implemented at a location adjoining the refinery site.
Comments: Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) is India’s largest commercial enterprise in terms of sales and profits and is the 18th largest petroleum company in the world. The company was formed in 1964 through the merger of Indian Oil Company Ltd. (Estd. 1959) and Indian Refineries Ltd. (Est. 1958). The company has plans to reach US$ 60 billion in revenues by the year 2010-11 from current earnings of approximately US$ 35 billion. The road map to attain this milestone has been laid through vertical integration – forward into petrochemicals and backward into exploration and production of crude oil, besides diversification into the natural gas business and globalization of operations.
The approval by the board indicates the company wants to move forward with the announced expansion plans. The Paradip facility will allow IOC to vertically integrate into chemicals and take advantage of its surplus naphtha. However, the plans for installing a cracker and polymer units will be implemented in the second phase.
The total estimated cost of the petrochemical complex at Paradip is Rs. 8,000 crore though the board has only sanctioned Rs. 1,100 crore for the initial activities of the project.
Chevron to Purchase 5% Stake in Reliance Petroleum Limited
Chevron Corporation announced that it will spend approximately $300 million to purchase five percent of Reliance Petroleum Limited (RPL), a company formed by Reliance Industries Limited (Reliance) to own and operate a new export refinery being constructed in Jamnagar, India. RPL commenced an initial public offering (IPO) with a net offering to the public of 10 percent of the company from April 13, 2006, until April 20, 2006.
RPL plans to develop a 580,000 barrels per day crude capacity refinery, which is expected to begin operation in December 2008. Chevron has future rights to purchase additional shares to increase its equity ownership to 29%.
In addition, Chevron announced the signing of two Memoranda of Understanding with Reliance. These cover the principles by which Reliance and Chevron will seek to optimize the refinery crude supply and product marketing and set out the intent of both companies to pursue other collaboration opportunities in the energy value chain.
Reliance currently operates a 650,000 barrels per day refinery in Jamnagar. The new refinery is designed to have a similar throughput capacity but is expected to process heavier crude oil. The new refinery would be the world’s sixth largest refinery on a single site, and the two together would constitute the largest refinery complex in the world, based on current capacities.
Comments: By 2030, India will be the world’s third-largest economy ranked with China and the US in GDP.
This investment by Chevron is a little over refinery replacement value but the purpose is to establish a strategic beachhead into the Indian petroleum industry. Roughly 50% of India’s energy is coal-derived and the remainder is mostly petroleum-derived.
Chevron’s option to buy up to 29% of the refining company is certainly a strong strategic bet on the future of refining in India. Just like the international oil companies have been building mega refinery/cracker ventures in China, it is a master move by Chevron to position itself with one of the largest Indian refiners and petrochemical producers for the future. Refining in India is a high-growth business because the per capita consumption of liquid fuels for cooking and transportation is outstripping capacity and there is ample opportunity for refining growth in India. The country’s refining sector is dominated by government-owned public sector units and the country currently has 18 refineries with a throughput capacity of 127 million metric tons per annum (MMTPA), equaling a production of 2,540,000 barrels per day. This capacity is likely to grow to about 180 MMTPA in 2012.
Saudi Aramco has also expressed a strong interest in a base-load refining position in India but Chevron beat all others to the finish line with the investment in Reliance. It should be pointed out that much of Reliance’s refining capacity is earmarked for petrochemicals (polyolefins and p-xylene) but the arrangement with Chevron does not reach into petrochemicals. We would expect Chevron to exercise its options sooner than later on broadening its position with Reliance and in India, one of the most dynamic growing economies at present and for the future.
Lyondell-CITGO Houston refinery for sale
Lyondell Chemical Company and CITGO Petroleum Corporation announced the signing of a letter of intent to jointly explore the sale of the Lyondell-CITGO Refining LP (LCR) partnership which operates a refinery in Houston, Texas, with a crude oil processing capacity of 268,000 barrels per day.
The companies also announced the settlement of all disputes between Lyondell, CITGO, and Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A., including the litigation concerning the refinery crude supply agreement.
The demand for refined products in the United States and the lack of available refining capacity have further enhanced the value of full-conversion refineries such as LCR. The Houston refinery can transform very heavy high-sulfur crude oil into clean fuels including reformulated gasoline and low-sulfur diesel, as well as other high-value products such as jet fuel and aromatics. The refinery is strategically located on the U.S. Gulf Coast with access to interstate pipelines and the Port of Houston.
The companies will move diligently and expeditiously to prepare an offering memorandum and establish a data room for interested bidders.
Lyondell-CITGO Refining LP was formed in 1993 as a joint venture between Lyondell Chemical Company and CITGO Petroleum Corporation, an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A., the national oil company of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. In 1997, LCR completed an upgrade of the refinery to process large volumes of very heavy, high-sulfur crude oil from Venezuela. Lyondell holds a 58.75 percent interest in LCR and CITGO holds a 41.25 percent interest.
Comments: This divorce has been building for almost as long as the Lyondell Citgo Refinery venture has been in existence. First, there was a large cost overrun on the modifications to the refinery to run exclusively Venezuelan heavy high sulfur crude oil.
Second was the shortage of crude oil for the refinery from Venezuela that sparked claims and counterclaims. The whole situation was never really resolved. All that notwithstanding, this refinery could sell on the open market today according to one refining analyst for $3.5-$4B which when split between the current owners will go a long way towards reducing Lyondell’s debt load. Supposedly, Wall Street hasn’t valued the Lyondell-Equistar-1/2 refinery complex for all its worth because the composition of petrochemical and refining assets is neither refining nor petrochemicals in the eyes of the street.
By splitting the two apart, and paying down a large quantity of debt, Lyondell-Equistar should get a nice stock price bounce – both from the reduced debt and secondly from their “purified” product line that doesn’t cross the refinery fence any longer. So much for stock talk, the bottom line is that this will be a huge financial transaction with a number of potential bidders already expressing interest and this flexible refinery should fetch almost replacement cost which is a sign of the times in the ultra-low sulfur fuels business.
Dow Chemical plans R&D center in India
Dow Chemical Co. plans to open a research and development center and start a polyurethanes blending site. The company hasn’t determined the R&D location or a timetable but the company is planning a major site.
The blending facility will open near Mumbai, India, early next year, with as many as six production lines and 15 employees. It will serve mainly the automotive and appliance industries. According to the company, in the last four years, Dow’s sales in India have increased 300 percent, and the market “isn’t close to maturing”.
Dow’s South Asia region had 2005 sales of almost $400 million (2.28 billion Yuan). Dow expects that total to hit $1 billion (8.03 billion Yuan) by 2010, with 40 percent in plastics.
Dow’s specialty lineup also is getting off the ground in India. Two grades of Versify propylene-ethylene co-polymers for the stretch hood and stretch cling film were commercialized in 2005 and Engage polyolefin elastomers are being used in automotive applications.
Shell to set up technology center in Bangalore
Shell announced its plans to set up a technology center in Bangalore, Shell Technology India (STI), at par with its major research and development facilities in the USA and the Netherlands. The center is likely to open in the second half of 2006, with a purpose-built campus by 2009. Bangalore has been chosen as it is considered the Indian center of science and technology development. Another factor fuelling Shell’s interest in this project has been the attraction and retention of top Indian technical talent.
It is looking to offer services that will span upstream exploration and production activities (finding, developing, and producing oil and gas) as well as downstream refinery and chemical operations.
Shell has already invested $1 billion in India and is looking to expand its existing fields and find new resources in the face of a global ever-increasing demand for energy that is expected to grow by as much as 50% within the next 25 years.
Comments: The key driver for Shell’s decision to open a technology center in India is the availability of research talent. This decision also fits well in the company’s strategy to move from West to East. With research centers already located in US and Europe, and the new one in India, Shell’s R&D will be globally balanced.
Lyondell Sees Potential for Entry into Mideast, China
Lyondell Chemical announced that its ethylene business could potentially enter the Mideast because there are new players there looking for partners, and Lyondell is “not yet aligned with anyone”.
The company said that they have been in talks with some new players that have secured or are looking to secure feedstock rights.
Lyondell’s Equistar olefins and polyolefins business has its production assets mainly in the US Gulf. The company is investing in software and process technology that will expand feedstock flexibility in its crackers. It has the capability for 63% of liquids cracking in its North American plants, compared to the industry average of 25%. The company expects heavy liquids to have a cost advantage over natural gas liquids over the next 3-4 years, as ethane-based ethylene capacity comes on stream in the Mideast.
The company’s longer-term strategy is to expand its global presence and widen and deepen its portfolio. The company had also indicated that it is interested in building a plant in Asia within the decade. If Lyondell decides to site the plant in China, the company will likely do it as a joint venture, using propylene oxide-styrene monomer (POSM) technology.
Comments: It will be interesting to see how Lyondell would enter the ethylene business in the Middle East. One possibility would be to do a two-phase venture with ethylene capacity in the US first netback to the US market using Middle East feedstock and then eventually build ethylene capacity with Lyondell’s experience on a heavy feed base. This would take advantage of production experience and also provide the Middle East ultimately with a fuller production of all Basic 6 derivatives like propylene and BD and aromatics not normally seen from ethane crackers. Ultimately, any move in the Middle East will probably serve to weigh the average down Lyondell’s cost of ethylene.
As far as the POSM issue in Asia, the continent certainly needs both PO and styrene monomer and the supposition that a POSM plant will be built seems to answer the question of which production route to PO will remain economically dominant. If POSM is built in Asia, it appears that the propylene-hydrogen peroxide route is not cost-preferred to POSM. This is a sound endorsement. It also places the direct oxidation of propylene to propylene oxide further out in the science fiction category if capacity is still to be built based on established POSM economics. Now that Lyondell has shed itself off the Houston refining asset, other areas of the world for ventures become more practical and plausible.
Dow Chemical to reduce up to 350 jobs in South Charleston, WV
Dow Chemical Co. announced that it will reduce up to 350 jobs from its South Charleston operations over the next three years.
Dow announced that it will terminate an agreement between subsidiary Union Carbide and BayerMaterial Science effective April 1, 2009, idling from 230 to 330 Union Carbide workers. Meanwhile, up to 20 Dow workers could be idled from its South Charleston Vinyl Methyl Ether facility, which will be replaced by a new plant in Hahnville, LA. The new facility is scheduled to begin operations in 2008.
The timeline of the job cuts will depend upon negotiations with BayerMaterial, according to the company.
Comments: Charleston, WV is not a strategic location for Dow focused in Midland and Freeport, TX, and now in China and India.
Nova Innovene to make the business profitable by 2008
Nova Innovene, a 50-50 joint venture between Nova Chemicals and Ineos and Europe’s largest styrenic polymers producer, announced their plans to make the business profitable by October 2008 at the latest.
The company’s target is to attain cost leadership and improve margins. The joint venture, which has been operating since October 1, 2005, was put together to drive synergies out of the business, and to stem losses. The company says it has sales of EUR920 million-EUR1 billion/year ($1.12 billion-$1.22 billion).
Nova Innovene has raised its previously announced cost-savings targets to an annualized EUR40 million o EUR60 million over a three-year period ending October 2008. The joint venture will close its Berre, France, and Carrington, UK expandable polystyrene (EPS) plants within the next 12 months, removing 140,000 MT/year of EPS capacity, equivalent to 30% of its total and more than 10% of EPS capacity in Western Europe.
The company has also launched several new performance products in Europe. They include Zylar EX styrene-acrylic copolymer and Dylark FG styrene-maleic anhydride copolymer. In addition, Nova Innovene and machine maker Autonational (Speek, the Netherlands) have developed a technology to produce IMage, an EPS beverage cup, using in-mold labeling technology.
Comments: Everyone in polystyrene is in the same boat. There is just too much capacity in the marketplace to sustain profitability. Even adding specialty compounds will not make that much of a difference to close the P&L gap of “multi-double digit Euros”. It’s the same in the US, more capacity has to be brought offline to pick up the slack and raise operating rates if profitability is to return. We would anticipate that even with more “strategic alliances” the net result will be that more capacity must be shut down even in the face of more capacity coming on stream in the Asian market. Nova Innovene has some hard choices to make but the way forward is obvious. Conditions in North America are worse off than even Europe due to overcapacity and imports from Asia.
Toray Industries to commercialize PLA-based films
Toray Industries, Inc. announced its plans to commercialize polylactic acid (PLA) films and sheets. The company said that it has succeeded in solving the quality and cost issues unique to PLA and making it commercially viable, Toray, as a first step, will install a mass production facility for PLA sheets at its South Korean subsidiary and begin full-fledged promotion of Ecodear® film as the group’s universal PLA brand.
Toray will build a production facility with an annual capacity of 5,000 tons of sheet (non-oriented, or NO, film) at Gumi Plant 3 (Imsu-dong, Kyungsangbuk-do) of Toray Saehan Inc. (TSI), it’s South Korean subsidiary. The capital investment amounts to about 1 billion yen and the plant is expected to start operations in January 2007.
At the same time, to advance its PLA film business, Toray will focus on developing highly functional products. The company plans to introduce a series of high-value-added products into the market by exploiting its “revolutionary nano-alloy technology” that allows the combination of multiple polymers on a nano-metric scale and brings out the most optimal characteristics of the material. In addition to heat and impact resistance equivalent to petroleum-based plastic films, the technology for achieving flexibility and high transparency also has been established.
Comments: Polylactic acid-based biopolymers have been the most successful polymers amongst others. The major producer of PLA is NatureWorks which is a Cargill subsidiary. In Japan, Mitsui, Toyota, and Dainippon Ink have small-scale plants to produce PLA.
Toray Industries has identified polylactic acid as one of its priority businesses and has accelerated its expansion program. The company acquired 200 new patents covering polymer modification technologies. Toray has acquired the patent, design, and utility model rights for polylactic acid from Kanebo Gohsen.
In South Korea, there is a drive to replace materials for takeout food containers and similar applications with biodegradable polymers. Toray’s decision to construct a PLA plant in South Korea should help the company to gain significant markets.
Chilean scientists develop cheaper, simpler production of polyolefins
Olefin polymerization is a key to the production of the most widely used polymers in the world such as polypropylene and polyethylene. The use of metallocene-based catalyst technology has presented a revolution in the enormous polyolefin industry – but not without drawbacks.
The metallocene/methyl aluminoxane (MAO) catalyst system allows the properties of the polymer to be tailored in many ways. These custom properties include greater stiffness and impact strength, greater stretch and puncture resistance, and improved sealability. Other properties that can be tailored for individual applications include temperature resistance, hardness, impact strength, and transparency.
Unfortunately, to achieve these results, a large amount of expensive MAO may be required. This in turn may make the final polymer material not financially viable for the proposed application. The process also requires soluble metallocene catalysts to be removed, recovered, and purified. Various methods have been examined to circumvent these negative outcomes and, in several cases, it is claimed that additional MAO is not necessary during polymerization if it is initially deposited on the surface of silica.
In this paper by João Henrique Zimnoch Dos Santos, Paula Palmeira Grecco, Fernanda Chiarello Stedile, and Boris Chornik from Instituto de Química and Universidad de Chile, they demonstrate that it is possible to overcome the problem of low activity of grafted zirconocene catalysts by the previous chemical modification of the silica surface with SnCl4. They also found that silica-supported systems generally produced polymers with higher molecular weight.
Comments: The use of metallocene/MAO catalyst systems as such or supported on silica is nothing new as practiced commercially by major players in the polyolefins industry.
However, as described in the above article, both higher catalyst activity and high molecular weight of the products are interesting and informative. Perhaps a modification of the silica surface using the SnCl4 before supporting the metallocene catalyst might have tuned the catalyst sites for better activity and minimum chain transfer to MAO and hence longer polyolefin chain growth. It would be interesting to see the commercial validation of these new results.
High throughput equipment plays a key role in catalyst development, which enables screening catalyst formulation in a short period at a much lower cost than the traditional method. Innovante Corporation, a strategic alliance of Chemical Market Resources (CMR) and CID, has North America’s only independent Symyx high throughput equipment. Innovante provides outsourcing R&D services to companies in the Chemical, Petrochemical, and Plastics areas. For more information about Innovante, please contact Dr. Frank Zhao (fzhao@cmrhoutex.com) or Dr. Pal Arjunan (parjunan@cmrhoutex.com).
CMR also has two multiclient studies in the related areas to be released this year: “Global Polyolefins Catalysts Market, Technologies, & Trends 2006-2011” and “Global Metallocene Market, Technologies, & Trends 2006-2011”. For more information about the above studies, please contact CMR staff.
Contact us at ADI Chemical Market Resources to learn how we can help.