Linde, Siluria to partner on ethylene technologies

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Siluria Technologies, a pioneer in the commercial production of fuels and chemicals made from natural gas, has entered into a collaboration agreement with gases and engineering company The Linde Group, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The primary objective of the agreement is to combine each company's technologies and expertise into an optimized and integrated package, which Linde would license to the petrochemicals industry for both revamps or expansions at existing ethylene plants and for new world-scale ethylene plants.

Over the past six months, Linde says it has completed a technical and economic diligence process on Siluria's oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) technology, which catalytically converts methane directly to ethylene. The success of this joint diligence effort resulted in the formation of this partnership.

The companies have formed joint teams, which will fully integrate the company's respective technologies and collaborate through the final scale-up and demonstration of the OCM technology at the previously announced demonstration plant that Siluria is constructing at Braskem's site in La Porte, Texas.

"Our technology platform can enable a diverse set of opportunities ranging from solutions to flared gas, to large-scale gas monetization, to specific industry applications such as refining and LNG terminals," said Ed Dineen, CEO of Siluria Technologies. "However, our top two priorities are the ethylene industry and the Midstream or gas processing industry. So establishing this partnership with the top technology provider in the ethylene business at such an important time in the industry is a great fit for us.

The companies expect to offer the technologies to the broader ethylene industry in the second half of 2015. Siluria is currently engaged in feasibility studies with selected operating companies in the ethylene industry focused on the initial commercial deployments.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Solvay has opened its new Research and Innovation (R&I) center at Ewha Womans University in South Korea, to work closely with key Asian customers and universities to develop products for the booming battery, electronics and car markets, said the company in the press-release.

The R&I center in Seoul is Solvay’s fourth in Asia and will employ some 60 scientists by the end of 2015. It brings Solvay close to leading industrial players and customers in the strategically located country and region, which facilitates partnerships to develop products and solutions according to their specific needs.

The R&I center will harbor Solvay’s new electronics laboratory to develop Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLED) display and lighting technologies, following its recent acquisition of Plextronics. Research will also target materials for the high-growth, high value-added markets of lithium-ion batteries to enable optimal energy storage, and the development of new materials that reduce energy use of cars.

"Solvay’s ambition to become a global, innovative leader will clearly benefit from exchanging and enriching know-how with researchers and industries here in South Korea," said Jean-Pierre Clamadieu, CEO of Solvay.

The opening of the center comes after Solvay and Ewha signed their agreement in 2011. It also includes the move of Solvay’s Global Business Unit Special Chemicals to the campus, from where it will serve as a hub in the region. Special Chemicals’ leading-edge technologies already serve Asia’s fast-growing electronics market.

As MRC wrote before, Solvay opened a new Research & Innovation center in Singapore in February 2014, which will be the Group’s core innovation ground for its Consumer Chemicals growth engine in the Asia-Pacific region.

Solvay and research-oriented Ewha will also partner with other top universities for long-term scientific projects. Solvay will sponsor scholarships for highly talented women, provide international internships for Ewha students and take part in key scientific conferences. This partnership positions Solvay among the main foreign players within South Korea’s scientific eco-system.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Clariant, a world leader in specialty chemicals, has announced that it has signed an agreement with Siemens Fuel Gasification Technology to cooperate in the commercialization of a new, jointly developed sour gas shift (SGS) technology for coal gasification, as per the company's press release.

The agreement appoints Clariant as the exclusive catalyst supplier for all Siemens gasification integrated SGS projects. While the collaboration covers all global projects, commercialization will focus on China - the region with the highest growth rate of coal-to-chemical projects.

Stefan Heuser, Head of the Catalysts Business Unit at Clariant, stated: "This global cooperation is a very important step in marketing our innovative catalysts for coal-to-chemical applications. With its strong commercialization focus on China, the cooperation supports Clariant’s strategy to increase our presence in the growing markets of Asia."

The advanced SGS technology from Clariant and Siemens significantly decreases total capital cost for coal-to-chemical and IGCC applications through optimization and simplification of total plant concepts. The entrained-flow Siemens Fuel Gasifier (SFG) is able to produce syngas from a wide range of fuels - even for low ranks of coal.

Clariant’s new ShiftMax 821 catalyst enables a simple, once-through process without further adjustment of the exit gas from the gasifier. The simplified layout uses smaller and fewer reactors, and requires no steam adjustment for temperature control. This combination reduces capital expenditure for the shift system by up to 20%, and optimizes operating costs with up to 30% lower catalyst volume.

The new technique can handle different steam-to-gas ratios and high carbon monoxide content in the gas, resulting in improved availability and reliability of the whole process.

As MRC reported earlier, Clariant Chemicals (India ) Ltd., an affiliate of Clariant AG, a world leader in specialty chemicals, announced in April the successful closure of the acquisition of Plastichemix Industries - a Gujarat based masterbatches business in India, with production facilities at Rania, Kalol and Nandesari. Clariant in India will now be one of the leading masterbatches producer, that will offer a wide range of products like black, white, additive, filler & colour masterbatches, flushed pigments & mono-concentrates and engineering plastics compounds.

Clariant’s Catalysts Business Unit is one of the foremost global suppliers of process catalysts. Its broad portfolio includes catalysts that enable the use of coal as feedstock, which are particularly well-suited to the needs of China’s industry. Clariant’s previous investments in the market include commercialization of the first coal-to-propylene catalysts in China, and local production of coal-to-methanol catalysts. Clariant is also the market leader in catalysts for coal-to-ammonia conversion.

Clariant AG is a Swiss chemical company and a world leader in the production of specialty chemicals for the textile, printing, mining and metallurgical industries. It is engaged in processing crude oil products in pigments, plastics and paints.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Following clearance from the European Commission, INEOS Enterprises successfully completed its agreement to purchase one of Europe’s leading solvent manufacturers, Sasol Solvents Germany, said the company in its press release.

The acquisition includes production facilities at Moers on the Lower Rhine, and Herne in Germany’s industrial Ruhr district. The addition of Sasol’s German based European Solvents businesses provides a complementary fit with the portfolio and expertise of INEOS and opens up new opportunities within its existing manufacturing sites in Germany.

Both sites and their products will now be integrated into the new business to be called INEOS Solvents, itself a part of INEOS Enterprises. INEOS Enterprises announced that it agreed to purchase Sasol Solvents Germany GmbH in December 2013.

Ethanol and isopropyl alcohol are produced at Herne and oxygenated solvents isopropyl alcohol (IPA), secondary butyl alcohol (SBA), and methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) are produced at Moers. The Moers plant also makes plasticisers, synthetic resins and fine chemicals such as alkyl chlorides and aluminium organic compounds.

"We are extremely pleased that the acquisition of Sasol’s site has now completed to enable us to begin the integration of the business into INEOS Enterprises.” said Ashley Reed, CEO of INEOS Enterprises. The addition of this leading solvents business broadens our portfolio and presents new opportunities for integration into some of our existing upstream sites in Germany".

"This acquisition allows us to quickly expand our solvents offer giving us new opportunities for growth that will benefit our customers across Europe," says Wolf Haenel, COO of the new INEOS Solvents business. INEOS Enterprises is a standalone business, a part of INEOS AG.

INEOS Enterprises is a standalone business, a part of INEOS AG. INEOS Enterprises is a portfolio of ten businesses manufacturing chemical products in Northern Europe, with sales of these products to customers around the world. The Company is focused on the developing needs of customers and rapid growth through investment in new products and manufacturing facilities or by acquisition. INEOS Enterprises now employs some 800 people across sites in the UK, France, Germany.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Dow Chemical Company, the largest US chemical maker by sales, has awarded Fluor Corporation the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for its Reverse Osmosis (RO) manufacturing facility in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as per the company's press release.

Located in Jubail Industrial City II at the Sadara Chemical Company complex, the facility will locally manufacture high-tech RO elements that purify water for drinking and industrial uses.

This is Dow’s first facility of its kind built outside the United States with expected date of completion by end of 2015. The facility will supply the local Saudi Arabian market as well as the wider Middle East and Africa (MEA) region and markets with similar critical water needs, including Eastern Europe, India, China and South East Asia.

Saudi Arabia faces tremendous water scarcity and as a result, represents the largest seawater desalination markets in the world. The new Dow RO facility will not only bring local supply security of next generation technologies for water desalination but also a more cost effective water treatment solution as desalination via reverse osmosis has proven to be less energy-intensive compared to traditional thermal methods.

RO elements are used for demineralizing brackish water or desalinating seawater for a variety of sectors and industrial applications, including water treatment, power generation, food & beverage processing, municipal desalination and water reuse.

As MRC informed previously, Hanwha Chemical, one of South Korea's leading polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride producers, has picked Credit Suisse to advise on possible purchases from Dow Chemical's chloro-alkali business but its interest is still in the early stages.

In December 2013, Dow Chemical said it would separate its chlorine-related assets including its epoxy business as the company focuses on higher-margin activities. The chlorine assets account for as much as USD5 billion of annual revenue and include plants at 11 sites employing almost 2,000 people.

The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational chemical corporation. As of 2007, it is the second-largest chemical manufacturer in the world by revenue (after BASF) and as of February 2009, the third-largest chemical company in the world by market capitalization (after BASF and DuPont). Dow is a large producer of plastics, including polystyrene, polyurethane, polyethylene, polypropylene, and synthetic rubber. In 2013, Dow had annual sales of more than USD57 billion and employed approximately 53,000 people worldwide. The company's more than 6,000 products are manufactured at 201 sites in 36 countries across the globe.
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