OMV extends contract of CEO Seele

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Supervisory Board of OMV Aktiengesellschaft reappointed Rainer Seele (59) as the Chairman of the Executive Board and Chief Executive Officer of OMV, said the company.

His term of office has thereby been extended by another two years to June 30, 2022, with an extension option for one additional year, subject to mutual consent. Rainer Seele has been Chairman of the Executive Board and Chief Executive Officer of OMV since July 1, 2015.

In the same Supervisory Board meeting, Johann Pleininger (57), Chief Upstream Operations Officer, was also reappointed as Executive Board Member and Deputy Chairman of the Board. Johann Pleininger’s term of office has thereby been extended by another three years to August 31, 2023, with an extension option for two additional years, subject to mutual consent. Johann Pleininger has been a Member of the Executive Board of OMV, responsible for Upstream (Exploration & Production), since September 1, 2015.

Chairman of the OMV Supervisory Board, Wolfgang C. Berndt: “OMV has delivered an exceptional performance in recent years. This is the result of the new strategic direction adopted by the Executive Board, coupled with a sustained cost reduction that has led to record earnings. Since 2015, the adjusted operating result has more than doubled and the production volume increased by 40%. The Supervisory Board looks forward to further cooperation with the Executive Board team, aiming to continue the profitable international growth path."

OMV produces and markets oil and gas, innovative energy and high-end petrochemical solutions – in a responsible way. With Group sales of EUR 23 bn and a workforce of more than 20,000 employees in 2018, OMV Aktiengesellschaft is one of Austria’s largest listed industrial companies. In Upstream, OMV has a strong base in Romania and Austria as part of the Central and Eastern Europe core region as well as a balanced international portfolio, with Russia, North Sea, Middle East and Africa as well as Asia-Pacific as further core regions. 2018 daily production stood at approximately 427,000 boe/d. In Downstream, OMV operates three refineries with a total annual processing capacity of 17.8 mn tons and more than 2,000 filling stations in ten countries. OMV runs gas storage facilities in Austria and Germany; its subsidiary Gas Connect Austria GmbH operates a gas pipeline network in Austria. In 2018, gas sales volumes amounted to around 114 TWh. Sustainability is an integral part of the corporate strategy. OMV is set to invest EUR 500 mn in innovative energy solutions by 2025.
MRC

Impressive start for Clariant methanol synthesis catalyst

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Clariant’s next-generation methanol synthesis catalyst is delivering exceptional performance at the coal-to-liquid plant of China Energy Corporation (CHN Energy) Ningxia Coal Industry Co Ltd (NCIC), located in Yinchuan, Ningxia Province, China. Installed at the plant in August 2018, MegaMax 800 achieved an anticipated operation load of 102 percent after just two months, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The new catalyst’s fast and favorable start is due to its 40 percent higher productivity compared to previous generations.

Following its successful startup, MegaMax 800’s superior performance has benefitted NCIC in several ways. The 1-million-ton per year methanol production plant is experiencing considerably higher yield at lower energy and feedstock costs. In addition, make-up gas consumption has dropped by 51 million cubic meters per year. These combined process improvements will have a dramatic effect on the producer’s cost savings, which are now expected to be approximately USD3 million annually. The facility is further reporting the noticeably lower formation of by-products such as ethanol in the crude methanol product, which will undoubtedly add to its total profitability.

While the new catalyst’s superior performance was exceptional – it was also expected. That’s because MegaMax 800 is specially developed to offer higher activity and superior selectivity towards methanol production – even at very low reactor temperatures and pressures. Consequently, producers will be able to increase methanol capacity by as much as 10 percent, depending on the facility’s design and processes.

Stefan Heuser, Senior Vice President & General Manager Business Unit Catalysts at Clariant, commented, "We are delighted that our MegaMax 800 catalyst is providing NCIC the benefits we promised. The favorable results are significant! Not only because NCIC is one of China’s largest coal-to-chemicals producers, but also as it is the first customer for MegaMax 800 using the Lurgi LP methanol process in China. It is another example of how Clariant is able to offer perfectly compatible catalysts and technology to maximize production efficiency and reliability for our customers."

China Energy Corporation Ningxia Coal Industry Co Ltd is the largest coal-to-chemicals company in China as well as globally. It owns and operates a world-class coal-to-liquids (CTL) methanol plant, which has used the Lurgi LP methanol synthesis process since 2016.

As MRC reported earlier, in March 2017, Clariant, a world leader in specialty chemicals, was awarded a contract by Dongguan Grand Resource Science & Technology Co. Ltd. to develop a new propane dehydrogenation unit in cooperation with CB&I. The project includes the license and engineering design of the unit, which is to be built in Dongguan City, Guangdong Province, China. The Dongguan plant will be one of the largest single-train dehydrogenation units in the world. Clariant's technology partner CB&I will base the plant's design on its Catofin catalytic dehydrogenation technology, which uses Clariant's tailor-made Catofin catalyst and Heat Generating Material (HGM).

Propylene is the main feedstock for producing polyprolypele (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, the estimated consumption of PP in the Russian market totalled 694,210 tonnes in January-June 2019, up by 14% year on year. The supply of propylene block copolymers (PP-block) and propylene homopolymers (PP-homo) increased.

Clariant AG is a Swiss chemical company and a world leader in the production of specialty chemicals for the textile, printing, mining and metallurgical industries. It is engaged in processing crude oil products in pigments, plastics and paints. Clariant India has local masterbatch production activities at Rania, Kalol and Nandesari (Gujarat) and Vashere (Maharashtra) sites in India.
MRC

BASF to develop recycling for lithium-ion EV batteries

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF evelops next-generation technology to meet anticipated demand of the e-mobility market, said the company.

BASF will develop the recycling of lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles (EVs).

BASF invests a great amount of research and development into improving the effectiveness and versatility of its cathode active materials and intends to remain a global leader in this space for many years to come. By 2025, these efforts will help realize a vision of an electric midsize car with twice the real driving range (from 180 miles to 360 miles on a single charge) and battery lifetime, half the battery size and cost, and a charging time reduced to only 15 minutes, according to BASF e-mobility experts.

As the leading chemical supplier to the automotive industry, BASF is the first and currently the sole supplier of cathode active materials to battery producers with manufacturing operations in North America. “BASF provides cathode active materials (CAMs) to the battery industry. And those materials are coated on the positive electrode of a battery’s cell,” said Heiko Urtel, CEO & Business Director for BASF Battery Materials North America. “These CAMs are the major contributor toward reducing the cost and increasing the range of a battery, while also improving the lifetime and the charging behavior.

For its part, BASF noted that consumer reluctance toward EV adoption to date is largely driven by three concerns—driving range of the cars, charging times and cost.

“Range anxiety reflects consumer concern about the distance electric cars can travel on a single charge. With a small car, you typically reach a range of 150 miles today, and this is not what customers expect. They want to reach 300, 400 miles per fuel load,” said Urtel. “This is what we as BASF want to tackle in terms of innovation—to increase the performance of the battery in the future—by 2025—to meet the 300 to 400-mile target per battery charge."

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries. BASF generated sales of about EUR58 billion in 2016.
MRC

Honeywell UOP commissions second propylene plant for Zhejiang Satellite

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Honeywell has announced that Zhejiang Satellite Petrochemical Co., Ltd. is using Honeywell UOP’s C3 OleflexTM technology to produce 450 000 tpy of polymer-grade propylene for a new petrochemicals complex in China, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

This is the second C3 Oleflex unit now operating with Satellite. Honeywell UOP delivered Satellite’s first Oleflex unit in 2014.

Oleflex technology is helping to meet the growing demand in China for propylene, a key ingredient in plastics. Oleflex technology has been selected for a number of dehydrogenation projects globally since 2011, including applications for propane, isobutane, and mixed propane and isobutane feeds.

In addition to technology licensing and basic engineering design, Honeywell provided services, equipment, catalysts and adsorbents for the Satellite plant.

"Zhejiang Satellite chose this second Oleflex unit based on the operation of its first unit, which has been running for nearly five years," said Bryan Glover, Vice President and General Manager of Honeywell UOP’s Petrochemicals and Refining Technologies business. "The second unit started up and quickly reached its design capacity, so the two units together now can produce 900 000 tpy of propylene."

Honeywell UOP’s C3 Oleflex technology uses catalytic dehydrogenation to convert propane into propylene, the primary component of polypropylene. The technology is designed to have a lower cash cost of production and higher return on investment compared with competing technologies.

The technology’s impact on the environment is minimised by its low-energy consumption, low-emissions and fully recyclable, platinum-alumina-based catalyst system. The independent reactor and regeneration design of the technology helps maximise operating flexibility and onstream reliability.

Propylene has historically been produced as a by-product of refining fuels, but demand for propylene has exceeded the supply from refining processes. Propane dehydrogenation such as the Oleflex process can bridge this gap by producing ‘on-purpose’ propylene from propane that is derived from natural gas as well as from refining processes.

Propylene is the main feedstock for producing polyprolypele (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, the estimated consumption of PP in the Russian market totalled 694,210 tonnes in January-June 2019, up by 14% year on year. The supply of propylene block copolymers (PP-block) and propylene homopolymers (PP-homo) increased.
MRC

Zhejiang Satellite receives provincial nod to utilize US ethane for new PE plant

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Zhejiang Satellite Petrochemical Co. has received regulatory approval from the Jiangsu provincial government to ethane from the US in a new polyethylene (PE) plant to be built in Lianyungang, China, reported Apic-online.

The 1.25-million-t/y ethylene facility, on which con-struction is expected to begin this month, is estimated to cost USD4.2-billion. Completion is anticipated in about one year.

Zhejiang will receive the ethane from Energy Transfer Partners, starting in the fourth quarter of 2020, under a 10-year supply agreement.

"This is the first entirely gas-based cracker to begin operating in China and also the first to import US ethane as feedstock," said the report citing Kelly Cui, senior analyst at Wood Mackenzie.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,255,800 tonnes in the first seven months of 2019, up by 9% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased.
MRC