Shells fourth linear alpha olefins unit progresses towards start-up later this year

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shell Chemical LP (Shell) is making good progress on the main construction of its fourth linear alpha olefins (AO) unit at its chemicals manufacturing site in Geismar, Louisiana, USA, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The 425 Mtpy capacity increase will make Shell’s Geismar site the largest AO producer in the world. "This is one of Shell’s largest chemicals investments in the USA,” said Graham van’t Hoff, Executive Vice President for Royal Dutch Shell plc’s global Chemicals business. "We are on track to begin commercial production by the end of 2018, enabling Shell to remain an important economic engine for this region."

Shell started main site construction in January 2016, after taking a final investment decision in November 2015, and has safely placed large process equipment like reactors, columns and vessels, and pre-assembled modules that will form the core of the new AO unit at Geismar.

Shell has completed building a cooling tower for the new AO unit, and two new storage areas, one for rail and one for the AO unit’s high-purity butene. Construction continues to progress well towards start-up later this year, with the focus on electrical and instrumentation activities, and starting commissioning of certain systems as they reach mechanical completion.

The project hit a peak of 2,000 construction workers in December last year, and the total number of permanent employees will increase to around 700 when completed.

Shell will supply advantaged ethylene feedstock from the nearby Norco and Deer Park sites. The new unit will be based on Shell’s advantaged technology, known as the Shell Higher Olefins Process (SHOP) technology that has been successfully used by Shell since the 1970s.

Shell’s integrated operations on the US Gulf Coast enable global reach for the products produced at Geismar, supplying petrochemicals to regional and international customers.

The chemicals produced at Shell Geismar, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in October 2017, are used in the production of stronger and lighter polyethylene plastic for packaging and bottles, as well as engine and industrial oils and drilling fluids.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Porvair Filtration Group, has acquired Keystone Filter, a division of CECO Environmental Corp (CECO), as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The Company has acquired the goodwill, business and trading assets of Keystone for cash. Keystone designs and manufactures a range of filter cartridges and housings for the food and beverage, drinking water, and chemical process markets in the USA.

Keystone designs and manufactures a range of filter cartridges and housings for the food and beverage, drinking water, and chemical process markets in the USA.

Keystone designs and manufactures a range of filter cartridges and housings for the food and beverage, drinking water, and chemical process markets in the USA.

Keystone reported revenue of approximately USD4 million in the year ended 31 December 2017. As part of this acquisition, the Group has entered into a transition services agreement with CECO to transfer the business to its plant in Ashland, Virginia, over the next few months.

Ben Stocks, Chief Executive of Porvair plc, said: "The acquisition of Keystone increases [our] presence in the US, broadening [our] markets and providing a range of cross selling opportunities. Keystone brings sales expertise, distribution and a broad customer base for whom Porvair's wider product range will be attractive."
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- The chemical industry has long been exploring various ways of turning the carbon dioxide gas (CO2) into a useful raw material that can replace fossil feedstock and reduce the industry’s carbon footprint, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Developing this technology is especially important for the plastics industry as most plastic is made from petroleum.

The CO2 gas has one thing in common with petroleum: it contains the element carbon, a central building block for the chemical industry, and, unlike petroleum, it is an abundant raw material. Covestro has been working with partners from industry and academia on a number of projects to capture CO2 and use it to replace petroleum.

The technology they have developed allows to use CO2 to produce a polyol, the main component of polyurethane foam, which is used almost everywhere - from furniture to building insulation. The foam manufactured from this CO2-based polyol will initially be used in the production of mattresses but could potentially find its way into other applications.
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MOSCOW (MRC) – The Engineering Division of The Linde Group (Linde) and Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation (MCC) have concluded a definitive agreement for the transfer of MCC’s Hydrodealkylation (HDA) technology to Linde, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

For more than 45 years, MCC’s cutting-edge HDA process has been deployed and successfully operated in a number of commercial plants. During the signing ceremony: Yoshitaka Arakawa, Senior Associate Director, Division General Manager, Basic Petrochemicals Divison, MCC (left) and John van der Velden, Managing Director, Linde Engineering Division (right).

During the signing ceremony: Yoshitaka Arakawa, Senior Associate Director, Division General Manager, Basic Petrochemicals Divison, MCC (left) and John van der Velden, Managing Director, Linde Engineering Division (right).

The HDA technology mainly converts toluene and other aromatic components into high purity benzene. This can be leveraged for maximizing the overall benzene yield in olefin plants, e.g. steam crackers.

In addition, HDA technology can also be implemented for a variety of refinery applications. Benzene is one of the most widely used chemicals involved in the manufacturing of daily use products such as detergents, plastic and rubber.

"We are very excited about MCC having given us the opportunity to further expand our portfolio adjacent to the steam cracker technology. MCC’s HDA technology will facilitate our world-class go-to-market licensing strategy. Our primary objective is to provide optimized and highly integrated HDA applications to the petrochemicals industry for both revamps or expansions at existing ethylene plants as well as for new world-scale petrochemical complexes," said John van der Velden, Managing Director, Linde Engineering Division.

"MHC process is old HDA technology, has a history of commercial operation more than 40 years. I sincerely hope that this technology transfer will create new added value soon by integrating with Linde's excellent steam cracker technology," said Yoshitaka Arakawa, Senior Associate Director, Division General Manager, Basic Petrochemicals Division, MCC.

The technology transfer to Linde is expected to be completed by June this year. Based on Linde’s longstanding and leading expertise in olefin plant design, engineering and construction, Linde now offers HDA technology solutions with best in class economic performance.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Publicly-listed oil and gas firm PT Energi Mega Persada (EMP) is seeking to diversify its business by developing two purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plants worth USD 600 million this year, according to GV.

The new facilities will have a combined production capacity of 1.6 million t/y of PTA.

EMP, through its subsidiary PT Energi Mega PTA, signed a memorandum of agreement with China’s Reignwood International Investment Group on 3 Feb., through which the former will acquire the latter’s future PTA plants in an unspecified location under an engineering, procurement and construction contract.

Reignwood currently operates two PTA facilities with an overall capacity of 2.1 million t/y in China and has another two PTA projects on the pipeline.

"The company (EMP) is taking a chance to diversify by penetrating the petrochemical business industry, which has been growing with a more stable cash flow (compared to the oil and gas industry)," said EMP president director Imam P. Agustino.

EMP expected to secure loans with low-interest rates from several Chinese lenders to finance the acquisition of the two facilities this year, he added.
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