Cyclyx to start up first-of-its-kind plastic recovery facility in late 2022

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Cyclyx International LLC., a consortium-based feedstock management company with a mission to increase the recycling rate of plastic from 10% to 90%, is in plans to start up first-of-its-kind plastic recovery facility on the Gulf Coast in late 2022, according to Chemical Engineering.

At present, the company is developing this facility to process waste plastics for committed offtake associated with advanced recycling projects on the Gulf Coast, such as the Baytown, Texas project recently announced by ExxonMobil.

Engineering work has already begun on the proposed facility. The facility is expected to process up to 60,000 metric tons of recycled plastic feedstock per year.

Cyclyx plans to develop a network of similar facilities, linked to committed offtake, to support growth in advanced recycling.

With its unique knowledge of plastic chemical characterizations, Cyclyx is designing the proposed facility to allow for processing of waste plastic feedstock customized to meet the needs of individual customer specifications.

Cyclyx will source post-use mixed waste plastic for the project via a range of existing sources while continuing to expand its collaboration with companies from across the value chain to develop circular solutions for difficult-to-recycle plastic waste.

As MRC wrote previously, in August 2021, Cyclyx International announced that LyondellBasell had joined Cyclyx as a founding member. LyondellBasell, one of the world’s largest producers of plastics and chemicals, is a leader in the effort to help advance the circular economy and has pledged to produce and market two million metric tons of recycled and renewable-based polymers annually by 2030.

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) -- Sweden’s Nuberg EPC said on Monday that it has been awarded Uzbekistan Hydrogen Peroxide JV LLC's technology, engineering and construction contract for the 85 TDP (50% chemical grade H2O2) hydrogen peroxide plant project in Navoi region, Uzbekistan, said the company.

Nuberg EPC added that it would be “the single-point solution company responsible from concept to commissioning of the project". The project has an “ambitious schedule of 15 months”, including the supply of plant equipment, added Nuberg EPC.

The company is the technology licensor for the project. Nuberg EPC said it has so far delivered six turnkey H2O2 projects in Egypt, Ethiopia, UAE, Bangladesh and India.

As per MRC, Uzbekistan plans to launch in the fourth quarter of 2023 the production of polymers in a complex with MTO technology (from methanol to olefins). The complex with a capacity of 720,000 tonnes of polymers per year will be located in the center of the free economic zone (FEZ) in Karakul, Bukhara region. The USD2.5 billion project is expected to be commissioned in the fourth quarter of 2023 and will provide the Uzbek industry with olefinic hydrocarbons. The gas chemical complex is designed for processing local raw materials based on a licensed technological process for converting methanol into olefins, which has no analogues in the CIS region.

Polypropylene production will be carried out in cooperation with W. R. Grace & Co. (USA), a world leader in this field. The fact that Uzbekistan intends to build a new gas chemical complex (GCC) in the coming years, which will become the basis of the largest technological cluster in the region, became known in 2018.

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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Malaysian state-owned energy giant Petroliam Nasional Berhad, or Petronas, has signed a MoU with Posco International Corporation and Posco Engineering & Construction Co. Ltd to jointly explore opportunities in CCS technologies as well as CO2 storage solutions in Malaysia, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Both parties will assess opportunities to unlock CCS potential and identify suitable technology within the scope of carbon capture, transportation of CO2 and storage for potential application.

Adif Zulkifli, Petronas' Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of Upstream said, "Given the multiple business adjacencies between Petronas and Posco, we are delighted to collaborate in unlocking the opportunities and potential of CCS. This is one of the many efforts to establish Malaysia as a leading CCS solutions hub in the region. Posco is the largest steel manufacturer in Korea and this collaboration will allow Petronas to leverage on Posco’s experience especially in carbon capture and transportation.”

Under the MoU, Petronas and Posco will collaborate and perform technical maturation activities to unlock CCS potential in Malaysia.

Petronas is taking deliberate steps to build a resilient and sustainable portfolio to support the transition towards lower carbon energy sources, including evaluating the application of technology towards lowering emissions across the value chain which will encompass carbon capture, transport and storage.

As MRC reported earlier, in January 2021, Petronas said it aims to become a net zero emitter of greenhouse gases by 2050 and also plans to increase its investments in renewable energy.

We remind that in June 2019, Petronas and Saudi Aramco started operations at their new 1.2-million-tonnes-per-year naphtha cracker. The cracker is part of the USD2.7 billion joint-venture oil refinery and petrochemical project known as RAPID - or Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development - located in Pengerang in the state of Johor, at the southern tip of peninsular Malaysia.

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.

Petronas, short for Petroliam Nasional Berhad, is a Malaysian oil and gas company wholly owned by the Government of Malaysia. The Group is engaged in a wide spectrum of petroleum activities, including upstream exploration and production of oil and gas to downstream oil refining; marketing and distribution of petroleum products; trading; gas processing and liquefaction; gas transmission pipeline network operations; marketing of liquefied natural gas; petrochemical manufacturing and marketing; shipping; automotive engineering; and property investment.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Columbus-based chemical company Hexion Holdings has agreed to be acquired by the New York private equity firm American Securities, said the company.

American Securities will pay USD30 a share for Hexion. The company did not say how many shares were outstanding, or the total value of the deal. The deal follows Hexion's announcement that it will sell its epoxy business to Westlake Chemical Corp. for USD1.2 billion. At the time, Hexion said it planned to take the remainder of the company public. The American Securities deal ends that plan.

Hexion, which traces its roots to the former Borden Chemical Co., employs about 325 workers at its Downtown office at 180 East Broad St., its only Ohio operation. After spinning off its epoxy business, the company will operate 27 manufacturing facilities globally with approximately 1,300 employees. Hexion's sales last year were USD2.5 billion. Without the epoxy business, sales would have been approximately USD1.4 billion.

The sign on Hexion's headquarters, 180 East Broad St., in downtown Columbus. Not including the epoxy business, Hexion produces adhesives and materials for the engineered wood industry and other specialty materials.

Hexion “is well-aligned with global megatrends, including safety and sustainability requirements and regulations, population growth, and household formation," Wolff said in a news release. Both the sale of Hexion's epoxy business and the acquisition by American Securities are expected to take place in the first half of 2022.

As per MRC, Hexion Holdings Corporation has announced that as a result of its ongoing strategic review it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its epoxy-based Coatings and Composite businesses, which includes the epoxy speciality resins and base epoxy resins and intermediates product lines (together, the “Epoxy Business”) for approximately US1.2bn to Westlake Chemical Corporation.

As MRC reported before, earlier this year, Hexion Inc., a major American manufacturer of phenol and bisphenol A (BPA), has recently announced that in order to help address climate change, it has committed to reduce absolute carbon emissions by 20% by 2030.

Hexion Inc., formerly Momentive Specialty Chemicals Inc., is a chemical company based in Columbus, Ohio. It manufactures thermosetting resins and related technologies and specialty products. Hexion has two divisions: the epoxy, phenolic and coating resins division and the forest products division.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Perstorp, the world leader in the production of Trimethylolpropane (TMP), has ramped up the capacity to meet growing demand from the European market, said the company.

TMP is used to enhance the properties of numerous materials. Common applications include the use in saturated polyesters for coil coatings, polyurethanes for coatings and elastomers, acrylic acid esters for radiation curing, esters for synthetic lubricants, and for the surface treatment of pigments.

Filip Tauson, Global VP Polyols at Perstorp, commented: “The capacity expansion is fully in line with Perstorp’s ambition to further strengthen our position in the Polyols market. TMP is a key product in our Polyol portfolio, which is a core business within Perstorp. This product line have been instrumental in the development of Perstorp as an international company and we are happy to expand our position further to be able to serve a strong demand from the market."

The expansion development takes place in Vercelli, Italy. Perstorp’s own TMP production sites are located in China, Sweden, and the United States.

As per MRC, At the beginning of September, Perstorp shut down the phthalic anhydride production facility in the town of Nol (Nol, Sweden) for preventive maintenance. Perstorp shut down its 35 ktpa phthalic anhydride plant in Nola for the entire September due to scheduled maintenance. Repair of phthalic anhydride production is carried out simultaneously with repair of plasticizers production.

Earlier it was reported that Perstorp announced force majeure on 23 March for the supply of plasticizers from the plant in Stenungsund (Stenungsund, Sweden). A source in the company said that on 23 March, a force majeure was announced for the supply of dipropylheptyl phthalate (DPHP) with a capacity of 65 thousand tons per year due to a sudden stop of production at the supplier of raw materials on 19 March.

Perstorp Specialty Chemicals AB is a subsidiary of Perstorp Holding AB. The company was founded in 1881 and is based in Perstop, Sweden. Perstorp Specialty Chemicals AB manufactures chemical products. The company offers base and specialty polyols, formates, organic acids and formaldehyde products.
MRC