Singapore is geographically a good location to serve the Middle East and whats going on with refinery development over there, Loven told Lube Report. Also, we service the whole range – anything thats a downstream additive, including ethylene oxide, propylene oxide plants, vinyl chloride, PVC plants. We serve all that business, not just the lube additives business.

Component Additives
In April, Dorf Ketal acquired ExxonMobil Chemicals component additives business, hoping to capitalize on the long-term potential for growth in the specialty chemicals market. On April 4, ExxonMobil Chemical began to transfer its sales, marketing and product representation, manufacturing, inventory ownership and replenishment, customer service and order fulfillment and technical support for the component additives business to Dorf Ketal. The companies formed a business transition team and planned to implement the transition in stages over several months.

ExxonMobil Chemical made the component additives at its plant in Edison, N.J., and in April said that it planned to continue to make them there until Dorf Ketal had successfully demonstrated its own manufacturing.

Loven on Thursday said Dorf Ketal was in the midst of domesticating the manufacturing of the component additives to its main plant in India. That transition is expected to be completed by April or at the latest by May, depending on the product, he said.

Main Facility Expansions
Due to the acquisition of ExxonMobil Chemicals component additives business, Dorf Ketal is installing new equipment in the Taloja facility near Mumbai, India, to increase capacity by 8,000 metric tons per year. The Taloja facility houses Dorf Ketals R&D facility, pilot plant and is the main center for petroleum process chemicals production.

New infrastructure under construction will support a hydrogen reformer. An updated effluent treatment plant and quality control labs are under construction.

Ongoing additions include an antioxidant unit for manufacturing of chemicals used in the polyurethane, water treatment, optical and fine chemical industries. Ethoxylation capacity will grow 5,000 mt/y to cater to increased demulsifier demand. The company has commissioned a loop reactor for high pressure and highly exothermic reactions for specialty chemicals.

Jamnagar, India
Taking advantage of an Indian government-established Special Economic Zone, Dorf Ketal has acquired 10 hectares of land in Jamnagar, India. Announced in early 2000, the zones were created to spur economic growth and quality infrastructure in rural India by offering favorable trade and fiscal incentives to corporations.

The real excitement is about the new SEZ at Jamnagar, where Reliance is putting up a huge refinery, their biggest refinery in India, Loven said. We acquired land there, are putting another plant there so weve got some redundancy in the plants, and well be close to one of our biggest customers.

South America
To meet growing needs in Brazil and Argentina, Dorf Ketal has purchased two hectares of land in Bahia, Brazil for installation of a new 3,000 mt/y batch facility that will produce additives to serve the lubricant, fuel and adhesive industries.

Passenger car motor oils and industrial lubricants are driving demand in Brazil and Argentina, according to Loven. In Brazil, you have the biggest ethanol industry in the world because of all the ethanol-fueled vehicles, which require a little bit different lubricant technology, he said.

Loven explained Dorf Ketal has an advantage in terms of its broad range of experience in India, where a wide variety of products are used as fuel for vehicles, including ethanol, kerosene, diesel and gasoline.