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ChemMonthly January 2019

Here’s the monthly summary of chemistry stories that have hit the news. This month features news on a new type of 3D printer, a new form of nanotubes based on benzene, and more! Larger summary images for each item are provided below, along with links to articles and studies for all the featured stories.

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Chemical Technology

Southeast polyolefins demand growth could be negative again in 2021

Article | July 14, 2022

BEFORE the pandemic, GDP growth rates in the developing world were always higher than in developed economies.And because developing economies had much lower levels of petrochemicals consumption than their rich counterparts, it meant that the multiples over GDP were higher than in the rich word, where consumption was pretty much saturated. For instance, polyethylene (PE) demand in a developed country such as Germany might have grown at 0.3% times GDP whereas in Indonesia the growth could have been one or more times higher than the rate of growth in GDP.But as The Economist wrote in this 11 July article: “In 2021 the poorest countries, which are desperately short of vaccines, are forecast to grow more slowly than rich countries for only the third time in 25 years.” Might the multiples over GDP growth also be adversely affected in the developing world, trending lower than the historic norms? They will almost certainly remain higher than the rich countries. But here is the thing: as millions more people are pushed back into extreme poverty by the pandemic or are denied the opportunity to achieve middle-income status, I believe that developing-world multiples may well decline.Escaping extreme poverty means being able to, say, afford a whole bottle of shampoo for the first time rather than a single-serve sachet, thereby raising per capita polymers consumption.

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Chemical Technology

Global polyethylene demand boom likely, increasing the sustainability challenge

Article | August 2, 2022

IT FEELS LIKE several lifetimes ago. If you recall, way back in November-December 2019 Asian variable cost integrated naphtha-based polyethylene (PE) margins turned negative because of the increase in US capacity. Then in January the following year, deep Asian and Middle East operating rate cuts returned some order to the market. Then, bang, as we all know, the pandemic arrived and turned everything on its head. The pandemic has, in my view, accentuated trends that were already well underway. I believe this means that the supply-driven downturn that started in late 2019 will not return.Long before coronavirus upended everyone’s lives, PE demand was becoming increasingly divorced from GDP growth because of the shifting nature of end-use demand. Booming internet sales was, I believe, a major factor behind the split between the growth of the overall economies in the developed world plus China and PE demand.The average product bought online is dropped 17 times because of the large number of people involved in the logistics chain, according to Forbes. This had led to a surge in demand for protective packaging made not from PE and other polymers such as polypropylene, expandable polystyrene and PET films (I will look at their demand growth prospects in later posts).Despite sustainability pressures, the scale of demand for stuff bought online translated to a lot more consumption of virgin polymers.

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Chemical Technology

Global polyolefins for the rest of 2021: supply to lengthen as demand muddle continues

Article | August 8, 2022

SOMEHOW, despite the still very serious container freight shortages that have limited imports, buying sentiment seems to have weakened in the European polyolefins market, according to my outstanding ICIS colleague, Linda Naylor.

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Chemical Management

Boom in petrochemicals demand guaranteed but we must grow sustainably

Article | June 3, 2021

ONE OF THE GREATEST achievements of the last 30 years has been the fall in the number of people living in extreme poverty.In 1999, 1.9bn of the world’s population were living on less than $1.90, the Word Bank’s definition of extreme poverty. Despite setbacks caused by the pandemic, this had fallen to 698m by October 2020. Income levels alone are not enough to escape the life-threatening agony of extreme poverty. There is no point in having money if the essential goods and services to spend your money on are not available. Critical to poverty alleviation has been sufficient supply of all the things that people in the rich world take for granted. The raw materials to make the vast majority of manufactured goods include petrochemicals and polymers. Nearly all the major manufacturing chains would not have been able to function without petrochemicals. Think of medical equipment, syringes, blood bags, hospital gowns, face masks, pill bottles and medicine blister packs. None of the above could have been produced without petrochemicals. As people emerged out of extreme poverty and as economies became wealthier, modern-day medical services became more widely available.

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Chemical Technology

Future-Proofing the Chemical Industry with Digitalization

Article | July 14, 2022

BEFORE the pandemic, GDP growth rates in the developing world were always higher than in developed economies.And because developing economies had much lower levels of petrochemicals consumption than their rich counterparts, it meant that the multiples over GDP were higher than in the rich word, where consumption was pretty much saturated. For instance, polyethylene (PE) demand in a developed country such as Germany might have grown at 0.3% times GDP whereas in Indonesia the growth could have been one or more times higher than the rate of growth in GDP.But as The Economist wrote in this 11 July article: “In 2021 the poorest countries, which are desperately short of vaccines, are forecast to grow more slowly than rich countries for only the third time in 25 years.” Might the multiples over GDP growth also be adversely affected in the developing world, trending lower than the historic norms? They will almost certainly remain higher than the rich countries. But here is the thing: as millions more people are pushed back into extreme poverty by the pandemic or are denied the opportunity to achieve middle-income status, I believe that developing-world multiples may well decline.Escaping extreme poverty means being able to, say, afford a whole bottle of shampoo for the first time rather than a single-serve sachet, thereby raising per capita polymers consumption.

Read More
Chemical Technology

The Digital Transformation of the Chemical Industry: The Key Trends

Article | August 2, 2022

IT FEELS LIKE several lifetimes ago. If you recall, way back in November-December 2019 Asian variable cost integrated naphtha-based polyethylene (PE) margins turned negative because of the increase in US capacity. Then in January the following year, deep Asian and Middle East operating rate cuts returned some order to the market. Then, bang, as we all know, the pandemic arrived and turned everything on its head. The pandemic has, in my view, accentuated trends that were already well underway. I believe this means that the supply-driven downturn that started in late 2019 will not return.Long before coronavirus upended everyone’s lives, PE demand was becoming increasingly divorced from GDP growth because of the shifting nature of end-use demand. Booming internet sales was, I believe, a major factor behind the split between the growth of the overall economies in the developed world plus China and PE demand.The average product bought online is dropped 17 times because of the large number of people involved in the logistics chain, according to Forbes. This had led to a surge in demand for protective packaging made not from PE and other polymers such as polypropylene, expandable polystyrene and PET films (I will look at their demand growth prospects in later posts).Despite sustainability pressures, the scale of demand for stuff bought online translated to a lot more consumption of virgin polymers.

Read More
Chemical Technology

Application of Chromatography in Various Industries is Changing the Game!

Article | August 8, 2022

SOMEHOW, despite the still very serious container freight shortages that have limited imports, buying sentiment seems to have weakened in the European polyolefins market, according to my outstanding ICIS colleague, Linda Naylor.

Read More
Chemical Management

Boom in petrochemicals demand guaranteed but we must grow sustainably

Article | June 3, 2021

ONE OF THE GREATEST achievements of the last 30 years has been the fall in the number of people living in extreme poverty.In 1999, 1.9bn of the world’s population were living on less than $1.90, the Word Bank’s definition of extreme poverty. Despite setbacks caused by the pandemic, this had fallen to 698m by October 2020. Income levels alone are not enough to escape the life-threatening agony of extreme poverty. There is no point in having money if the essential goods and services to spend your money on are not available. Critical to poverty alleviation has been sufficient supply of all the things that people in the rich world take for granted. The raw materials to make the vast majority of manufactured goods include petrochemicals and polymers. Nearly all the major manufacturing chains would not have been able to function without petrochemicals. Think of medical equipment, syringes, blood bags, hospital gowns, face masks, pill bottles and medicine blister packs. None of the above could have been produced without petrochemicals. As people emerged out of extreme poverty and as economies became wealthier, modern-day medical services became more widely available.

Read More
MORE ARTICLES

Spotlight

Vikudha Overseas Corporation Limited

Vikudha is a global trading group committed to growing businesses. Over 43+ years of in-depth experience in collaborating with companies to grow sustainable businesses through innovative supply chain networks, local business insight and creative financial solutions.

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Chemical Management

LBB Specialties Announces Principal Partnership with Viscofan

PR Newswire | October 25, 2023

LBB Specialties (LBBS), a leader in specialty chemicals and ingredients distribution in North America, announces a new partnership with Viscofan DE, a global leader in collagen manufacturing. LBB Specialties will be Viscofan's preferred partner in the United States for their portfolio of premium collagen hydrolysates, including COLLinstant® and COLLinstant LMW®. "Viscofan has over 90 years of experience in the collagen market. We are excited to bring this expertise to our customer base, as these products meet global consumer demand for highly bioavailable ingredients with a major advantage over traditional collagen formulas," said Mike DeGennaro, Senior Vice President of LBB Specialties Food & Nutrition. Viscofan DE is the center of excellence for collagen products within the Viscofan group. Viscofan applies proprietary technologies and standardized extraction methods to process collagen from bovine skin for the development and industrial-scale production of novel collagen ingredients and biometrics. "LBB Specialties' technical expertise and dedicated commercial team is uniquely positioned to expand our innovative offerings in the US nutraceutical market," said James Murray, Business Manager at Viscofan. "Their existing portfolio of high-quality ingredients for health and wellness applications is the perfect complement to our COLLinstant® product line of collagen peptide alternatives." About LBB Specialties LBB Specialties is a leader in North American specialty chemicals and ingredients. It is a diversified supplier serving end-markets including care, food & nutrition, industrial specialties, and life sciences. LBB Specialties generates approximately $500 million in revenue annually and employs more than 110 commercial team members.

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Products and Technologies

Lygos & CJ FNT Partner to Deliver High-Performing, Sustainable Materials

Business Wire | October 19, 2023

Lygos, a sustainable specialty chemical company, and CJ Food & Nutrition Tech a global fermentation and biotechnology company and business unit of South Korea-based CJ CheilJedang, today announced the companies have signed an agreement to support large-scale manufacturing of amino and organic acid precursors for Lygos’ Soltellus™ & Ecoteria™ products. CJ has over 60 years in the fermentation business with expertise in microbial fermentation and infrastructure to scale and optimize production processes. The partnership enables Lygos to utilize CJ’s state-of-the-art manufacturing capacity, and access existing technology and optimization tools from their newly formed precision fermentation CDMO (Contract Development & Manufacturing Organization) business. Lygos intends to execute additional plans for near and mid-term demand for product applications of Soltellus and Ecoteria, while CJ will provide critical technical and strategic optimization for process and production to support commercialization. “CJ’s innovative approach enables efficient technology development, leverages robust production capabilities across the value chain, and is a strong complement to our current and future commercial product offerings,” said Eric Steen, CEO of Lygos. “This partnership augments our commercialization strategy of Collaborate to Accelerate by providing access to CJ’s technology and optimization capabilities for fermentation processes as well as the potential to collaborate on new products.” “Lygos represents a standout partner for us that has developed technology and commercial plans that meet our objectives for future growth,” said Lance Choi, CEO of CJ FNT. “We believe their success combined with our technical capabilities will help accrue additional partnerships to our CDMO business.” Soltellus™ polymers are sustainable, biodegradable, and water-soluble with applications in home care, agronomy, and water treatment. Ecoteria™ malonates offer safety, sustainability, performance, and supply resiliency benefits in fragrances, coatings, agriculture chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and other specialty applications. About Lygos Lygos is a pioneering sustainable specialty chemicals company, leading the world’s transition toward better, cleaner, and more sustainable products. We have built a proprietary and fully integrated platform of the most advanced technologies across synthetic biology, industrial chemistry, and application development to rapidly deliver market relevant solutions to some of the world’s biggest sustainability challenges. With a pipeline of high-performing, innovative solutions, Lygos is paving the way for generations of new sustainable solutions for our world.

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Chemical Management

Sinopec NZRCC Selects Lummus' Polypropylene Technology for Large-Scale Plant in China

PR Newswire | October 17, 2023

Lummus Technology, a global provider of process technologies and value-driven energy solutions, announced a contract from Sinopec Ningbo Zhenhai Refining & Chemical Co. Ltd. (Sinopec NZRCC), a subsidiary of the Sinopec Group and its flagship refining and petrochemical company. Sinopec NZRCC will license Lummus' Novolen® technology for a new 500 kilo ton per annum polypropylene plant in Ningbo, China. "With this award, our Novolen business strengthens its position in China and globally, reinforcing it as the industry's leader and preferred process for producing high-quality polypropylene," said Romain Lemoine, Chief Business Officer of Polymers and Petrochemicals, Lummus Technology. "We look forward to supporting Sinopec NZRCC's project to build this highly competitive plant by providing timely, superior process design- and implementation services." Lummus' scope includes the technology license, basic design engineering, training and project engineering services. Today, Novolen is the industry's leading polypropylene technology and can deliver a sustainable route for polymers production, while maximizing the financial benefits of operations through lower CAPEX and OPEX. The technology is highly flexible, robust, energy efficient and allows production of a full grade slate of leading polypropylene products of all product families, including homopolymers, random copolymers, terpolymers, impact copolymers and rTPO's. About Lummus Technology Lummus Technology is the global leader in developing technology solutions that make modern life possible and focus on a more sustainable, low carbon future. We license process technologies in clean fuels, renewables, petrochemicals, polymers, gas processing and supply lifecycle services, catalysts, proprietary equipment and digitalization to customers worldwide.

Read More

Chemical Management

LBB Specialties Announces Principal Partnership with Viscofan

PR Newswire | October 25, 2023

LBB Specialties (LBBS), a leader in specialty chemicals and ingredients distribution in North America, announces a new partnership with Viscofan DE, a global leader in collagen manufacturing. LBB Specialties will be Viscofan's preferred partner in the United States for their portfolio of premium collagen hydrolysates, including COLLinstant® and COLLinstant LMW®. "Viscofan has over 90 years of experience in the collagen market. We are excited to bring this expertise to our customer base, as these products meet global consumer demand for highly bioavailable ingredients with a major advantage over traditional collagen formulas," said Mike DeGennaro, Senior Vice President of LBB Specialties Food & Nutrition. Viscofan DE is the center of excellence for collagen products within the Viscofan group. Viscofan applies proprietary technologies and standardized extraction methods to process collagen from bovine skin for the development and industrial-scale production of novel collagen ingredients and biometrics. "LBB Specialties' technical expertise and dedicated commercial team is uniquely positioned to expand our innovative offerings in the US nutraceutical market," said James Murray, Business Manager at Viscofan. "Their existing portfolio of high-quality ingredients for health and wellness applications is the perfect complement to our COLLinstant® product line of collagen peptide alternatives." About LBB Specialties LBB Specialties is a leader in North American specialty chemicals and ingredients. It is a diversified supplier serving end-markets including care, food & nutrition, industrial specialties, and life sciences. LBB Specialties generates approximately $500 million in revenue annually and employs more than 110 commercial team members.

Read More

Products and Technologies

Lygos & CJ FNT Partner to Deliver High-Performing, Sustainable Materials

Business Wire | October 19, 2023

Lygos, a sustainable specialty chemical company, and CJ Food & Nutrition Tech a global fermentation and biotechnology company and business unit of South Korea-based CJ CheilJedang, today announced the companies have signed an agreement to support large-scale manufacturing of amino and organic acid precursors for Lygos’ Soltellus™ & Ecoteria™ products. CJ has over 60 years in the fermentation business with expertise in microbial fermentation and infrastructure to scale and optimize production processes. The partnership enables Lygos to utilize CJ’s state-of-the-art manufacturing capacity, and access existing technology and optimization tools from their newly formed precision fermentation CDMO (Contract Development & Manufacturing Organization) business. Lygos intends to execute additional plans for near and mid-term demand for product applications of Soltellus and Ecoteria, while CJ will provide critical technical and strategic optimization for process and production to support commercialization. “CJ’s innovative approach enables efficient technology development, leverages robust production capabilities across the value chain, and is a strong complement to our current and future commercial product offerings,” said Eric Steen, CEO of Lygos. “This partnership augments our commercialization strategy of Collaborate to Accelerate by providing access to CJ’s technology and optimization capabilities for fermentation processes as well as the potential to collaborate on new products.” “Lygos represents a standout partner for us that has developed technology and commercial plans that meet our objectives for future growth,” said Lance Choi, CEO of CJ FNT. “We believe their success combined with our technical capabilities will help accrue additional partnerships to our CDMO business.” Soltellus™ polymers are sustainable, biodegradable, and water-soluble with applications in home care, agronomy, and water treatment. Ecoteria™ malonates offer safety, sustainability, performance, and supply resiliency benefits in fragrances, coatings, agriculture chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and other specialty applications. About Lygos Lygos is a pioneering sustainable specialty chemicals company, leading the world’s transition toward better, cleaner, and more sustainable products. We have built a proprietary and fully integrated platform of the most advanced technologies across synthetic biology, industrial chemistry, and application development to rapidly deliver market relevant solutions to some of the world’s biggest sustainability challenges. With a pipeline of high-performing, innovative solutions, Lygos is paving the way for generations of new sustainable solutions for our world.

Read More

Chemical Management

Sinopec NZRCC Selects Lummus' Polypropylene Technology for Large-Scale Plant in China

PR Newswire | October 17, 2023

Lummus Technology, a global provider of process technologies and value-driven energy solutions, announced a contract from Sinopec Ningbo Zhenhai Refining & Chemical Co. Ltd. (Sinopec NZRCC), a subsidiary of the Sinopec Group and its flagship refining and petrochemical company. Sinopec NZRCC will license Lummus' Novolen® technology for a new 500 kilo ton per annum polypropylene plant in Ningbo, China. "With this award, our Novolen business strengthens its position in China and globally, reinforcing it as the industry's leader and preferred process for producing high-quality polypropylene," said Romain Lemoine, Chief Business Officer of Polymers and Petrochemicals, Lummus Technology. "We look forward to supporting Sinopec NZRCC's project to build this highly competitive plant by providing timely, superior process design- and implementation services." Lummus' scope includes the technology license, basic design engineering, training and project engineering services. Today, Novolen is the industry's leading polypropylene technology and can deliver a sustainable route for polymers production, while maximizing the financial benefits of operations through lower CAPEX and OPEX. The technology is highly flexible, robust, energy efficient and allows production of a full grade slate of leading polypropylene products of all product families, including homopolymers, random copolymers, terpolymers, impact copolymers and rTPO's. About Lummus Technology Lummus Technology is the global leader in developing technology solutions that make modern life possible and focus on a more sustainable, low carbon future. We license process technologies in clean fuels, renewables, petrochemicals, polymers, gas processing and supply lifecycle services, catalysts, proprietary equipment and digitalization to customers worldwide.

Read More

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