MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shell Catalysts & Technologies (SC&T) has successfully completed the expansion of its Port Allen, Louisiana plant in the United States, doubling its capacity to produce precipitated alumina powder. The Port Allen Precipitated Alumina (PAPA) plant capacity expansion project is part of the SC&T strategy to meet growth demands in the residue and gasoil hydroprocessing markets, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.
This expansion will allow the PAPA plant to increase powder supply to its world scale catalyst plant, located at the Port Allen facility. In addition, the PAPA plant will also supply powder to the other Shell catalyst plants globally.
The PAPA plant expansion project includes increasing the capacity of existing equipment combined with the addition of several new major pieces of processing equipment. Energy efficient alternatives and reliability improvements have been incorporated into the new equipment design to reduce fixed and variable costs associated with powder production.
Embedding safety in the plant design was a key part of the project. The SC&T team designed and laid out equipment so that safety risks were mitigated. The layout and design were also carefully developed so that the process equipment will be reliable and ready to allow for a safe commissioning and start up. The new plant also incorporates advanced industry technologies for efficient operation.
“SC&T is constantly looking to the future as energy demands increase, and as a premier catalyst provider, prepared to meet those demands,” said Darylene Harris, site general manager for the Port Allen Plant. “With the PAPA addition SC&T will now be a net exporter of powder. “
As MRC wrote before, Shell will announce a major restructure by the end of the year as the company prepares to accelerate its shift toward its net-zero emissions goal by 2050, said CEO Ben van Beurden to employees. The restructuring will include workforce reductions as part of broader cost-cutting measures, although no figures have been decided yet, the CEO reportedly said during an internal webcast.
We remind that Royal Dutch Shell Plc plans to idle a sulfur recovery unit (SRU) at the joint-venture Deer Park, Texas, refinery in 2021, said Shell spokesman Curtis Smith in July 2020. Currently, the refinery is operating at about 75% of its 318,000 barrel-per-day capacity because of reduced demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia dropped in January-June 2020 by 7% year on year to 328,000 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the main decrease in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia rose in the first six months of 2020 by 21% year on year to 105,300 tonnes. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.
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.
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