BASF signed agreement with China BlueChemical for use of CO2 rich marine gas

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF signed a joint development agreement with China BlueChemical Limited Company (China BlueChemical), a leading natural gas producer, and the chemical engineering company Wuhuan Engineering Co., Ltd. (Wuhuan Engineering) to promote low-carbon development and utilization of marine gas resources, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

In the Dongfang Industrial Park of Hainan Province, China BlueChemical extracts large quantities of such offshore natural gas (marine gas) from gas fields in the South China Sea.

Marine gas, unlike the commercial natural gas, contains high concentrations of CO2. The gas needs CO2 removal to be usable for downstream large-scale applications. The process of separating CO2 from natural gas not only increases energy consumption, but also contributes to yield loss and direct carbon emissions. These issues limit the systematic development and utilization of natural gas with high CO2 content.

BASF will leverage its extensive expertise in catalyst development and will collaborate with the two companies to solve these challenges. Through technical innovation in reforming catalysts, special reactor design and related process technology development, BASF’s solution will improve process energy efficiency and carbon efficiency beyond existing commercial catalyst and process technology. The partnerships will promote lower-carbon development and utilization of marine gas resources, and ultimately achieve an economically competitive and environmentally friendly commercial process.

As per MRC, BASF, the world's petrochemical major, is strengthening its global catalyst development and helping customers to bring new products faster to the market. As part of this strategy, BASF is building a new pilot plant center at its Ludwigshafen site.

As MRC wrote before, BASF will build a battery recycling prototype plant in Schwarzheide, Germany, at the site of its cathode active materials (CAM) plant.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil is expanding its interests in biofuels that can help reduce GHG emissions in the transportation sector, acquiring a 49.9% stake in Biojet AS, a Norwegian biofuels company that plans to convert forestry and wood-based construction waste into lower-emissions biofuels and biofuel components, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Biojet AS plans to develop up to five facilities to produce the biofuels and biofuel components. The company anticipates commercial production to begin in 2025 at a manufacturing plant to be built in Follum, Norway. The agreement enables ExxonMobil to purchase as much as 3 MM bbl of the products per year, based on the potential capacity of five facilities.

“The agreement with Biojet AS advances ExxonMobil’s efforts to provide lower-emissions products for the transportation sector,” said Ian Carr, president of ExxonMobil Fuels and Lubricants Company. “Using our access at the Slagen terminal, we can efficiently distribute biofuels in Norway and to countries throughout northwest Europe.”

The investment in Biojet AS builds on ExxonMobil’s continuing efforts to develop and deploy lower-emission energy solutions. ExxonMobil established a Low Carbon Solutions business in 2021 and is currently evaluating biofuels, CCS, and hydrogen projects around the world.

ExxonMobil’s majority-owned affiliate, Imperial Oil Ltd., is moving forward with plans to produce renewable diesel at a new complex at its Strathcona refinery, and ExxonMobil expanded its agreement to annually purchase up to 5 MM bbl of renewable diesel from Global Clean Energy’s biorefinery in California. Chemically similar to petroleum-based diesel, renewable diesel and other biofuels can be readily blended for use in engines on the market today.

Since 2000, ExxonMobil has invested more than USD10 B to research, develop and deploy lower-emission energy solutions.

As MRC informed before, ExxonMobil said on Dec. 27, its Baytown, Texas, refinery continued to operate at reduced rates following a fire on Dec. 23, and that the unit involved remained shut down. The company has not yet determined the cause of the fire, but said it was continuing to empty the unit so it could safely enter the facility and assess what impact it would have on production. A filing with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said the fire occurred at the facility's hydro desulfurization unit 1.

Exxon's Baytown facility is home to a chemical plant, an olefins plant and the country's fourth-biggest oil refinery, with capacity to process 560,500 bpd of crude.

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 2,265,290 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2021, up by 14% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,363,850 tonnes in January-November, 2021, up by 25% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- thyssenkrupp Uhde Thailand has been awarded a contract by a leading oleo and specialty chemicals producer in Asia for engineering services and proprietary equipment supply for an esterification plant, according to Hydrocarbonprocssing.

The plant will employ thyssenkrupp Uhde’s proprietary jet reactor technology and is designed for a batch size of 15 m3.

Completion is planned within 2022. The main products are medium chain triglycerides used in the food and personal care industry.

“We are very proud that our client has again decided to select thyssenkrupp Uhde as technology provider based on our Jet Reactor technology and expert know-how”, says Brian Cameron, CEO thyssenkrupp Uhde Thailand.

As MRC reported earlier, thyssenkrupp Uhde Chlorine Engineers has just signed a supply contract with Shell for the large-scale project ‘Hydrogen Holland I’ in the port of Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Under the contract, thyssenkrupp Uhde Chlorine Engineers will engineer, procure and fabricate a 200 MW electrolysis plant based on their large-scale 20 MW alkaline water electrolysis module. First construction work for the electrolysers will likely begin in spring 2022. Shell’s final investment decision to build the ‘Holland Hydrogen I’ is expected in 2022, after which the intended start of production will be in 2024. The hydrogen can be transported through a pipeline with a length of about 40 kilometers that will run from the plant to Shell’s Energy and Chemicals Park Rotterdam.

We remind that Royal Dutch Shell plc. said in November, 2021, that its petrochemical complex of several billion dollars in Western Pennsylvania is about 70% complete and in the process to enter service in the early 2020s. The plant's costs are estimated to be USD6-USD10 billion, where ethane will be transformed into plastic feedstock. The facility is equipped to produce 1.5 million metric tons per year (mmty) of ethylene and 1.6 mmty of polyethylene (PE), two important constituents of plastics.

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 2,265,290 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2021, up by 14% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,363,850 tonnes in January-November, 2021, up by 25% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.

thyssenkrupp Uhde Chlorine Engineers offers world-leading technologies for high-efficiency electrolysis plants. The company, a Joint Venture with Industrie De Nora, has extensive in-depth knowledge in the engineering, procurement, and construction of electrochemical plants and a strong track record of more than 600 projects with a total rating of over 10 gigawatts already successfully installed. With its water electrolysis technology to produce green hydrogen, the company offers an innovative solution on an industrial scale for green value chains and an industry fueled by clean energy – a major step towards a climate-neutrality.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- North American chemical railcar traffic for the week ended 8 January fell by 6.7% year on year to 45,325 loadings, with decreases in all three countries - the US, Canada and Mexico, according to the latest data from the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

In the US, chemical railcar loadings represent about 20% of chemical transportation by tonnage, with trucks, barges and pipelines carrying the rest. In Canada, producers rely on rail to ship more than 70% of their products, with some exclusively using rail.

Total North American freight rail traffic for the week was down by 17.4% year on year, with shipments in all major commodity categories declining.

As per MRC, oil rose to nearly USD84 a barrel on Tuesday, supported by tight supply and expectations that rising coronavirus cases and the spread of the Omicron variant will not derail a global demand recovery. A lack of capacity in some countries has meant that supply additions by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) are running below the increase permitted under a pact with its allies.

We also remind that US crude oil production is expected to fall by 160,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2021 to 11.12 million bpd, EIA said in a monthly report earlier last year, a smaller decline than its previous forecast for a drop of 210,000 bpd.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Neste has successfully concluded its first series of trial runs processing liquefied waste plastic at its Porvoo refinery in Finland, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

After kicking the series off with its first-ever industrial scale trial run with liquefied waste plastic in 2020, Neste has conducted additional runs in 2021. In the course of the trial runs, Neste has been able to upgrade liquefied waste plastic to drop-in solutions for plastic production and develop industrial scale capabilities to upgrade recycled feedstocks.

Trials pave the way for continuous and commercial activities. Neste has set itself the goal of processing more than 1 MM tons of plastic waste per year from 2030 onwards.

To achieve that goal, the company is advancing chemical recycling to turn plastic waste into a valuable raw material, strengthening circularity. For the first time ever, Neste completed a successful trial run with 400 tons of plastic waste in 2020, marking a milestone when it comes to Neste’s goal of driving a circular economy to reduce the depletion of fossil resources.

In the course of 2021, additional trials were conducted to gain further insights into the processing of liquefied waste plastic, including the processes’ impact on the refinery operations. In addition to that, Neste also focused on proving the concept of closing the loop in the plastics value chain and making circularity a reality: The tests validate that Neste is already able to process significant quantities of recycled raw materials to drop-in products for petrochemical use, while developing the capabilities to upgrade even larger quantities of waste plastic into even higher quality feedstock for the petrochemicals uses.

“There is strong interest in feedstocks from recycled raw materials in the polymers and chemicals market,” says Mercedes Alonso, Executive Vice President, Renewable Polymers and Chemicals at Neste. “By processing liquefied waste plastic and upgrading waste into valuable resources, we thereby not only contribute to combating the plastic pollution challenge, but we also provide chemical and polymer companies with the means to advance the circular economy. To do so at a larger scale going forward, we’ll also require regulatory support. On the one hand, this includes the acceptance of chemical recycling as a complementary technology to achieve ambitious recycling targets. On the other hand, we need similarly ambitious targets for increasing the use of more sustainable materials.”

As MRC reported earlier, in July, 2021, Finnish 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 2,265,290 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2021, up by 14% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,363,850 tonnes in January-November, 2021, up by 25% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding 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