Phillips 66 and Southwest Airlines sign MOU to advance sustainable aviation fuel

MOSCOW (MRC) -- US refiner Phillips 66 and Southwest Airlines have signed a memorandum of understanding to advance the commercialization of sustainable aviation fuel, focusing on public awareness and research and development, as per Phillips 66's press release.

The memorandum of understanding also sets the framework to explore a future supply agreement involving Phillips 66’s Rodeo Renewed project in California and highlights the commitment by both companies to a sustainable energy future.

Sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF, is a lower carbon-intensity fuel that can be produced from renewable feedstocks such as waste oils, fats, greases and vegetable oils.

Phillips 66 is a major US refiner and supplier of jet fuel and aviation gasoline. The memorandum of understanding aims to leverage the company’s expertise in refining, distribution and technical commercialization of transportation fuels as well as its portfolio of renewable energy projects.

The latter includes Rodeo Renewed, the proposed conversion of the San Francisco Refinery in Contra Costa County, California, into one of the world’s largest renewable fuels facilities, capable of producing an initial 800 million gallons per year of renewable fuels. The project, subject to permits and approvals, is expected to be completed in early 2024.

As MRC reported previously, Worley has been recently awarded a front-end engineering services contract by Phillips 66 to convert its San Francisco refinery in Rodeo, California, USA into a renewable fuels-manufacturing facility. Under the contract, Worley will provide front-end engineering design services for the facility, which will be executed by Worley’s North America West team with support from Worley’s Global Integrated Delivery team.

Besides, in October 2020, Phillips 66 said it plans to reconfigure its refinery in Rodeo, California to produce renewable fuels from used cooking oil, fats, greases and soybean oils.

We remind that US-based Phillips 66 remains open to developing another ethane cracker for its Chevron Phillips Chemical (CP Chem) joint venture, the refiner's CEO said in March 2018.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated polyethylene (PE) consumption totalled 356,370 tonnes in the first two month of 2021, down by 9% year on year. Shipments of exclusively low density polyethylene (LDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market was 246,870 tonnes in January-February 2021, up by 30% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.

Phillips 66 is a diversified energy manufacturing and logistics company. With a portfolio of Midstream, Chemicals, Refining, and Marketing and Specialties businesses, the company processes, transports, stores and markets fuels and products globally. Phillips 66 Partners, the company’s master limited partnership, is integral to the portfolio. Headquartered in Houston, the company has 14,300 employees committed to safety and operating excellence. Phillips 66 had USD55 billion of assets as of Dec. 31, 2020.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Berry Global Group, Inc. (Evansville, Indiana) has announced an investment of more than USD70 million to support continued growth in consumer packaging films, primarily for e-commerce, food, and beverage applications, according to BusinessWire.

The investment supports new multi-layer blown film lines along with infrastructure upgrades and other equipment that will come online in 2021 and 2022, across multiple sites in the North American manufacturing system. Beyond the traditional infrastructure upgrade, the film lines will support the anticipated increased customer demand for recycled content.

Beyond the material, Berry is committed to remaining at the forefront of the innovation necessary to meet customers’ sustainability goals and will do so through its investments in the latest equipment technologies, advantaged film development, and design for circularity. Line flexibility is a critical investment strategy deployed by Berry to ensure that ongoing material science developments apply to customer specifications, ranging from recycled content in its films to PHA resins that support bio-resin use.

Within the flexible packaging market, Berry demonstrates its strength in design for circularity with more innovation coming to the market in partnership with its customers. Berry’s investments in infrastructure for a circular economy combined with its flexible films expertise positions the company as one of North America’s preferred sustainable film suppliers.

As MRC informed earlier, in January 2021, Berry Global Group announced that Madrid-based Repsol, its longtime supplier, will supply it with circular resins. The Spanish multienergy global company will supply Berry with International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) Plus-certified circular polyolefins from its Repsol Reciclex range. These polyolefins are obtained by advanced recycling, enabled by the adoption of new chemical recycling technologies, of postconsumer plastic scrap not suitable for traditional recycling. As a result of the agreement, Berry says it will procure food-grade polypropylene (PP) for food and health care packaging. The packaging company will initially use the materials in manufacturing at its European packaging facilities.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated polyethylene (PE) consumption totalled 356,370 tonnes in the first two month of 2021, down by 9% year on year. Shipments of exclusively low density polyethylene (LDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market was 246,870 tonnes in January-February 2021, up by 30% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.

Berry Global Group, Inc. create innovative packaging and engineered products. Harnessing the strength in its diversity and industry leading talent of 47,000 global employees across more than 295 locations, the company partners with customers to develop, design, and manufacture innovative products with an eye toward the circular economy.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Royal Dutch Shell said on Wednesday it was conducting a feasibility study with partners to trial the use of hydrogen fuel cells for ships in Singapore, the first such move for the oil major, reported Reuters.

If successful, the trial will pave the way for cleaner, hydrogen-powered shipping, the company said, adding that its analysis points to hydrogen with fuel cells as the zero-emissions technology having the greatest potential to help the shipping sector achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

The trial will involve the development and installation of an auxiliary power unit fuel cell on an existing roll-on/roll-off vessel that transports goods, vehicles and equipment on lorries between Singapore and Shell's Pulau Bukom manufacturing site located on an island near the mainland.

A roll-on/roll-off vessel is a cargo ship designed to carry wheeled cargo such as cars, which are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels. Shell will charter the trial vessel and provide the hydrogen fuel. It is also working with SembCorp Marine Ltd and its unit LMG Marin, which will design the fuel cell and retrofit the vessel, owned by Penguin International Ltd).

The team will first carry out a feasibility study with the intention to install the fuel cell next year and the vessel will operate for a trial period of 12 months, Shell said.

To achieve the goals for the shipping industry set by the United Nations, industry leaders say the first ships with net-zero emissions must enter the global fleet by 2030. Ships powered by hydrogen could help meet the target.

As MRC informed earlier, Royal Dutch Shell Plc restarted the small crude distillation unit (CDU) on 2 April at its 318,000-bpd joint-venture Deer Park, Texas, refinery. The 70,000-bpd DU-1 CDU was shut on Feb 14 by a pump seal failure. All other units were shut the following day by severe cold weather. DU-1 is the last unit shut in February to restart at the refinery.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 241,030 tonnes in January 2021 versus 217,890 tonnes a year earlier. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 141,870 tonnes in January 2021 versus 123,520 tonnes a year earlier. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.

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) - Nizhnekamskneftekhim continues construction of the Ethylene-600 olefin complex in accordance with the schedule, despite the claims of Rostechnadzor due to adjustments to the project documentation, Kommersant reports, citing the words of the company's CEO Ayrat Safin at the international forum on energy efficiency and ecology in Kazan.

"Everything is being done in accordance with the working schedule. There is no delay," he said. Earlier it was reported that the Volga department of Rostekhnadzor, during an inspection in February-March, revealed violations of the requirements for urban planning activities during the construction of the complex, drew up protocols on a temporary ban on activities and sent the materials to the Tatarstan Arbitration Court.

In this regard, Nizhnekamskneftekhim explained that the adjustment of the project was caused by "objective necessity" and assured that the construction is being carried out in full accordance with the working documentation developed by the German company Linde with the involvement of Russian design institutes and "meet the requirements and standards of the Russian Federation."

A. Safin believes that Rostekhnazdor's claims arose because of "a slight misunderstanding" and now "the questions are being removed." "I can immediately assure that we have never built with a deviation from the design documentation, everything is in accordance with the design documentation," he said. The general director said that the company plans to submit the necessary documents "both to Rostekhnadzor and to the court."

Earlier, Nizhnekamskneftekhim announced that it intends to complete the main stage of construction of the Ethylene-600 complex in December 2022, which will allow it to start production in the second half of 2023. The complex plans to annually produce 600 thousand tons of ethylene, as well as 272 thousand tons of propylene, 246 thousand tons of benzene, 88 thousand tons of butadiene.

The construction of the olefin complex is carried out within the framework of a memorandum of strategic cooperation concluded in June 2017 between TAIF Group, which includes Nizhnekamskneftekhim, and the German company Linde AG. The basic agreement on the design, supply of equipment and provision of services for the commissioning of the first stage of the future plant was signed between Nizhnekamskneftekhim and the Linde Engineering division. In February 2019, a contract for construction and installation work was signed with the Turkish company Gemont.

According to MRC's ScanPlast, Russiaэs estimated PE consumption totalled 241,030 tonnes in January 2021 versus 217,890 tonnes a year earlier. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 141,870 tonnes in January 2021 versus 123,520 tonnes a year earlier. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.

PJSC "Nizhnekamskneftekhim" (NKNKH) is one of the largest Russian producers of petrochemical products. The production complex of the company includes ten factories of the main production and ten departments (railway transport, main ethylene pipelines, etc.). NKNKh produces over 120 types of chemical products, including synthetic rubber, polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, surfactants. Nizhnekamskneftekhim is part of TAIF Group.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Blagoveshchensk Polyef continues to implement a project to launch the production of "green" PET pellets containing secondary raw materials, the company said.

The enterprise loaded the first pile into the base of the production foundation. It is planned to launch the line in the first half of 2022.

It is noted that the production of PET containing recycled resources is an important part of SIBUR's strategy for sustainable development until 2025. The technology that is planned to be used at Polief is environmentally friendly and belongs to the advanced methods of involving recycled PET in the production cycle.

The "green pellet" produced by Polyef will contain up to 25% recyclable materials and will meet the highest regulatory requirements, meeting the growing market demand for packaging using recycled materials, and will provide its manufacturers with a complete solution that combines both primary and secondary PET. SIBUR also continues research and development work in order to increase the proportion of secondary PET in pellets without losing quality in the future.

Now the collection of used PET bottles in Bashkiria is 4 thousand tons per year. When implementing a set of measures aimed at increasing collection and sorting, according to expert estimates, the potential volume may be 20 thousand tons per year.

Earlier it was reported that in December last year, SIBUR Holding (Moscow) signed the first contract for the supply of raw materials for the project for the production of "green" polyethylene terephthalate (PET) granules at the Polief enterprise in Blagoveshchensk (Republic of Bashkortostan).

According to MRC ScanPlast, in February of this year, the estimated consumption of PET in Russia decreased by 3% compared to the same indicator a year earlier and amounted to 53,890 tonnes. According to the results of January - February 2020, 100,830 tonnes of PET chips were processed in Russia.

PJSC "SIBUR Holding" is the largest petrochemical company in Russia and Eastern Europe with full coverage of the industry cycle from gas processing, production of monomers, plastics and synthetic rubbers to plastics processing.
MRC