Surfactants Monthly – October 2018

Surfactants Monthly Review – October 2018

Mob Rule

October was a great month. I spent a week in India with some of the most committed, enthusiastic and, yes, passionate people in the world. I talked about love to them but clearly I was preaching to the choir. These folks exude love for what they do. Of course, I was at the 2ndIndian Surfactants Conference, co-produced by me and ICIS. The love (I’m not kidding!) in the air in Mumbai during the event was palpable. This was a large group of people who work every day to perfect their craft because they love it. That’s why I always love being there. Now on to Singapore, for the 2018 finale. Maybe I’ll see you there?

More love later in the month, shone like a rainforest-fragrant rainbow over the town of  Naugatuck (CT). P2 Science started production at our brand new green chemistry plant using elegant, patented technology, developed in partnership with Desmet Ballestra of Italy. First product off the line, also a world first, BioNonanal™. A fragrance aldehyde with 100% fresh natural, beautiful renewable carbon, at last – gorgeous!

[caption id="attachment_1312" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]Beautifully Natural[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1292" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]Naturally Beautiful[/caption]

* See footnote

The quarter started with stable to firm pricing sentiment around fatty alcohols, according to ICIS. While feedstock palm kernel oil (PKO) values have faced downwards pressure in recent weeks, supply concerns in the fatty alcohols market are supported upwards momentum for Q4 contracts.

[caption id="attachment_1294" align="aligncenter" width="376"]A Familiar Pattern[/caption]

Supply issues at Shell in Stanlow (about 90 KMT/yr capacity) are causing a spike in demand for other plants in the region, leading to a shortage of material.
At least one player said they were now seeing additional buying interest that they could not fulfill.
There is robust demand noted in the European market for October, with healthy buying interest bolstered by current supply issues.
EO turnarounds that are ongoing in the European market have had no effect on the fatty alcohols market, with previously built up stocks said to be sufficient to fulfil demand from the surfactants industry.
There is no easing of supply constraints anticipated before the end of the year, though the ongoing ethylene oxide (EO) turnarounds are not likely to have a major effect on fatty alcohol demand.

[caption id="attachment_1295" align="aligncenter" width="964"]In Happier Times[/caption]

Over in the world of EO, ICIS reports that US ethylene oxide contract prices for September rose by 7% on the back of a 17% increase in the September contract settlement for feedstock ethylene.
September EO contracts were assessed on Friday at 56.0-65.5 cents/lb ($1,235-1,444/tonne) FOB (free on board), an increase of 4.0 cents/lb from August.
US September ethylene contracts were assessed at a 5 cent/lb increase.
Peak downstream demand into ethanolamines and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is expected to start winding down this month due to seasonal trends.

The immensely talented Melissa Hurley reported that European ethylene oxide (EO) supply was expected to be limited in October amid.
 Several turnarounds took place during October, which limited supply outside contracted volumes as most European suppliers shut down during the month (see image below).
October is the month where the majority of EO production was offline but stocks were built up in advance.

[caption id="attachment_1297" align="aligncenter" width="460"]Outages Mount[/caption]

As a result, loss of volumes were prepared for well in advance and most sources expected the situation to be manageable.

Animal spirits, however, continue to animate (as only animal spirits can) the European EO scene, as evidenced by news of BASF and INEOS investing in capacity in Europe.
INEOS will spend €200m on its oxides business in Europe, including €150m at its first site in Antwerp, on EO storage and distribution and debottlenecking and increased EO production.
A sixth alcoxylation unit in Antwerp is due to start up at the end of 2018, alongside the 2,000 tonne expansion of EO storage capacity at the site.
 The company is spending €50m in upgrading EO production at Lavera in the south of France to support demand for the material in Europe.
Additionally, BASF said that it was looking at a significant capacity expansion of its EO and derivatives complex at Antwerp in Belgium.
 The project includes capacity expansions of EO and several downstream derivatives, such as surfactants, according to the company.

[caption id="attachment_1298" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]Who's the king of EO?[/caption]

In the midst of this EU EO euphporia, Sasol Performance Chemicals declared force majeure on supply of ethylene oxide (EO) and EO derivatives EO based surfactants, ethanolamines and ethylene glycols until further notice, according to a letter sent to a customer, seen by ICIS.
 The declaration is understood to be a result of ongoing upstream ethylene production issues and a resulting cut back of ethylene supply to Sasol with immediate effect.


The problem was in Marl, Germany Marl, Germany where Sasol has a 215 KMT/yr EO plant. Due to ethylene production issues upstream from Sasol's major ethylene suppliers, there have been ethylene supply cut backs to Sasol with immediate effect. As such, Sasol has reduced its EO production rate significantly with has impacted their EO supplies to the market and EO derivatives.

I was very pleased to read about the ICIS Innovation Awards mid-month, and one of the winners in particular. Many entries detailed benefits arising from, for example, the use of renewable feedstocks, greater recyclability and/or reduced carbon footprint. 
The four category winners and the overall winner certainly demonstrate how innovation can be a key driver in moving towards a more sustainable future and a circular economy. 
Between them, the winning innovations enable more effective recycling of tyres (Lehigh Technologies), the use of lignin as a chemical feedstock (Stora Enso), zero-carbon recovery of iron from process waste (Electrochem Technologies & Materials), and more environmentally friendly production of surfactants (Galaxy Surfactants).
 The Best Process Innovation category was won by India’s Galaxy Surfactants, for a novel catalytic route to amino acid surfactants. These mild anionic surfactants find uses in personal care products such as skin care and hair care, providing cleansing as well as sensory benefits. Traditionally they are produced in a two-step synthesis – preparing a fatty acid chloride by halogenating a fatty acid in the presence of a catalyst, and then condensing this fatty acid chloride with an amino acid under typical Schotten Baumann conditions. 
The problem comes when trying to isolate the fatty acid chloride from the catalyst reaction mixture. Also, the dimethyl formamide (DM) catalyst is a toxic material – it is rated as a CMR in Annexe VI of the ECHA CLP regulations.
Galaxy’s brainwave was to catalyse the step 1 reaction by using an amino acid surfactant as the catalyst in a semi-heterogeneous process, so that it is not necessary to isolate the catalyst before moving on to step 2. 
The advantages are several: the process uses a completely degradable and non-toxic catalyst; the separation issues (distillation/crystallisation/phase separation) are eliminated – reducing batch time and giving a significant saving on energy and waste disposal; the overall process is “green”, with the closed loop process causing no emissions to the environment; and the odour of the product is improved (due to elimination of DMF).
Galaxy estimates the market for the main N-acyl amino acid surfactants is around 113,000 tonnes/year and growing rapidly. Between 2013 and mid-2018, some 15,000 consumer products containing this type of surfactant have been launched on to the global market. 
The innovation has recently been recognised by major personal care products 
Unilever with one of its “Partner to win” awards, citing Galaxy’s innovation for its “Green catalysis & sustainability”.
Godefroy Motte commented that he really liked the process for its “green” environmental aspects and its commercial potential in the personal care sector, “although the market size for these types of specialty surfactant is not huge.” He also liked the confidence of Galaxy and the way is has been able to work with Unilever as a Partner to Win – “clearly a challenging task”.
 I have to add that for love of their craft and love of the surfactants industry, Galaxy is hard to beat. I personally love those guys.

[caption id="attachment_1299" align="aligncenter" width="600"]In Love with Surfactants[/caption]

Clariant is a key player in surfactants and they confirmed Ernesto Occhiello as new CEO after the shareholders approved the move at the Swiss specialties firm’s Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) on 16 October. Occhiello was previously the executive vice president of SABIC’s specialties division. SABIC recently received antitrust approval to purchase a 24.99% stake in Clariant. Clariant’s current CEO Hariolf Kottmann is to become chairman of the firm’s restructured board of directors, a move also approved by shareholders.
Regular readers know that since a failed marriage to Huntsman, Clariant has hooked up with a rich middle-eastern suitor. Right now, at 24.99% ownership they are said by friends to be taking things a day at a time and are in no rush to get hitched permanently. Having said that the tabloids are abuzz about the type of surfactants business love-child the global couple could create together.

[caption id="attachment_1300" align="aligncenter" width="301"]Going Steady[/caption]

In an interesting snippet, ICIS notes that Brenntag is to distribute Kaneka surfactant in US.German chemicals distributor Brenntag is expanding its personal care portfolio in the US by distributing Kaneka’s Surfactin line of surfactants in the country. The Kaneka line includes a biodegradable surfactant,along with two pre-blend gels used for gelling oil and emulsification. Further evidence that bio-surfactants are making their way into the mainstream. Let’s kep an eye on this one.

Finally Croda announced right at the end of the month, the official launch and certification of its ECO range of biobased surfactants. The 100% biobased and renewable range is designed to meet the increasing demand for sustainable, high-performance ingredient options, and is the certified to meet the criteria of the USDA BioPreferred program. The range includes Brij, Glycerox and Tween products. The ECO range is the result of a significant investment made by Croda in its Atlas Point manufacturing site, located in New Castle, Delaware, to construct an ethylene oxide plant using naturally derived feedstocks. We've reported on the plant extensively on the blog. Just use the search function and you'll get some archive articles.

End of news: Start of opinion. Word of the month? Mob. I had briefly considered “consulate” but was  advised that it is a little too early to make light commentary on the “bizarre byzantine brawl”, details of which continue to drip water-torture-like from the tightly throttled Turkish news spigot.  So mob it is, whether it’s a swirl (collective noun) of millennial snowflakes shouting down non-compliant views on your neighborhood ivy-league campus or the disaffected fans of a losing football team. The most accurate definition of the word is probably “A group of two or more people with whom you disagree politically”, hence the mob’s appearance every four years in the US and whenever a supreme court justice is nominated for confirmation. Of course, mobs come in all shapes and sizes. They could fly into a country in private Gulfstream jets and .. oh no, wait, we’ll discuss that next month.

Growing up in the UK in the 70’s and 80’s, mobs were very much a part of the social and then cultural scene especially as Margaret Thatcher sought to reassemble the British economy. It became somewhat glamorous to indulge in a bit of riotous behavior while baiting the stoic (mostly) British Bobby. Songs of the period included this classic by the Clash.

And this lesser known paen to un-civil disobedience by my homeboys (from South Shields), The Angelic Upstarts.

Yes, things could be and were a little rough back then but it was still one of the easiest and safest times and places in which to protest the ruling powers in a very confrontational manner. Try that in some other parts of the world and you may find yourself provoking a rather cutting response – I mean literally – and then you’re disposed of in an Istanb…. anyway, that’s a topic for next month..

It’s the occasional power of a relatively small mob that can be quite startling. Watch what happens when a quiet Sunday afternoon in a beautiful section of Budapest is suddenly disturbed….

Now, that’s my kinda mob! I’ll be singing this one with the choir this Christmas. It’s by Zoltan Kodaly and it’s called Esti Dal (Evening Song). This is how it reads in English:

Evening darkness overtook me near the woods;
I have put my cloak under my head
I have put my hands together
To pray to the Lord, like this:

Oh, my Lord, give me a place to sleep,
I am weary with wandering,
With walking around and hiding,
With living on foreign land.

May the Lord give me a good night,
May he send me a holy angel,
May he encourage our hearts' dreams,
May he give us a good night.

Are you seeing what I’m seeing here? Our wanderer asks for shelter and safety after wandering far and wide with no place to call home. But there’s more. Second from last line; may he encourage our heart’s dreams. Safety and security are necessary, but not enough. We need our hearts’ dreams to be encouraged. Without these dreams, the song is about just any other forest animal looking for a warm dry spot. It’s only Man that has dreams of the heart and asks for them to be encouraged. How incredibly insightful and packed into a 3-minute Hungarian folk song.

At the risk of reading too much into the song (which I love doing by the way), you’ll notice that this particular line is the one where our wanderer starts to ask for blessings on “us” and not just himself; may he encourage our heart’s dreams. This means what? I’m not sure. If it’s just your dream for you, it doesn’t quite work? Maybe. Maybe it’s the mob that needs its dreams encouraged? Maybe the mob is a group of people that, in the heat of their momentary demands, has forgotten their hearts’ dreams and forgotten to ask for their encouragement. They’re just forest animals looking for whatever it is they want. Something to think about.

I was going to end up by saying that we seek to encourage your hearts’ dreams at our conferences. But that’s too trite and presumptuous. I guess I would just ask you to bring your hearts’ dreams to our events and let’s see what we can do together, for each other. If you bring your hearts’ dreams to your work, and seek encouragement for all those of our dreams, great things will happen. I’ve seen it all over the world, Mumbai, Naugatuck, Singapore, South Shields.

All the best,

Neil

*Footnote : The first photograph is the often-observed haze over a pineforest. This natural phenomenon is the result of ozone in the atmosphere reacting with terpenes rising above the forest. The resulting haze is also fragrant due to the formation of aldehydes. This is the natural process that has been intensified and industrialized by P2. And yes, the second photograph is Kate Bush from 1978 (if you’re still at a loss, I’m sending you to google from here). Am I in fact trying to draw a comparison between the beauty and elegance of what P2 is doing at this new plant and the natural beauty of Ms Bush? Yes, I suppose I am. If you have been reading my blog for a while, you'll know that I need only a flimsy excuse to feature certain musical artists...