Sakai cracker to be shut by Mitsui

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mitsui Chemicals is likely to take its naphtha-fed steam cracker off-stream for a maintenance turnaround, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in Japan informed that the plant is likely to be taken off-line for turnaround in mid-June 2018. It is slated to remain under maintenance until end-July 2018.

Located in Sakai, Japan, the cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 500,000 mt/year and propylene production capacity of 280,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote before, in March 2016, Mitsui & Co., Ltd. and Hankuk Carbon Co., a company listed on the Korea Exchange, entered into a strategic alliance agreement to engage in collaborative business activities relating to the processing of composite materials.

Mitsui Chemicals is a leading manufacturer and supplier of value added specialty chemicals, plastics and materials for the automotive, healthcare, packaging, agricultural, building, and semiconductor and electronics markets. Mitsui Chemicals is a Japanese Chemicals company, a part of the Mitsui conglomerate. The company has a turnover of around 15 billion USD and has business interests in Japan, Europe, China, Southeast Asia and the USA. The company mainly deals in performance materials, petro and basic chemicals and functional polymeric materials.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Air Liquide recently started the world’s largest oxygen production unit for Sasol, an international integrated energy and chemicals company. Air Liquide invested around EUR200 million1 for the construction of this Air Separation Unit (ASU) in Secunda, with a total production capacity of 5,000 tonnes of oxygen per day (equivalent to 5,800 tonnes per day at sea level), as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Owned and operated by Air Liquide, it is the first ASU that Sasol has chosen to outsource to a specialist of industrial gas production at this site. Located in Sasol’s Secunda site (around 140 km East of Johannesburg), the new ASU supplies Sasol with large quantities of oxygen used for production of fuels and chemicals.

The start-up of the air separation unit represents a new milestone in the partnership between Air Liquide and Sasol which brings to 17 the number of ASU’s delivered by Air Liquide over the last 40 years, with a total oxygen production capacity greater than 45,000 tonnes per day. It is also the first time ever at Secunda, that Sasol has chosen to outsource an oxygen supply contract, thus recognizing Air Liquide’s expertise in the field of oxygen production and underscoring the importance of this long-term relationship.

The unit was designed and built by Air Liquide’s Engineering & Construction team using leading edge technologies that meet the highest standards of safety, reliability and efficiency, while increasing production capacity. The ASU's design is based on Air Liquide’s proprietary technologies including several first of its kind innovations in the air compression process, which allow for an annual electricity consumption reduction of more than 20%, contributing to reducing the customer’s carbon footprint.

As scheduled, the new ASU has been completed in less than three years from design to commissioning. This ASU also provides Air Liquide with a new source of liquid gases to supply the growing industrial gas market in South Africa.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) – Chevron Lummus Global (CLG) today announced it has been selected for a Master Plan Study by MOL Group headquartered in Budapest, Hungary, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The study will assist MOL in its long-term strategy to gradually increase the share of non-motor fuel products to above 50 percent by 2030 through carefully selected investment projects primarily focused on the petrochemical and chemical value chains.

“CLG is honored to partner with MOL Group for this Master Plan Study,” said Leon de Bruyn, Managing Director of CLG. “CLG and CB&I’s complete refining and petrochemicals technology portfolio coupled with our highly experienced process planning expertise offers valuable insight to MOL for its long-term strategy."

This award strengthens the long-standing relationship between CLG and MOL Group. CLG previously revamped a HDS unit into a mild hydrocracker at MOL’s Danube refinery, licensed a hydrocracker unit at its Rijeka refinery and licensed a LC-FINING unit at the MOL-Slovnaft refinery in Bratislava.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Many uncertainties exist concerning the future of energy demand and supply, including potential actions that societies may take to address the risks of climate change, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The analysis featured here is intended to provide a perspective on hypothetical 2 degree C scenarios.

Considerable work has been done in the scientific community to explore energy transformation pathways. A recent multi-model study coordinated by the Energy Modeling Forum at Stanford University (EMF 27) brought together many energy economic models to assess technology and policy pathways associated with various climate stabilization targets (e.g., 450, 550 ppm CO2 equivalent or CO2e), partially in support of the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The chart to the right illustrates potential CO2 emission trajectories under EMF 27 full technology scenarios targeting a 2°C pathway (Assessed 2°C Scenarios) relative to the 2018 Outlook, and baseline pathways (Assessed Baseline Scenarios) with essentially no policy evolution beyond 2010. The 2018 Outlook incorporates significant efficiency gains and changes in the energy mix, resulting in a projected CO2 emissions trajectory that resides between the pathways illustrated by the baseline and 2°C scenarios.

A key characteristic of the Assessed 2°C Scenarios is that energy-related CO2 emissions go to zero, or potentially negative, by the end of the century.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- CB&I has announced it has received a letter of award from Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), the national oil company of United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the parent company of ADNOC Refining, to build a Crude Flexibility Project (CFP) valued at more than USD500 million in Ruwais, UAE, as per NBC-2.

CB&I is part of a joint venture led by Samsung Engineering Co., Ltd., that will execute the USD3.1 billion CFP, which will upgrade the Ruwais Refinery to process heavier offshore crude oil from Upper Zakum fields. CB&I's scope of work includes the engineering and procurement for two atmospheric residue desulfurization units, which were previously licensed by Chevron Lummus Global, a joint venture between Chevron U.S.A. Inc. and CB&I. Additionally, CB&I's scope of work includes the engineering, procurement, fabrication and construction for 14 flat-bottom tanks and ten process heaters. Approximately 40 percent of the value of the project is expected to be spent in the UAE supply chain.

"This award builds on CB&I's proven experience in the refining industry," said Patrick K. Mullen, CB&I's President and Chief Executive Officer. "CB&I and Samsung have a history of successful collaboration and safe execution, and we look forward to working with ADNOC Refining to supply these units that will reduce sulfur, enhancing the ability of Ruwais petroleum products to compete on the world market while meeting stringent international environmental regulations."

As MRC informed before, in March 2017, Clariant, a world leader in specialty chemicals, announced that it had been awarded a contract by Dongguan Grand Resource Science & Technology Co. Ltd. to develop a new propane dehydrogenation unit in cooperation with CB&I. The project includes the license and engineering design of the unit, which is to be built in Dongguan City, Guangdong Province, China.

CB&I is a leading provider of technology and infrastructure for the energy industry. With more than 125 years of experience, CB&I provides reliable solutions to our customers around the world while maintaining a relentless focus on safety and an uncompromising standard of quality.
MRC