Clariant and Shanghai Huaxi form alliance for new hydrogen production projects

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Clariant, a world leader in specialty chemicals, and Shanghai Huaxi Chemical Industry Science & Technology Co. have formed a strategic partnership for hydrogen production projects in China, using Shanghai Huaxi's medium temperature shift (MTS) technology, as per Apic-online.

According to the agreement, Clariant's catalysts will be qualified and recommended for Shanghai Huaxi's MTS process licenses. Clariant will provide its ReforMax series catalysts for the reforming process, its HDMax series catalysts for the hydrodesulfurization of the feed stream, and its ShiftMax 300 catalyst for the water gas shift process.

"The deal combines Shanghai Huaxi's advanced process technology with Clariant's state-of-the-art catalysts to provide a highly efficient and economical solution for hydrogen producers," the companies said.

Shanghai Huaxi's hydrogen production technology increases production rate per unit of raw feedstock, while decreasing overall energy consumption. It also reduces manufacturing and equipment costs by simplifying MTS inlet temperature control and waste heat boiler design.

As MRC wrote previously, in March 2017, Clariant 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.

Clariant AG is a Swiss chemical company and a world leader in the production of specialty chemicals for the textile, printing, mining and metallurgical industries. It is engaged in processing crude oil products in pigments, plastics and paints. Clariant India has local masterbatch production activities at Rania, Kalol and Nandesari (Gujarat) and Vashere (Maharashtra) sites in India.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- North Sea Brent crude oil spot prices averaged $69 per barrel (b) in January, an increase of USD5/b from the December level, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Monthly average Brent prices have increased for seven consecutive months, and, on January 11, spot prices moved higher than USD70/b for the first time since December 2014. EIA forecasts Brent spot prices will average about USD62/b in both 2018 and 2019 compared with an average of USD54/b in 2017.

EIA expects West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil prices to average USD4/b lower than Brent prices in both 2018 and 2019. NYMEX WTI contract values for May 2018 delivery traded during the five-day period ending February 1, 2018, suggest a range of USD55/b to USD77/b encompasses the market expectation for May 2018 WTI prices at the 95% confidence level.

EIA estimates that U.S. crude oil production averaged 10.2 million barrels per day (b/d) in January, up 100,000 b/d from the December level. EIA estimates that total U.S. crude oil production averaged 9.3 million b/d in 2017 and will average 10.6 million b/d in 2018, which would mark the highest annual average U.S. crude oil production level, surpassing the previous record of 9.6 million b/d set in 1970. EIA forecasts that 2019 crude oil production will average 11.2 million b/d.

EIA estimates that global petroleum and other liquid fuels inventories declined by 0.5 million b/d in 2017. In this forecast, global inventories grow by about 0.2 million b/d in both 2018 and 2019.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Brazil’s state-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA has held "positive" talks with a potential partner for the construction of a new refining unit in Rio de Janeiro state, reported Reuters with reference to the company’s Chief Executive Officer Pedro Parente.

Parente told reporters during a meeting in Rio that Petrobras, as the company is known, expects to choose the partner for the project in about three months. It will be the first time the firm will work with an investor in a refining complex in Brazil.

As MRC wrote before, in late December 2016m, Petrobras said its board had approved the sale of two petrochemical companies, Petroquimica Suape and Citepe, to Mexico's Alpek SAB de CV for USD385 million.

Headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Petrobras is an integrated energy firm. Petrobras' activities include exploration, exploitation and production of oil from reservoir wells, shale and other rocks as well as refining, processing, trade and transport of oil and oil products, natural gas and other fluid hydrocarbons, in addition to other energy-related activities.
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MOSCOW (MRC) – Honeywell announced the launch of its first industrial cyber security center of excellence (COE) at its Middle East headquarters in Dubai, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The new COE is a pioneering technology center with a safe off-process environment to test and demonstrate process control network vulnerabilities and threats, train customers with real-time attack simulations and provide advanced customer consultations.

Honeywell's first industrial cyber security center of excellence (COE) at its Middle East headquarters in Dubai.
The COE further demonstrates Honeywell’s commitment to address the industrial cyber security needs of customers in the Middle East region by leveraging globally proven expertise, technology and solutions. This investment comes in support of regional government initiatives such as the Dubai Cyber Security Strategy, aiming to strengthen cyber security defenses amidst growing digital transformation across industries. The new center will support a rapidly developing Middle East cyber security market.

“This COE is the first of its kind dedicated to developing world-class industrial cyber security expertise for our customers in the region,” said Jeff Zindel, vice president and general manager, Honeywell Industrial Cyber Security. “It provides a safe, real-world environment to learn in, allowing us to innovate and augment industrial cyber security skills. The center is also a critical part of Honeywell’s network of global Cyber Security COEs dedicated to improving industrial cyber security for critical infrastructure, information technology and operational technology (IT/OT) convergence and digital transformation."

The center contains distributed control systems, a physical plant process and the latest industrial cyber security software and solutions. It includes data analytics and networking equipment capable of supporting unique training sessions, demonstrations, workshops, and cyber-attack simulations. The facility is led by a full-time operations team with deep industrial cyber security expertise and operational technology knowledge fundamental to help customers stay ahead of cyber threats.

"As threats to industrial control environments become more sophisticated, it will be crucial to train the workforce of the industry for effective cyber security implementation,” said Safdar Akhtar, business development director of Industrial Cyber Security for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Honeywell Process Solutions. “At the center, we are able to demonstrate cyber security solutions and controls in attack scenarios to show which of them are most effective at combatting various attacks."

The center was inaugurated by Jeff Zindel during a launch event that showcased the solutions within the COE, followed by a demonstration of real-time cyber-attack scenarios and the effectiveness of advanced cyber security controls.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Austrian elastomer injection moulding machinery maker Maplan is well on the way to opening a new EUR4.5m product assembly hall, part of a plant expansion project at Malacky in Slovakia, as per Plasticsnewseurope.

A formal hall topping-out ceremony was staged at the site, north of the Slovak capital Bratislava, this week and Kottingbrunn, Austria-based Maplan is due to open the plant extension at the end of March.

Since 2015, the machinery supplier has been manufacturing control cabinets at Malacky industrial park and currently employs a Slovakia workforce of around 20 at the plant.

Maplan intends to extend pre-production work at the 30,000m2 Slovak site and to start component assembly. From April 2018, it plans to begin the production of metal parts and prefabricated hydraulics as well as turning out assemblies.

Construction of the EUR20m Malacky expansion, where Maplan plans to create another 50 jobs, began last August. The company already has a 3,500m2 workshop and a 400m2 office building on the site where Maplan has potential for further growth.

Malacky site was originally chosen for its ideal location in respect of local infrastructure and situation between Bratislava and Vienna.

Components and assemblies already pre manufactured at Malacky plant were destined to prime machinery production for the Asian market launched at a Maplan plant in China from last September.

That was when Maplan launched production at its new 4,000m2 plant in Wujin near Shanghai, China. Two main machine types: vertical machines of 250 tonnes and up to 400 tonnes were initially manufactured at the facility as the new Asian offshoot took immediate orders for five machines for 2018, Maplan said last year.

The new operation, launched to enable Maplan to offer European quality alongside the region’s service and speedy delivery, has an annual capacity of 200 machines per year.

In 2016, Maplan inaugurated a production plant at its brand new group headquarters site in Kottingbrunn, Austria after moving work from nearby at Ternitz. Last year, the group reported a switch from individual manufacturing to line production in the new plant has enabled it to double annual production capacity to over 500 machines and to reduce throughput times by almost a third.
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