India Epoxy Resins News

Related Plastics, Polymers, and Elastomers Industry News

• May 2024: Ampacet expanded its ELTech portfolio, introducing a series of high-performance color masterbatches. These masterbatches utilize a polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) carrier resin and are specifically tailored for optical fiber cable PBT jacketing. The new product development is projected to benefit the company in establishing a stronger market position.
• May 2024: Cabot Corporation launched its REPLASBLAK universal circular black masterbatches crafted from certified sustainable materials. This launch marked the introduction of two pioneering products, poised to be the industry's inaugural universal circular black masterbatches boasting content certified by the International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC PLUS).

• April 2024: A new initiative, "Mapping Plastic Litter in Mekong Countries and Proposing Innovative Waste Management Solutions," was introduced to combat Southeast Asia's escalating plastic pollution crisis. The project's primary goal is to chart and diminish the volume of plastic waste entering the waterways of the Mekong countries, focusing on four pilot cities: Bangkok (Thailand), Vientiane (Lao PDR), Battambang (Cambodia), and Can Tho (Vietnam).
• March 2023: The World Bank's Board of Executives approved a USD 250 million IBRD loan. This funding aims to combat plastic pollution from municipal solid waste and agricultural plastic film in rural regions of China's Shaanxi Province. It also seeks to enhance the province's plastic waste management practices to set a blueprint for national-level initiatives.

• April 2024: The Canadian government announced an investment of over USD 3.3 million to support local organizations in combating plastic pollution. Specifically, nine small and medium-sized companies have been selected to receive grants of up to USD 150,000 each. These funds are earmarked for developing solutions that focus on enhancing the reusability of plastics or improving the management of plastic film, commonly used in consumer packaging. This initiative falls under the broader umbrella of the Canadian Plastics Innovation Challenges, which, to date, have channeled over USD 25 million to support similar ventures by small and medium-sized businesses nationwide.
• September 2023: The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) allocated over USD 100 million from the President’s Investing in America initiative. The funds are earmarked for the nationwide expansion of recycling infrastructure and waste management systems. This marks the EPA's most substantial investment in recycling in three decades. Specifically, the EPA has identified 25 communities as recipients of grants, with a cumulative value exceeding USD 73 million, through the newly established Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling program.

• December 2023: SIBUR's Nizhnekamskneftekhim completed the upgrade of its halobutyl rubbers (HBR) capacities by ramping them up from 150 to 200 kilotons. About RUB 8 billion (USD 85.5 million) was spent on this upgrade project, which installed six new HBR production units and revamped 16 existing ones.
• May 2023: Arlanxeo announces planned to build a rubber production plant in Jubail, Saudi Arabia, with an annual capacity of 140,000 metric tons. This plant will be part of the USD 11 billion Amiral complex planned by Saudi Aramco and Total Energies to produce two elastomers, including ultra-high cis polybutadiene (NdBR) and lithium butadiene rubber (LiBR).
• May 2023: Hankook Tire and Kumho Petrochemical entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to collaborate on advancing environmentally friendly tires by utilizing eco-solution-polymerized styrene-butadiene rubber (eco-SSBR).
• April 2023: The Hainan-based subsidiary of China Petroleum and Chemical Corp., Hainan Baling Chemical New Material Co., Ltd, announced the launch of its latest project focused on the production of Styrene-Butadiene Copolymer (SBC) in Hainan, China. The annual production capacity of 170,000 tons will make Sinopec the world's largest producer of SBC plants.
• March 2023: The Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Aramco) completed the USD 2.65 billion acquisition of Valvoline Inc., a provider of automotive and industrial solutions, through one of its wholly-owned subsidiaries.
• December 2022: Korea Kumho Petrochemical Co. (KKPC) announced plans for a series of synthetic rubber expansions at its production facilities in South Korea, including its plan to expand its Solution Styrene-Butadiene Rubber (SSBR) capacity to 123 Kilo-Tons Per Annum, which was scheduled to be completed by the end of 2023.

• June 2022: BASF SE increased the production capacity for its highly efficient curing agents and chain extenders in epoxy and polyurea applications for the wind, electrical, composites, adhesives, and flooring industries.
• February 2022: Westlake Chemical Corporation acquired the global epoxy business of Hexion Inc. for an approximate value of USD 1.2 billion in an all-cash transaction. The acquisition helped the company in expanding its epoxy resin portfolio.

• December 2022: Sumitomo Chemical started constructing a new pilot facility for chemical recycling of acrylic resin (polymethyl methacrylate or PMMA) at its Ehime Works in Niihama City, Ehime Prefecture, Japan. The company aims to accelerate the development of a circular system for acrylic resin, from collecting used acrylic resin to recycling the collected resin into a monomer material and its use as the final product.
• November 2022: Arkema received the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification-PLUS (ISCC+) certification for a range of bio-attributed acrylic monomers and specialty acrylic additives and resins.

• June 2023: PetroChina Guangxi Petrochemical Company announced the license of the LyondellBasell polyethylene technology at its facility in Qinzhou City, Guangxi, China. The Lupotech process technology would produce mainly low-density polyethylene (LDPE) with ethylene vinyl acetate copolymers (EVA).
• February 2023: Celanese Corporation announced the completion of an ultra-low capital project to repurpose existing manufacturing and infrastructure assets to unlock additional ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) capacity at its facility in Edmonton, Alberta. This expansion resulted in a 35% growth in the EVA capacity of the plant.

• February 2022: Kemira announced the initiation of full-scale production of its newly developed polymer-based (polyacrylamide) on biobased feedstock. With this production, Kemira further strengthened its position as the provider of sustainable chemistry solutions for water-intensive industries.
• January 2022: Solenis acquired 100% of the outstanding shares of SCL GmbH (“SCL”), which produces DMA3, a primary raw material for cationic polyacrylamide production. The aim of this acquisition was to help Solenis fulfill a strategic insourcing objective and support Solenis’ polyacrylamide strategic global growth plan.

• February 2022: Kemira announced the commencement of the full-scale production of bio-based polyacrylamide. The development will help Kemira strengthen its position as a significant provider of sustainable chemistry solutions for water-intensive industries.

March 2023: SLB (Schlumberger Limited) introduced the EcoShield geopolymer cement-free system, which can reduce the CO2 footprint of constructing a well. This new technology eliminates up to 85% of embodied CO2 emissions in comparison to conventional well-cementing systems that use Portland cement. The EcoShield system has the potential to prevent up to 5 million metric tons of CO2 emissions annually, equivalent to removing 1.1 million cars from the road per year.