New scope delays LAB

FOCUS continue to open. Reformulation may give continued life to the technology in liquid detergents. In particular, there is great potential in applications where high builder levels are still required, eg industrial and institutional cleaners. SSF systems based on milder surfactants can also be used as effective suspending systems in novel personal care products. The latest research on SSF systems (eg T Martin et al, ‘Recent advances in structured surfactant systems’, CESIO 2004) has created the means to prepare systems in which the lamellar spacing is much larger and the systems are optically clear; this is in line with the current trend for optically transparent products in both household cleaning and personal care applications. There remains great potential in applications where the presence of structured surfactants can provide not only the suspending system but also performance benefits in the final enduse, such as in agrochemical suspension concentrates where the surfactant boosts pesticide activity (eg leaf penetration). Other potential market applications include pigment suspensions, industrial cutting fluids and pharmaceutical products. There is also a growing trend for nature’s own vesicle system – liposomes – to be used as drug-delivery encapsulants. Cross-fertilization between liposome and SSF technologies offers exciting prospects. It is to be hoped that the erstwhile commercial success of the Whitehaven HDL plant proves to be the first of many for vesicle surfactant systems. Caroline Edser

RAW MATERIALS New scope delays LAB The opening of Tamilnadu Petroproducts Ltd’s (TPL) 80,000 tonne/y linear alkylbenzene (LAB) joint venture in Saudi Arabia has been postponed to early 2009. The delay was caused by TPL’s decision to manufacture the intermediate nparaffin (NP) internally in Yanbu Industrial city. The unit will have an 2

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NP output of 100,000 tonnes/y. TPL’s jv partner in the project is the Al Zamil group [Focus on Surfactants, Mar 2004]. ICIS Chemical Business, 25 Sep 2006, (Website: http://icischemicalbusiness.com)

Foster Wheeler awarded front-end design for new Tatarstan petrochems complex Foster Wheeler Ltd’s Paris-based subsidiary Foster Wheeler France SA, part of its Global Engineering and Construction Group, has been awarded the front-end engineering design (FEED) by CJSC Nizhnekamsk Refinery for its planned new complex of refining and petrochemical plants to be constructed in Nizhnekamsk, in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russian Federation [Focus on Surfactants, Oct 2006]. This award has been made within the framework of an existing project management consultancy (PMC) contract awarded to Foster Wheeler France by CJSC Nizhnekamsk Refinery in 2005. The $3 bn complex will consist of an oil refinery, a deep conversion plant and a series of petrochemical plants, one of which will produce LAB. Foster Wheeler has to develop a complete FEED package, including definition of scope and configuration for all of the new process units. The selection of licensors for the oil processing and petrochemical plants of the complex has been completed by CJSC Nizhnekamsk Refinery with the support of Foster Wheeler. The company’s Moscow office will supervise and coordinate the FEED activities being undertaken by the Russian Design Institute JSC VNIPIneft (Moscow) for the non-licensed refinery units. Completion of the refinery and petrochemical complex is set between 2008 and 2010. Press release from: Foster Wheeler Ltd, Perryville Corporate Park, Clinton, NJ 08809, USA. Tel: +1 908 730 4000. Fax: +1 908 730 5315. Website: http://www.fwc.com (19 Sep 2006)

Bintulu Lumber Development, are jointly setting up a Ringgit 300 M integrated palm oil downstream complex in Tanjung Manis, Mukah Division in central Sarawak. The companies involved have signed a letter of intent. In addition, ASSAR Refinery Services and STIDC signed another letter of intent for the master development of the various components of the integrated project on 46 hectares of land. The proposed joint venture will host both a palm oil refinery and a kernel crusher plant. Currently crude palm oil (CPO) and palm kernel produced in central Sarawak has to be transported several hundred kilometres for processing, so the planned complex will save smallholders, commercial planters and millers millions of ringgit annually in transport costs. With increased CPO supplies, development of other palm oil downstream facilities, like biodiesel and oleochemical plants, are likely to take place in the central region. The Star, 6 Sep 2006, (Website: http://www.thestar.com.my)

Braskem supplying Oxiteno with ethylene for EO expansion Oxiteno has signed a contract with Braskem, which will supply sufficient ethylene for an expansion of its Brazilian plants. Braskem will supply 265,000 tonnes/y of ethylene, which is 68,000 tonnes/y more than the original supply contract. The additional ethylene will be used at the Maua complex which will have its ethylene oxide capacity raised from 52,000 tonnes/y to 90,000 tonnes/y in 2008. Oxiteno’s main investment for 2006 is the construction of a fatty alcohols plant that will use palm oil [Focus on Surfactants, Oct 2006 & Apr 2005]. When the new projects are operational, Oxiteno’s turnover should rise by around $350 M. The firm had a turnover of $5.15 bn in 2005 accounting for a third of the Ultra group revenue.

Integrated palm oil complex to be built in Sarawak

Chimie Pharma Hebdo, 11 Sep 2006, (351), 10 (in French)

ASSAR Refinery Services and Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corp (STIDC), in association with Tradewinds Plantation, Rimbunan Hijau group, Multi Maximium and

Ethanolamine in serious short supply in China Chinese capacity for ethanolamine totals more than 56,000 tonne/y split NOVEMBER 2006