EPA lifts advanced biofuel mandate for 2019

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lifted its annual blending mandate for advanced biofuels by 15 percent for 2019, while keeping steady the requirement for conventional biofuels like corn-based ethanol, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The mandate includes 4.92 billion gallons for advanced biofuels that can be made from plant and animal waste, an increase from the EPA’s initial proposal in June of 4.88 billion and above the 4.29 billion that had been set for 2018, according to the document.

The requirement for conventional biofuels remains at 15 billion gallons for 2019, on par with 2018 and the same as proposed by the agency in June.

The EPA is required to announce formally the biofuel mandate figures, which are closely watched by the rival corn and oil industries, by Friday.

Biodiesel blending credits rose 4 cents to trade at 46 cents on the report, before paring gains, two traders said.

Under the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard, first adopted in 2005, oil refiners are required to blend a certain amount of biofuels, as determined by the EPA, into their fuel each year or purchase blending credits from those that do.

The policy has helped farmers by creating a huge market for ethanol and other biofuels, but oil refiners say compliance can cost a fortune.

The new figures confirm the agency has declined requests by the corn industry to reallocate biofuel blending obligations previously waived under the small refinery exemptions program, which has been expanded dramatically under the administration of President Donald Trump.

Small refineries can be exempted from the RFS if they prove that complying would cause them financial strain.

The powerful corn lobby and top officials in the U.S. Department of Agriculture have complained for months that the expansion of the waiver program since Trump took office threatens demand for ethanol.

An EPA official told Reuters earlier this week that the decision not to reallocate waived volumes was due mainly to timing.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Neste Engineering Solutions has been awarded the renewal of Borealis Porvoo Aromatics Plant platform covering Advanced Process Control System (APC) with NAPCON Controller, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The delivery contains over 20 NAPCON Controller applications, which control and optimize cumene, benzene and, phenol processes of the aromatics plant.

Delivery will be made with the recently released version of the NAPCON software (version 8.4.) New solutions will be implemented on virtualized hardware with a Distributed Control System (DCS) integrated web-based user interface and with a redundancy secured OPC UA connection to DCS.

"We have previously received great results with NAPCON software. NAPCON Team continuously thrives for improving the products and genuinely listen customer feedback and implement the requests based on our actual needs ", says Petteri Timonen, Automation Engineer from Borealis.

"We are happy that our good collaboration with Borealis continues and we are able to deliver continuous added value to our customer. NAPCON solutions offer, in addition to production optimization, also great savings through improved energy efficiency", says Perttu Tuomaala, Head of NAPCON, Neste Engineering Solutions.

As MRC wrote before, in March 2018, Borealis and United Chemical Company LLP (UCC) signed a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) for the development of a world-scale polyethylene project, integrated with an ethane cracker, in the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Borealis is a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers. With its head office in Vienna, Austria, the company currently has around 6,600 employees and operates in over 120 countries. Borealis generated EUR 7.5 billion in sales revenue and a net profit of EUR 1,095 million in 2017.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Following the results of the British Coatings Federation’s 2017 Indicators of Performance study, it was revealed that the coatings industry has made noticeable improvements from 2016, especially in regards to safety and environmental performance, as per Coatingsworld.

Data from 36 manufacturing sites making paints, coatings and printing inks have been surveyed every year since 1996.

2017 was a milestone year as it represented the lowest ever figure for injuries per 100,000 hours worked. Over a long-term trend, the rate has come down from a high of 0.85 in 1996 to a low of 0.16 in 2017.

The amount of waste sent to landfill decreased and the proportion of participants reporting zero landfills increased dramatically, from 38 percent in 2016 to 47 percent in 2017. Recycling now accounts for 63 percent of all the waste created by BCF’s members, compared to 17 percent in 1996. In contrast, waste to landfill has plummeted from 75 percent at a peak, to eight percent today.

Two other metrics going in the right direction are energy used per ton of production, which was 3.7 percent lower than in 2016, and organic solvents purchased per ton of production, which decreased by 5.8 percent.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- It was the year of inventions that are still indispensable today, such as the diesel engine by Rudolf Diesel and the zipper by Whitcomb Judson, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

And 1893 also showed what persistence means. Andy Bowen and Jacke Burke fought a seven-hour, 19-minute boxing match over 110 rounds – with no winners in the end. At the same time, the businessman Franz Ramesohl and the cabinetmaker Franz Schmidt in Oelde, Westphalia, proved their innovative strength, creativity and stamina. They opened a workshop on September 1, 1893, and produced a hand-operated milk centrifuge with the model name "Westfalia". Ramesohl & Schmidt oHG had three locksmiths and two turners 125 years ago. They produced the hand-operated milk centrifuges with the simplest but effective equipment. Entrepreneurial skills, craftsmanship and technical expertise coupled with a love for innovation formed the basis for the following 125 years.

The roots of the company developed into today's GEA site, the most modern separator plant in the world. The products "made in Oelde" are supplied all over the world. The export quota is currently over 80 percent. GEA's expertise now encompasses over 3,500 different processes and 2,500 products for various industries ranging from food and beverage, marine, oil and gas to power, chemical, pharmaceutical and environmental technology.

Today, Oelde is GEA's largest single site worldwide with a production area of around 37,000 square meters. Around 1,900 employees, 180 of whom are trainees, are currently working in the areas of design, production and administration. GEA invested heavily in the site in 2013.

The company's own Process Test Center (PTC), which opened in 2014 and provides extensive specialist support for customers' investment projects, also enables even greater customer orientation: Starting with the specification of product properties through the determination and design of machine types to pilot tests at GEA and on site at the customer's premises. In cooperation with the customer, GEA Product Managers and GEA Process Development, the PTC also develops and tests completely new processes. The PTC also underscores GEA's innovative strength as a leading international technology group. More than 11,000 tests and process developments as well as more than 18,000 laboratory product analyses have been carried out to date. This know-how is bundled in a database, which is supplemented and updated every year by around 500 new product tests and over 150 process developments.

In order to reliably ensure maximum customer satisfaction and continuous machine availability during operation, the supply of spare parts is coordinated centrally from Oelde and in cooperation with renowned logistics companies via so-called hubs. These spare parts centers are currently located in Cologne, Germany (since 2011), Singapore (since 2014) and Naperville, USA (since 2017). At the European Parts Logistics Center (EPLC) in Cologne, around 21,000 different articles – from 5 mm diameter sealing rings to machine parts weighing several hundred kilograms – can be retrieved in the shortest possible time; on average, 250 shipments are handled daily. GEA customers can call this service 24/7 via a hotline. If an order is received by 3 p.m. local time, it is guaranteed to be ready for dispatch on the same day. Particularly urgent shipments even leave the site within an hour.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) – Gulf Energy Information, a leading provider of market intelligence and technical information for the international energy industry, names Harry Brookby named Vice President of Data Sales for Energy Web Atlas (EWA), as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Harry comes to EWA from DrillingInfo where he was the Director, Global Strategic Sales. Prior to that he led sales for Ponderosa Energy, which was acquired by DrillingInfo in 2016. Previously, Harry held positions with S&P Global Platts and ConocoPhillips.

We thank you for your continued support of Energy Web Atlas and Construction Boxscore. Please join me in welcoming Harry to the EWA team and, as always, I can be reached for any additional questions.

For more than 100 years, Gulf Energy Information has been the leading provider of business and technical knowledge for the global oil and gas industry. Since its formation in 1916, the company has evolved from a single publication—The Oil Weekly, which was dedicated to upstream activity in the Gulf Coast area of the United States—to a diversified media and market intelligence company. Gulf produces the oil and gas industry’s leading publications: World Oil, Hydrocarbon Processing, Gas Processing & LNG, Petroleum Economist, Pipeline & Gas Journal. In addition, Gulf also produces datasets (Construction Boxscore and Energy Web Atlas) containing in depth project and facility data.
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