Shell Catalysts & Technologies launches the Shell Blue Hydrogen Process

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shell Catalysts & Technologies is launching the Shell Blue Hydrogen Process, which integrates proven technologies to increase significantly the affordability of greenfield projects for “blue” hydrogen production from natural gas along with carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS), said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Affordable blue hydrogen enables the decarbonization of hard-to-abate heavy industries while creating value for refiners and resource holders. Shell’s new process can reduce the levelized cost of hydrogen by 22% compared with the best the market has to offer today.

Without low-carbon hydrogen, the net-zero goals announced by governments and companies will be difficult to achieve. Currently, hydrogen production is nearly all “grey” (from hydrocarbons without CCUS). If hydrogen is to contribute to carbon neutrality, it must be produced on a much larger scale and with far lower emission levels.

Blue hydrogen production can be relatively easily scaled up to meet demand. With carbon dioxide (CO2) costing USD25–35/t, blue hydrogen becomes competitive against grey, even with its higher capital costs. And green hydrogen, produced from the renewable-energy powered electrolysis of water, may still be more than double the price of blue hydrogen by 2030[i] and not achieve cost parity until about 2045.

This analysis is based on conventional steam methane reforming (SMR) and auto-thermal reforming (ATR) technologies. The availability of the Shell Blue Hydrogen Process, which integrates proprietary Shell gas partial oxidation (SGP) technology with ADIP ULTRA solvent technology, further improves blue hydrogen economics.

A key advantage of SGP technology over ATR is that the partial oxidation reaction does not require steam. Instead, high-pressure steam is generated, which satisfies the steam demands of the process and some other power consumers. There is also no need for feed gas pretreatment, which simples the process line-up. And SGP gives refiners greater feed flexibility, as it is more robust against feed contaminants and can thus accommodate a large range of natural gas qualities.

Compared with ATR, SGP technology gives a 22% lower levelized cost of hydrogen from: 17% lower capital expenditure (higher operating pressure giving smaller hydrogen compressor and CO2 capture and compressor units); and 34% lower operating expenditure (excluding the natural gas feedstock price) from reduced compression duties and more steam generation.

When compared with SMR, SGP technology leads to even greater hydrogen production cost savings from both the capital and operating expenditure perspectives.

As MRC informed before, Royal Dutch Shell plc. said earlier this month that its petrochemical complex of several billion dollars in Western Pennsylvania is about 70% complete and in the process to enter service in the early 2020s. The plant’s costs are estimated to be USD6-USD10 billion, where ethane will be transformed into plastic feedstock. The facility is equipped to produce 1.5 million metric tons per year (mmty) of ethylene and 1.6 mmty of polyethylene (PE), two important constituents of plastics.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,496,500 tonnes in the first eight months of 2020, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of all ethylene polymers increased, except for linear low desnity polyethylene (LLDPE). At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 767,2900 tonnes in the eight months of 2020 (calculated using the formula - production minus exports plus imports - and not counting producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply increased exclusively of PP random copolymer.

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) -- Douglas M. Baker Jr., CEO of Ecolab Inc., has announced his retirement effective January 1, 2021, according to ISSA.

Baker will remain in his current position as Ecolab board chairman. Christophe Beck has been appointed Baker’s successor as CEO. Beck currently serves as the company’s president and chief operating officer.

Beck joined Ecolab in 2007 from Nestle S.A. where he served in a variety of executive positions over a 16-year tenure.

As MRC wrote before, Ecolab reported third-quarter net income down 44% year on year (YOY), to USD246.2 million, on net sales down 6%, to USD3.02 billion. Adjusted earnings totaled USD1.15/share, down 24% YOY but slightly ahead of analysts’ consensus estimate of USD1.13/share, as reported by Refinitiv (New York, New York). Volumes declined due to COVID-19 and a less-favorable business mix more than offset cost cuts and higher selling prices.

Global industrial segment sales fell 3% YOY, to USD1.47 billion, while segment operating income was up 18%, to USD293.4 million. Sales were flat in the food and beverage business, but this was offset by declines in other industrial end markets. Higher selling prices, cost cuts, and lower discretionary spending boosted operating income, however.

Global institutional and specialty segment sales were down 22% YOY, to USD896.1 million, while segment operating income fell 71%, to USD82.0 million. Closures and reduced business for restaurants, lodging, and entertainment facilities cut into demand for the segment, more than offsetting higher demand for sanitizing products.

We remind that Russia's output of chemical products rose in September 2020 by 6.7% year on year. At the same time, production of basic chemicals increased by 6.1% year on year in the first nine months of 2020, according to Rosstat's data. According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, polymers in primary form accounted for the greatest increase in the January-September output. Last month's production of primary polymers decreased to 852,000 tonnes from 888,000 tonnes in August due to shutdowns in Tomsk, Ufa and Kazan. Overall output of polymers in primary form totalled 7,480,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 16.4% year on year.

With annual sales of USD15 billion and more than 50,000 associates, Ecolab Inc. specializes in cleaning, sanitizing, food safety, and infection prevention products and services in more than 170 countries
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lonza says that Pierre-Alain Ruffieux assumed responsibility as the company’s CEO on 2 November, following his appointment in June, according to Chemweek.

Albert Baehny, who has been Lonza’s CEO ad interim since November 2019, will work with Ruffieux to ensure a smooth handover before returning to his role as chairman.

“I have had the opportunity to work with Lonza as a customer many times in my career to date, so I know both the strength and value of its expertise, its technology, and its people,” says Ruffieux.

As MRC informed earlier, Lonza (Basel, Switzerland) says it has developed a new structure for its pharma, biotech, and nutrition (LBPN) segment to increase “divisional end-to-end performance accountability” and to strengthen governance and process excellence from global functions, as the company proceeds with the previously announced divestment of its specialty ingredients (LSI) segment.

We remind that in 2012, Lonza set up a task force to look at new supply routes and vendors to feed its cracker in Visp, Switzerland, following the shutdown of Petroplus’ refinery at Cressier in January, 2012. Lonza’s cracker has an ethylene capacity of 25,000 tonnes/year.

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

According to MRC"s ScanPlast report, Russia"s estimated PE consumption totalled 1,594,510 tonnes in the first nine months of 2020, up by 1% year on year. Only high denstiy polyethylene (HDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 880,130 tonnes in the nine months of 2020 (calculated using the formula: production minus exports plus imports, exluding producers" inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply increased exclusively of PP random copolymer.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Rosneft United Research and Development Centre, the institute of the corporate R&D complex of Rosneft Oil Company, has developed a laboratory unit for synthetic crude oil, said the company.

The unit, which completed a synthetic oil production run, is capable of converting methane to synthetic liquid hydrocarbons. Rosneft said its technology for obtaining synthetic oil from associated petroleum gas has undergone a series of expert reviews, including international ones, and has been assessed as advanced process solution.

In a press statement, Rosneft said: “Synthetic crude oil is more environmentally friendly than natural crude oil, and when blended with natural crude oil it improves its quality. “The Company’s specialists are currently preparing to create a pilot plant at the field to test it under real operating conditions.

“The diesel produced on-site from synthetic crude oil will be much cheaper if such a facility is available at remote fields, where fuel and lubricants have to be delivered to diesel generator and vehicles via winter road or aeroplane.” The latest development is a part of Rosneft’s efforts to increase the efficiency of gas refining while meeting high environmental standards for oil production.

As a result of the exhaustion of traditional reserves, new fields are being developed featuring heavier viscous oil, which is said to be more difficult to transport and refine. However, synthetic crude oil could be added to this type of hydrocarbons to make it closer to that of traditional grades up to Brent, the firm noted.

Separately, the Rosneft United Research and Development Centre has developed a methane aromatisation technology, designed to obtain both hydrogen and aromatics from natural and associated petroleum gas. The technology is designed as an alternative to the existing methods of hydrogen and synthetic hydrocarbons.

Rosneft said in a statement said: “When the new technology is applied, 1 billion cubic metres of natural gas or APG refining results in 1 billion cubic metres of hydrogen and 0.5 million tonnes of aromatic hydrocarbons." In May, Rosneft Oil has commenced production of the environmentally-friendly residual marine low sulphur (RMLS 40) fuel from its Syzran Refinery in Russia.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,594,510 tonnes in the first nine months of 2020, up by 1% year on year. Only high denstiy polyethylene (HDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 880,130 tonnes in the nine months of 2020 (calculated using the formula: production minus exports plus imports, exluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply increased exclusively of PP random copolymer.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Exxon Mobil Corp is urging the Australian government to start releasing aid to the country's oil refineries by January after a decision last week by BP plc to shut the nation's biggest refinery, said Reuters.

Exxon owns Australia’s oldest refinery at Altona near Melbourne, which can process 90,000 barrels per day of oil, the smallest of the nation’s four refineries. The site supplies about half of the fuel for the state of Victoria, which has been subject to one of the world’s longest and tightest coronavirus lockdowns.

Exxon said the prolonged lockdown “has placed unprecedented pressure” on Altona, causing the plant to run at a loss. Victoria’s government only last week eased restrictions limiting people to a 5 km (3 mile) zone around their homes and allowed shops and restaurants to reopen for the first time since Aug 2.

The Australian government is in talks with the refining industry on an offer of AD2.3 billion (USD1.6 billion) in incentives over 10 years to keep refineries open to bolster of national fuel security. The country's two other refiners, Viva Energy and Ampol, are considering shutting their refineries.

Exxon said the proposed six-month time frame for talks with the government was “too long given the near term challenges faced by all refineries” and it was working with the refiners’ industry group and the government to get the first part of the fuel security package released by January 2021.

The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) said the government should take over BP’s plant at Kwinana, Western Australia, the only refinery on the west coast, to prevent fuel supply disruptions.

“More than 90 percent of Australia’s liquid fuel already arrives via foreign owned and operated tankers, but that figure will only increase if the Kwinana refinery is allowed to close,” MUA Assistant National Secretary Ian Bray said in a statement.

We remind that ExxonMobil has undertaken a planned shutdown at its cracker in Singapore. The company halted operations at the cracker for maintenance on September 14, 2020. The cracker is expected to remain off-line till end-October, 2020. Located at Jurong Island, Singapore, the cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 1 million mt/year and a propylene production capacity of 450,000 mt/year.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,496,500 tonnes in the first eight months of 2020, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of all ethylene polymers increased, except for linear low desnity polyethylene (LLDPE). At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 767,2900 tonnes in the eight months of 2020 (calculated using the formula - production minus exports plus imports - and not counting producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply increased exclusively of PP random copolymer.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world"s oil and about 2% of the world"s energy.
MRC