Reliance confirms USD9.75-billion investment to build huge oil-to-chemicals complex in India

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Reliance Industries has confirmed plans to invest 700 billion Indian rupees (USD9.75 billion) to establish a crude-oil-to-chemicals (COTC) complex at the company's Jamnagar, India, according to Chemweek.

In an application to India's environment ministry, the company states that it plans to leverage the operations of its existing Jamnagar refinery and gasification assets, as a future growth platform to maximize the production of petrochemicals. The company is proposing to develop a total area of 2,000 acres adjacent to its world-scale facilities at Jamnagar to build the COTC complex.

Reliance plans to establish COTC units including a multi-feed steam cracker and multi-zone catalytic cracking (MCC) unit. The plan is also to convert the Jamnagar site's existing fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit to a high-severity FCC (HSFCC) or Petro FCC unit, to maximize ethylene and propylene yields.

The MCC/HSFCC complex will have combined capacity for 8.5 million metric tons/year (MMt/y) of ethylene and propylene, and total extraction capacity for 3.5 MMt/y of benzene, toluene, and xylenes. It will also have combined capacity for 4.0 MMt/y of para-xylene (p-xylene) and ortho-xylene.

The steam cracker will have combined capacity for 4.1 MMt/y of ethylene and propylene, and feed crude C4s to a 700,000-metric tons/year butadiene extraction plant. Reliance will also add 1.3 MMt/y of p-xylene capacity at existing plants at Jamnagar.

Derivative plants will make an extensive range of products across the C1-4 and C6 value chains. In the C1 chain, the complex will produce acetic acid, with a capacity of 3MMt/y; acetic anhydride, 750,000 metric tons/year; ethyl acetate, 1.5 MMt/y; vinyl acetate monomer, 1 MMt/y; polyvinyl alcohol, 150,000 metric tons/year; formic acid, 400,000 metric tons/year; dimethyl ether, 2.7 MMt/y; polyketone, 350,000 metric tons/year; isononyl alcohol, 300,000 metric tons/year; methyl methacrylate, 700,000 metric tons/year; polymethyl methacrylate, 350,000 metric tons/year; methanol, 3.6 MMt/year; ethanol, 500,000 metric tons/year; and urea, 2.6 MMt/y.

Reliance says that in the C2 value chain, it plans to manufacture polyethylene, with a capacity of 3 MMt/y; vinyl chloride monomer and polyvinyl chloride, 4.5 MMt/y; and ethylene-propylene diene monomer rubber, 240,000 metric tons/year.

In the C3 chain, the complex will produce acrylic acid (AA), with a capacity of 720,000 metric tons/year; glacial AA, 150,000 metric tons/year; oxo-alcohols, 740,000 metric tons/year; acrylates, 800,000 metric tons/year; cumene, 1.5 MMt/y; phenol, 1 MMt/y; acetone, 620,000 metric tons/year; bisphenol A, 500,000 metric tons/year; polycarbonate, 600,000 metric tons/year; isopropyl alcohol, 250,000 metric tons/year; propylene oxide, 1 MMt/y; propylene glycol, 800,000 metric tons/year; and polypropylene, 5.2 MMt/year.

Reliance also aims to produce polybutadiene rubber, with a capacity of 280,000 metric tons/year and solution-styrene butadiene rubber, 6.5 MMt/y in the C4 value chain. In the C6 category, it intends to manufacture styrene and polystyrene, with capacity of 1 MMt/y; carbon black, 600,000 metric tons/year; and polyphenylene sulfide, 315,000 metric tons/year.

Reliance said in August that Saudi Aramco had decided to pay USD15 billion for a 20% stake, based on an enterprise value of USD75 billion, in Reliance's refining and chemicals business, which has been renamed the oil-to-chemicals (O2C) division. This would be one of the largest foreign investments ever made in India. A definitive agreement between Aramco and Reliance is expected to be signed by 31 March 2020. CW also learned in August that Reliance and Aramco would form a joint venture to build the COTC complex at Jamnagar.

Reliance's strategy is to transform the Jamnagar refinery from a producer of fuels to chemicals. The company ultimately wants to achieve a rate of more than 70% in the conversion of crude to olefins and aromatics.

A "tsunami of COTC projects" is on the way in Asia and expected to have a profoundly disruptive impact on the chemicals market because of the projects' sheer size and conversion capability, said R.J. Chang, vice president/Process Economic Program at IHS Markit at the 7th Annual Asia Chemical Conference, held earlier this month in Singapore. These projects can increase the yield of petchem conversion per barrel of oil to 40–60% from the 20% of traditional, well-integrated refinery-petchem complexes, Chang said.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,589,580 tonnes in the first nine months of 2019, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 976,790 tonnes in January-September 2019, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.

Reliance Industries is one of the world's largest producers of polymers. Thus, the company produces among others polypropylene, polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- One of Formosa Plastics' two new polyethylene (PE) plants at its Texas complex is operational, with the second plant and a new 1.5 million mt/year cracker to follow next month, reported S&P Global with reference to the company's statement.

The operational 400,000 mt/year plant can swing between making high density and linear low density polyethylene (HDPE & LLDPE), and the company completed the initial startup in August, according to an updated schedule of projects released late Monday.

Meanwhile, the company's new 400,000 mt/year low density polyethylene (LDPE) plant is undergoing commissioning and projected to start up next month, along with the new 1.5 million mt/year cracker.

The three plants are part of the first wave of new US petrochemical infrastructure to emerge from the domestic natural gas shale boom, and among the last of 13 new PE plants and eight new crackers to come online from 2017 through the end of this year.

Other plants within that first wave slated to start up by the year-end include Shintech's new 500,000 mt/year cracker at its Plaquemine, Louisiana, complex; Sasol's new 420,000 mt/year LDPE plant at its Lake Charles, Louisiana, complex; and LyondellBasell's new 550,000 mt/year HDPE facility in La Porte, Texas.

Formosa's schedule also said its new 250,000 mt/year polypropylene expansion at Point Comfort will come online in the third quarter of 2021, a year later than what the company had announced in December 2018.

A 130,077 mt/year polyvinyl chloride expansion at the company's Baton Rouge, Louisiana, operations remains in "detailed engineering design" and is slated for steady commercial operation in the fourth quarter of 2021, the company said.

As MRC informed before, in October 2019, Taiwan’s Formosa Petrochemical Corp reduced its October average run rate at the 540,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Mailiao refinery to about 70% from more than 87% due to maintenance.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,589,580 tonnes in the first nine months of 2019, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 976,790 tonnes in January-September 2019, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.

Formosa Petrochemical is involved primarily in the business of refining crude oil, selling refined petroleum products and producing and selling olefins (including ethylene, propylene, butadiene and BTX) from its naphtha cracking operations. Formosa Petrochemical is also the largest olefins producer in Taiwan and its olefins products are mostly sold to companies within the Formosa Group. Among the company's chemical products are paraxylene (PX), phenyl ethylene, acetone and pure terephthalic acid (PTA). The company"s plastic products include acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) resins, polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP) and panlite (PC).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Austrian plastics packaging firm Alpla has strengthened its recycling operations and entered into the high density polyethylene recycling market with the acquisition of two Spanish businesses, as per Plasticsnews.

The company said it signed the purchase agreements for the acquisition of Suminco SA in Montcada, near Barcelona, and Replacal SL in Palencia, north of Madrid, in October. Terms and conditions of the deal were not disclosed.

Both businesses, Alpla said in a Nov. 4 statement, belong to a Spanish family-owned enterprise with more than 35 years of experience in manufacturing HDPE recyclates.

The two plants have a combined workforce of 50 people and production capacity of 35 kilotonnes per year.

Post-acquisition, the businesses will continue to operate under the existing management, Alpla added.

“The investment in the two recycling plants in Spain brings us one step closer to our overall goal of being the leading manufacturer of sustainable plastic packaging,” said Georg Lasser, head of recycling at Alpla.

Alpla has earmarked 50 million euros (USD55.7 million) for its sustainability measures, which include expanding its recycling activities and making all of its packaging solutions fully recyclable by 2025.

As part of this, the company intends to use “suitable recyclates” from the two Spanish businesses for packaging purposes.

Up until now, a large proportion of Suminco and Replacal’s HDPE recyclates went into corrugated pipes for sewage systems and other industrial applications.

“We are safeguarding our production plants’ material supply and are doing our bit to achieve a functioning circular economy,’ Lasser added.

Hard, Austria-based Alpla currently produces 70 kilotonnes of recycled PET at its two PET recycling plants in Austria and Poland and joint ventures in Mexico and Germany.

As MRC informed earlier, Alpla, the Austrian packaging solutions specialist, and FROMM (Switzerland) have agreed on a collaboration in relation to PET recycling. Both companies operate recycling plants for PET bottles, thus ensuring the necessary supply of materials for their own production facilities.

Accjrding to MRC ScanPlast, October total HDPE production in Russia decreased to 34,300 tonnes, whereas this figure was 45,900 tonnes a month earlier. Low output in September-October was caused by shutdowns for maintenance at Stavrolen and Kazanorgsintez. Thus, overall HDPE production reached 729,500 tonnes in January-October 2019, compared to 795,900 tonnes a year earlier.

Alpla Inc. is a member of Hard, Austria-based Alpla-Werke Alwin Lehner GmbH & Co. KG, which has more than 20,000 employees at 178 manufacturing sites in 46 countries. Alpla makes bottles, closures, moulded parts and packaging systems. The company ranks No 5 among North American blow moulders, with estimated blow moulding sales in the region of USD1.1bn (EUR990m).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Dow and SCG has recently signed a collaboration agreement to develop new complete recycling solutions to add value to plastic waste and prevent them from ending up in the environment, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

This agreement is an attempt to create a circular economy for plastic in Thailand.

"Our industry and society as a whole must do a better job of capturing and reusing plastic by scaling investments in collection, waste management, recycling technologies and new end-markets," said Jim Fitterling, chief executive officer of Dow. "Dow continues to join forces with partners across the globe to more effectively reuse and recycle plastic waste. Working together with companies like SCG we can create a world where no plastic ends up in the environment."

The agreement was signed today upon the shared vision to close the loop of plastics waste management for the reduction of plastic leakage to the environment.

The products anticipated from this collaboration are outputs of mechanical recycling, feedstock recycling as well as renewable feedstock which include but are not limited to recycled resin, recycled products made from plastic waste, petrochemical feedstocks from plastic waste and renewable plastic resins.

"This collaboration not only represents our joint commitment in taking action to solve the problems through technology and making real changes but also provides us with new business opportunity, enhancing sustainability and bringing about practical solutions for recycling and upcycling of plastic waste in Thailand," said Roongrote Rangsiyopash, president and chief executive officer of SCG.

"Circular economy is an economic opportunity as much as a solution to a pressing environmental issue," said Jonathan Penrice, president of Dow in Asia Pacific. "We will build on Dow’s unique materials science and application knowledge and our 50-year experience in Thailand to develop solutions that maximize the value of plastics in the country."

This collaboration is aligned with the Thai government’s ambition to drastically increase the recycling rate of plastic waste in the country by 2027. Plastic waste in the environment is considered a critical environmental issue which Dow and SCG have innovated around in the past, such as developing certain technologies to incorporate materials derived from transformed plastic waste in polymer modified asphalt roads. This solution will add value to low or no value plastic waste such as multi-layer plastic packaging and contaminated plastic waste.

Most businesses today operate a linear system, whereby natural resources are extracted, transformed into products, and eventually disposed of. A circular economy, on the other hand, is aimed to reuse, renew and recycle valuable resources thereby reducing environmental impact.

Dow and SCG are founding members of the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, a not-for-profit organization, partnering with the finance community, government and civil society, including environmental and economic development NGOs to make the dream of a world without plastic waste a reality.

As MRC reported earlier, Dow Chemical began major maintenance on the LHC 1 cracker at Terneuzen, Netherlands, from 9 September 2019. More than 1,500 extra employees from various external companies will carry out maintenance work in the subsequent period. LHC stands for Light Hydro Carbons, or hydrocarbons. The cracker splits naphtha - a derivative of crude oil - into hydrocarbons such as ethylene and propylene. These are the raw materials for the other Dow factories that make chemicals and plastics from them. Together with two other naphtha crackers, LHC 1 forms the heart of the Terneuzen Dow site.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,589,580 tonnes in the first nine months of 2019, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 976,790 tonnes in January-September 2019, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.

The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational chemical corporation. Dow is a large producer of plastics, including polystyrene, polyurethane, polyethylene, polypropylene, and synthetic rubber.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) – U.S. production of major plastic resins totaled 7.3 billion pounds during October 2019, an increase of 1.1 percent compared to the same month in 2018, according to statistics released today by the American Chemistry Council (ACC). Year-to-date production was 73.1 billion pounds, a 2.6 percent increase as compared to the same period in 2018, said Americanchemistry.

Sales and captive (internal) use of major plastic resins totaled 7.7 billion pounds during October 2019, an increase of 5.5 percent from the same month one year earlier. Year-to-date sales and captive use was 74.0 billion pounds, a 4.0 percent increase as compared to the same period in 2018.

We remind that, Russia's output of chemical products rose in October 2019 by 5.4% month on month.
However, production of basic chemicals increased by 3.9% in the first ten months of 2019. According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, the largest increase in production volumes on an annualized basis accounted for mineral fertilizers and polymers in primary form. Thus, 210 ,000 tonnes of ethylene were produced in October, compared to 200,000 tonnes a month earlier. Limited production was a result of scheduled shutdowns of several large producers in September-October.
MRC