Axens introduces newly created family brand aimed for production of ethylene, propylene, butadiene and aromatics

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Axens has announced the launch of SeLene, a newly created family brand dedicated to selective hydrogenation, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Selective hydrogenation is an essential purification step for the production of the most critical building blocks of the petrochemical industry. These blocks include ethylene, propylene, butadiene and aromatics. Selective hydrogenation is also applied in several refinery processing schemes, and plays an increasingly important role in the widely adopted, fully integrated, refinery and petrochemical operation.

Axens proposes a broad catalyst portfolio to deliver optimal performance, specifically tailored for the selective hydrogenation needs of the customers thanks to over 50 years of powerful innovation aimed at improving the active phase impregnation, combined with state-of-the-art alumina carriers.

SeLene family combines over 20 industrially proven catalysts along with tailor-made services to provide dedicated solutions to meet customer needs. Moreover, SeLene also welcomes Axens latest catalysts with new performance features to help customers creating even more value along the whole olefins chain from the acetylene to the Pygas cut.

As MRC reported earlier, following the successful start-up of the 1.1 MTA FLEXICOKING unit at the end of 2019, Hengyi Industries has recently selected Axens technology for a second time to upgrade the heavy feeds of its 16-MTA capacity for the New Crude to Aromatics Phase II expansion project.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 576,270 tonnes in the first three month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 410,890 tonnes in January-March 2021, up by 56% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.
MRC

PP prices continued to go down in the Russian market in May

PP prices continued to go down in the Russian market in May
MOSCOW (MRC) - An increase in the supply of polypropylene (PP) led to a decrease in prices in the Russian market in the second half of April. Weak demand and lower prices in the foreign markets continued the downtrend of PP prices, although not all sellers adjusted their prices, according to the ICIS-MRC Price Report.

The first three months of the year were quite difficult for Russian converters. There was a lack of supply in the market and prices were growing almost weekly under the pressure of the situation in the foreign markets. The supply of polypropylene from some producers increased in April, and the pressure on prices from export markets also eased.
From the middle of the April, polypropylene in Russia began to gradually fall in price, and this process accelerated for some products in May. At the same time, it is worth noting that not all sellers agreed to adjust their PP prices.

Demand for PP has decreased significantly in May. Demand was under pressure from both the long May holidays and the high cost of polypropylene, which many converters with delay and difficulties shifted to the cost of finished products. And due to a lack of working capital and a decrease in demand for finished products, some of the converters reduced the utilisation of capacities, including quite large ones.

Also, additional pressure on demand in the current month was put by converters' expectations of a decrease in polypropylene prices. One of the price growth drivers in Russia in the first three months of the year was the Turkish market, but the situation there changed dramatically in April.

And some Russian companies began to receive "interesting" offers for PP supplies from Asia, including China.
Low demand for polypropylene from converters and sufficient supply, including imports for some types, led to a further decrease in prices.

So, if at the end of April the prices of homopolymer PP were on average at the level of Rb170,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT at a number of sellers. At the end of May, some sellers dropped their prices below the level of Rb160,000 - 165,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, depending on the type of homopolymer PP.

MRC

Three ExxonMobil refineries in Texas and Louisiana top the list of US polluters

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil’s US oil refineries pump out far more lung-damaging soot than similarly-sized facilities operated by rivals, according to regulatory documents and a Reuters analysis of pollution test results.

The Texas-based firm’s three largest refineries - two in Texas and one in Louisiana - are the nation’s top three emitters of small particulate matter, according to the analysis of the latest tests submitted to regulators by the nation’s 10 largest refineries.

The three Exxon refineries together averaged emissions of 80 pounds per hour, eight times the average rate of the seven other refineries on the top-ten list, some of which are larger than Exxon's plants, the analysis shows. The top polluter, Exxon's Baton Rouge refinery, averaged 138 pounds per hour.

The performance reflects the firm’s inadequate spending to cut emissions, said Wilma Subra, a Louisiana-based scientist who formerly served on the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Environmental Justice Advisory Council.

The company has taken heat for years for its environmental performance. Last week, Exxon lost at least two seats on its board of directors to an activist hedge fund seeking to force the firm to reckon with climate change.

Exxon said in a statement that it tries to comply with environmental laws and has invested billions of dollars to reduce emissions over the last two decades.

The EPA requires plants to restrict small particulate matter emissions to 1 pound or less for every 1,000 pounds of coke burned in a refinery’s catalytic cracking units. But Exxon’s Baton Rouge plant is the only major US refinery that doesn’t have to meet that standard because of an EPA rule that exempts “cat crackers” that were built before 1976 and haven’t been modified since.

Refineries also have to meet state standards for particulate-matter pollution. But those limits can vary widely among states - and among different facilities within states - based on the strictness of state regulators and whether a refinery has agreed to tighter limits to settle lawsuits. And Louisiana regulators allow much higher pollution levels at Exxon’s Baton Rouge plant than at other state refineries.

Exxon’s two big oil refineries in Texas - in Beaumont and Baytown - are also among the top three polluters identified by Reuters. But Exxon’s 517,000-barrel-per-day Baton Rouge plant produces far more soot.

Because the Baton Rouge refinery’s two catalytic crackers were built during World War Two - among the first such units in the country - they are exempt from federal EPA standards.

Big refineries run by Exxon’s rivals are doing much better at controlling soot. Ironically, many of them are using technology invented and licensed by Exxon, according to disclosures by Exxon and environmental regulators.

Specialists in industrial pollution say the differences in performance can be attributed to any of a number of factors: rivals’ equipment could be newer; maintenance schedules may be more frequent; and refining processes before wet gas scrubbing may also be optimized to reduce soot. All of that takes money. In many cases, it also takes lawsuits.

Companies such as BP plc, Marathon Petroleum, Phillips 66 and Valero Energy Corp have made agreements with the EPA in recent years to slash emissions below federal standards to help settle pollution-related litigation, regulatory disclosures show.

As MRC informed earlier, in April, 2021, ExxonMobil, one of the world's petrochemical majors, and Global Clean Energy expanded their five-year agreement to increase ExxonMobil’s purchase of renewable diesel up to 5 million barrels per year.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled576,270 tonnes in the first three month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 410,890 tonnes in January-March 2021, up by 56% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.

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

Metaspectral to develop new techniques for sorting post-consumer recycled plastic

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Vancouver-based technology developer Metaspectral has been awarded more than USD300,000 in grant funding to develop new techniques for sorting post-consumer recycled plastic, said Canplastics.

The funding comes from the CleanBC Plastics Action Fund, which is funded by the British Columbia government and administered by Alacrity Cleantech.

In a May 25 news release, officials with Metaspectral – which develops technology that derives real-time insights from AI using ultra-high-resolution, visible-to-infrared (hyperspectral) imagery – say they will use this funding for the development of computer vision, artificial intelligence, and robotics designed to sort consumer waste, increase efficiency in processing materials, and improve the quality of post-consumer recycled plastic.

The project is slated for completion by Dec. 31, 2021. "By using ultra-high-resolution hyperspectral imaging, our AI is able to efficiently distinguish among types of plastics for accurate and easy sorting,” said Francis Doumet, CEO of Metaspectral. “It is impossible for humans to differentiate between different types of clear plastic bottles with the naked eye, so until now, various types of recycled clear plastics were sold together in bulk, decreasing the quality and value of the finished recycled material. Our technology will make it possible to differentiate between otherwise indistinguishable materials in real-time, automatically, meaning that large quantities of plastic can be sorted and recycled more efficiently and accurately."

The project supports recycling targets set by the B.C. provincial government, the news release said, and will also be contributing to the federal government’s Greening Government strategy of increasing the ratio of plastics that are recycled to 75 per cent by 2030, up from nine per cent today.

As per MRC, Nova, Dow Inc. and LyondellBasell Industries are contributing a total of USD25 million to start the Closed Loop Circular Plastics Fund, which they said they hope to grow to US$100 million with money from other corporate and financial investors. The fund is being managed by New York-based investment firm Closed Loop Partners.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 576,270 tonnes in the first three month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 410,890 tonnes in January-March 2021, up by 56% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.
MRC

Global energy transition clouds oil-gas outlook despite post-pandemic boost this year

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Global energy transition is creating uncertainty for an estimated USD14 trillion worth of oil and gas assets that have long depended on an indefinite rise in demand to offset risks despite a pandemic boost this year, reported Reuters with reference to consultancy Wood Mackenzie's statement.

As the world recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, oil and gas demand is set to go beyond the record 160 million barrels of oil equivalent per day reached in 2019, it said in a report.

“After six years of weaker prices, upstream is fitter and leaner than ever,” Woodmac said, adding that the sector will generate as much cash flow this year at USD60 per barrel as it did at USD100 prior to the 2014 price crash.

While the industry has enjoyed a century of near continuous demand growth, it now finds itself having to supply oil and gas to a world in which future demand and price are highly uncertain, Wood Mackenzie vice president Fraser McKay said.

A gradual energy transition would see oil demand staying above 90 million barrels per day to 2050, encouraging investment in costlier supplies and supporting prices at just above USD80 a barrel by 2030, Woodmac said.

However, if the world decides to limit global warming to 2 C by 2050, oil demand would peak before 2025 and fall towards 35 million bpd by 2050, 70% below peak levels. Brent would average USD40 a barrel by 2030 and decline after that.

In both scenarios, gas demand and prices would remain resilient, supported by coal displacement in Asia, Woodmac said, adding this would draw more investments toward gas production rather than oil.

The first scenario would keep liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices at USD8 to USD9 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) through 2040 and beyond, while in the second, LNG prices remain robust at USD7 to USD8 per mmBtu, before starting to fall post 2040.

As MRC informed earlier, in April, 2021, ExxonMobil, one of the world's petrochemical majors, and Global Clean Energy expanded their five-year agreement to increase ExxonMobil’s purchase of renewable diesel up to 5 million barrels per year.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 576,270 tonnes in the first three month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 410,890 tonnes in January-March 2021, up by 56% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.
MRC