Austrotherm opens its third EPS insulation plant in Poland

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Austrotherm (Austria) has launched another plant for the production of expanded polystyrene insulation materials (EPS) in Grodkow, in the south-west of Poland, said Plasteurope.

The Austrian company has invested EUR5.5 mln in the new plant, which is the third in Poland after the sites in Auschwitz and Skierniewice. At present, the number of employees is 15 people and, depending on the expansion plans, if necessary, it can be increased to 50 people.

"The demand for expanded polystyrene insulating sheets in Poland has been constantly growing for many years. This growth is driven, firstly, by rising energy prices and secondly by the smog program launched in 2019, which is providing financial support for thermal insulation measures in private homes,"said Klaus Haberfellner, Managing Director of the Austrotherm Group. explaining the reason for the expansion in Poland.

Austrotherm opened its first plant in Auschwitz in 1993 and then built another plant in Skierniewice in 1999. Together with the plant in Grodkow, the company currently employs 145 employees in Poland.

In Austria, the company has recently started offering services for the removal of extruded polystyrene construction scrap throughout the country. At the Purbach plant, the waste is shredded and then prepared for recycling in the production process.

As per MRC, expandable polystyrene (EPS) resin producer Epsilyte (The Woodlands, Texas) increased prices for the second month in a row for all grades of EPS by 4 cents/pound, effective 1 February 2021 or as contracts permit.

According ICS-MRC Price Report, prices of Russian EPS remained steady this week. EPS producers have not announced next month's price adjustments yet. Prices for SIBUR-Khimprom's material were at Rb160,000-168,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, this week. Prices of Plastik, Uzlovaya's material remained at Rb158,000-160,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT.

MRC

Eni began producing renewable fuels at its refinery in Italy

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Honeywell announced Italy’s largest energy company, Eni, is producing renewable fuels at its refinery in Gela, Italy, using the Ecofining technology jointly developed by Eni and UOP, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The production of biofuels at the Gela and Venice refineries helps Eni meet the growing demand for alternative fuels in Europe. UOP provided technology licensing, basic engineering, specialty equipment, catalysts and training for the project in Gela, which has an annual production capacity of 750,000 tons of HVO (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil) biofuel per year.

In 2014, Eni also converted its refinery in Venice to biofuels, producing up to 360,000 tons per year of biofuels from used vegetable oils, used cooking oils and animal fats. In total, Eni currently converts about 25% of Italy’s recovered used cooking oil to biofuels, supporting European emissions regulations while improving utilization of existing refinery assets. Venice was the first example in the world of conversion of a conventional refinery into a biorefinery.

"To meet increasing demand for biofuels in Europe, Eni converted its existing Gela facility to a biorefinery using the Ecofining technology jointly developed by Eni and UOP,” said Ben Owens, vice president and general manager, Honeywell Sustainable Technology Solutions. “The company saw this as an effective way to further support the growth of biofuels and the European Union’s policies for renewable energy."

The Ecofining process converts non-edible natural oils, animal fats and other waste feedstocks to renewable diesel, chemically identical to petroleum-based diesel, which can be used as a drop-in replacement in vehicles with no modifications.

Ecofining technology also can be used to produce jet fuel. Honeywell Green Jet Fuel™ produced by this process can be blended seamlessly with petroleum-based fuel. When used in up to a 50-percent blend with petroleum-based jet fuel, Honeywell Green Jet Fuel requires no changes to aircraft technology and meets all critical specifications for flight.

The Ecofining process is the most widely used technology to produce renewable diesel and jet fuels, and Eni and UOP continue to collaborate on future Ecofining developments to satisfy growing demand for advanced biofuels worldwide.

As per MRC, Honeywell announced a partnership with Princeps for petroleum refining supply chain solutions. Honeywell’s expertise in oil and gas planning will add Princeps’ petroleum solutions platform to its offerings to provide customers with industry-leading insights in determining the most profitable ways to operate their plants.

As MRC reported earlier, in May, 2020, Honeywell announced that Enterprise Products Partners L.P. will use Honeywell UOP’s C3 Oleflex technology in its second propane dehydrogenation plant, called "PDH 2". Located near Mont Belvieu, Texas, PDH 2 will produce 750,000 metric tons per year of polymer-grade propylene as part of Enterprise’s expansion of propylene manufacturing capacity.

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.
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OMV CEO Seele to leave company next year

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Rainer Seele, CEO of Austria-based energy and petrochemicals major OMV, will leave the company next year, said the company.

The Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of OMV, Rainer Seele, has notified the Chairman of the Supervisory Board Mark Garrett that he will not make use of the extension option for one additional year. The current term of office will end automatically on June 30, 2022.

Seele has been CEO since 1 July 2015. Before that, he led BASF’s Wintershall oil and gas business. Garrett led OMV's Borealis polyolefins affiliate for 11 years before stepping down in 2018.

This structural change facilitates the forward integration in the chemicals sector that has been underway ever since OMV acquired a majority stake in Borealis. With this change, OMV is consistently positioned across the entirety of its expanded value chain and can bundle all relevant responsibilities for petrochemicals and chemicals in a single board division.

As MRC wrote before, OMV is investing EUR40 million (USD48 million) to expand and modernize a steam cracker and associated units at its refining and petrochemicals complex at Burghausen, Germany. The upgrade will increase the site’s ethylene and propylene production capacity by 50,000 metric tons/year. Following a planned turnaround of the refinery, the revamped cracker and petchem units are expected to start operations in the third quarter of 2022. Initial groundwork is already underway ahead of the upgrade.

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.

OMV produces and markets oil and gas, innovative energy and high-end petrochemical solutions – in a responsible way. With Group sales of EUR 23 bn and a workforce of around 20,000 employees in 2019, OMV Aktiengesellschaft is one of Austria’s largest listed industrial companies.
MRC

Nizhnekamskneftekhim selects Lummus Technology as master licensor for its petrochemical plants in Russia

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Lummus Technology has been awarded a master licensor contract by PJSC Nizhnekamskneftekhim for its ethylbenzene, styrene monomer (SM), ethylene dimerization and olefins conversion technologies, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

These four plants will be part of the expansion of an olefins production facility in Nizhnekamsk, Russia. The dimerization and olefins conversion units will be the first in Russia.

"For nearly half of a century, Lummus and PJSC Nizhnekamskneftekhim have had a strong and collaborative partnership," said Leon de Bruyn, Lummus Technology's President and Chief Executive Officer. "Lummus was selected for its superior technologies to help Nizhnekamskneftekhim extend their product slate, and we are grateful for the trust by this important client in our ability to support them for many years to come."

Lummus' scope includes the technology license and basic engineering for the ethylbenzene, SM, ethylene dimerization and olefins conversion units.

Once complete, the units will produce 250,000 mt/year of ethylbenzene via the EBOne technology, 250,000 mt/year of SM via the Classic SM technology and 150,000 mt/year of polymer grade propylene production via olefins metathesis chemistry using Lummus' ethylene dimerization (DIMER) and olefins conversion technologies (OCT).

As MRC reported before, 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.

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 600,000 mt of ethylene, as well as 272,000 mt of propylene, 246,000 mt of benzene, 88,000 mt of butadiene.

Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

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.

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

Repsol to join Ecoplanta project to build waste to chemicals plant in Spain

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Spain’s Repsol will join the Ecoplanta project, together with the technology leader Montreal-based firm Enerkem and Agbar, a global expert in water and waste management, to build a waste to chemicals plant in Tarragona, Spain, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Under the joint venture Ecoplanta Molecular Recycling Solutions, the plant will process around 400,000 tons of non-recyclable municipal solid waste from its surrounding regions and produce 220,000 tons of methanol.

This methanol will be used as raw material to produce circular materials or advanced biofuels, contributing to avoid 200,000 tons of CO2 and reducing the waste that ends up in the landfill. This alliance is a further step towards the multi-energy company's ambition to become a net-zero emissions company by 2050.

The plant, the first of its kind in the Iberian Peninsula, will be co-managed by Repsol and Agbar, whilst Enerkem will be the key technological partner.

The plant is projected to be in operation in 2025 after taking the project’s final investment decision by the first quarter of 2022. The project already obtained the Integrated Environmental Authorization and the approval of the Environmental Impact Statement from the local authorities.

Repsol has a leading industrial complex in Tarragona, a factor that will allow for synergies among the facilities. This petrochemical complex is the most important of its kind in Spain. Among the many types of polymers produced there, the range of highly specialized products for the automotive sector, such as high impact resistant polymers, stands out.

Jose Luis Bernal, Repsol’s Executive Director for Chemicals, said: “We are very pleased to join forces with relevant waste management and innovative technology partners, showing our commitment to circular economy and reinforcing our commitment to recycle 20% of our polyolefins production by 2030”.

The plant will use gasification technology to transform municipal solid waste, a very complex process due to its heterogeneous nature, into high value-added products such as methanol. Enerkem is the owner of this patented state-of-the-art technology, the first to be tested on an industrial scale, after a rigorous scaleup from pilot to demonstration to commercial scale that took place over a decade, in its commercial demonstration plant in operation in Edmonton (Alberta, Canada), and a new facility under construction in Varennes (Quebec, Canada).

With this significant investment, the project has been selected to move into stage 2 of the European Union Innovation Fund, which focuses on highly innovative technologies and big flagship projects within Europe to bring on significant emission reductions.

As MRC wrote previously, Repsol shut down its cracker in Tarragona (Spain) for maintenance in the fourth quarter of 2019. The turnaround at this steam cracker, which produces 702,000 mt/year of ethylene and 372,000 mt/year of propylene, was pushed back from Q3 2019. The exact dates of maintenance works were not disclosed.

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.

Repsol S.A is an integrated Spanish oil and gas company with operations in 28 countries. The bulk of its assets are located in Spain.
MRC