Japanese Economy Taking Hit

Japan, who has been prone to deficit for nearly 30 years is experiencing its first deficit indicating the economy trouble wave is rippling towards Japan. Japan posted a trade deficit of Y725.3bn in fiscal 2008. However, the government of Japan is confident that the economy is in its state for a rebound especially in the indsutrial production and exports. The petrochemical industry in the country is yet to see a clear signs of rebound and the industry is now in wait and see situation.

Lucite Acquired by Mitsubishi Rayon

Mitsubishi Rayon is reportedly in the midst of buying UK-based Lucite International for $1.6bn in cash, rumoured caused by the recent economic downturn. The acquisition is expected to be completed by end-January 2009 boosting Mitsubishi Rayon production technologies  expected to increase Mitsubishi competitive edge to a new level.

Japan Aronkasei Buys Mikuni

Aronkasei has signed an agreement to buy all the shares of Daicel Industries wholly-owned subsidiary Mikuni Plastics. The main reason for selling was due to lack of synergies between parent company, Daicel and Mikuni Plastics, a producer of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) fittings, plastic automobile parts and home appliance components. Aronkasei which produces PVC fitting and pipes however, could be expecting synergies from the integration of Aronkasei and Mikuni Plastics in business operations and production.

Japan Energy Venturing Into Petrochemicals from Plastics

Japan Energy has become the Japanese first refiner to use processed waste plastic as a thermal cracking fuel at its Mizushima refinery. The technological breakthrough is seen as a great potential for the company as petrochemical feedstock is skyrocketing and plastic wastes will not only save feedstock cost but it might as well be counted as negative cost due to save on waste management.

The nation’s sixth largest refiner has the capacity to turn 1,000 kilolitres/year of liquefied waste plastic to petrochemical products using the hydrogenation refining unit at Mizushima. Most of the refined products will be naphtha. Currently there is an abundance of plastic wastes in which Japan generates 10 million tonnes of waste plastic in 2006. Only 5,000 kilolitres of liquefied plastic was produced for refiners from the total of 10,000 tonnes processed.

New Biodiesel and Glycerine Process by Nippon Shokubai

Japanese chemical producer, Nippon Shokubai has developed a new mainstream catalytic process to produce biodiesel and glycerine that generates much lesser waste than current technology.

Nippon Shokubai's new method process technology also reduces the cost to build and maintain the plant by as much as 10%, and also improved the ratio of converting vegetable oils into fatty acid ester, a biodiesel fuel, by 3% and on top of that, the byproduct glycerine produced by this method is very high in purity (over 98wt%). At 98% wt purity, the glycerin could be used as a feedstock for other chemicals without any refining.

Japan Offers Coal-to-Gas Technology for Gas Supply

Japan, one of heavy energy users, offering Indonesia with technology that would allow it to produce gas from coal, in exchange for a stable supply of liquefied natural gas to Japan. The offer comes from Japan Gas Association especially since Indonesia is the largest liquefied natural gas exporter to Japan by volume and recently has been saying that it may cut LNG exports to Japan to meet its own domestic demand.

Indonesia's state-owned energy company, Pertamina, will reduce LNG exports to Japan to 3 million-5 million tons a year from 2011 from about 12 million tons a year now.

The development of the coal-to-gas technology for commercial use in turn can save Japan from the energy crisis. Indonesia is known to have an abundance source of coal.