PVC imports to Kazakhstan up by 25% in Jan-Oct 2021

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Imports of unmixed polyvinyl chloride (PVC) into Kazakhstan rose in the first ten months of 2021 by 25% year on year to 59,100 tonnes, reported MRC analysts.

Demand for PVC subsided from local companies in October under the pressure of seasonal factors, and October imports of unmixed PVC were 5,300 tonnes versus 6,900 tonnes a month earlier. Thus, overall imports of resin reached 59,100 tonnes in January-October 2021, compared to 47,400 tonnes a year earlier.

It is also worth adding that such a significant increase in this year's imports was caused by a further resale of PVC to Russia. About 14,500 tonnes were resold to the Russian market over the stated period.
Due to the geographical position, Chinese producers with the share of about 91% of the local market over the stated period were the main PVC suppliers to Kazakhstan. Russia was the second largest PVC supplier, shipments of Russian PVC reached 4,800 tonnes over the stated period.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Overall imports of unmixed polyvinyl chloride (PVC) into Belarus totalled 49,500 tonnes in the first ten months of 2021, up by 11% year on year, according to MRC's DataScope report.

According to the Statistics Committee of the Republic of Belarus, local converters significantly reduced their purchases of suspension in Russia in October under the pressure from seasonal factors. October imports were 3,900 tonnes, whereas this figure was at 5,600 tonnes a month earlier.

Thus, imports of unmixed PVC reached 49,500 tonnes in January-October 2021, compared to 44,600 tonnes a year earlier.
Russian producers with the share of about 93% of the Belarusian market were the key suppliers of resin to Belarus over the stated period. Producers from Germany with the share of over 7% were the second largest suppliers.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Imports of polypropylene (PP) into Belarus increased to about 97,400 tonnes in first ten months of this year, up 2.1% year on year. The greatest increase in imports accounted for homopolymer PP, according to MRC DataScope.

October PP imports into Belarus dropped to 9,100 tonnes from 9,200 tonnes a month earlier. Local companies decreased their purchases of propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) in Russia, whereas their purchased of propylene copolymers increased. Overall imports of propylene polymers reached 97,400 tonnes in January-October 2021, compared to 95,500 tonnes a year earlier.

The volume of homopolymer PP imports increased, while the demand for propylene copolymers decreased. The structure of PP imports by grades looked the following way over the stated period.

October imports of homopolymer PP dropped to 6,800 tonnes from 7,100 tonnes a month earlier, purchases of injection moulding homopolymer PP in Russia decreased. Overall imports of homopolymer PP reached 72,000 tonnes in the first ten months of the year, up by 4.4% year on year.

October imports of propylene copolymers to Belarus were about 2,300 tonnes versus 2,100 tonnes a month earlier, local companies increased significantly their procurement of injection moulding block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymer) from Russian producers.
Thus, overall imports of propylene copolymers reached 25,400 tonnes in January-October 2021, down by 4% year on year.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Honeywell has announced an agreement with The University of Texas at Austin that will enable the lower-cost capture of CO2 emissions from power plants and heavy industry, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Honeywell will leverage UT Austin's proprietary advanced solvent technology to create a new offering targeted at power, steel, cement and other industrial plants to lower emissions generated from combustion flue gases in new or existing units. The solution provides these sectors with an additional tool to help meet regulatory requirements and sustainability goals.

Honeywell has committed to achieve carbon neutrality in its operations and facilities by 2035. This new CCS technology builds on the company's track record of sharply reducing the GHG intensity of its operations and facilities as well as its decades-long history of innovation to help its customers meet their environmental and social goals. About half of Honeywell's new product introduction research and development investment is directed toward products that improve environmental and social outcomes for customers.

The licensing arrangement with UT Austin expands Honeywell's leading carbon capture technology portfolio. Today, 15 MMtpy of CO2 is being captured and used in storage/utilization applications through Honeywell's CO2 Solutions process expertise. Honeywell currently has the capacity to capture 40 MMtpy through its installed projects worldwide.

UT Austin's patented solution utilizes an advanced solvent, which enables CO2 to be captured at a lower cost through greater efficiency using smaller equipment, creating viable project economics today under current CO2 policy frameworks in North America and Europe. For a typical power plant (650 MW capacity), applying advanced solvent carbon-capture technology would enable the capture of about 3.4 MM tons of CO2 annually, equivalent to removing nearly 735,000 cars from the road each year.

In 2020, CCUS projects worldwide were capturing and storing/using 40 MM metric tpy of CO2, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). In order to align with the IEA Sustainable Development Scenario, which demonstrates a pathway to limit global temperature rise by less than 1.65? C, CCUS project capacity must increase more than 20 times to enable capture of 840 MM metric tpy of CO2 by 2030.

As MRC reported previously, earlier this year, Honeywell announced the commercialization of a revolutionary process that expands the types of plastics that can be recycled and can produce feedstock used to make recycled plastics with a lower carbon footprint. The new technology can reduce the need for fossil fuels in the creation of virgin plastics while enabling hundreds of cycles of recycling, with the goal of enabling a circular economy for plastics.

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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- India’s national objective of achieving self-sufficiency in energy and reducing its fossil fuel footprint is being supported by Sulzer’s expertise in pump manufacturing and refinery processes, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The country’s first bio-refinery, Assam Bio Refinery Pvt Ltd., built by Chempolis' technology, is a ground-breaking JV that will be the only refinery in the world to create bioethanol from bamboo - available in abundance in north-eastern India. To help realize this pioneering endeavor, Sulzer is delivering a range of engineered application pumps as well as core technology such as column internals for the refining process.

India, like most countries, is keen to improve the sustainability of its industrial sectors and is taking positive steps by using renewable feedstocks such as bamboo to create biofuels and other chemicals. To ensure a successful and reliable process, a joint venture has been formed between the state-run oil refining company, Numaligarh Refinery Ltd. and two Finnish companies, Fortum and Chempolis.

The facility will use Sulzer’s experience in pump design and manufacturing as well as separation technology to ensure long-term reliability and efficiency in the refining processes. The company’s expertise in the chemical industry is well-established and it has been supplying process pumps to similar applications all over the world for decades.

Once complete, the bio-refinery will use 300,000 tons of bamboo each year. In addition to the environmental benefits of the fuels and chemicals being produced, the refinery will procure bamboo and other raw materials from local suppliers, strengthening the community’s local economy.

Using Chempolis proprietary technology, the JV is demonstrating how India can utilize its own natural, sustainable resources to reduce the reliance on fossil fuels and work towards self-sufficiency in energy production. The bio-refinery is dimensioned to produce 60 MM liters of bioethanol, which can be used to help power vehicles, as well as 19,000 tons of furfural and 11,000 tons of acetic acid per year.

We remind that, as MRC wrote previously, GAIL (India) Ltd, India’s principal gas transmission and marketing company under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, is on track to start up its propane dehydrogenation (PDH) facility and polypropylene (PP) plant in Usar, Maharashtra by 2024. GAIL has recently chosen Lummus Technology’s CATOFIN process and Clariant’s tailor-made catalysts for India’s first PDH plant. Its upcoming 500 kiloton per annum PDH facility in Usar will be integrated with the downstream PP unit. The cost of PDH-PP project is estimated at USD1.2 B.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,226,530 tonnes in the first ten months of 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.
MRC