Nacero selects Topsoes TIGAS technology for natural gas-to-gasoline plant

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Nacero has signed agreements with Haldor Topsoe for basic engineering and license for a planned natural-gas-to-gasoline facility in Casa Grande, Arizona, with a capacity of 35,000 barrels-per-day of finished gasoline. Pending final investment decision, Topsoe will also supply proprietary hardware, catalysts, and services, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The plant will use Topsoe’s proven TIGAS™ gas-to-gasoline technology to produce clean, high-value gasoline from low-cost natural gas. The gasoline meets local quality specifications. In May 2019, the world’s first TIGAS™ natural gas-to-gasoline plant started production of 15,500 barrels-per-day of gasoline in Turkmenistan. This is the only large-scale natural gas-to-gasoline plant in the world. The owner and operator is Turkmengas, and Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Ronesans were EPC contractors.

Gasoline from TIGAS™ is free of sulfur, cost-competitive, and seamlessly replaces traditional gasoline in car engines. The TIGAS™ process utilizes large amounts of natural gas, which today is often vented or flared, and converts the gas into a useful product.

"By making an environmentally superior gasoline from natural gas rather than crude oil, Nacero will enable drivers to keep their cars and help the planet. Using existing vehicles, markets, infrastructure, and proven technology affords Nacero the opportunity to quickly and predictably create meaningful benefits at worldclass scale," says Jay McKenna, CEO, Nacero.

Nacero selected Haldor Topsoe and TIGAS™ after careful consideration of competing technologies. A highly influential factor was that the TIGAS™ technology is industry-proven and backed by a strong commitment from Topsoe. Topsoe initially developed the TIGAS™ technology and catalysts in the late 1970’s and has continuously improved the solution through an extensive R&D program for over 40 years.

“We are proud that Nacero has made TIGAS™ their technology of choice in their ambitious plan to bring gasoline security and jobs to Arizona. This cutting-edge technology will help communities and producers monetize natural gas resources, and reduce imports by producing high-quality gasoline locally,” says Kim Knudsen, Executive Vice President, Haldor Topsoe.

As MRC informed earlier, Gaz Sintez has nominated Haldor Topsoe as licensor of its methanol plant in the Leningrad Region, Russia. The plant will produce 1.6 million tons per year of АА grade methanol based on Topsoe’s SynCOR Methanol™ technology. Gaz Sintez is developing the methanol plant project at the port of Vysotsk in the Leningrad Region of Russia. As announced earlier, Hyundai Engineering has started the development of the FEED-package, and NIIK has been awarded the Russian general designer contract. The plant is expected to be completed in 2023.

In January 2020, Topsoe announced the official opening of the world’s only natural gas-to-gasoline complex in Turkmenistan. 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.

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.

TIGAS™ comprises Topsoe’s proprietary and widely used SynCOR Methanol™ technology that secures exceptional economy of scale. The Nacero plant will produce more than 10,000 metric tons per day (MTPD) of methanol, which is further processed to gasoline. The only byproduct from the process is purified water which is a valuable resource in the dry area. The TIGAS™ process has a very high carbon efficiency, and the Nacero facility will have the flexibility to meet various specifications and grades of gasoline.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- INEOS, one of the world’s largest manufacturing companies, has today announced that it has hit its ten day target to build a hand sanitiser plant near Middlesbrough and has started producing 1 million hand sanitisers a month, as per the company's press release.

Hand to mouth contamination is one of the main ways that the Coronavirus infects people and there is a critical shortage of hand sanitisers across the UK and Europe.

INEOS is focusing on meeting the needs of front line medical and care services as well as making “pocket bottle” hand sanitisers available for people’s personal use. These will be produced to World Health Organisation specifications.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, founder and chairman of INEOS says, “Now that production of the INEOS hand sanitiser has started, we are working on the fastest way to get them to where they need to be. I am confident that within a few days our sanitiser will start to be seen in hospitals, surgeries and people’s homes”.

INEOS is the leading European producer of the two key raw materials needed for sanitisers – isopropyl alcohol (IPA) and ethanol, producing almost 1 million tonnes. The company is already running these plants flat out and have been diverting more of this product to essential medical use including in the new INEOS factories.

INEOS takes its corporate and social responsibilities extremely seriously. Its products are essential to the production of essential healthcare products from rubber gloves, to PVC saline drips, syringes, ventilators, medical tubing. Its products purify the public’s drinking water. It produces raw materials for soap, phenol for aspirin and paracetamol, and its acetonitrile is being used in pharmaceutical analysis essential in procedures necessary to find a vaccine.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, founder and chairman of INEOS adds, “INEOS is a company with enormous resources and manufacturing skills. If we can find other ways to help in the Coronavirus battle, we are absolutely committed to playing our part”.

As MRC informed before, in January 2019, INEOS announced Antwerp as the location for its new petrochemical investment. The EUR3 billion investment will be the biggest ever made by INEOS and is first cracker to be built in Europe in 20 years. The investment is a game changer for the chemical sectors and will bring huge benefits to the Belgium and wider European economies.

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.

INEOS is a global manufacturer of petrochemicals, specialty chemicals and oil products employing 22,000 people. It has 34 businesses, with a production network spanning 183 manufacturing facilities in 26 countries.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indian refiner Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd has issued a force majeure notice to Iraq’s Oil Marketing Company (SOMO) to cancel two oil cargoes as local fuel demand is hit by a lockdown to stem spread of coronavirus, reported Reuters with reference to an industry source.

State-run HPCL was scheduled to lift these cargoes containing one million barrels each in the first half of April, this source said. The source did not wish to be identified citing confidentiality.

No immediate comment was available from HPCL. SOMO could not be immediately reached for comments.

HPCL is the third Indian company to invoke force majeure for crude supplies. Last week two India refiner- Indian Oil Corp and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd have invoked force majeure on crude imports mainly from middle east.

Many Indian refiners have reduced crude processing as fuel demand drops.

HPCL has cut crude processing at its Mumbai refinery by 10%, while it is operating its Vizag refinery at 100% capacity to feed southern Indian market.

As MRC informed before, India's private-sector Haldia Petrochemicals (HPL) has shut its naphtha cracker, after ports in the country declared force majeure to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The petrochemical maker operates a 670,000 tonnes per year cracker, which on average would need more than 150,000 tonnes of naphtha feedstock a month if the unit is at full capacity, based on Reuters calculations.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,093,260 tonnes in 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments rose from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,260,400 tonnes in January-December 2019, up by 4% year on year. Supply of almost all grades of propylene polymers increased, except for statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers).

Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd is a modern naphtha based petrochemical complex at Haldia, West Bengal, India. Haldia has played the role of a catalyst in emergence of more than 500 downstream processing industries in West Bengal with a capacity to process more than 3,50,000 TPA of polymers, among which are PE and PP.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Overall imports of expandable polystyrene (EPS) to the Ukrainian market rose in the first two months of 2020 by 9% year on year to 3,900 tonnes, according to MRC's DataScope report.

This figure was 3,600 tonnes in January-February 2019.

The share of Russian material grew significantly in the total shipments in the first two months of the year, accounting for 78% (3,100 tonnes), compared to 41% (1,500 tonnes) a year earlier. Chinese EPS shipments fell sharply over the stated period to 8% (300 tonnes) from 51% (1,800 tonnes) in January-February 2019.

February EPS imports to Ukraine were 1,800 tonnes versus 2,100 tonnes a month earlier, this figure was also at 2,100 tonnes in February 2019.

The share of Russian material remained in February at the level of January, totalling 79% (1,400 tonnes). The share of Chinese shipments dropped to 7% (128 tonnes) in February from 8% (172 tonnes) a month earlier.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Under the pressure of stronger demand and tight supply, prices of low density polyethylene (LDPE) have risen on a weekly basis since early March. LDPE prices had gone up by more than Rb14,000/tonne by the end of the month, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

Demand for LDPE in the Russian market has begun to recover actively since late February, after oversupplied December and January. In early March, the need in polyethylene (PE) grew even more due to early spring in a number of regions, whereas most sellers' supply was tight, and some of them had sold out all their March quotas by the middle of the month. As a result, LDPE prices rose on a weekly basis, and some sellers announced a further price increase for April shipments this week.

108 grade LDPE was the most scarce PE grade throughout the whole March. The key suppliers - Angarsk Polymers Plant, Ufaorgsintez, and Kazanorgsintez - virtually did not have large stocks of this PE. And increased demand led to a price rise from Rb62,500/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, in the last week of February to Rb76,000/tonne, CPT Moscow, including VAT, by the end of March.

The situation was also similar with 158 grade LDPE in the second half of March, many sellers had sold out all their March quantities by the middle of last month, whereas demand remained at good. The scheduled maintenance at Kazanorgsintez’s production capacities (from 11 April to 10 May) only aggrevated the situation. And if at the beginning of the month prices of this PE started from Rb70,000//tonne, CPT Moscow, including VAT, then by the end of March, they went up to Rb84,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, and higher.

In late March, some producers announced an increase of Rb3,000-5,000/tonne in April LDPE prices.
MRC