Rohm to build innovation center in Germany

MOSCOW (MRC) -- With the construction of a new state-of-the-art innovation center in Worms (Germany), Rohm (Darmstadt, Germany) intends to further expand its technology leadership, as per the company's press release.

In future, around 100 scientists of the chemical company will work on the development of new products and processes under one roof. “By pooling our research activity at the biggest production site we have anywhere in the world, Rohm is set to expand on its leading market position,” says Michael Pack, Chief Executive Officer of Rohm. The construction site is currently under preparation, with completion scheduled for early 2023.

The new innovation center will feature modern laboratories and pilot plants. This will offer Rohm employees ideal conditions to develop new processes, products and applications with a view to breaking into new markets.

As a global company with 15 production sites on four continents, Rohm is also strengthening its research activities in the USA and China. In the past year, the company commissioned a technological center in Shanghai. At the same time, construction work is proceeding on a new technological center in Wallingford (Connecticut, USA), where research work will commence before the end of this year.

“Our global research activity sends a strong signal to the market and underlines our aspiration to be a leading supplier in the field of methaycrylate chemicals,” says Hans-Peter Hauck, COO at Rohm.

As MRC informed previously, Rohm carried out a scheduled turnaround in September 2021 of its methacrylate monomers plant at Worms, Germany. No specific date or duration for the planned maintenance program was given. The company announced in early January a series of scheduled shutdowns for four of its methyl methacrylate (MMA) and methacrylate monomer facilities in the first half of 2021, including one planned for 10–22 March also at its Worms plant. The other plants planned for turnaround in the first six months of the year are in Wesseling, Germany; Shanghai, China; and Fortier, Louisiana.

The principal application, consuming approximately 75% of the MMA, is the manufacture of polymethyl methacrylate acrylic plastics (PMMA). Methyl methacrylate is also used for the production of the co-polymer methyl methacrylate-butadiene-styrene (MBS), used as a modifier for polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

With 3,500 employees and 15 production sites worldwide, Rohm is one of the world’s leading manufacturers in the methacrylate business. The medium-sized company with branches in Germany, China, the USA, Russia, and South Africa has more than 80 years of experience in methacrylate chemistry and a strong technology platform. Our best-known brands include PLEXIGLAS®, ACRYLITE®, MERACRYL™, DEGALAN®, DEGAROUTE® and CYROLITE®.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sinopec revealed it has completed the construction of China's first megaton CCUS project, the Qilu-Shengli Oilfield CCUS. The project will reduce carbon emissions by 1 MMtpy, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

As China's largest full industrial chain CCUS demonstration base and industry benchmark, the Project is estimated to increase the oil production by 2.965 MMt in the next 15 years. It's of great significance to China's scaled development of CCUS and building an "artificial carbon cycle" model to increase China's carbon emissions reduction capabilities as the country advances to achieve the "dual carbon" goals of reaching peak carbon emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060.

Construction of the project was initiated in July 2021 and is consisted of two parts – Sinopec Qilu's CO2 capture and Shengli Oilfield's CO2 displacement and storage. The CO2 captured by Sinopec Qilu will be transported to Shengli Oilfield for further displacement and storage via green transport mode, achieving an integrated application of carbon capture, displacement and storage to seal the CO2 underground and drive the oil out – turning the waste into treasure.

Sinopec Qilu has newly constructed a liquid CO2 recovery and utilization unit with a capacity of 1MMtpy, which includes compression unit, refrigeration unit, liquefaction refining unit and supporting facilities to recover CO2 from the tail gas of coal-to-hydrogen plant with a purification rate of over 99%.

Meanwhile, Shengli Oilfield is applying the principle of supercritical CO2's easy miscibility with crude oil to build 10 unattended gas injection stations in Zhenglizhuang Oilfield to inject CO2 into the 73 wells nearby to increase crude oil fluidity and improve oil recovery while adopting a closed pipeline transportation of oil and gas to further enhance CO2 sequestration rate.

Taking an early start of CCUS R&D and construction, Sinopec has developed its own CCUS technology system that has achieved good results in improving crude oil recovery and reducing carbon emissions, and some of the capture technologies is in leading position domestically and advanced level in the world.

Backed by systematic investigation of China's large-scale CO2 emission sources, Sinopec has researched and drafted the CCUS potential evaluation method and established the Sinopec source & sink database. To date, Sinopec has implemented 36 CO2 flooding projects.

Sinopec is looking to advance the constructions and realize the industrialized development of CCUS. Sinopec will build a CCUS R&D center to focus on the cutting-edge technological breakthroughs including the integration of CCUS with new energy, hydrogen energy and biomass energy. The company will advance the technology applications such as the CO2 production of high-value chemicals and CO2 mineralization and utilization to make breakthroughs in the core technologies and solving the equipment bottlenecks in carbon capture, transportation, utilization and storage.

Between 2021 and 2025, Sinopec will build another megaton CCUS demonstration project in partnership with Sinopec Nanjing Chemical Industries Co., Ltd. in its affiliated Sinopec East China oil and gas fields and Sinopec Jiangsu Oilfield to achieve the industrialized development of CCUS and widen the prospects as China advances to achieve carbon peak and carbon neutrality.

Sinopec has set up a separate company to work on projects in the field of alternative energy sources. The authorized capital of the company, which received the name Zhongshihua Xiongan Xinnenyuan (Zhongshihua Xiong'an Xinnengyuan), amounted to 100 million yuan (USD15.7 million). Li Yutian has been appointed as its legal representative.

Earlier it was reported that SIBUR, the largest petrochemical complex in Russia and Eastern Europe, and the Chinese petrochemical giant - Sinopec - raised project financing for the Amur Gas Chemical Complex (GCC) from a syndicate of international, Chinese and Russian banks for a total of USD9.1 bn.

Sinopec Corp. is one of the world's largest integrated energy and chemical companies. Business of Sinopec Corp. includes oil and gas exploration, production and transportation of oil and gas, oil refining, petrochemical production, production of mineral fertilizers and other chemical products. In terms of oil refining capacity, Sinopec Corp. ranks second in the world, and fourth in terms of ethylene capacity.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- INEOS has agreed a long-term Power Purchase Agreement for renewable offshore wind power in Belgium with sustainable energy producer Eneco, as per the company's press release.

Under the terms of the ten-year deal, which begins in 2022, INEOS will purchase 65,5-Megawatt (250 GWh per annum) of off-shore wind power from Eneco, produced at the SeaMade offshore wind park in the Belgian North Sea.

This significant deal will take ca. 13.5% of SeaMade’s renewable electricity. It will reduce the carbon footprint of INEOS by a further 940,000 tonnes of CO2 over the length of the contract, which is the equivalent of taking 70,000 cars off the road each year.

The renewable electricity from this agreement will be used to support INEOS Olefins and Polymers, INOVYN and Styrolution businesses, allowing the latter to switch its German assets to green power from January 2022 onwards.

This is the third renewable power deal agreed by INEOS as part of our road map to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from across its operations, as the company continues to supply essential products that people increasingly need across medical, food, transport and construction.

As MRC reported earlier, INEOS Styrolution (Frankfurt, Germany), a global leader in styrenics, has announced that two of its European production sites, namely Antwerp, Belgium and Ludwigshafen, Germany have received the ISCC PLUS certification from ISCC (International Sustainability & Carbon Certification). The certification announced paves the way for the audited production of recycling- and bio-attributed styrenics materials using a mass balance approach.

The ISCC PLUS certificate for Antwerp addresses bio-attributed and recycled-attributed ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene), SBC (styrene-butadiene copolymers) and polystyrene (PS). The respective certificate for Ludwigshafen addresses bio-attributed and recycled-attributed SMMA (styrene methyl methacrylate), SAN (styrene acrylonitrile copolymer) and ABS.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall estimated consumption of PS and styrene plastics was 518,560 tonnes in January-November 2021, up by 14% year on year. November estimated consumption of PS and styrene plastics rose by 7% year on year, totalling 48,620 tonnes.

INEOS Group Limited is a privately owned multinational chemicals company consisting of 15 standalone business units, headquartered in Rolle, Switzerland and with its registered office in Lyndhurst, United Kingdom. It is the fourth largest chemicals company in the world measured by revenues (after BASF, Dow Chemical and LyondellBasell) and the largest privately owned company in the United Kingdom.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- TechnipFMC has been awarded a large Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation (EPCI) contract by Petrobras, said the company.

The contract covers flexible and rigid pipe, umbilicals, pipeline end terminals, rigid jumpers, umbilical termination assemblies and a mooring system.

Jonathan Landes, President, Subsea at TechnipFMC, commented: "We are excited to announce this award, which demonstrates the continuing strength of the subsea market in Brazil and our collaborative relationship with Petrobras. We used our deep understanding of the client’s needs to arrive at technological solutions developed specifically for the Buzios 6 field."

The flexible pipe, umbilicals and subsea structures, as well as some of the rigid pipe, will be manufactured in Brazil using skills and competencies the Company has developed in-country, while minimizing the carbon footprint associated with transportation and installation. The project will also utilize our established and qualified Brazilian supply chain.

The company describes a large contract as one that is valued between USD500m and USD1bn.

The company plans to manufacture the flexible pipes, umbilicals, subsea structures, and some rigid pipes in Brazil. This will significantly reduce the carbon footprint associated with the transportation of the units.

As per MRC, TechnipFMC has announced the launch of the placement of 16 million Technip Energies shares, representing ca. 9% of Technip Energies’ issued and outstanding share capital, through a private placement by way of an accelerated bookbuild offering. Upon completion of the Placement, TechnipFMC would retain a direct stake of ca. 22% of Technip Energies’ issued and outstanding share capital.

We remind, SIBUR, the largest petrochemical complex in Russia and Eastern Europe, and Technip Energies, an international engineering company, have entered into an agreement on cooperation in the field of technology for the production of Hexen-1 comonomer used in the production of linear polyethylene (LDPE) and low-pressure polyethylene (HDPE). The HEXSIB technology is a proprietary development of NIOST specialists, one of the main research centers of SIBUR.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chemical producer LyondellBasell Industries said its Houston refinery would be a better fit with a larger oil processing company and that a sales effort continues, reported Reuters.

The company put its 263,776-bpd plant on the market for a second time last fall. The plant ran at 101% of capacity last quarter on the recovery of motor fuels demand, the company said in a statement accompanying its fourth-quarter earnings announcement.

Interim Chief Executive, Kenneth Lane said LyondellBasell hopes within a few months to reveal the outcome of its strategic review of the plant. The company took a USD264 MM impairment charge in the fourth quarter as part of the decision to exit refining.

"There's really not more that we can say at this time," Lane told Wall Street analysts on a conference call. "We're in the middle of that (strategic review) process as we speak. And with where we are right now, I hope to be able to provide more details of the outcome in the next few months."

When the process began in September, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters the company hoped for a quick sale of the plant on the Houston Ship Channel. But hopes for a fast exit from refining appear to be dwindling, with a number of other refineries also hitting the market.

LyondellBasell plans to operate its Houston refinery above 90% of its capacity during the first quarter of 2022, said Chief Financial Officer Michael McMurray.

As MRC wrote 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 2,265,290 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.
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