China to set up recall system for polluting cars

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China's market regulator will set up a system to recall vehicles that violate the country's pollution and emissions standards, it said on Wednesday, with cars now the biggest source of smog in major cities, as per Reuters.

China's air quality is going to come under even further pressure, with another 100 million vehicles set to ply its roads in the coming five years, the State Administration for Market Regulation said in comments posted on its website.

The nation's newly revised air pollution law includes provisions to recall vehicles that fail to meet state emissions standards, it said, and it has already studied similar product recall systems in the United States, Europe and Japan.

The regulator is currently studying key issues like the identification of equipment defects and the quality of key components used in reducing engine emissions, but it will work with the environment ministry to draw up new legislation and aims to implement the new system as soon as possible.

Though China has been cracking down on factory emissions and curbing the consumption of coal, vehicle pollution remains a growing problem, increasing lung-damaging, ground-level ozone levels in many major cities.

China's total vehicle fleet reached 310 million last year, and cars were responsible for about 45 percent of air pollution in the capital, Beijing, and nearly 30 percent in Shanghai, according to figures from the Ministry of Ecology and Environment earlier this year.

China eliminated more than 20 million old and substandard vehicles from its roads last year to cut pollution, and it has also banned the sale of low-grade, high-emissions diesel.

Its "China VI" fuel standards, which are tougher than those used in the European Union, have already been introduced in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region - known for its heavy smog - and will be made mandatory nationwide at the beginning of next year.

Top refiner Sinopec is upgrading its refineries to produce fuel to comply with the new standards. But enforcing the standards has been a challenge, with fraudulent practices believed to be widespread. Some garages have been found selling equipment to cheat fuel quality detectors, and the environment ministry said in July it had shut as many as 639 substandard vehicle testing stations last year.
MRC

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.


MRC

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.
MRC

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.
MRC

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.
MRC