Shell Chemicals to explore polycarbonate production in Singapore

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shell announced it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with CNOOC Oil & Petrochemicals Co Ltd (CNOOC) to explore its first commercial-scale polycarbonate (PC) production unit, which would be located at the CNOOC and Shell Petrochemical Company (CSPC) joint-venture chemicals complex in Huizhou, China, reported Kemicalinfo.

As an interim step, Shell has started constructing a PC development unit at its Jurong Island chemicals plant in Singapore.

An expanded and differentiated product range is a key part of Shell’s growth strategy for its chemicals business.

PC is a transparent and impact-resistant engineering polymer, and is used to make vehicle headlights, LED spotlights, UV-blocking windows and spectacles.

"We have an advantaged route to production and are looking at investment in a number of commercial-scale units to serve the growing number of polycarbonate customers," said Thomas Casparie, Executive Vice President of Shell’s global chemicals business.

The platform for this new product entry is Shell’s own patented diphenyl carbonate (DPC) process technology. Shell has developed this over recent years to achieve significant advantages in cost, safety, efficiency and CO2 footprint. Shell will now combine its DPC technology with melt-phase PC technology licensed from EPC Engineering & Technology GmbH in Germany.

Shell’s PC production units will also produce alkyl carbonates. These are used for lithium ion batteries which support the energy transition.

As MRC informed earlier, Shell Singapore restarted its naphtha cracker in Bukom Island in the first week of December 2019, following a two months maintenance shutdown since the beginning of October 2019. Thus, this cracker was taken off-stream for the turnaround on 1 October 2019. The cracker is able to produce 960,000 tons/year of ethylene and 550,000 tons/year of propylene.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,904,410 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments increased from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,161,830 tonnes in January-November 2019, up by 7% year on year. Deliveries of all grades of propylene polymers increased, with the homopolymer PP segment accounting for the largest increase.

Besides, Russia's estimated consumption of PC granules (excluding imports and exports to\\from Belarus) fell in January-November 2019 by 14% year on year to 70,700 tonnes (62,000 tonnes a year earlier), as per MRC's ScanPlast report.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Yisheng Petrochemical has undertaken a planned shutdown at its polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plant, as per Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in China informed that the plant was taken off-line for maintenance in end-December, 2019. It is likely to remain off-line for about three weeks.

Located in Yangpu, China, the PET plant has a production capacity of 500,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote before, in early November 2019, Dalian Yisheng Co Ltd started up its new PET bottle plant. Based in Dalian, China, the new plant has a production capacity of 350,000 tons/year.

As per MRC's ScanPlast report, imports of PET chips into Russia increased by 13% year on year in the first eleven months of 2019, reaching 130,800 tonnes, compared to 116,100 tonnes a year earlier (excluding shipments from Belarus). Russia's PET imports almost doubled in November 2019, totalling 12,300 tonnes, versus 6,300 tonnes in October; imports of material were 8,200 tonnes in November 2018. The share of Chinese material was 78% (9,600 tonnes) in November versus 92% (5,800 tonnes) a month earlier.

Yisheng Petrochemical is jointly owned by polyester giants Zhejiang Hengyi Group and Zhejiang RongSheng Group.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Evonik has concluded a purchase agreement to acquire Wilshire Technologies Inc., with the transaction to be completed by the end of January, said the company.

Headquartered in Princeton NJ (USA), Wilshire Technologies supplies phytochemicals and derivatives to the global cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. The new home for the cosmetics part of Wilshire’s product portfolio will be in Evonik’s Care Solutions business line.

The purchase price will not be disclosed. Wilshire Technologies has developed a strong technology which obtains products based on renewable and non-animal-origin sources. Utilizing more sustainable and renewable sources for cosmetic ingredients has become an extremely important criteria that many personal care companies in the market today are aiming for.

This acquisition, which comprises approximately 10 employees, and marks a substantial addition to Evonik’s sustainable cosmetic active ingredients portfolio. Evonik’s Care Solutions business will be able to expand its product range into phytochemicals, such as plant derived cholesterol, as a replacement for animal originated ingredients in cosmetic active ingredients. This move supports the ongoing transformation of Evonik’s cosmetics ingredients portfolio towards sustainability and natural-based ingredients.

Additionally, Evonik’s Health Care business line will also benefit, from an enhanced portfolio for its naturally derived excipients and intermediates for pharma and food applications. With the acquisition of Wilshire Technologies and its innovative products for the cosmetics, pharmaceutical and food ingredients markets, Evonik is strengthening its focus on its “Health & Care” growth engine, established to meet the increasing demands from customers towards the global trend of more bio-based and sustainable products.

As MRC informed earlier, Evonik joined with other manufacturers in the High Phthalates Panel (HPP), a sector group of the American Chemistry Council (ACC), in a voluntary manufacturer request to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to conduct a broad-based risk evaluation of the uses of DINP. The EPA granted the request in early December 2019, a decision welcomed by Evonik. The EPA’s risk evaluation will be performed using the best available science and weight of scientific evidence. The process will be documented and open for public review and comment.

As per MRC's ScanPlast, Russia's overall production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) reached 975,000 tonnes in 2019, up by 2% year on year. At the same time, not all Russian producers raised their output. December total production of unmixed PVC was about 81,400 tonnes versus 84,600 tonnes a month earlier, RusVinyl decreased their capacity utilisation in November. Overall PVC production reached 975,000 tonnes in January-December 2019, compared to 958,600 tonnes a year earlier. All plants raised their output, except for Kaustik Volgograd.

Wilshire Technologies was founded in 1997 by former Rutgers professor, Joe San Filippo, who has over 35 years of product development experience in this field. The company’s broad portfolio provides cosmetic and pharma actives that come from natural and renewable sources.

Evonik is one of the world leaders in specialty chemicals. The focus on more specialty businesses, customer-oriented innovative prowess and a trustful and performance-oriented corporate culture form the heart of Evonik’s corporate strategy. They are the lever for profitable growth and a sustained increase in the value of the company. Evonik benefits specifically from its customer proximity and leading market positions. Evonik is active in over 100 countries around the world with more than 36,000 employees.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Recently, Topsoe announced the official opening of the world’s only natural gas-to-gasoline complex in Turkmenistan, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The complex includes the world’s largest methanol plant based on autothermal reforming (ATR), using Topsoe’s SynCOR Methanol solution, with methanol production capacity of 5225 MTPD.

In the Turkmen gas-to-gasoline complex, the SynCOR Methanol solution has been combined with a gasoline synthesis loop to produce synthetic gasoline. This concept is named SynCOR TIGAS.

Over the last two years Topsoe has signed five license agreements of similar capacity based on the SynCOR technology. These projects are in various stages of development.

Global demand for methanol is increasing. Accordingly, investors and producers plan for larger plants with improved energy efficiency to achieve economy of scale. This has made SynCOR the preferred technology for production of synthesis gas in many of today’s world-scale projects because it maximizes single-line capacity, while significantly reducing capital as well as operating costs.

When combined with a Topsoe methanol synthesis loop, the result is SynCOR Methanol, the most cost-efficient large-scale methanol technology in industrial operation today. Capacities can be up to 10,000 tons per day of methanol.

Apart from the obvious financial benefits of the SynCOR technology, it also offers considerable environmental advantages, leaving a smaller CO2 footprint and lower water consumption compared to traditional licensed technologies.

Based on 70 years of experience within synthesis gas, all SynCOR solutions offer more than 99% availability and unsurpassed economy of scale. SynCOR solutions are suitable for large-scale grassroots ammonia, methanol, hydrogen, CO, TIGAS, and gas-to-liquid (GTL) plants, as well as syngas hubs producing multiple products.

We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, the sale of polypropylene (PP) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) from a new gas chemical complex began in the export trades of the State Commodity and Raw Materials Exchange of Turkmenistan on 3 September, 2018. The new gas chemical complex for production of HDPE and PP with the capacity of 386,000 tonnes/year and 81,000 tonnes/year, respectively, was built by the consortium TOYO Engineering (Japan) and LG and Hyundai (South Korea). The total cost of the project was about USD3.4 billions.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,904,410 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments increased from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,161,830 tonnes in January-November 2019, up by 7% year on year. Deliveries of all grades of propylene polymers increased, with the homopolymer PP segment accounting for the largest increase.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- French oil group Total halted a distillation unit at its Donges refinery on France’s western coast due to lack of crude supply during the country’s current strikes, the company said.

Sailors could not get to their tugboats at Saint Nazaire port because a picket line by striking workers was blocking access, Total said in a statement.

“As a result, the Donges refinery cannot be supplied with crude oil. That has led to the distillation unit being halted at the refinery this Sunday,” the statement said.

As MRC wrote before, in early November 2019, Total disclosed that it is evaluating construction of a new gas cracker at its Deasan, South Korea, joint venture (JV) with Hanwha Chemical.

Total is also developing a USD1.4-billion propane dehydrogenation and polypropylene (PP) complex at Arzew, Algeria, in partnership with Algeria’s state-owned oil company Sonatrach. The facilities will be designed to produce 600,000 metric tons/year each of propylene and PP. The project is in FEED phase with FID due in 2021.

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

Total S.A. is a French multinational oil and gas company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world with business in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. The company's petrochemical products cover two main groups: base chemicals and the consumer polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene) that are derived from them.
MRC