Sinopec begins construction of new hydrogen fuel center in Guangdong

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China Petroleum and Chemical Corp, also known as Sinopec - the world's largest refiner by volume, has recently started construction of the largest hydrogen supply center for hydrogen fuel cells in Guangdong, according to ChinaDaily with reference to its operator.

The project will help the hydrogen sector in Guangdong rapidly develop and lift the region's hydrogen production and supply capacity.

With total investment of 62.44 million yuan (USD9.66 million), the project will adopt Sinopec's independent intellectual property rights technology and is expected to be put into operation by the first quarter next year, it said.

The company plans to invest 30 billion yuan during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) period in hydrogen-related business, including hydrogen refueling stations and hydrogen storage facilities construction, all of which is believed to achieve carbon dioxide reduction of more than 10 million tons.

The company also plans to build 1,000 hydrogen refueling stations, 5,000 charging and battery swap stations and 7,000 distributed photovoltaic power generation sites during the 14th Five-Year Plan period. It has already built 21 hydrogen refueling stations in 14 provinces and cities, including Guangdong, Shanghai and Hainan.

As MRC reported before, in August, 2021, Sinopec, the world's petrochemical major, launched the first phase of the Gulei refining complex in Zhangzhou city in China’s southeastern Fujian province. The refining complex, a 50:50 joint venture between Sinopec’s Fujian Petrochemical Company Ltd and Taiwan Xuteng Investment Company Ltd, invested 27.8 billion yuan (USD4.28 billion) in the first phase. That will result in an 800,000 tonnes per annum ethylene plant, a 600,000 tonnes per annum styrene unit and seven other downstream petrochemical units, Sinopec said.

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 1,396,960 tonnes in January-July 2021, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 841,990 tonnes in the first seven months of 2021, up by 29% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.

China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group) is a super-large petroleum and petrochemical enterprise group established in July 1998 on the basis of the former China Petrochemical Corporation. Sinopec Group's key business activities include the exploration and production of oil and natural gas, petrochemicals and other chemical products, oil refining.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LyondellBasell has announced that Jinneng Chemical (Qingdao) Co., Ltd. has again selected LyondellBasell’s leading polypropylene (PP) technology for a new world scale production facility, as per LyondellBasell's press release.

The facility will include a 450 kiloton per annum (KTA) PP plant using LyondellBasell’s Spherizone technology as well as a 450 KTA PP plant using LyondellBasell’s Spheripol technology. The facility will be built in Qingdao City, Shandong Province, Peoples Republic of China.

“Jinneng Chemical’s choice to again use LyondellBasell’s PP technology for their Qingdao City facility, will enable them to produce a full range of PP products to serve an increasingly demanding Chinese polymer market” said Neil Nadalin, Director of Licensing at LyondellBasell. Nadalin added, ”Product differentiation is of increasing importance; and in selecting the Spherizone technology, our licensees are best prepared to take on that challenge. Additionally, we are very pleased that Jinneng Chemical has again chosen the easy-to-operate Spheripol process, as their phase 1 Spheripol process line approaches start-up”.

The Spherizone multi-zone circulating reactor (MZCR) provides a unique and innovative platform to manufacture PP products with novel architecture and enhanced product properties. With this contract, now more than 25 plants operating Spherizone process technology have been licensed worldwide.

Spheripol is the leading PP process with more than 30 million tons of licensed capacity. The latest fifth generation Spheripol technology includes process improvements that further maximize operational efficiency.

Both plants will commence operations using LyondellBasell’s Avant ZN catalyst.

As MRC reported earlier, in July 2021, LyondellBasell announced it had been selected by Jiangsu Fenghai High-tech Materials Co. to supply the technologies for a polyolefin project to be built in Lianyungang, Jiangsu, China. The new facility will include the production of 400,000-t/y PP, based on LyondellBasell?s Spheripol technology, and 300,000 t/y of high density polyethylene (HDPE) using its Hostalen ACP process.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,396,960 tonnes in January-July 2021, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 841,990 tonnes in the first seven months of 2021, up by 29% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.

LyondellBasell is one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world. Driven by its 13,000 employees around the globe, LyondellBasell produces materials and products that are key to advancing solutions to modern challenges like enhancing food safety through lightweight and flexible packaging, protecting the purity of water supplies through stronger and more versatile pipes, and improving the safety, comfort and fuel efficiency of many of the cars and trucks on the road. LyondellBasell sells products into approximately 100 countries and is the world's largest licensor of polyolefin technologies.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Solvay, a science company delivering high performance materials for safe and reliable food packaging, has conducted a proof of concept showing that polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC) has the potential to be recycled. PVDC is used in food, beverage and healthcare multilayer barrier packaging across the world, said the company.

The proof of concept involves a process to recycle Ixan PVDC bioriented film from a post-industrial waste source from food packaging without compromising the performance of the high barrier polymer. It marks an important step towards more sustainable and circular packaging applications, with the potential to launch other initiatives like recycling post-consumer packaging containing PVDC.

"The proof of concept developed by our research team is a solution for PVDC packaging circularity. It shows there is a possibility to reintegrate the recycled polymer into future applications, meaning it can be re-used and re-blended with virgin materials – without losing or degrading its high barrier properties. It goes without saying that setting a global PVDC recycling stream is a huge task, so we are therefore inviting our fellow companies to work alongside us to introduce a way to recycle PVDC across the globe. We all have a role to play in the plastic packaging recycling challenge, and Solvay is committed to playing its part."

“The recycling technology developed by our team enables us to achieve the right quality so that the recycled PVDC meets the strict requirements for indirect food contact, creating the closed loop,” adds Yves Vanderveken, Senior Project Portfolio Leader R&I.

Maintaining the high quality of the polymer was essential to Solvay in their quest to find a sustainable solution. Solvay specialty polymer’s function of providing a strong barrier against water, oxygen and aromas is why it is used in essential applications to preserve food and reduce waste. A reduction of these properties would defeat its purpose.

Now that this initial breakthrough has been achieved, Solvay is urging fellow companies operating within the plastics industry to work together to turn the recycling of PVDC into reality. There is a particular need to introduce the infrastructure required to collect and segregate packaging containing PVDC.

"It goes without saying that setting a global PVDC recycling stream is a huge task, so we are therefore inviting our fellow companies to work alongside us to introduce a way to recycle PVDC across the globe. We all have a role to play in the plastic packaging recycling challenge, and Solvay is committed to playing its part," adds Claire Guerrero.

The results of this proof of concept are opening new possibilities to test the recyclability concept on other packaging applications using PVDC.

We remind that BASF-YPC, a 50-50 joint venture of BASF and Sinopec, undertook a planned shutdown at its naphtha cracker on 30 April 2020. The company initially planned to start turnaround at the cracker on April 5, 2020. The plant remained under maintenance unitl 18 June, 2020. Located in Jiangsu, China, the cracker has an ethylene capacity of 750,000 mt/year and propylene capacity of 400,000 mt/year.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,396,960 tonnes in January-July 2021, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 841,990 tonnes in the first seven months of 2021, up by 29% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.

Solvay is a science company whose technologies bring benefits to many aspects of daily life. With more than 24,100 employees in 64 countries, Solvay bonds people, ideas and elements to reinvent progress. The Group seeks to create sustainable shared value for all, notably through its Solvay One Planet plan crafted around three pillars: protecting the climate, preserving resources and fostering better life. The Group’s innovative solutions contribute to safer, cleaner, and more sustainable products found in homes, food and consumer goods, planes, cars, batteries, smart devices, health care applications, water and air purification systems. Founded in 1863, Solvay today ranks among the world’s top three companies for the vast majority of its activities and delivered net sales of EUR10.2 billion in 2019. Solvay is listed on Euronext Brussels (SOLB) and Paris and in the United States, where its shares (SOLVY) are traded through a Level I ADR program.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- TotalEnergies said that it expected a big rise in renewable-based electricity, solar and wind forms of energy, partly due to a general increase in electrification in the industrial and business world, reported Reuters.

TotalEnergies added it expected that oil in general would plateau before 2030, while natural gas would continue to play a role as a transition fuel.

Producers and traders had said at an industry conference on Monday that global oil demand was expected to reach pre-pandemic levels by early next year as the economy recovers, although spare refining capacity could weigh on the outlook.

As MRC wrote previously, the gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracker (FCC) is expected to remain shut until the end of September at TotalEnergies SE’s 225,500-barrel-per-day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas, refinery.

We remind that in November 2019, Total disclosed that it is evaluating construction of a new gas cracker at its Deasan, South Korea, joint venture (JV) with Hanwha Chemical.

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 1,396,960 tonnes in January-July 2021, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 841,990 tonnes in the first seven months of 2021, up by 29% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.

TotalEnergies is a broad energy company that produces and markets energies on a global scale: oil and biofuels, natural gas and green gases, renewables, and electricity. The company rebranded itself from Total to TotalEnergies during Q2 2021. The French firm has announced allocating part of surplus revenues to share buybacks. Its 105,000 employees are committed to energy that is ever more affordable, clean, reliable and accessible to as many people as possible. Active in more than 130 countries, TotalEnergies puts sustainable development in all its dimensions at the heart of its projects and operations to contribute to the well-being of people.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LANXESS has developed a hot cast and cold cure system for PU cast elastomers, said the company.

With this new technology, a Vibrathane MDI ether prepolymer can be cured with a novel Vibracure curative at room temperature driving ease of use, energy savings, EH&S improvement and, last but not least, a significant reduction of CO2 emissions.

As the novel Vibrathane & Vibracure system is cured at ambient temperature, the processor can turn off hot tables or ovens, decreasing significantly the risk of burn associated with hot surfaces and, therefore, improving the operator’s safety. The new MDI ether based prepolymer also facilitates the manufacturing of larger and complex parts such as mining pipelines which curing process is always challenging and productivity limited by equipment occupancy.

Energy consumption has always drawn attention from polyurethane processors as it accounts for a significant proportion of the total manufacturing costs. Depending on the polyurethane plant set up, this system can drive savings up to 40 to 50% of the total energy consumption.

The novel Vibrathane & Vibracure hot cast / cold cure system is one of the company’s latest initiatives to enable the PU industry to improve their carbon footprint. Gerald King, Head of Application Technology EMEA at LANXESS Urethane Systems, says: “Sustainability has increasingly come into focus within the last decade and, by driving clear energy savings, with this new development we offer our customers a more sustainable product and thus contribute to climate protection."

The 3K system can be processed by meter mix machine or by hand. It has been chemically designed to offer PU processors full flexibility in producing a wide range of elastomers from a single prepolymer reaching a hardness range from 60 A to 55 D. The cold cure system shows a similar performance in final elastomer properties to the equivalent hot cure.

LANXESS’ new development addresses an important concern of PU processors towards easy processing, cost savings and time efficiency, while allowing the industry to support sustainability objectives.

As per MRC, LANXESS is continuing the systematic expansion of its production for synthetic iron oxide pigments. The company is the only supplier worldwide to produce these pigments using the Laux process. Specialty chemicals company LANXESS has expanded its capacity for black synthetic iron oxide pigments at its Krefeld-Uerdingen site by more than 5,000 metric tons per year.

According to ICIS-MRC Price report, the deficit for PET remained in the Russian domestic and foreign markets. Spot PET prices have been increasing since the beginning of the month, and spot buyers of the material have to pay a much higher price for PET chips at the end of the third quarter than contractual ones.

LANXESS is a leading specialty chemicals company with sales of EUR 6.1 billion in 2020. The company currently has about 14,800 employees in 33 countries. The core business of LANXESS is the development, manufacturing and marketing of chemical intermediates, additives, specialty chemicals and plastics. LANXESS is listed in the leading sustainability indices Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI World and Europe) and FTSE4Good.
MRC