Brenntag opens innovation, application center in France

Brenntag started operations of its new personal care Innovation & Application Center in Lille, France, said Chemanager-online.

The facility, which is located in Arteparc, the regions first business park fully based on circular economy and renewable energies, will provide Brenntag’s customers and suppliers with concepts and prototype development, customized formulation support, technical solutions and stability studies for a broad range of applications.

Brenntag said that it chose Lille for the new Innovation & Application Center due to its proximity to many suppliers and customers in the personal care industry in the region.

According to Brenntag, the company has also very strong links to the university of Lille and cooperates with the Chevreul Institute, which aims to develop research collaborations and services in the field of chemistry and materials.

“The opening of the Lille Center is a further step to execute Brenntag’s ‘Strategy to Win’ by building capabilities and offering innovative services to the regional and global personal care industry. Brenntag Specialties acts as an important link with our customers and suppliers to bring innovation closer to the marketplace. The new center is a great addition to the strong network of now already 18 Personal Care / HI&I Innovation & Application Centres globally and four in the EMEA region,” commented Michael Wilkop, President Personal Care / HI&I Brenntag Specialties EMEA.

“Lille is an ideal location for our Innovation & Application Center, given its thriving ecosystem of R&D partners, technology providers and talent,” said Francois Bouton, director Innovation & Application PC / HI&I Brenntag Specialties EMEA.

We remind, Brenntag has signed an agreement to acquire the operating business of Chemgrit cosmetics (Pty) Ltd., headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa. The company, part of the larger Chemgrit chemicals group, is an independent specialty chemical distributor in South Africa with a focus on personal care and cleaning markets.

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TotalEnergies and Air Liquide have signed an agreement for the long-term supply of green and low carbon hydrogen to the TotalEnergies refining and petrochemical platform in Normandy, said the company.

The project will contribute to the decarbonization of the Gonfrevillle site, reducing its CO2 emissions by up to 150,000 tons a year. This cooperation between Air Liquide and TotalEnergies is aligned with the two companies’ shared commitment to contributing to decarbonize industrial operations in the Axe Seine corridor.

The project calls for the supply of 10,000 tons of green hydrogen per year to the TotalEnergies platform in Normandy and up to 5,000 tons per year of low carbon hydrogen starting from the second half of 2026. It is comprised of two integrated parts:

The production of green and low carbon hydrogen by the Normand’hy electrolyzer, which will be built and operated by Air Liquide, with a total electrical capacity of 200 MW. TotalEnergies will have access to half of this production capacity, corresponding to the amount of hydrogen supplied to its refinery.
TotalEnergies will supply around 700 GWh/year of renewable and low carbon power to the Air Liquide electrolyzer for half of its capacity, i.e. 100 MW, corresponding to the share of hydrogen delivered to the TotalEnergies refinery in Normandy.

"This partnership with Air Liquide is a new step in TotalEnergies' ambition to decarbonize the hydrogen used by its refineries in Europe by 2030. By supplying the electrolyzer with renewable electricity from solar and wind projects, TotalEnergies is making the most of its positioning as an integrated power supplier," said Bernard Pinatel, President Refining & Chemicals.

"This Memorandum of Understanding with TotalEnergies illustrates our ability to offer concrete decarbonization solutions to our customers. Air Liquide Normand’Hy will contribute to the decarbonization trajectory of our assets; it is also in line with our commitment to accompany the industry and mobility sectors in their path to reducing their carbon footprint. Our collaboration with TotalEnergies also strengthens hydrogen development in Normandy. Supported by the French State and the European Union, the Air Liquide Normand’Hy project confirms our commitment to develop renewable and low-carbon hydrogen production by electrolysis technology at industrial scale." said Pascal Vinet, Executive Vice President and a member of Air Liquide’s Executive Committee, supervising notably Europe Industries activities.

We remind, TotalEnergies restarted the coker at its 238,000-bpd Port Arthur, Texas, refinery, said people familiar with plant operations. TotalEnergies restarted the 150,000-pd ACU-1 crude distillation unit (CDU) and 60,000-bpd vacuum distillation unit-2 (VDU-2), the sources said. A TotalEnergies spokesperson was not immediately available to comment.

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Singapore's middle distillates inventories hit a near six-month high, official data showed on Thursday, as jet fuel/kerosene net exports were little changed despite rising gasoil net exports week-on-week, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Inventories of gasoil and jet fuel/kerosene held at key storage hub Singapore climbed by 4% week-on-week to 9.1 million barrels in the week ended Sept. 13, the data added. Jet fuel/kerosene net exports were almost unchanged from last week, as a surge in imports offset higher exports.

Imports into Singapore came mostly from Malaysia, while some volumes headed to the West such as Mexico contributed to the increments in exports. Congestion at the Panama Canal, which has made it more lucrative for buyers to seek cargoes from Asia instead of the U.S., could have been one of the reasons drawing cargoes from Asia to Latin America, two shipping sources said.

Around 11,200 metric tons of jet fuel were bound for Pemex Rosarito, Kpler shiptracking data showed. Gasoil exports to Mexico - slightly more than 26,000 tons - were also evident for the week, the data showed.

Total exports of gasoil more than doubled from a week ago, with majority of volumes still bound for regional destinations especially Malaysia, Bangladesh and Vietnam - limiting overall stock gains in Singapore.

Exports to Australia for the week fell to almost zero, with some trade sources attributing it to potential supply recovery soon after a refinery outage at Viva Energy's site earlier this year. Regional gasoil demand is likely to remain steady until the fourth quarter, supporting the steady cargo flows out Singapore, one Singapore-based analyst said.

Below are the top contributor countries for gasoil exports in the week and their respective volumes (in tons): On the import front, volumes from China, India and South Korea continued in line with earlier expectations. Volumes from Taiwan also emerged after a three-week hiatus, the data showed.

We remind, Maersk has teamed up with its majority owner to form a new company to produce "green methanol", the shipping company said on Thursday, as it held a naming ceremony for the world's first container vessel powered by the low-carbon fuel. Green methanol, produced either from biomass or captured carbon and hydrogen from renewable power, can reduce carbon dioxide emissions from container ships by 60% to 95% compared with conventional fossil fuels.

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Chevron U.S.A., through its Chevron New Energies division, has closed a transaction with Haddington Ventures to acquire 100 % of Magnum Development and thus a majority interest in ACES Delta, which is a joint venture between Mitsubishi Power Americas and Magnum Development, said Process-worldwide.

ACES Delta is developing the Advanced Clean Energy Storage project in Delta, Utah. The Advanced Clean Energy Storage project plans to use electrolysis to convert renewable energy into hydrogen and will utilize solution-mined salt caverns for seasonal, dispatchable storage of the energy. The first project, designed to convert and store up to 100 metric tons per day of hydrogen, is under construction and is expected to enter commercial-scale operations in mid-2025 to support the Intermountain Power Project’s “IPP Renewed” initiative.

Several other opportunities for the project to produce and supply hydrogen to customers in the utility, transportation and industrial sectors in the western region of the United States are in development. As part of broader efforts to pursue lower carbon energy solutions, Chevron New Energies is working to enhance demand for lower carbon intensity hydrogen – and the technologies that support cost-effective supply – as a commercially viable alternative in the transportation, power, and industrial sectors where greenhouse gas emissions are hard to abate.

“Reaching this milestone in the development of our hydrogen project will not only have significant benefits to the western U.S. population, but it will also serve as a blueprint for future hydrogen opportunities,” said Michael Ducker, senior vice president of Hydrogen Infrastructure for Mitsubishi Power. “With Chevron New Energies’ involvement, we expect to expand hydrogen supply more quickly. Together, we are investing in the future of hydrogen, helping to create a viable, cost-competitive market for emerging lower carbon solutions.”

We remind, Chevron Phillips Chemical, Technip Energies and LyondellBasell are collaborating on the design, construction and operation of a demonstration unit for Technip Energies’ electric steam cracking furnace technology, designed to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the olefins production process.

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Volkswagen's attempt to avoid being penalized twice for the same offence in the dieselgate scandal will depend on whether the wrongdoing is identical or just similar, as per Reuters.

An Italian court will have the final say based on the reference provided by the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).

The case centred on Volkswagen's challenge against a 5-million-euro ($5.4 million) Italian antitrust fine levied in 2016 for its misleading advertising about cars fitted with illegal emissions control devices.

The German carmaker said it should not be sanctioned twice for the same offence after it separately paid a 1 billion euro German fine in 2018. The diesel emissions scandal has cost Volkswagen more than 32 billion euros in refits, fines and legal costs so far.

The Italian court in its 2019 ruling dismissed Volkswagen's appeal, saying there was no double jeopardy involved as the Italian fine derived from a different legal basis. The company took its case to the Italian Council of State which then sought advice from the CJEU.

Double jeopardy "may apply only where the facts to which the two sets of proceedings or the two penalties at issue relate are identical; it is therefore not sufficient that those facts be merely similar," CJEU judges said.

We remind, Russia loaded the second oil cargo for delivery to Brazil in September, two traders said and LSEG data showed. A tanker Apus loaded 100,000 tons of Varandey oil sourced by Lukoil in the Arctic port of Murmansk on Sept. 10, LSEG data shows. The vessel is expected to arrive in Brazil's Pernambuco area at the end of the month, according to LSEG data.


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