Insights

Definition: The “Polystyrene” belongs to the Aromatics family (BTX) by the Benzene. Polystyrene is a polymer of the Styrene as monomer where the Styrene itself is produced by dehydrogenation from the Ethylbenzene, a combination of Benzene and Ethylene.  Comments:  Polystyrene is a plastic made by polymerising styrenes. It is made in two types: a “crystal” polystyrene (extremely transparent) and […]

On October 1st, 2011 , Basf and Ineos created officially a 50/50 joined venture called Styrolution to merge and promote all their Styrene activities.  As a result Styrolution is the only one of the key players dedicated entirely to styrenics, and a strong leader in the market. It holds global number one positions in styrene monomer […]

The TPC Group is a leader in C4 and C3 hydrocarbons operating world scale dehydrogenation facilities .  Processing 30-40% of the CC4 in North America, TPC has multiple units to extract and produce Butadiene at Houston and Port Neches operating facilities. The company declared to “move forward” with studies to restart two idled production units of on-purpose Butadiene and […]

Definition: “Butadiene” is the head of the C4 olefins family. Butadiene is a gas that condensates at -4.5°C. Mainly produced as byproducts from Ethylene by Ethane by steam cracking at high temperature (900°C), the Butadiene can also be obtained by Butane dehydrogenation or from Ethanol. Comments: Butadiene is mostly converted into Styrene Butadiene or Styrene Butadiene Rubber (SBR) more well known as synthetic Rubber  Polybutadiene is also used […]

The Japanese JSR Corporation and Bangkok Synthetics Corporation (BST)  have created a  joined venture (51%/49%) in June 2011 called the JSR BST Elastomer Co. to build the first Solution Polymerization Styrene-Butadiene Rubber (S-SBR) plant in Map Ta Phut, Rayong Province, Thailand. S-SBR is a high-performance synthetic rubber used mainly in tires and industrial goods for which the […]

Grace & Co and Al Dahra have signed a joined venture to build and operate in Abu Dhabi, UAE,  a new plant to produce Catalysts and Additives With this new facility, Grace & Co and Al Dahra are targeting to supply some of the 16 Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) units  to come in the next five years in the Gulf. This plant […]

Definition: “Propylene” is the common name given to the Propene. It is a gas, not to be confused with the Propane. Propylene may also be called Methylethylene.  Comments: From process perspective, the Propylene is a byproduct as produced in parallel of the Ethylene during the cracking operations in the steam cracker as shown in the flowchart above. […]

 IRPC Public Company Limited or IRPC (Company) is the formal Thai Petrochemical Industry Public Company Limited, known as “TPI”. IRPC and its subsidiaries are currently the first fully integrated petrochemical complex in Southeast Asia. IRPC’s plants are located in an industrial area in Rayong Province, Thailand, with facilities to support the businesses such as deep sea port, tank farm and […]

Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL) is a competitive modern naphtha based Petrochemical Complex located 125 kms from Kolkata, at Haldia, West Bengal, India. HPL is the second largest petrochemical industry in India with a total capacity equivalent to 7, 00,000 TPA of ethylene. Now HPL is planning a $1 billion (Rs 4,000 crore) capital expenditure project over […]

Definition: “Rubber” is the common name given to Styrene Butadiene or Styrene Butadiene Rubber (SBR).  Comments: Produced out of the butadiene, the C4 Olefins family, either by fraction distillation in refinery either as byproducts of the Ethylene in the steam cracker, the Rubber is mostly used because of its adhesive performances for tyres, sealants, sho soles, coatings. […]