Solvay raises structural adhesives capacity with new automated UK plant

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Solvay has inaugurated its state-of-the-art manufacturing center for aerospace structural adhesives and surfacing films in Wrexham, United Kingdom, as per the company's press release.

Together with the existing plant in Havre De Grace, United States, this investment broadens Solvay’s footprint and strengthens its leadership position in this growing and demanding global market.

The center is purpose-built and automated, supported by robotic and digital systems. This step-change in the manufacturing process optimizes the production and supply chain security of aerospace structural adhesives, surfacing films and lightning strike protection for composite structures.

"Solvay’s new center, equipped with cutting edge technologies, industrializes our manufacturing capabilities of structural adhesive and surfacing materials. It provides the quality and reliability our global aerospace customers need to meet the increasing rates of their aircraft programs and support their production system," said Carmelo Lo Faro, head of Solvay’s Composite Materials Global Business Unit.


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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Great Britain plans to introduce a plastics tax on all packaging that does not include at least 30 per cent recycled material, as per Canplastics.

As announced by UK finance minister Philip Hammond, the measure will be introduced in April 2022 and is an attempt to reduce waste and help tackle climate change.

The announcement was part of Hammond’s annual budget.

The tax aims to "transform the economics of sustainable packaging," Hammond said, and posit the UK as "as a world leader" in tackling the scourge of plastic littering across the world and its oceans.

Under the new proposal, which will now go out for consultation, plastic packaging that contains at least 30 per cent recycled material will be exempt from the tax. The size of the levy has not yet been determined.

"Where we cannot achieve re-use, we are determined to increase recycling so we will introduce a new tax on the manufacture and import of plastic packaging which contains less than 30 percent recycled plastic," Hammond said in his speech.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Global trader Trafigura has applied for a license for its downstream arm Puma Energy to start retail sales of gasoline and gasoil in India, an oil ministry spokesman and Trafigura said, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Global oil majors including BP, Total and Saudi Aramco want to enter India's fuel retail market, attracted by growing demand for gasoil and gasoline in the world's fastest growing major economy.

"A license has been applied for on behalf of Puma Energy, a downstream distribution company in which Trafigura is the largest shareholder, and that application is still pending," Trafigura said in an email.

Puma Energy, in which Trafigura has a 49.6 percent stake, operates in 49 countries. Last year it expanded into Pakistan by buying a stake in a fuel retail network.

According to Indian rules, a company can get marketing rights for transport fuels if it has invested or proposes to invest 20 billion rupees (USD272 million) in the country's oil and gas sector over a 10 year period. Last year, a consortium led by Russia's state-controlled Rosneft and including Trafigura and Russian fund UCP paid about USD13 billion to buy 98.26 percent of India's Essar Oil, now known as Nayara Energy Ltd.

Nayara operates a 400,000 barrels per day oil refinery at Vadinar in western Gujarat state and controls 4,756 fuel stations in India. Trafigura, which has about a 24.5 percent stake in Nayara, applied for a fuel retail license for Puma Energy about two months ago, an oil ministry source said.

The payment made by Trafigura for the Essar Oil stake cannot be considered an investment in India's oil and gas sector, this source said. An Indian oil ministry spokesman said the government was examining Trafigura's request for a retail sales license.

"It is being examined and some information has been sought on their investment plans in the country's oil and gas sector. Once they reply, it will be looked into," the spokesman said.

The oil ministry source, however, said it would not be difficult for Trafigura to get the license, as Nayara has plans to expand its Vadinar refinery, set up a petchem plant and increase its number of fuel retail stations to 7,000 in three years.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- ABB has won an order from JG Summit Petrochemical Corporation, a subsidiary of JG Summit Holdings, Inc., to supply electrical and process power management systems for its petrochemical expansion project, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The project will increase cracker production of ethylene by 50% to 480,000 tpa and propylene by 26% to 240,000 tpa. The new bimodal polyethylene plant will reach a capacity of 250,000 tpa and the capacity of the existing polypropylene plant will be upgraded to 300,000 tpa from current 190,000 tpa.

ABB will design, engineer, manufacture, and supply a complete plant electrification system for the proposed expansion. The scope of supply includes 69kV high voltage air-insulated switchgear, UniGear medium-voltage switchgear, MNS low-voltage switchgear, power and distribution transformers, a capacitor bank, soft starter, IS-limiters and a process power management system. This software-based solution seamlessly integrates with ABB AbilityTM 800xA process and electrical control systems to ensure a reliable and stable electricity supply.

"It’s great news that JG Summit Petrochemical has chosen ABB as its partner for this important project," said Zeng Tao, ABB’s Singapore Hub Business Unit Manager. "Our extensive experience in global deliveries for petrochemical plants will hold us in good stead to deliver a robust and reliable solution for this plant."

The expansion will require a sophisticated electrical network solution due to the inter-meshing of power systems from the existing plant and the new extension. This creates a higher risk for high short-circuit currents. ABB’s IS-limiters, an advanced fault current limiter solution, is being introduced to provide effective protection and limit the fault currents during the first rise within less than a quarter cycle.

To further increase the reliability and efficiency of the plant, ABB’s process power management system, using ABB AbilityTM 800xA, is being implemented to provide control and monitoring of the complete electrical network. Its inherent predictive and intelligent multi-layer fast load shedding application provides prevention against power disruption, ensuring a stable power source.
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MOSCOW (MRC) - The Philippines has short-listed three different groups to build and operate its first liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal and hopes to nominate one by November, said Reuters.

Short-listed companies were chosen from 18 groups that submitted proposals for the project, Alfonso Cusi told Reuters on the sidelines of the Singapore International Energy Week. They include state-owned Philippines National Oil Company (PNOC), which is seeking a partner for the project, Cusi said, while Tokyo Gas has partnered with the Philippines' First Gen Corp.

China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) is also in the running, although it has yet to firm up a local partner, Cusi said. CNOOC has been in talks with the Philippines' Phoenix Petroleum as a partner, he added. "Hopefully we can have a conclusion on which proposal to accept by the end of November," Cusi said.

The Philippines is expected to start importing LNG to feed gas-fired power plants in Batangas province, south of the capital Manila, as domestic gas supplies from its Malampaya field are set to run out in 2024. Besides meeting local demand, the Philippines also hopes the terminal would become an LNG trading hub for the region, Cusi said.

"We are already the de-facto transhipment port for LNG to China," Cusi said, adding that large cargoes are often broken up into smaller parcels for deliveries to China via ship-to-ship transfers off the Philippines. "We should institutionalize this before someone else does."

PNOC last week formally announced it was seeking a joint-venture partner to design, build, finance, operate and maintain an LNG hub in Batangas Bay, near the gas-fired power plants supplying electricity to the country's main Luzon island.

Bidders have until Dec. 21 to submit eligibility documents to PNOC. A First Gen spokeswoman said the company has been open to taking in a partner for the LNG project, but she was not aware of any joint venture agreement or talks between First Gen and Tokyo Gas. First Gen operates four of the country's five gas-fired power plants.
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