ISSUE 76January

■ EVENTS

ChemChina holds an emergency teleconference on safetyChemChina companies carry out ad-hoc safety inspection

Belgian Ambassador visits ChemChina

ChemChina contributes to the nation’s moon landingBluestar Xichang and Xinghuo Organic Silicone Plant contribute to China Lunar Exploration Program

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■ CORPORATE CULTURE

■ PROJECT

■ TECHNOLOGY

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Chinese and foreign employees celebrate Christmas and New Year

ChemChina trains young managers in Beijing

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Cangzhou Dahua’s 160,000 t/a ion membrane caustic soda plant put into operation Bluestar Silicones International (BSI)’s many downstream products put into trial productionHechi Chemical puts its new urea prilling tower into use

National standards for polyurethane revised by SAC/TC48 committee passes the review Beijing Rubber Design Institute opens two new business websitesGovernor of Jiangxi Province presents award to foreign expert Mr. Edward with Xinghuo Organic Silicone Plant

Northwest Institute receives another national patent of inventionDezhou Shihua Chemical makes remarkable progress in mercury removal from PVCLiming Research Institute’s engineering lab in Henan Province approved

Three Bluestar companies become the first state-level IP model enterprisesFirst "Aeolus Train" sets off to Europe

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ISSUE 76 EVENTS

January 2014 1

In the afternoon of November 26, 2013, four days after the explosion accident of Sinopec

in Q ingdao, ChemChina he ld a companywide teleconference on safety, involving the ChemChina leadership, heads of functional d e p a r t m e n t s , m e m b e r s o f ChemChina safety committee, SHE officers and managers and senior managers of SBUs and ChemChina companies.

ChemChina President Ren Jianxin took stock of the current safety

landscape of ChemChina, pointing out that many industrial accidents had occurred at ChemChina so far and the situation remained severe. Ren emphasized the priorities of the subsequent safety management efforts: the first is that all business managers are expected to stay alert to any potential safety hazards, identify the root causes of industrial accidents and ensure corrective measures are taken effectively and without compromise; the second is to examine all production plants,

material pipelines, domestic water supply pipelines and power lines and take corrective measures against any violation of safety rules and regulations; the third is to build up the culture of safety.

At the end o f the meet ing , Re n e m p h a s i z e d t h a t t a k i n g actions is essential to improving safety performance, requiring all participants to take immediate actions to identify and eliminate any potential safety hazards and to ensure occupational safety. ■

ChemChina holds an emergency teleconference on safety

ChemChina companies carry out ad-hoc safety inspection

Liu Bokai

In t h e w a k e o f C h e m C h i n a teleconference on safety, al l Ch e mCh i n a c ompa n i e s t o ok

immediate measures to improve safety performance through safety hazard identification and elimination, in the following ways:

● At 20:00 PM, November 27, 2013, Zhonghao Chenguang conducted an emergency response drill on serious leakage of hazardous substance to test the capabilities of its employees to respond to emergencies and the effectiveness of the contingency plan.

● ChemChina Petrochemica l Daqing developed eight specific approaches including solidifying the safety groundwork through effective operation of second-level safety

standards in order to address its bottlenecks in terms of onsite control, work permit, hazard identification and el imination and protection of operations in wintertime and emergency response capabilities. These measures were immediately taken on a plant-by-plant basis.

● Changyi Petrochemical did a companywide safety inspection, examining all plants and critical positions for potential safety hazards, including the operational status of equipment, insulation of pipelines and leakage, dripping and spillage of pipelines.

● Bluestar Machinery immediately examined all of its production plants for potential safety hazards and did

a fire safety training session and fire drill according to its emergency evacuation plan.

● H e c h i C h e m i c a l l o s t n o t ime to d i s t r i bu te a company plan to immediately identify and el iminate any potent ia l safety and environmental hazards to its employees. November 27-30, the company conducted a companywide safety inspection. Any identified problems must be eliminated within the period specified in the correction order and special ly designated persons are charged with follow-up - corrective measures.

● Sichuan Danchi conducted a fire drill, where a safety officer explained in detail to employees how to prevent fire, escape from fire scene, put out initial fire and use fire extinguishers. Employees practiced firefighting techniques using fire extinguishers and acquired knowledge.

● Bluestar Yima conducted a companywide safety campaign, with focus on prevention, hazard identification and elimination.

● Shenyang Chemical defined three requirements during its companywide safety inspection, i.e., full coverage of safety inspection, examination of any and all production plants, public utilities and auxiliary production facilities and correction of any and all identified safety hazards. ■

Yang Xuelian, Xing Jiwei, Liu Bin, Tang Anshu, Jiang Chunhua, Zhang Siquan, Fu Songli

January 2014 2

ISSUE 76 EVENTS

Belgian Ambassador visits ChemChina

On the morning of December 9, 2013, ChemChina Pres ident Ren J ianx in rece ived Belg ian

ambassador to China MICHEL MALHERBE and his colleagues. Ren introduced the business portfolio, go-global approach and business strategy of ChemChina. The Belgian ambassador spoke highly of the achievements made by ChemChina over the past years and described in detail the Belgian port of Antwerp and supporting chemical infrastructure, in the hopes of possible cooperation between the two sides. Ren thanked Belgian government for its support and recognition, vowing to explore the possibilities of mutually beneficial cooperation. ■

Photo by Zhu Erhao.

ChemChina contributes to the nation’s moon landing

Bluestar Xichang and Xinghuo Organic Silicone Plant contribute to China Lunar Exploration Program

Dec. 15, 2013, Yutu, China's first moon rover, and the lunar probe

Chang'e 3's lander managed to take pictures of each other. The national flag made of the special materials developed by North Paint & Coatings Industry Research and Design Institute lands on the moon. Flags made of ordinary materials can’t survive on the moon due to large temperature differences, strong space radiation, high vacuum and extreme weather conditions.

After nearly a year of research and experimentation, the institute was able to develop a special technical process and specially-synthesized resin and paints to overcome the

temperature gap and the impact from ultraviolet and other macromolecule rays. The flags were created using special coatings and processes that make them resistant to the moon’s lethal dosages of radiation and help them maintain their original color under extreme environment. The flag on the lander is 480mm long and 320mm wide, and the one on the Yutu is 190mm long and 128mm wide.

It is said that Bluestar (Xichang) Aerospace Chemical Co., Ltd and Guangming Chemical Research and Design Institute provided support for the successful launch of Chang'e 3 satellite, and ChemChina president Ren Jianxin extended a congratulatory message. ■

On December 2, 2013, Long March No. 3 B carrier rocket carrying

Chang’e 3 blast off at Xichang Satellite Launch Center. Chang’e 3 will be the first Chinese satellite to achieve soft landing on the moon and conduct a tour of investigation on the moon surface. Long March 3 B carrier rocket is a bundled carrier rocket using grade-3 liquid fuel, with conventional propellant used in its propeller and level-1 and level-2 propellant coming from Xinghuo Organic Silicone Plant, and level-3 propellant being low-temperature, high-energy liquid oxygen and hydrogen provided

by Bluestar (Xichang) Aerospace Chemical Co., Ltd. Being the most technically advanced and structurally sophisticated carrier rocket with the largest carrying capacity in present-day China, this model of rocket can take a 5-ton active payload into synchronous transfer orbit, representing the highest level of Chinese carrier rocket technology so far. Currently, the propellant products of Bluestar Xichang and Xinghuo Organic Silicone Plant always exceed the Chinese national and military standards in terms of quality. ■

Liuqi Limeng

January 2014 3

Three Bluestar companies become the first state-level IP model enterprises

Recently, the State Intellectual Property Office published the

l ist of the first group of state-level intellectual property model enterprises and leading companies, including China Bluestar (Group) Co., Ltd, Zhonghao Chenguang Chemical Research Institute and Southwest Research and Design Institute of Chemical Industry. The status is valid from December 2013 to November 2015.

Bluestar has always been making

full use of the governmental platform to benefit its member companies. In 2004, Bluestar became a pilot enterprise under Beijing Municipal Bureau of Intellectual Property’s IP program and was recognized as one of the first group of model enterprises by BMBIP and the pilot enterprise under the SIPO’s IP program two years later.

Z h o n g h a o C h e n g u a n g w a s recognized by S IPO as a state-level IP model enterprise in 2009 and become one of the first state-

level IP model enterprises after the review by Sichuan Provincial Bureau of Intellectual Property on behalf of SIPO in this April.

Southwest Research is a state-level IP leading enterprise (a pilot enterprise under the national IP program), a state-level innovation-driven pilot enterprise, a state-level high-tech enterprise and a model enterprise under Sichuan Provincial IP program. ■

On December 5, an opening c e r e m o n y w a s h e l d t o

inaugurate Long March Senior Middle School Class at Gulang County No. 1 Middle School under the auspices of Bluestar. This class is part of the nationwide educational assistance program conducted by China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation, and this sponsorship from Bluestar will provide 2000 Yuan of financial assistance to each of 50 poor students each year for a period of three years. This charitable initiative came after Bluestar donated financial resources to Gulang Sishui Primary School in support of construction of student dorms. ■

Photo by Ge Ning.

On Nov 23, 2013, the first “Aeolus” Zhengzhou-Europe International

Railway loaded with 41 containers of more than 10,000 Aeolus all-steel radial tires for heavy trucks pulled out of Zhengzhou railway station. It was the first train exclusively contracted by a company.

The t r a i n w i l l t r ave l 10 ,214 kilometers through five countries and past two customs points on the way to Hamburg, Germany. The whole trip will take 16 to 18 days.

Wang Feng, chairman of Aeolus, said

that the train will cut transportation time by 20 days and help dealers overseas reduce at least 50 percent of stock, greatly bringing down costs. It will also increase the competitiveness of the company in the European market.

Aeolus has set up a sales company in Germany and is actively communicating with its clients in peripheral areas like Eastern Europe, Russia and Ukraine to increase sales. The company will explore the Central Asian market as well as markets along other rail lines. ■

First "Aeolus Train" sets off to Europe

ISSUE 76 EVENTS

January 2014 4

Beijing Rubber Design Institute opens two new business websites

Governor of Jiangxi Province presents award to foreign expert Mr. Edward

with Xinghuo Organic Silicone Plant

Wang Zhengming

Du Yanqing

Hua Xuxiang, Zhao Lijun

An integrated rubber industry portal (www.rubbertire.com.

cn) and the official website of 2014 International Rubber Conference (IRC2014) (www.irc2014.org) were opened on November 20.

T h e i n t e g r a t e d r u b b e r industry portal comprises the contribution, retrieval and editing and examination systems of three publications of Rubber Industry, Tire Industry and Rubber Science and Technology. After registering with the website, authors may log into the website to check the status of their contributions at any time. IRC2014 website is used to

publish the information related to IRC2014, receive research papers online, register users and charge fees.

The integrated rubber industry portal’s multi-meeting system will help Chemical Industry and /Engineering Society China’s rubber committee and the editorial boards of these three publications with organization of related business meetings. Current and past publications, online subscription and fee-based download of individual research papers will become available later. ■

National standards for polyurethane revised by SAC/TC48 committee passes the review

Jiang Ning

Recent l y, e i gh t na t i ona l standards for polyurethane

prepared and rev iewed by Standardization Administration of China/Technical Committee on Plastics Polyurethane Plastics Subcommittee through Liming Institute successfully passed the review by an expert panel. M a n a g i n g d i r e c t o r o f t h e subcommittee Zhu Changchun b e l i e v e s t h a t t h e r a p i d development of polyurethane industry relies upon the guiding role of standards and greater e f for t s shou ld be made to develop and review national o r i n d u s t r y s t a n d a r d s f o r polyurethane as the government

policy on energy saving and e n v i r on m e n t a l p r o t e c t i o n is implemented, which wi l l surely play a driving role in the healthy, rapid and orderly d e v e l o p m e n t o f C h i n e s e polyurethane industry.

These eight national standards include toluene diisocyanate, the raw material for production of plastic polyurethane. Experts believe that the implementation of these eight national standards is important to regulating the raw materials analysis and market in Chinese polyurethane industry and facilitating the healthy and sound development of domestic polyurethane industry. ■

Re c e n t l y, J i a n g x i P r o v i n c i a l G o v e r n m e n t h e l d a n a w a r d

p re sen ta t i on ce remony o f 2013 , presenting Jiangxi Friendship Award to fifteen foreign experts in recognition of their outstanding contribution to the economic and social development of the province, including foreign safety expert with Xinghuo Organic Silicone Plant Mr. Edward, who received the award from the Governor of Jiangxi Province Lu Xinshe.

The award represents the highest recognition of foreign experts working

in Jiangxi, and these fifteen award winners came from the US, Japan, Canada, Australia, India and South Korea. Since assuming the role of safety director of Xinghuo Organic Silicone Plant, American expert Edward has been bringing state-of-the-art safety and environmental practices and management approaches to the plant, playing an important role in raising employee awareness of safety and environmental protection, increasing the safety and environmental performance of the plant and ensuring the successful operation of production plants and successful project implementation.

A t t h e c e r e m o n y, M r. E d w a r d delivered a speech on behalf of foreign award -w inner s , thank ing J i angx i Provincial Government for recognizing his efforts and for the opportunity to part ic ipate in the 200,000 t/a organic silicone plant expansion and renovation project as well as vowing to work towards helping Xinghuo Organic Silicone Plant become the world’s best organic silicone plant. ■

ISSUE 76 EVENTS

January 2014 5

Cangzhou Dahua’s 160,000 t/a ion membrane caustic soda plant put into operation

Bluestar Silicones International (BSI)’s many downstream products put into trial production

With the concerted efforts of Xinghuo Organic Silicone Plant,

BSI and project contractor, many shops of the 200,000 t/a organic silicone plant including sealant, crude rubber, rubber compound, emulsion and white carbon black shops were completed and put into trial production in succession. As of the end of October 2013, these shops produced a total of 19000 tons of various products, with sales revenue of 320 million Yuan. Meanwhile, this will play an important role in extending the organic silicone value chain, increasing the products’ added value and diversifying the product mix for the plant.

All production plants downstream of the 200,000 t/a organic silicone plant brought in BSI technology from the beginning to the end, which meet the latest international standard in terms of process optimization, equipment selection and control plan, safety performance and environmental compliance. In particular, in terms of safety control, the project brought in the best safety practice from abroad, established and refined a set of safety policies and implemented a safety management accountability system while strictly complying with the national standard for safety control of construction projects, with no single incident involving personal injury or equipment damage reported during

the project implementation and trial production. The plant has been operating sound and safe for more than 12.89 million hours.

With respect to project quality management, the plant works closely with BSI experts to exert rigorous control over the whole process from design, construction to installation, in an ef for t to reach a wor ld-class manufacturing level. After all production plants became ready for production, the project director met production preparation manager each day to coordinate and address any problems found in the production preparation process while conducting examination and verification on the system and familiarizing employees with the technological process as soon as practical, with BSI experts working side by side and providing technical guidance. Thanks to the concerted ef fort s o f Ch inese and fore ign employees, the commissioning process was successfully completed.

All products produced downstream of the plant will be included in t he g l oba l marke t i ng ne twork of Bluestar and sold through the p a r t n e r s h i p b e t w e e n B S I a n d Xinghuo Organic Si l icone Plant, which wi l l not only enable the plant’s downstream products to go global but also add another growth point to the plant. ■

Hechi Chemical puts its new urea prilling

tower into use

Jiang Chunhua

Xu Liqun

Du Yanqing

On N o v e m b e r 6 , 2 0 1 3 , Hech i Chemica l ’s u rea

factory #1 put its new urea prilling tower into operation, which is expected to generate considerable revenue with daily output of 700 to 900 tons of urea and estimated annual capacity of over 60,000 tons.

W i t h a t o t a l c a p i t a l investment of 9.2 million Yuan, this urea prilling tower is part o f the company’s energy-sav ing synthet ic ammonia and urea plant expansion and renovation project. Once put into operation, the tower will produce over 800 tons of urea, thoroughly resolve the problem of urea adhering to the tower, reduce the downt ime and produce urea characterized by improved appearance , uniform particle and reduced dust. Moreover, it is important to reducing labor intensity and costs , a l lev iat ing the burden of safety control and environmental protection and ensuring long-term, high-load stable operation. ■

At 20:30 PM, November 19, 2013, Cangzhou Dahua’s 160,000 t/a

ion membrane caustic soda plant was successfully commissioned at the first trial, producing in-spec caustic soda products. This represents a significant milestone in the company’s journey of business restructuring and product mix improvement.

with a total investment of 460 million Yuan and covering an area of 80500 square meters, this project was started on September 17, 2012 and the successful completion of this project represents another milestone after the company successfully commissioned its

50,000 t/a TDI plant in 2010, put into operation a new 60,000 t/a DNT plant in 2011 and successfully commissioned a 70,000 t/a TDI plant at the first trial in 2012, which not only achieved the company’s objective of rapid and cost-effective project implementation but also contributed to the company’s efforts to complete its product chain and pursue recycling economy.

As the global financial crisis plunged most of Chinese industrial entities into a dire of operational difficulties, Cangzhou Dahua fought through adversities and implemented its go-east strategy aggressively, thereby

building a TDI-focused modern business conglomerate with complete supporting facilities, a high degree of industrial relevancy and effect of recycling economy in Bohai Chemical Industrial Park within several years. In particular, the 1.2 billion Yuan-worth 70,000 t/a TDI plant that was put into operation on May 16, 2012 allowed the company to achieve total TDI output of 150,000 tons, thus becoming the largest TDI producer in China. This 160,000 t/a ion membrane caustic soda plant, once put into operation, will provide a more stable supply of raw materials to TDI industry. ■

ISSUE 76 PROJECT

January 2014 6

Northwest Institute receives another national patent of invention

Northwest Inst i tute received another nat iona l patent o f

invention for its benzene-free, low-toxicity, f lame-retardant, non-explosive and strippable electroplated protective coating after it received a nat ional patent of invent ion for polyurethane water-swelling elastomer sealant in June 2013.

This coating is used for temporary a n d l o c a l p r o t e c t i o n u n d e r various conditions including local electroplating, anodizing, chemical milling and application, a new product developed by the institute based on the T-8709 and T-2 strippable protective coatings. This coating is

based on new-type high-molecule material and supported by nano-filler and special-purpose auxiliaries, employs advanced manufacturing technology, boasts superior overall performance and can solidify at the room temperature within a short timeframe, with a range of characteristics such as high strength, high elasticity, even and moderate adhesion to various metal substrate, ease of stripping, resistance to acid, alkali and oxidant and even and consistent film coating. Meanwhile, it is highly stable, does not precipitate and has a long shelf life, a wide range of applications and ease of use. It

is suitable for temporary protection under various conditions and can be used in a wide range of applications. In addition, this new-type protective coating enjoys an annual market demand of over 5,000 tons at home.

Currently, other homemade products are mostly of low-quality, highly toxic, flammable and explosive and can not meet the existing technological and environmental requirements, forcing users to rely upon import from Japan and Taiwan. This new-type strippable protective coating can be used in place of imported products and will generate considerable social and economic benefits. ■

ISSUE 76 TECHNOLOGY

Li Shuanmei, Liao Xiaodong

Liming Research Institute’s engineering lab in Henan Province approved

Liming Research Inst i tute’s po lyurethane e lastomer engineering lab was recognized by Henan Provincial

Development and Reform Commission as a high-tech industry development project as well as provincial-level engineering lab.

This lab involves total investment of 4.6 million Yuan and will be built in place within two years. The construction of this lab involves construction of research and experimentation platforms for polyols oligomer synthesis and test, high-function polyurethane elastomer synthesis and physical property assessment and specialty prepolymer synthesis, procurement of near infrared detector, synthesis reactor, fatigue tester and other R&D and experimental equipment to improve the existing R&D facilities and conditions.

After the lab is built in place, the next steps are to build high-performance polyurethane elastomer material research and development platform, develop such critical technologies as high-performance elastomer raw material, high-function elastomer material and specialty elastomer synthesis, improve the indigenous innovation capabilities of the industry and provide technical support for development of related industries, in light of the pressing need of aerospace, marine industry and auto industries for high-performance materials, with a view to overcoming such critical technical bottlenecks as synthesis of high-function polyurethane elastomer materials, synthesis of low-pollution, energy-efficient and high-performance specialty prepolymer and processing of high-precision elastomer products. ■

Dezhou Shihua Chemical makes remarkable progress in mercury

removal from PVCWang Genhang, Li Dongying Jiang Ning

Recently, a 2,000-5,000 t/a pilot plant using new technology of generation of chloroethylene

through mercury-free catalytic reforming process jointly developed by Dezhou Shihua Chemical and Shanghai Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences was successfully put into operation, with all experimental data being highly desirable. The analysis of the resulting products indicates high content of high-quality chloroethylene with low level of impurity and water content, meaning all products can be used in production of PVC in the production system.

This plant produces chloroethylene through mercury-free catalytic reforming of acetylene and dichloroethane. The benefits of this project lie in the use of mercury-free catalyst for thorough elimination of mercury pollution in PVC industry and reduced carbon emissions, reduction of consumption of calcium carbide by half, cost reduction of nearly 1,000 Yuan per ton of resin products and improved product quality.

Low-mercury or mercury-free production practice has become a top priority in calcium carbide-based PVC industry. Leading officials of many government departments including the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Ministry of Industry and Information Technology visited Shihua to learn more about this project, expecting the company to commercialize this technology to benefit the whole society. ■

January 2014 7

Chinese and foreign employees celebrate Christmas and New Year

Amid the festive atmosphere of drumbeats, lion dancing, jubilant

dancing steps, pleasurable song and Santa Claus busy distributing gifts, a Christmas gala was held for foreign employees a t X inghuo Organ ic Silicone Plant and Adisseo Nanjing, where all participants got together and ringed out the last year and

ringed in the new one. Highlights occurred in succession and applauses continued like a stream when a series of games including l itt le partners, beating gong with blinded eyes and gang-up took the stage, with people of different colors and speaking different languages immersed in a sea of laughter. ■

ISSUE 76 CORPORATE CULTURE

Dance, everybody Gang up

Beating the gong with blinded eyes

I learn lion dancingWho can blow the balloon bigger

and faster

Happy like a child

January 2014 8

ChemChina trains young managers in

Beijing

Between November 28, 2013 and December 2, 2013,86

young managers of ChemChina gathered in Beijing for a six-day training session.

The six-day training session benef i ted the tra inees with inspiring lectures.

Trainees engaged in in-depth exchange during the s ix-day training session.

During the six-day training session, trainees demonstrated a s e r i ou s a t t i t ude t owa rd s professional growth.

The knowledge-packed six-day training session ended before trainees even noticed it, but every highlight will leave lasting impression on the mind of each tra inee part ic ipat ing in the second training session for young managers of ChemChina. ■

ISSUE 76 CORPORATE CULTURE

The icebreaker before the team activity electrified every team member.

Trainees are asking the trainer about how to better cope with crises.

The hands-on training on lean production allows trainees to realize that they have a long way to go to catch up the latest idea of clean production.

Tr a i n e e s i n t e r a c t w i t h t h e trainer during the training session on improvement of profess ional competency.

Active exchange of ideas and thoughts during the break.

English proficiency test: making sentences out of given words. Can you see it through?

Shi Yonggang