Borealis polyolefin sites gain sustainability certification, brings renewable range to market

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Borealis says it has gained ISCC Plus certification for four of its production sites in Europe, with two more expected to be certified by the first quarter of 2021, enabling it to bring its renewable range of polyolefins and hydrocarbons to market, reported Chemweek.

The company’s polyolefin facilities at Porvoo, Finland; Schwechat, Austria; and Kallo and Beringen in Belgium have gained the sustainability certification, while Borealis says its sites at Stenungsund, Sweden, and Burghausen, Germany, will follow in the next quarter.

The ISCC Plus standard for recycled and bio-based materials provides supply chain traceability, verifying companies to meet specific environmental and social standards, creating a chain of custody. “This enables Borealis to certify its mass balanced production of renewable feedstock, as well as chemically recycled feedstock, with a mass balance approach crucial to transitioning towards a more circular economy of the chemical industry,” it says.

The certification enables the company to produce and offer its renewable polyolefins range of circular products, as well as renewable hydrocarbons such as ethylene, propylene, C4s, phenol, and acetone, to the market for the first time.

“As a result of certifying each of its production sites, Borealis can progress with its large pipeline of projects to drive the transition to a circular economy: supplier contracts can be finalized, and customer contracts for feedstock explored,” it says. The company is targeting 100% of its consumer products and solutions to be made of recyclable, reusable, or with renewable content, by 2025.

As MRC informed previously, the 380,000-metric tons/year steam cracker at Porvoo, Finland, operated by Borealis, resumed normal operations in early December after the company declared force majeure following a technical failure on 11 November. The cracker was shut down to allow necessary repair works, according to Borealis. The company began restart operations on 23 November, 2020.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing PE and PP.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,760,950 tonnes in the first ten months of 2020, up by 3% year on year. Only high density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 978,870 tonnes in January-October 2020 (calculated using the formula: production minus exports plus imports minus producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively of PP random copolymer increased.

Borealis is a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers. With headquarters in Vienna, Austria, Borealis currently employs around 6,500 and operates in over 120 countries.
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MOSCOW (MRC) - China's crude oil imports in November rose from a month ago, as customs continued to clear a backlog, although independent refiners slowed purchases after nearing their import quotas, Reuters.

China brought in 45.36 MMt of crude oil last month, equivalent to 11.04 MMbpd, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Monday.

That compares to 42.56 MMt in October and was 0.3% less than the level in November 2019.

As MRC informed previously, global oil demand may have already peaked, according to BP's latest long-term energy outlook, as the COVID-19 pandemic kicks the world economy onto a weaker growth trajectory and accelerates the shift to cleaner fuels.

Earlier this year, BP said the deadly coronavirus outbreak could cut global oil demand growth by 40% in 2020, putting pressure on Opec producers and Russia to curb supplies to keep prices in check.

And in September 2019, six world's major petrochemical companies in Flanders, Belgium, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and the Netherlands (Trilateral Region) announced the creation of a consortium to jointly investigate how naphtha or gas steam crackers could be operated using renewable electricity instead of fossil fuels. The Cracker of the Future consortium, which includes BASF, Borealis, BP, LyondellBasell, SABIC and Total, aims to produce base chemicals while also significantly reducing carbon emissions. The companies agreed to invest in R&D and knowledge sharing as they assess the possibility of transitioning their base chemical production to renewable electricity.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing PE and PP.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,760,950 tonnes in the first ten months of 2020, up by 3% year on year. Only high density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 978,870 tonnes in January-October 2020 (calculated using the formula: production minus exports plus imports minus producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively of PP random copolymer increased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Taiwan's largest acrylonitrile (ACN) producer Formosa Plastics Corp. (FPC), part of Formosa Petrochemical, is planning to shut its ACN plant in Mailiao for a scheduled turnaround on 8 January, 2020, reported S&P Global.

This plant's production capacity is 280,000 mt/year.

The maintenance is expected to last for around four weeks.

As MRC informed previously, this year, FPC shut its ACN plant in Mailiao for maintenance works from 7 February to 5 March. And last year, the company conducted scheduled repaires at this facility from 12 February to 9 March and from 1 to 21 August.

ACN is the main feedstock for the production of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, ABS shipments to the Russian market virtually remained at the previous month's level, totalling 5,060 tonnes. Overall consumption of material in the country was 37,120 tonnes in the first ten months of 2020, down by 6% year on year.

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).
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Zhejiang Petrochemical Co Ltd plans to shut down its new acrylonitrile (ACN) plant at Zhoushan in eastern Zhejiang province on 10 December for a 18-20 day turnaround, reported S&P Global with reference to a company source.

This plant's production capacity is 260,000 mt/year.

The company started up new ACN plant on 23 June, 2020, and produced on specification material in the week ended 4 July.

As MRC informed earlier, Zhejiang Petrochemical Co Ltd started up its ethylene cracker in late December 2019 and its polyolefin plants in late December 2019-January 2020.

Market sources reported then that one of its polypropylene (PP) plant with capacity of 450,000 tons/year started up by 30 December 2019, followed by another line with same capacity by 15 January 2020.

Meanwhile its 450,000 tons/year of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) and 300,000 tons/year of high density polyethylene (HDPE) were launched around similar time with PP plants.

ACN is the main feedstock for the production of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, ABS shipments to the Russian market virtually remained at the previous month's level, totalling 5,060 tonnes. Overall consumption of material in the country was 37,120 tonnes in the first ten months of 2020, down by 6% year on year.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Merck KGaA says it is investing a total of EUR40.0 million (USD48.5 million) to increase the production capacity of its facilities at Danvers, Massachusetts, and Jaffrey, New Hampshire, by the end of 2021 and in 2022, respectively, to meet "unprecedented demand" for products and services to customers developing lifesaving therapies, including COVID-19 vaccines, said Chemweek.

The two sites provide products and services for biopharmaceutical manufacturing, the company says. The total investment at Danvers is about EUR21 million and will add 6,000 square meters to the site's 11,000-square-meter facility used for single-use assembly operations, Merck says. The total investment at Jaffrey is about EUR18.5 million and will expand the existing 24,000-square-meter facility by 2,300 square meters, the company says.

"The global coronavirus pandemic has significantly increased demand for our single-use and virus-filtration technologies, which we are supplying to more than 50 different companies working on COVID-19 vaccine candidates," says Chris Ross, interim head/life science at Merck.

With these expansions, the total amount of investments announced by Merck in life sciences in 2020 exceeds EUR350 million, the company says. They include investments to enhance capabilities and capacity at Buchs, Switzerland; Carlsbad, California; Madison, Wisconsin; and Darmstadt, Germany.

As MRC informed earlier, Merck KGaA says it has entered a collaborative partnership with Siemens for the joint development of an overall process-control system for the automation of modular production of materials and products for the electronics, pharmaceutical, and life science industries.

As MRC informed earlier, Merck KGaA has presented its new sustainability strategy, with which it aims to integrate sustainability more deeply as an essential component of its corporate strategy. The main aims of the strategy are to develop sustainable science and technology, integrate sustainability into all the company's value chains by 2030, and achieve climate neutrality and reduce its resource consumption by 2040, Merck says. The company will report annually on the current implementation status of the strategy.

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.

Headquartered in Darmstadt, Germany, Merck opened an OLED application center in Pyeongtaek, Korea, in 2015. Merck Korea now has 11 operation sites and some 1,200 employees and operates businesses in functional materials, health care and life sciences. The functional materials business encompasses advance materials for information technology products such as displays and semiconductors. It also includes cosmetics and paints for automobiles.
Its health care business involves pharmaceutical and medical devices for treatments of cancer, multiple sclerosis and infertility. The life sciences business deals in an extensive portfolio of over 300,000 products used for protein research, cell biology, antibodies, water purification and microbiome tests.
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