Maruzen Petrochemical Co. Ltd. is upgrading its ethylene facilities by replacing some smaller, older furnaces at the heart of its naphtha cracking operation. The upgrade work will be coordinated with...
ethylene
China’s First-Half Ethylene Production Hits 9M Tons
New figures from China’s National Bureau of Statistics show the country’s ethylene production as having risen 0.5 percent year-on-year to 9 million tons for the first half of calendar 2018....
Du Pont-Mitsui Polychemicals Increases Focus on Specialty Products
Du Pont-Mitsui Polychemicals Co. Ltd. is aiming to get ahead of schedule in hitting targets from its medium-term business plan. With food packaging and daily necessity applications driving demand growth...
BASF Moves Step Closer to Second Verbund Site in China
BASF SE has begun looking into the construction of a $10 billion self-funded chemical plant complex in Guangdong Province, China. The complex would make use of the German-based chemical firm’s...
Tosoh Begins to Form Plan for Increased Production at Electrolysis Facilities
Tosoh Corp. (TYO:4042) is beginning to form a plan to increase the production of electrolysis facilities at its Yokkaichi Complex in Mie Prefecture. This comes as part of a broader...
US Moves Toward Domestic Production of Butadiene
The U.S. appears to be shifting toward domestic production of butadiene as a series of shale-derived ethane crackers begin full-scale operations in the country. With this producing considerable amounts of...
Ethylene Production Volume Slips 12% in April Due to Routine Maintenance
Japan’s ethylene production volume for April 2018 dropped 11.8 percent year-on-year to 484,300 tons, according to a May 24 report from the Japan Petrochemical Industry Association. Two ethylene facilities in...
Ethylene Demand Appears Set to Outpace Slew of New Production Facilities
Petrochemical insiders around the globe are coming to the conclusion that the tight supply–demand balance for ethylene, a base ingredient for petrochemical products, will continue through into the first half...
JGC Experiences Learning Curve in USGC Project – Part 2
JGC Corp. (TYO:1963) and Fluor Corp. reached completion on their U.S. Gulf Coast (USGC) Petrochemicals Project one year behind what was originally scheduled. And although the two companies escaped any...
JGC Experiences Learning Curve in USGC Project – Part 1
A number of Japanese plant engineering companies have recently taken on engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts for U.S. shale-derived energy and chemical projects, but are struggling to carry out...
Asian Polyethylene Prices Fall, Potentially Signaling Arrival of US Shale
With the U.S. seeing a wave of new shale gas-derived petrochemical projects as of late, the effects of this may now be starting to influence the Asian market. Asian prices...
China’s Changxing Island to Become Major Petrochemical Hot Spot
A number of initiatives have begun to materialize for one of China’s seven major petrochemical hubs, Changxing Island, Dalian. One of these is a plan to launch a 2 million...
Interview: Toyo Engineering CEO Kiyoshi Nakao Talks Pursuit of Fiscal Targets
Toyo Engineering Corp. (TYO:6330) has been moving steadily in its operations over this past fiscal term, with results gradually coming more and more up to speed with the company’s expectations....
Japanese Demand for Petrochemical Products Rises for First Time in Three Years
According to ethylene conversion figures for 2017, Japanese domestic demand for petrochemical products showed a year-on-year increase of 5 percent to 5.06 million tons. This marks the first increase in...
Waseda Research Team Synthesizes Ethylene at Low Temperature
A research team led by Waseda University Professor Yasushi Sekine and Assistant Professor Shuhei Ogo recently announced that it has figured out the mechanism through which the oxidative coupling of...
Ethylene Production in China Hits Record High for Fifth Straight Year
China’s ethylene production for 2017 has increased 2.4 percent year-on-year to 18.22 million tons, according to preliminary data. While the figure represents a record high for the fifth consecutive year,...
Western Chemical Companies in Japan – Part 12: Occidental Chemical
The Chemical Daily recently conducted a round of interviews with the heads of Japanese subsidiaries of Western chemical companies. For this installment, we talked with Toru Ogawa, president of Occidental...
Ethylene Facility Utilization Rate for 2017 Marks Highest Point Since GFC
Japan’s utilization rate for ethylene facilities has come to 96.8 percent for 2017, marking the highest rate since the global financial crisis of 2008. Stable demand for materials such as...
Industry Outlook 2018: Petrochemical
Japan’s petrochemical market is in the midst of booming conditions like never before. Ethylene facilities over these past two years have been operating at a utilization rate in excess of...
Chemical Industry’s Strong Results, Future Issues – Part 4: IHS Markit
The global petrochemical market faces a critical juncture heading into 2018 as U.S. shale operations go into full effect. But what play should Japan be making here? The Chemical Daily...
