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Nova to cut costs by splitting off polystyrene June 27, 2006
Nova Chemicals is to hive off some of its polystyrene interests into a wholly-owned separate operating unit to cut costs. It is to combine its North American styrene monomer and solid polystyrene (that is, non-EPS business) with its share of the European Nova Innovene operation to form Styrenix. The move is expected to bring another $50 million of annual savings on top of the $15 million it expects to save from shutting down its Chesapeake plant in the USA, which it said it would do earlier this year.
The savings come mainly from reduced management overheads. Nova will be restructured into three reporting units - Styrenix, olefins/polyolefins and EPS/styrenic performance products. Nova expects to save $20 million a year in Styrenix in reduced corporate costs and $10 million in lower operating costs. Further savings of around $20 million a year are expected across the rest of the company. Some 375 jobs - around 10 per cent of Nova's work force - are to be cut. 125 job losses were already planned with the Chesapeake closure, and other positions are to be cut in company-wide support roles, at the Beaver Valley site, in some Styrenix sites and also in the ethylene and polyethylene businesses.
Nova had high hopes for polystyrene at the end of the 'nineties when it bought out both Huntsman and Shell. In 2001 it started losing money in its styrenics businesses and in 2002 it started a restructure, improving production of higher value styrenic products and cutting capacity for polystyrene. Against the trend in 2002 Nova decided to mothball EPS production at its plant at Carrington in Manchester but to maintain output of HIPS and GPPS. The Carrington EPS plant was eventually written off last year.
Towards the end of 2004 Nova threw its lot in with BP which was then streamlining its petrochemicals assets for sale. The two companies pooled their European polystyrene businesses into the Nova Innovene joint venture, Nova describing it as 'the best way for us to effectively address an underperforming segment of our business'. Nova later did something similar but on a lot smaller scale in Mexico.
In this latest move, which will take place mainly in the third quarter of this year, Nova will transfer to Styrenix the styrene monomer facilities at Bayport, Texas, USA and Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, and the solid polystyrene plants at Decatur, Alabama and Springfield, Massachusetts in the USA and in Canada at Montreal in Quebec, as well as the 50 per cent it holds in Nova Innovene.
Nova reckons the savings it is expecting to make by transferring much of its polystyrene business to a new company will make Styrenix 'the lowest-cost operator of its type in the industry'. And taking the polystyrene costs out of Nova will enable it to focus on its ethylene, polyethylene, EPS and related performance products.
SABIC is putting down more markers in Europe with the opening of an office in Hungary. The Budapest office, which was established last month but doesn't become fully operational until January, will initially serve Hungary, but SABIC Europe expects it to develop into its main office for Central Europe.
DSM man changes horses June 27, 2006
Anton Robek, currently Business Unit Director of DSM Engineering Plastics Europe, has been appointed Business Group Director DSM Melamine with effect from September 1, succeeding Hans Dijkman, who is retiring.
Perrite to produce sPS compounds June 26, 2006
European compounding of Idemitsu Kosan's syndiotactic polystyrene, which was given a clear run at world markets when Dow ceased production of its Questra brand, has started at Perrite in Warrington.
Idemitsu invented sPS in 1985, increasing polystyrene's heat resistance by using a metallocene catalyst to give the material a semi-crystalline, highly-ordered structure. The technology was licensed to Dow and both companies produced commercial products - Idemitsu with Xarec and Dow with Questra. Dow couldn't sell enough to stay in the business, so gave up production in 2004.
Idemitsu started production of sPS compounds in the USA in January this year, and last month moved into European production through Perrite. European sales are through the Düsseldorf, Germany, office of London-based Idemitsu Chemical Europe.
New block copolymers stretch the potential of olefin elastomers June 26, 2006
A new family of olefin elastomers has been introduced by Dow Chemical. Called Infuse, they are olefin block copolymers, developed using Dow's Insite technology, in which two types of polyolefin block are created by using two kinds of catalyst, and these hard and soft blocks alternate in the polymer chain. The result is a material with elastic properties over a temperature range from -60 to over 100 degC.
Dow says it is 'the first to combine the technology of catalytic block copolymers and linear olefin-based thermoplastics in a continuous process' and is claiming 'enhanced performance and processing properties beyond current olefin elastomers, including outstanding high temperature performance, faster set-up in processing (reduced cycle times), improved abrasion resistance, and excellent elasticity and compression set properties at both room and elevated temperatures'.
Mitsui Chemicals is joining with Dow in the development of olefin block copolymers with a joint research agreement on catalyst systems.
DuPont adds Hytrel to nascent plant-based polyester family June 26, 2006
DuPont has added its Hytrel thermoplastic polyester elastomer to its plans to produce plastics from plants - which it now refers to as a 'new family of high-performance thermoplastic resins and elastomer products' - and set a date for commercialisation of bio-sourced polyesters. The company has a goal of deriving 25 per cent of its revenue from non-depletable resources by 2010.
DuPont has been working on bio-sourced plastics for eight years or more since it announced its aim to become a 'life-sciences' company. Its developments have centred on a process to synthesise 1,3 propanediol, otherwise known as PDO or 3G, from fermented corn sugar and been extended to make 1,4-butanediol (BDO). Both are building blocks for thermoplastic polyesters.
The so-called Bio-PDO has been used to replace a petrochemically derived PDO for the production of DuPont's Sorona polytrimethylene terephthalate (PTT), which is used primarily for carpet fibres. Now DuPont is talking about it as an injection moulding material with characteristics similar to PBT. 'In addition to good strength and stiffness, we see improved surface appearance and gloss, good dimensional stability and laser weldability making it very attractive in a range of uses for automotive parts and components, electrical and electronics systems as well as industrial and consumer products'.
Sorona is made by polymerising PDO with terephthalic acid or dimethyl terephthalate. Other polymers derived from PDO include polyethers and polyether-based copolymers, including polytrimethylene ether glycol (PO3G) and its block copolymer derivatives. PO3G is the low molecular weight polyether polyol produced from polycondensation of PDO, and will be used to replace the petrochemically sourced PTMEG in the production of Hytrel.
In 2004 DuPont and sugar giant Tate & Lyle formalised an agreement to build a biotech plant to make PDO next to Tate & Lyle's factory in Loudon, Tennessee, USA, which will come on stream later this year. The plant is owned and operated by DuPont Tate & Lyle Bio Products, an equally owned joint venture, and will produce more than 45,000 tonnes annually of Bio-PDO. Sorona polymer made with with Bio-PDO will be produced at the recently expanded DuPont plant in Kinston, North Carolina and will be compounded at Parkersburg, West Virginia. DuPont says that both the bio-based polyol and Hytrel made with renewable resources can be produced in its existing facilities.
In addition to coming from renewable resources, production of Bio-PDO is said to use 40 per cent less energy than for its petrochemical equivalent. DuPont says the performance and processing characteristics of Sorona and Hytrel made from bio-sources 'are as good as or better than those of current products made wholly from petrochemicals'.
Arkema is to expand its capacity for Kynar polyvinylidene fluoride in the USA. The 2,000 tonnes capacity increase at its Calvert City plant in Kentucky will cost around $12 million, and should be in production early in 2008, making the plant one of the biggest PVdF plants in the world.
Solutia to squeeze out more nylon June 26, 2006
Increasing demand, especially from China, has triggered expansion plans for Solutia's nylon 66. The company is to increase capacity for its Vydene and Ascend PA66 products at its Pensacola plant in Florida, USA, by 32,000 tonnes with a restructure of existing plant towards the end of this year and plans further increases over the next two years.
Chevron Phillips - more than just Ryton June 26, 2006
Chevron Phillips Chemical is changing the name of its Ryton organisation, which produces Ryton polyphenylene sulphide, to Engineering Polymers to reflect the additional materials in the portfolio, such as the Xtal series of PPS alloys. The company says the new Engineering Polymers name 'more clearly demonstrates our commitment to future growth and development'.
Lego moves more manufacturing to lower cost countries June 26, 2006
More restructuring at the Danish-based plastic construction toy manufacturer Lego will see around 1,200 jobs go in the next three years as production shifts to lower cost economies. Chief executive Joergen Vig Knudstorp was quoted in a Danish financial newspaper last year saying: 'In the long term, I think that everything will be moved.' The company has now said that it will close its US plant early next year, making 300 people redundant, and reduce its Danish staffing by around 900 over the next three years as a final stage in restructuring.
Manufacture at Enfield in Connecticut will be moved to Mexico, and around a third of the company's Danish production will move to the Czech Republic. Production of the basic Lego bricks will be taken over by Singapore-based Flextronics, which has plants in Mexico and in Eastern Europe, and will take over Lego's factory at Kladno in the Czech Republic in August.
The Billund plant near Copenhagen will continue to make Lego Technic and the associated Bionicle fantasy robot toys.
Tenders wanted for milk bottle recycling scheme June 26, 2006
An Open Tender competition to develop a closed loop recycling system for HDPE milk bottles has been launched by the Waste & Resources Action Programme, WRAP. It builds on a project from last year which WRAP says proved the feasibility of such a system, and will provide funding up to 30 per cent of the cost of the infrastructure, plant and equipment.
WRAP's target is to achieve up to 30 per cent recycled HDPE content in a quarter of the UK's plastic milk bottle production and to increase processing capacity for HDPE recycled plastic in food applications by 13,000 tonnes per annum. 'To meet this target', says the organisation, 'we may provide support to more than one plant'.
The 2005 project examined the collection, sorting, recycling and re-use of the recovered HDPE, with particular emphasis on raw material source control, cleaning efficiency and analytical quality checks. It involved a consortium of European companies and research institutes, led by the Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging in Germany. Project partners included Dairy Crest, Nampak Plastics and Delleve Plastics as well as Rapra Technology in the UK, and equipment manufacturers RTT Systemtechnik in Germany, Sorema/Previero in Italy and Erema of Austria.
The project culminated in the development of an industrial sorting and closed-loop process for post-use HDPE bottles. A copy of the project's final report, Develop a Food Grade HDPE Recycling Process is available in the publications section of WRAP's website. Having proved the concept, WRAP then conducted a feasibility trial, Food Grade HDPE Recycling Process: Feasibility Study, which can also be found on the website.
Applicants for funding need to demonstrate that their project is a capital investment to create new, or expand existing, capacity to process post-use HDPE bottles from municipal, commercial and industrial sources. It must yield material suitable for food contact applications and production needs to be sustainable in the medium to long term. Details of the tender, which closes on August 29, are also available on the website.
A 250,000 tonnes polypropylene plant is to be built by Lotte Daesan Petrochemical Co at Daesan in South Korea. It will use Basell's Spherizone technology and will be on-line in the fourth quarter of 2008.
Ineos technology for Chinese PE plant June 26, 2006
A new 300,000 tonnes HD/MDPE plant in China will use the Ineos Innovene S process. The plant will be built in Tianjin by China Petrochemical International company and operated by Sinopec Tianjin Petrochemical Company. It will make a full range of Ziegler and Chrome monomodal and bimodal products for the Chinese market.
In September last year Ineos licensed Innovene S for a 300,000 tonnes plant including a downstream pipe compounding facility, to PetroChina International Company at Dushanzi, Xinjiang.
DSM buys stake in US biomedical plastics producer June 26, 2006
DSM has strengthened its position in biomedical materials with a $1·2 million investment through DSM Venturing in US-based Oxford Performance Materials, which makes OXPEKK polyketones for medical, space and defence, semiconductor and industrial applications. In the medical sphere the materials are used for catheters and implantable devices. OPM is planning to open a European operation at the Chemelot Campus near Maastricht in Holland at the end of this year.
Cabot appoints Albis for Ireland June 26, 2006
Distribution of Cabot masterbatches in Ireland has been taken on by Albis, which also distributes Cabot masterbatches in Germany and Poland.
Tessenderlo plans cost saving restructure June 26, 2006
Belgian chemicals company Tessenderlo, which is strong in PVC, is planning a reorganisation that could see around 440 job losses in Belgium and France. But unlike some other companies, Tessenderlo is emphasising that it is not moving to low wage economies, and in fact is investing in Europe.
In recent years the company's Chemicals Business Group has suffered from rapidly changing market conditions, 'cut throat competition' and high materials prices. In particular its inorganics and PVC/chlor-alkali business units have suffered reducing productivity and profitability since 2000.
The restructuring plan involves merging the activities of several sites in an effort to improve profitability by Eur 30 million a year.
PolyOne to make masterbatch in Poland June 26, 2006
American compounder PolyOne Corporation is to build a colour masterbatch plant in Poland. The plant, at Kutno, will supply the growing Polish market as well as the company's existing European customers that are establishing their own sites in Central and Eastern Europe. PolyOne already has a manufacturing plant at Gyor in Hungary, which it opened in 1998, and has sales offices in Krakow, Poland, and Prague in the Czech Republic. Production is expected to start in the first quarter of 2007.
New plant base could halve the cost of biopolymers June 14, 2006
A new approach to biopolymers is being taken in Japan by ship builder Hitachi Zosen Corp and biodegradable products producer CPR Co with a plan to make a biodegradable plastic from cassava, a plant grown in the tropics. They say that the cost of making plastic from cassava is half that of making it from corn.
Production is due to start in Vietnam in 2008 with a capacity of 3,000 - 5,000 tonnes and a dedicated plant will be built the following year, taking capacity up to 100,000 tonnes.
SABIC puts Dutch cracker on hold June 14, 2006
SABIC Europe has delayed the building of a fifth ethylene cracker, at its Geleen site in Holland, because 'the investment costs and financial risks are too high to realise a financially sound project on the Geleen site today'.
The cracker is part of the company's Eur 1·5 billion Europe 1 project to expand Geleen and the Gelsenkirchen site in Germany. Estimates have now raised the cost to around Eur 2 billion over the past year. SABIC says the main cause for the high investment costs is the current overstrained global contracting and construction market due to the many investments projects in oil, gas and energy worldwide.
The cracker would have supplied around 400,000 tonnes of ethylene and 620,000 tonnes of propylene from its start-up in 2009. It would also have been the trigger for SABIC to start scrapping its smaller polyolefin plants to focus on large scale production.
SABIC says it remains committed to its strategy of growth for the European market and will review options such as upgrading its present asset base and supply from the global SABIC system in the coming months.
Ineos to expand ethylene production in Cologne June 8, 2006
Ineos is planning to expand its ethylene cracker in Cologne, Germany, by 100,000 tonnes. Output from the cracker, bought in with the former BP Innovene businesses, will either be used at Cologne to make polyethylene, or will be distributed to other Ineos sites over the ARG pipeline system. The investment is Eur 40 million and work should start early next year for completion in 2008.
San Francisco's ban on BPA and phthalates goes ahead June 8, 2006
As expected San Francisco has gone ahead with a ban on products containing bisphenol A and some phthalates. The city's Board of Supervisors gave its unanimous approval on Tuesday to laws that would make San Francisco the first US city to ban the sale of some polycarbonate babies' feeding bottles and flexible PVC dummies and similar toys for use by children under three.
Cash injection for Jaycare June 8, 2006
A £4 million refinancing deal sees the management become the majority shareholder at packaging moulder Jaycare of Newcastle. The company's bankers have provided the additional funding and debts to former major shareholder Phoenix Equity Partners have been written off.
The company, formerly Johnsen & Jorgensen Packaging and then Waddington Jaycare, has already allocated £1 million of the new funding to the upgrade of existing equipment and is planning further capital investment.
In the past few months the company has won long-term contracts worth £2·7 million, including business from a major Swiss pharmaceutical company.
GE in Chinese polycarbonate joint venture June 8, 2006
GE Plastics is planning to make Lexan polycarbonate in China in co-operation with PetroChina. The two companies will build a 'world scale' plant to run a phosgene-free melt technology-based polycarbonate process using feedstocks from PetroChina. The material will be for local consumption.
GE Plastics has been a major supplier of polycarbonate in China for nearly 25 years and has compounding facilities in the country which are to be expanded. PetroChina is primarily an oil and gas company, but it also makes petrochemicals - in the first three months of this year it produced 480,000 tonnes of ethylene, 755,000 tonnes of synthetic resin and 80,000 tonnes of synthetic rubber. It is also currently building an 800,000 tonnes ethylene plant.
Mitsui plans automotive PP expansion June 8, 2006
Mitsui Chemicals and its majority share joint venture with Idemitsu Kosan, Prime Polymer, are to expand worldwide production of polypropylene compounds for automotive use. They currently make compounds in North America, Thailand, China and Europe and their aim is to expand capacity by 27 per cent to 300,000 tonnes by May next year to meet growing demand in North America and Asia.
Top swap at GE June 8, 2006
GE Plastics Europe and GE Bayer Silicones have swapped chief executives. Golnar Motahari Pour leaves GE Plastics after three years at the helm to become president and chief executive at GE Bayer Silicones, and Heiner Markhoff moves from chief executive at GE Bayer Silicones to return to GE Plastics as general manager in Europe. Before joining GE Bayer Silicones four years ago he was automotive general manager for GE Plastics.
San Francisco plans bisphenol and phthalate ban June 4, 2006
The City of San Francisco in California in the USA is preparing a unilateral ban on babies' bottles containing bisphenol A - essentially all polycarbonate bottles - and dummies and toys containing some forms of phthalate plasticiser. It is planning to do this under a new Child Safety Product Ordinance introduced only a couple of weeks ago, and will be flying in the face of the California Legislature which has rejected similar action. If agreed this coming Tuesday as expected, the ban is likely to take effect from December 1, and will be the first such ban in the USA.
Claims that bisphenol A can cause cancers and that phthalate plasticisers can cause hormone imbalance in young children have been debated for many years, and while there has been action in some parts of the world to ban materials containing them, there has not been any conclusive proof that the claims about them are true.
The elastomer materials sold by the Resin Express group are to be augmented on July 1 with Dow Chemical's Nordel EPDM. The agreement covers the whole of Europe except for France and the Iberian pensinsula.
Included in the Nordel family is the Nordel IP series of hydrocarbon rubbers produced with Dow's Insite catalyst technology, and the MG series, using the same catalyst technology but applied to the gas-phase production of EPDM.
Resin Express already distributes Dow's butyl and SBR rubbers.
UPG to open another low cost economy plant June 3, 2006
United Plastics Group, the US-based international moulding company with a subsidiary in Wales which recently opened its second moulding plant in China has announced plans to open its third Mexican manufacturing location by the fourth quarter of this year. The move is part of its strategic objective to expand capacity in low cost countries. The 62,000 ft² facility will be a white-room environment throughout and will include a Class 100,000 clean room for medical moulding. The plant will be ISO 13485 certified and FDA registered and will also service customers in the consumer, automotive and electronics industries.
UPG refers to it as a showcase site 'not only to attract customers, but also to help us attract and retain the brightest and the best talent'. The plant will have up to 40 injection moulding machines with full automation from 35 - 700 tonnes.
UPG has more than 800,000 ft² of manufacturing capacity with 460 moulding machines at 11 plants in the USA, Mexico, Europe and China. Its European plant is at Mountain Ash in Wales with 30 machines from 35 to 980 tonnes in a 60,000 ft² plant which is expandable to 100,000 ft².
Lauke succeeds Jahn at BASF Performance Polymers June 3, 2006
Dr Harald Lauke has taken over responsibility for BASF's Performance Polymers Division, succeeding Raimar Jahn, who will become head of BASF Coatings in July. Dr Lauke has been with BASF for 20 years, most latterly as president responsible for functions and market efficiency in Asia Pacific, based in Singapore.
European management changes at Eastman June 3, 2006
David Speicher moves from regional business director for Eastman's specialty plastics business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa to become regional business director for the company's fibres business effective July 1. Dominic Moore will replace him as regional business director for Eastman's specialty plastics business in EMEA. He is currently commercial manager for Eastman's specialty plastics business in the EMEA region. JP Kuijpers will be the new commercial manager for Eastman's specialty plastics business in EMEA, moving from technology manager in polymers technology for Eastman's specialty plastics business organization in the region.
Latium expands building profile business June 3, 2006
Window frame group Latium Holdings is buying conservatory manufacturer Ultraframe for £29·2 million. Latium Holdings is a takeover vehicle set up Latium Plastics Holdings, the company that bought HW Plastics' window frame business last year.
C-M plans European extruder production June 1, 2006
Cincinnati Milacron is gearing up to start building extruders in Europe. It has taken space at Uniloy's blow moulding machine complex in Magenta in Northern Italy to stock spares for European sales and expects to build twin screw extruders there within three years.
European production will be part of the company's aggressive return to the worldwide extrusion market since it bowed out for five years in a non-compete agreement as part of its sale of the Austrian extruder plant to SMS in 1999. In the first quarter of this year 25 per cent of all C-M's extruder sales were outside the USA. Return to the European market accelerated earlier this year when C-M took on Steve Jones as technical sales and marketing manager in Europe. The plan had been to pace Europe in with growth in the rest of the world, but closure of its competitor Entek Extruders' European office - operated by Steve Jones in Uttoxeter - in February put him in the right place at the right time to start work on a European sales structure and a network of sales agents is the next target.
C-M plans to sell its full range of single screw through to large capacity conical twin screw extruders in Europe and only last week secured an order for three machines. Its main aim, however, is wood/plastics composite extrusion for which it reckons to build the highest output machine in the world. C-M says it has delivered more wood/plastics composite systems globally than any other manufacturer. China is a high growth market for WPC and around 90 per cent of C-M's visitors at the Chinaplas exhibition wanted information on composite systems. WPC was also a strong suit for Entek, which gives Steve Jones leverage in the European market which analysts have been predicting for a few years now will take off any time soon. The strength of C-M's determination to build WPC market strength in Europe can perhaps be gauged from an order it recently turned down: since the sale of the Vienna plant to SMS, Cincinnati Milacron has continued to supply it with tungsten coated screws and barrels for especially aggressive applications. But when it was suspected that a recent request was for a WPC line, C-M refused to supply.
To support its extruder sales C-M has been talking with three European downstream equipment manufacturers, Greiner and Technoplast of Austria and Periplast of Portugal - which bought the know how of Britain's Speedex (Engineering) in 2001. C-M has also joined in development with B & P Process Equipment - formed out of the old Baker Perkins company - in the USA to combine B & P's co-rotating compounding technology with C-M's extrusion technology in the TimberEx series of WPC extruders. This co-operation has deepened to give both companies sales rights for each other's equipment, meaning that Cincinnati Milacron intends to sell B & P compounding equipment in Europe.
Europe's major producers of acrylic sheet and moulding compounds have been fined heavily by the European Union for price fixing. Degussa, Arkema, ICI, Lucite International and Quinn/Barlo were fined a total of Eur 344,562,500, the fourth largest penalty imposed by the European Union in a long list of cartel-busting actions.
The price fixing started in a Dublin hotel room in 1999 when the EU says competitors met to co-ordinate an increase in the European price level for PMMA moulding compounds. Handwritten notes show that the participants agreed on a price increase for PMMA as of January 2000 with an announcement of the increase in November for the European market. It was agreed that Atofina (now Arkema) would announce the increase in France, Italy and Benelux, ICI in the UK and Scandinavia and Degussa in Germany and Spain.
Records of another meeting in a German hotel room in 2000 reveal that the meeting focused on a co-ordinated price increase for November 2000, says the European Commission. The competitors, after exchanging details of their prices, agreed to raise the price of sheet by Eur 0·10/kg and also discussed the charges for extra services like cutting and dyeing.
The largest fine, Eur 264,468,750, was imposed on Degussa/Röhm/Para-Chemie but not actually levied as the company was given full immunity for being the first to provide information about the cartel. The French grouping of Total/Elf Aquitaine/Arkema/Altuglas and Altumax also had their fines reduced for co-operating - by 40 per cent to Eur 219,131,250 - although Arkema had its fine increased by 50 per cent because it was a repeat offender. Lucite had its fine cut by 30 per cent to Eur 25,025,000. ICI, with Arkema a repeat cartel offender, also had a 50 per cent increase added to its fine to cost it Eur 91,406,250.
Barlo Group was fined Eur 9 million as part of Quinn Barlo and Quinn Plastics, but the Commission said it had not linked its judgement with Quinn Group because the group only purchased Barlo after the end of the infringement.
Arrk centralises imported tooling support June 1, 2006
Product development and tooling group Arrk PDG has restructured its tooling operations for British moulders into a single UK Tooling Division. This is centred on its Teesside facility which will validate tools imported from Arrk's plants around the world, and act as the technical centre for all tooling project co-ordination, modification and trialling.
New PP capacity in Thailand June 1, 2006
Thailand's HMC Polymers Company is to build a 300,000 tonnes polypropylene plant at Rayong in Thailand for 2009 start up. Feedstock will come from a new propane dehydrogenation plant due to start up at about the same time. The PP plant will use the Spherizone technology from Basell, which is a major shareholder in HMC. HMC already operates two Spheripol PP plants at the site with a capacity totalling 450,000 tonnes.