Poyry awarded EPC assignment for Biorefinery expansion

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SunPine AB has awarded Poyry with the engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) services assignment for SunPine biorefinery expansion project in Pitea, Sweden, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The assignment includes all engineering disciplines, project management services, procurement and construction management services. Poyry has been involved in the study phase of the project and has now the role to further develop the project in accordance with the conditions, standards and procedures of the existing plant to form a single unit. The work will be carried out between 2018 and 2020.

SunPine has a world-leading sustainable bio-refinery, with a portfolio of green products that meet strong demand in the market. The market for SunPine's sustainable tall diesel fuel is growing when consumers are shifting to renewable fuels. Working proactively to develop and grow its operation is part of SunPine's endeavour to participate in the switch to a green economy for society at large. SunPine have decided to invest in a completely new facility adjacent to the company's existing plant at Haraholmen in Pitea. Capacity will be increased by 50 percent with second tall diesel production line. The approximately EUR 25 million investment will be completed in 2020.

"We are meeting an interesting future. Now, together with Poyry, we can realize SunPine's planned biorefinery. Poyry will complement us as our partner in this work and we are looking forward to an interesting and rewarding project," says Ulrika Hagman, project manager for investment at SunPine. "With increased capacity, we can further consolidate SunPine's position as a world-leading, sustainable biorefinery with green products" states Magnus Edin, CEO, SunPine.

"Poyry is proud to contribute in this green economy investment. Our long co-operation with SunPine and deep knowledge of bio-based solutions will lead this project to success. Our strong safety performance ensures that the implementation of the second line can be done when the first line is in production. This assignment further strengthens Poyry's position as a global provider of bio-based solutions," says Jonny Stridh, Managing Director, Industry Business Group, Poyry Sweden.

As MRC reported earlier, in January 2018, Oulun Energia Oy awarded Poyry with the Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management services for the new Laanila Bio Power Plant project in Oulu, Finland.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Neste, the world’s leading producer of renewable diesel, UK-based chemical recycling company ReNew ELP, and Australian technology developer Licella are joining forces in a development project to explore the potential of using mixed waste plastic as a raw material for fuels, chemicals, and new plastics, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

In addition to studying liquefied waste plastic feasibility and sustainability as refinery raw material, the companies are also collaborating with the aim to facilitate regulatory acceptance for chemical recycling. The collaboration is one of the steps towards Neste’s goal to introduce liquefied waste plastic as a future raw material to fossil refining, with a target to process annually more than one million ton of waste plastic by 2030.

ReNew ELP is commencing construction of a chemical recycling plant in Teesside, UK, with a target to recycle end-of-life plastic to produce raw material for a range of petrochemical products. This will be the first commercial scale plant based on Cat-HTRTM technology, a catalytic hydro-thermal liquefaction platform developed by Licella over the past ten years. The collaboration also involves Armstrong Energy, who in a joint venture with Licella are leading the financing of the Teesside facility and global deployment of the Cat-HTRTM technology. Although the plant construction is not included in this collaboration project with Neste, it will nevertheless contribute to a common goal of enabling more efficient waste plastic utilization in the future.

"Neste has a strong legacy in refining, as well as raw material and pretreatment research, but we still need development of technologies, value chains, and supporting legislation for plastic waste based products to become a reality at industrial scale. I believe that this cooperation can accelerate the needed development and commercialization of waste plastic based products", says Matti Lehmus, Executive Vice President of Neste’s Oil Products business area.

"ReNew ELP is very pleased to join this collaboration with Neste. Neste’s reputation as a global leader in the production of sustainable, high quality, low-carbon products makes them an ideal development partner for us. At ReNew ELP, we look to deploy our game-changing chemical recycling technology providing an innovative solution to the problem of plastic waste disposal," concludes Richard Daley, Managing Director of ReNew ELP.

"We are excited to be deploying the world’s first commercial scale Cat-HTR plant alongside Armstrong Energy. After 10 years and 75 million Australian dollars invested in the technology, we believe that the Cat-HTR is an important chemical recycling solution for the significant global challenge of end-of-life plastic. The collaboration with Neste and ReNew ELP will help to create markets for recycled carbon fuels and chemicals at a critical time as Europe pushes towards a circular economy,” says Dr Len Humphreys, CEO of Licella Holdings.

Neste has two approaches to plastics with regards to circular economy. While exploring ways to utilize plastic waste as raw material, Neste is preparing to start commercial scale production of durable and recyclable renewable plastics from bio-based raw materials, such as waste fats and oils. Neste and IKEA collaboration is leading to a production of bio-based polypropylene (PP) plastic at a commercial scale for the first time in the world during fall 2018.

As MRC informed before, in June 2018, Neste Oyj and Borealis Polymers Oy, in co-operation with the energy companies Fortum Power and Heat Oy, Helen Oy, Vantaan Energia Oy and Porvoon Energia Oy - Borga Energi Ab, announced that they would conduct a preliminary study on recovering and utilizing excess heat generated at the Neste and Borealis industrial manufacturing facilities in Kilpilahti.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation has announced, it has reached an agreement with a German investment fund, Deutsche Beteiligungs AG to acquire shares of Cleanpart Group GmbH, which has developed semiconductor-related services in Europe and the US, as per PublicNow.

All the shares are planned to be turned over by Service Investment S. ar. L, a subsidiary of Deutsche Beteiligungs AG that holds shares of Cleanpart, in October of this year.

Cleanpart provides semiconductor makers in Europe and the US with precision cleaning and coating services for semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and is one of the leading providers in this field in Europe. Its technological capabilities have also helped Cleanpart establish market-leading position in the US market. MCC's subsidiary Shinryo Corporation has developed the similar business, mainly in Japan and other Asian markets.

Growth in the semiconductor market has continued to soar in recent years along with the explosion in data processing volume due to the expansion of information technology such as AI and IoT, and is expected to remain on a path toward favorable growth. The Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Group has designated 'IT, electronics, and displays' as one of the focus markets in its medium-term management plan APTSIS 20, and is enhancing fields such as cleaning materials, precision cleaning services and specialty gases for semiconductors in its semiconductor-related business. Cleanpart and Shinryo have a complementary relationship from a geographical standpoint.

The acquisition allows MCC to offer its precision cleaning and coating services on a global scale. Furthermore, MCC will enhance the Group's semiconductor-related business by strengthening access to the semiconductor industry using Cleanpart's market presence and networks in Europe and the US and boosting its capabilities to propose solutions that meet customers' needs and help them develop more advanced technology.

As MRC wrote earlier, in December 2017, Ube Industries, JSR Corp. and MCC received European Commission (EC) approval for the planned integration of their acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) subsidiaries.

Mitsubishi Chemical with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, is a diversified chemical company involved in petrochemicals, polymers, agrochemicals, speciality chemicals and pharmaceuticals. The company's main focus is on three business pillars: petrochemicals, performance and functional products, and health care.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Linde AG and Praxair Inc. have won conditional European Union approval for their USD45 billion merger, as they scramble to win over US antitrust authorities for a deal that combines two of the biggest suppliers of industrial gas, reported Bloomberg.

The European Commission said its competition concerns were addressed after the companies agreed to sell Praxair’s entire gas business in Europe as well as the Danbury, Connecticut-based company’s stake in an Italian joint venture and several helium sourcing contracts.

"Gases - like oxygen and helium - are crucial inputs for a large variety of products we need and use in our everyday life," EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement Monday. "With this decision, we make sure that the merger of Praxair and Linde will not result in further concentration in Europe and that customers will continue to benefit from competition in these markets."

After the EU’s decision, Linde and Praxair still have one major hurdle in their quest for regulatory approvals. The companies were caught off guard earlier this month by a notice from the US Federal Trade Commission to sell more assets in order to gain antitrust approval even after they had agreed to roughly USD9 billion worth of disposals in Europe and North America.

The latest requests from US regulators are "more onerous than previously expected," Linde said earlier this month. It generates about 23 percent of its revenue in the country. Praxair and Linde representatives didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.

The Linde-Praxair pledge allows Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corp. to gain a foothold in Europe after merging companies agreed last month to sell several industrial-gas plants to the Japanese firm to answer EU concerns about reduced rivalry in the industrial-gases market. Linde is also considering the sale of additional assets in the U.S. that would mark a near-complete retreat from industrial gas operations in the country, people said earlier this month.

In addition to selling Praxair’s entire gas business in Europe, the companies pledged to transfer of Praxair’s stake in Italian joint venture SIAD to Praxair’s current joint venture partner Flow Fin SpA and to divest additional helium sourcing contracts, beyond those needed to satisfy demand in the European region, to one or more suitable buyers. Commission officials will assess the suitability of potential buyers for Praxair’s gas business and for the helium sourcing contracts.

The EU had concerns the deal would have cut the number of significant gas players down to three without the commitments its extracted. The commission said its investigation showed that only the four main players in the region - Praxair, Linde, Air Liquide SA of France and Air Products & Chemicals Inc. - currently have the capabilities to bid for the largest projects across Europe and access to the existing helium sources to be competitive.

As part of their agreement to combine, the companies set limits on the assets they would be willing to jettison in return for regulatory clearance. Under their deal, the units to be sold must have annual sales of less than 3.7 billion euros (USD4.2 billion) or income before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of less than 1.1 billion euros.

As MRC informed previously, German industrial gases company Linde and peer Praxis are hoping to seal their merger this year, after agreeing to sell Praxair’s European gases business to Japanese rival Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corp.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- LyondellBasell, one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world, has announced that it has declared a dividend of USD1.00 per share, as per the company's press release.

The announced dividend is to be paid September 12, 2018 to shareholders of record September 5, 2018, with an ex-dividend date of September 4, 2018.

As MRC wrote previously, in August 2016, LyondellBasell made the final investment decision to build a high density polyethylene (HDPE) plant on the US Gulf Coast. The plant will have an annual capacity of 1.1 billion pounds (500,000 metric tons) and will be the first commercial plant to employ LyondellBasell's new proprietary Hyperzone PE technology. The start-up of the new plant is scheduled for 2019.

LyondellBasell is one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world. Driven by its 13,000 employees around the globe, LyondellBasell produces materials and products that are key to advancing solutions to modern challenges like enhancing food safety through lightweight and flexible packaging, protecting the purity of water supplies through stronger and more versatile pipes, and improving the safety, comfort and fuel efficiency of many of the cars and trucks on the road. LyondellBasell sells products into approximately 100 countries and is the world's largest licensor of polyolefin technologies.
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