MOSCOW (MRC) -- Yokogawa Electric Corporation announces that it has acquired capital in APB Corporation (APB), a pioneer in the development of a next-generation lithium-ion battery called the "All Polymer Battery," with the aim of growing Yokogawa's energy management system (EMS) business, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.
The two companies have agreed that Yokogawa will provide energy management technology needed for the efficient operation and optimization of large-scale storage batteries.
Yokogawa engages in broad-ranging activities in the areas of measurement, control, and information. The industrial automation business provides vital products, services, and solutions to a diverse range of process industries including oil, chemicals, natural gas, power, iron and steel, and pulp and paper.
APB is a Japanese startup working toward the practical application of their All Polymer Battery. The battery that APB has developed delivers high energy density and has high flexibility in shape and size, so it can be used in a wide range of applications, starting with the large-scale storage batteries required by renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power generation systems.
Through the agreement, Yokogawa will provide its EMS for use with the energy storage systems (ESS) that APB will build and sell, and will also collect the condition data of individual cells or modules and the operation data of the ESS to optimize these systems and deliver efficient operation plans.
As the adoption of renewable energy continues to grow, the market for large-scale fixed storage batteries that enable the efficient use of power is expanding. Yokogawa is leveraging its control and information technologies in a range of businesses related to the efficient production and use of energy, such as the plant energy management business, which includes the optimized control of wind and biomass power generation systems and the efficient operation of boiler, turbine, and generator (BTG) equipment, as well as the virtual power plant (VPP) resource aggregation business. By acquiring a stake in APB, Yokogawa will be able to apply the optimization and efficient operation technology it develops to a range of large-scale storage batteries and develop its business for the distributed energy resource management systems (DERMS) that utilize these batteries.
As MRC reported earlier, in December 2019, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) announced that it had entered into a strategic alliance framework agreement to accelerate collaboration with Yokogawa Electric Corporation. The agreement includes selection of Yokogawa as a preferred supplier of control systems.
We remind that SABIC took off-stream its Olefins 4 cracker owing to technical issues on May 10, 2019. Further details on duration of the shutdown could not be ascertained. Located in beek, the Netherlands, the cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 690,000 mt/year and a propylene production capacity of 360,000 mt/year.
Besides, SABIC Europe, an affiliate of SABIC, conducted maintenance works at its cracker No.3 at Geleen site in the Netherlands this autumn. The planned maintenance started in September and lasted around 2 months. The company operates two steam crackers in Geleen which are capable of producing 1,250,000 tons/year of ethylene and 675,000 tons/year of propylene in total.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 215,390 tonnes in the first month of 2020, up by 23% year on year. Shipments of all grades of high density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) increased due to higher capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 127,240 tonnes in January 2020, up by 33% year on year. ZapSibNeftekhim's homopolymer PP accounted for the main increase in shipments.
Yokogawa established Yokogawa Saudi Arabia in 2006 and Yokogawa Service Saudi Arabia in 2007. Yokogawa engages in broad-ranging activities in the areas of measurement, control, and information. The industrial automation business provides vital products, services, and solutions to a diverse range of process industries including oil, chemicals, natural gas, power, iron and steel, and pulp and paper.
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