Linde receives major order from Praxair to supply a hydrogen plant in the US

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The technology company The Linde Group has signed a contract with U.S. industrial gas company, Praxair Inc., to supply a hydrogen plant that will be part of the company's U.S. Gulf Coast hydrogen system which spans Southeast Texas and Western Louisiana, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

"We are very pleased to have won this important contract from Praxair to provide the largest hydrogen production unit in Linde's history," said Dr Christian Bruch, Member of the Executive Board of Linde AG and responsible for the company's plant engineering business. "We attribute this success to our compelling and customer-oriented engineering solutions."

Linde's Engineering Division is responsible for the design and supply of the equipment for the core components of the hydrogen plant. The order includes the steam-methane reformer, designed and supplied by Linde subsidiary Selas Linde in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, the pressure swing adsorption unit, and the balance of the core plant. The plant will have a production capacity of over 190,000 Nm3/hr of high-purity hydrogen and will also generate steam. The new plant will be highly modularized with world-class reliability and energy efficiency and is scheduled to come on stream in early 2021.

In the 2017 financial year, The Linde Group generated revenue of EUR 17.113 bn, making it one of the leading gases and engineering companies in the world, with approximately 58,000 employees working in more than 100 countries worldwide. The strategy of The Linde Group is geared towards long-term profitable growth and focuses on the expansion of its international business, with forward-looking products and services. Linde acts responsibly towards its shareholders, business partners, employees, society and the environment in every one of its business areas, regions and locations across the globe. The company is committed to technologies and products that unite the goals of customer value and sustainable development.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Nippon Shokubai Indonesian (NSI), a subsidiary of Nippon Shokubai, has received board approval to go ahead with a project to increase acrylic acid (AA) capacity at its site in Cilegon, Banten, Indonesia, as per Apic-online.

"In recent years, the demand and supply balance of AA is highly tight, especially in Asia," Nippon Shokubai noted. "To accommodate the demand and fulfill its duty to supply products, Nippon Shokubai has studied a further expansion of AA."

As a result of the study, it has decided to invest approximately USD200-million in the construction of a new 100,000-t/y AA plant at the NSI site. Mechanical completion is scheduled for March 2021 with commercial operations planned to begin in November 2021.

The new AA unit will increase Nippon Shokubai's global AA production capacity to 980,000 t/y and ensure a more stable supply. The NSI site currently has 140,000 t/y of AA capacity.

As MRC reported earlier, on 10 November, 2015, Nippon Shokubai Co announced that Nippon Shokubai Europe, a subsidiary in Belgium, had held a groundbreaking ceremony for new superabsorbent polymer (SAP) plant and acrylic acid (AA) plant in its plant site in Antwerp, Belgium.

Nippon Shokubai Europe N.V. manufactures chemical products. The Company offers a wide range of superabsorbent polymers such as acrylic acids and polyacrylates for diverse applications. Nippon Shokubai Europe conducts business worldwide.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China's crude oil imports rose to all-time high on a daily basis in October, supported by record demand from private refiners and healthy margins, reported Reuters with reference to customs data showed Thursday.

Imports in October surged 32 percent from a year earlier to 40.80 million tons, or 9.61 million barrels per day (bpd), data from the General Administration of Customs showed, climbing from 9.05 million bpd in September. The previous daily record of 9.60 million bpd was touched in April 2018.

The imports rose 8.1 percent for the first 10 months of the year from the same period last year to 377.16 million tons, or 9.06 million bpd, on track for another record year of shipments.

The record volumes were a result of strong imports from China's private refiners, often known as "teapots".

These oil processors bought 8.22 million tons of crude during the month, the highest monthly amount ever since Beijing began issuing import quotas to them in 2015, according to Emma Li, an analyst with Refinitiv Oil Research and Forecasts.

"Independents bought record amounts of crude in October as they ramped up utilization rates to meet pent-up demand for gasoline and diesel," Li said.

"Many teapots also started stockpiling for January and February next year in a rush to use up their quota this year."

China's overall import volumes for October were in line with Refinitiv Oil Forecast's expectations of 40.95 million tonnes.

The imports might have been higher except CNOOC Ltd's Huizhou oil plant started a two-month long turnaround in October, curbing purchases from one of China's largest refineries.

Total natural gas imports in October via both pipeline and as liquefied natural gas (LNG) were at 7.3 million tons, up 25.6 percent from the same month last year, but easing from 7.62 million tonsin September.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) — TechnipFMC announced today that it has signed an exclusive collaboration agreement with Sumitomo Chemical Company to license and engineer Sumitomo’s hydrogen chloride (HCI) oxidation technology, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The technology is used to produce chlorine via the catalytic oxidation of hydrogen chloride.

Chlorine is utilized in a variety of petrochemical processes while hydrogen chloride is often an unwanted byproduct from those same processes. The HCl oxidation technology provides a route for recycling chlorine gas from hydrogen chloride.

The technology uses a unique oxidation catalyst and proprietary reactor system to produce chlorine at high conversion rates. The process requires very little external utilities compared to other options for producing chlorine, in line with the sustainability approach of the company. Pioneered by Sumitomo Chemical Company, the process has started up in seven trains located in eastern Asia and Europe.

This agreement brings together Sumitomo’s expertise in oxidation catalyst and reactor design with TechnipFMC’s global strength in technology licensing, engineering design, and procurement.

Stan Knez, President, Process Technology, for TechnipFMC, stated: “This HCI oxidation technology will be of interest to clients who want to avoid the high-power requirements of alternative technologies for producing chlorine. We are pleased to add it to our expanding onshore process technology portfolio.”
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Gazprom neftekhim Salavat, one of Russia's largest production complexes for oil refining and petrochemicals, has shut down its high density polyethylene (HDPE) production for a scheduled turnaround, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

The plant's clients said the maintenance at Gazprom neftekhim Salavat's HDPE production began on Wednesday, 7 November. The start-up of polyethylene (PE) production after the outage is scheduled for 13 November.

Gazprom neftekhim Salavat's low density polyethylene (LDPE) and HDPE production capacities are 45,000 and 120,000 tonnes per year, respectively.

OAO "Gazprom neftekhim Salavat" (formerly OAO "Salavatnefteorgsintez") is one of the leading petrochemical companies in Russia, carrying out a full cycle of processing hydrocarbon material. The list of products manufactured by the plant includes more than 140 items, including 76 grades of the main products: gasoline, diesel fuel, kerosene, fuel oil, toluene, solvent, liquefied gases, benzene, styrene, ethylbenzene, butyl alcohols, phthalic anhydride and plasticizers, polyethylene, polystyrenes, silica gels and zeolite catalysts, corrosion inhibitors, elemental sulfur, ammonia and urea, glycols and amines, a wide range of household products made of plastics, surfactants and much more.
MRC