Supply contracts for Lanxess Nd-PBR plant signed
A date for groundbreaking on Lanxess’ new neodymium polybutadiene rubber (Nd-PBR) plant in Singapore has been set. It is scheduled to take place on 11 September; following the signing of contracts with key suppliers, company Board of Management chairman Axel C. Heitmann announced that with these supplier agreements in place, the project executive can now commence and infrastructure for construction set up.
“I am delighted to announce that it is now full steam ahead for the second largest investment project in our company’s history,” said Heitmann. When in service the Jurong Island plant will produce 140,000 tonnes of the chemical per annum; the site is being set up with an investment of approximately 200 million euros and is expected to start up during the first half of 2015.
Contracts were signed with Petrochemical Corporation of Singapore (Private) Limited (PCS) and TP Utilities Pte Ltd. PCS has agreed to supply Lanxess with butadiene, the raw material needed to produce Nd-PBR, on a long-term bases. PCS is building a new butadiene extraction unit and associated infrastructure necessary to supply the raw material. A Memorandum of Understanding regarding supply was signed by both companies in June 2011. “We are also very pleased to announce our decision to go ahead with our new butadiene plant, which is made possible through the close collaboration with Lanxess,” said PCS managing director Akira Yonemura. “This new investment will further strengthen PCS’s competitive position and we look forward to working with Lanxess for the successful completion and start-up of both our new plants.”
Singapore-based TP Utilities (a wholly-owned unit of Tuas Power Ltd) will provide steam to the Nd-PBR plant. TP Utilities is adding 650 tons per hour of steam capacity to its existing biomass-clean coal cogeneration plant on Jurong Island, which currently has 500 tons per hour of steam capacity and 100 Megawatt of electricity generation capacity. “We thank Lanxess for continuing to show strong confidence in our services by selecting TP Utilities again as a key supplier to its latest milestone project,” said Lim Kong Puay, president and CEO of Tuas Power, and director of TP Utilities. “We will be supplying steam to Lanxess’ new Nd-PBR plant, when it begins operation, for a contract period of ten years, with an option to extend the service.”
Access to a good supply of raw materials was one of the chief reasons for the specialty chemicals producer selecting Singapore after evaluating potential locations in Asia. Other benefits the city state offered were excellent infrastructure, highly-skilled workforce, large sea port and close proximity to key customers in the booming Asia region.
The significance of the Jurong Island’s plant is its output’s use in the tread and sidewall of low rolling resistance, or ‘green’ tyres, a sector Lanxess says is growing at about 10 per cent each year globally and 14 per cent in Asia. The company notes that demand for Nd-PBR is being driven by rising affluence in emerging markets and the introduction of tyre labelling schemes in numerous countries. “It is more than fitting that today’s Nd-PBR announcement falls in our company’s Year of ‘Green Mobility’,” added Heitmann on 1 March. “It is our company’s focus on innovation and technology that makes it possible to reduce rolling resistance in tyres and thus fuel consumption. This is good news for the consumer and the environment.”
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