Air Products and thyssenkrupp to collaborate in developing projects supplying green hydrogen

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Air Products, a world leader in industrial gases megaproject development, and thyssenkrupp Uhde Chlorine Engineers, the world leader in technologies and comprehensive solutions for large-scale electrolysis plants, have announced the signing of a Strategic Cooperation Agreement (SCA), said thyssenkrupp on its site.

The two companies will collaborate exclusively in key regions, using their complementary technology, engineering and project execution strengths to develop projects supplying green hydrogen.

thyssenkrupp will deliver its technology and supply specific engineering, equipment and technical services for water electrolysis plants to be built, owned and operated by Air Products. The collaboration leverages thyssenkrupp’s technology supporting Air Products’ development of green hydrogen as an energy carrier for sustainable transportation, chemicals and power generation.

“The SCA with thyssenkrupp is an important element of our value chain in developing, building, owning and operating world-scale projects and supplying green hydrogen for mobility, energy and industrial applications. We look forward to applying our complementary strengths and delivering substantial sustainability benefits through transformational green hydrogen projects,” said Dr. Samir J. Serhan, Chief Operating Officer at Air Products.

As MRC reported earlier, Air Products will develop a USD4.5 billion clean energy complex near Burnside in Ascension Parish. This will also be the world’s largest permanent carbon dioxide sequestration endeavor to date. Air Products will construct a blue hydrogen manufacturing complex to produce more than 750 million standard cubic feet per day of blue hydrogen, with carbon dioxide from the manufacturing process captured and permanently sequestered. The plant will be the first carbon-capture project in Louisiana for Air Products, a world-leading industrial gas manufacturer that provides hydrogen and other gases to refineries, petrochemical plants and other customers in Louisiana, across the Gulf Coast and around the globe.

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 2,047,100 tonnes in the first ten months of 2021, up by 17% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,226,530 tonnes in January-October 2021, up by 26% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding stat-copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) decreased significantly.

Air Products (NYSE:APD) is a world-leading industrial gases company in operation for nearly 80 years. Focused on serving energy, environment and emerging markets, the Company provides essential industrial gases, related equipment, and applications expertise to customers in dozens of industries, including refining, chemical, metals, electronics, manufacturing, and food and beverage.

thyssenkrupp is a technology group with strengths in materials. Over 162,000 employees in 78 countries work with passion and technological know-how to develop high-quality products and intelligent industrial processes and services for sustainable progress. The company's portfolio includes leading technologies for the production of basic chemicals, fertilizers and polymers as well as complete value-chains for green hydrogen and sustainable chemicals.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ukraine's polypropylene (PP) imports totalled about 126,000 tonnes in January-November of this year, up 1% year on year. The volumes of imports of propylene copolymers have increased, according to MRC DataScope.

November PP imports to Ukraine decreased to 12,600 tonnes from 13,300 tonnes a month earlier, local companies decreased their purchasing of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) from Russia and Saudi Arabia. Overall imports of propylene polymers reached 126,000 tonnes in January-November 2021, compared to 124,400 tonnes a year earlier. The main decrease in imports accounted for homopolymer PP, while imports of some propylene copolymers increased.

The structure of PP imports by grades looked the following way over the stated period.

November imports of homopolymer PP into the Ukrainian market decreased to 8,700 tonnes, while a month earlier this figure was 10,700 tonnes. Producers from Russia and Saudi Arabia decreased their export volumes. Thus, overall homopolymer PP imports reached 93,900 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2021, down by 1% year on year.

Last month's imports of block copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) were about 1,700 tonnes, compared to 1,200 tonnes in October, a small decrease in supplies of injection moulding PP block copolymers was seen. About 12,700 tonnes of PP block copolymers were imported in the ten months of this year, compared to 12,300 tonnes a year earlier.


November imports of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) increased to 2,000 tonnes from 1,600 tonnes a month earlier due to stronger demand for pipe and injection moulding PP. Total PP random copolymer imports to Ukraine reached 16,200 tonnes in the first eleven months of the year, compared with 15,100 tonnes year on year. Overall imports of other propylene copolymers totalled slightly over 3,200 tonnes over the stated period.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LyondellBasell has announced that the Board of Directors has appointed Peter Vanacker, President and CEO of Neste Corporation, as its new Chief Executive Officer, as per the company's press release.

Mr. Vanacker succeeds Bhavesh V. "Bob" Patel, who will retire from the company on December 31, 2021, as previously announced.

Mr. Vanacker will assume his role no later than June 2022, upon satisfaction of the notice period under his current employment agreement, at which time he will also join the company's Board of Directors.

The Board also announced that Kenneth (Ken) Lane, executive vice president, Global Olefins & Polyolefins (O&P) for LyondellBasell, will serve as interim CEO upon Mr. Patel's retirement.

"Peter's outstanding leadership and industry experience made him the Board's choice in an exceptional field of candidates who were considered as part of the comprehensive search process," said Jacques Aigrain, Board Chair. "The Board is confident that his success in delivering value to shareholders, along with his strategic and forward-thinking mindset, will serve the Company well as we continue to drive growth and advance our climate and circularity goals."

Mr. Vanacker brings more than 30 years of industry experience to his new role, including serving as President and CEO of Neste, an industry-leading renewable products company that has seen substantial growth and transformation under his leadership since 2018. Prior to that role, Mr. Vanacker was CEO and Managing Director of the CABB Group, a leader in the fine chemicals global market, and he was CEO and Managing Director of Treofan Group, a global leader in the polypropylene films business. He previously had a succession of roles at Bayer AG, including as EVP and Head of the Global Polyurethanes business and member of the Executive Committee of Bayer Material Science, now Covestro. During his tenure with Bayer, Peter worked across various subsidiaries, including in Belgium, Brazil, Germany and the United States. He is the Chair of the Advisory Board for the European Institute for Industrial Leadership and a member of the Supervisory Board of Symrise AG.

As MRC reported earlier, in July, 2021, Neste and LyondellBasell announced a long-term commercial agreement under which LyondellBasell will source Neste RE, a feedstock from Neste that has been produced from 100% renewable feedstock from bio-based sources, such as waste and residue oils and fats. This feedstock will be processed through the cracker at LyondellBasell’s Wesseling, Germany, plant into polymers and sold under the CirculenRenew brand name.

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 2,047,100 tonnes in the first ten months of 2021, up by 17% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,226,530 tonnes in January-October 2021, up by 26% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding stat-copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) decreased significantly.

Neste (Helsinki) creates solutions for combating climate change and accelerating a shift to a circular economy. The company refines waste, residues and innovative raw materials into renewable fuels and sustainable feedstock for plastics and other materials. The company is the world’s leading producer of renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel, developing chemical recycling to combat the plastic waste challenge. In 2020, Neste's revenue stood at EUR11.8 billion, with 94% of the company’s comparable operating profit coming from renewable products.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mitsubishi Chemical Methacrylates (MCM) and partner, Agilyx Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Agilyx, announced the successful results of a full-scale production trial for polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA; commonly called acrylic) depolymerization at Agilyx’s facility in Tigard, Oregon, said the company.

The full-scale trial, conducted in August 2021, returned results consistent with the successful results of a laboratory-scale trial conducted in 2020. A mixed feedstock included both cast and extruded PMMA sheet, and the effects of different temperature settings were analyzed to find the optimal conditions for PMMA pyrolysis. Following the successful plant trial, experts from MCM and Agilyx met to build an action plan that sets out the required next steps.

“The results at full production scale are very encouraging,” said David Smith, circular economy program lead, Mitsubishi Chemical Methacrylates. “The teams at both MCM and Agilyx worked very well together, and all parties are excited at the prospect of building a new PMMA depolymerization plant using Agilyx technology."

"The results of our PMMA trials in Tigard have been very positive,” stated Carsten Larsen, CCO of Agilyx. “We’ve proven that Agilyx technology is capable of turning PMMA back into its original monomer, MMA, creating a truly circular material. We’re excited to continue our collaboration with Mitsubishi Chemical Methacrylates."

The crude MMA produced during the plant trial is currently being distilled at MCM’s pilot plant in Wilton, England and will be used both for internal product development and to validate the purification solution that will be used in this process.

As per MRC, Mitsubishi Corp and Shell Canada Products, by its managing partner, Shell Canada Limited (Shell Canada) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) relating to the production of low-carbon hydrogen through the use of carbon capture and storage (CCS) near Edmonton, Canada.

As per ICIS-MRC Price Report, deals on December shipments of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) to the CIS markets were held in the range of EUR1,650-1,710/tonne FCA, which practically corresponds to the November level.

Mitsubishi Chemical Methacrylates (MCM) is the global Methacrylates Division of Mitsubishi Chemical and the world’s largest producer of methyl-methacrylate (MMA). With manufacturing sites, sales offices and distribution networks throughout Asia, the Americas and Europe, MCM creates products that improve the quality of life around the world, every single day.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chevron Lummus Global LLC (CLG) and Saudi Aramco announced that they have signed a joint collaboration and license agreement to co-develop and license Saudi Aramco's Heavy Oil Processing Initiative (HOPI+) technology, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

HOPI+ aims to achieve relatively higher conversion of vacuum residue and other available heavy feeds, including incremental crude, using CLG's LC-FINING platform (jointly referred to as LC-HOPI+). The LC-HOPI+ innovative process is expected to help minimize both CAPEX and OPEX and significantly improve margins for bottom-of-the-barrel upgrading.

In 2019, Saudi Aramco joined CLG at its research and development facility in Richmond, California, to create and develop the initial concept pilot testing. Success there led to further HOPI+ evaluations against different process schemes, which further helped quantify the technology's added value.

"HOPI+, combined with CLG's LC-FINING platform, is an innovative concept that simultaneously increases crude throughput and converts residue to valuable transportation fuels and petrochemical feedstock while minimizing capital and energy," said Ujjal Mukherjee, Managing Director, CLG. "The initiative further strengthens the relationship between Saudi Aramco and CLG as we develop, pursue and commercialize new and innovative technology."

Chevron Lummus Global and Saudi Aramco now intend to co-develop LC-HOPI+ technology before global commercialization by CLG.

As MRC informed before, in June 2020, Aramco finalized its USD69 billion acquisition of a 70% stake in Saudi Basic Industries Corp., the Middle East's biggest petrochemical maker. SABIC reported more than a fivefold year-on-year increase in its Q3 net profit to USD1.49 billion thanks to higher average sales prices.

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 2,047,100 tonnes in the first ten months of 2021, up by 17% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,226,530 tonnes in January-October 2021, up by 26% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding stat-copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) decreased significantly.

Saudi Aramco, officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, is a Saudi Arabian national oil and natural gas company based in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Aramco's value has been estimated at up to USD10 trillion in the Financial Times, making it the world"s most valuable company. Saudi Aramco has both the largest proven crude oil reserves, at more than 260 billion barrels, and largest daily oil production.
MRC