CPChem gets ISCC Plus certification, signs with Nexus for pyrolysis oil

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Chevron Phillips Chemical (CPChem; The Woodlands, Texas) says its Cedar Bayou facility in Baytown, Texas, where the company produces its Marlex Anew circular polyethylene (PE), has received certification through the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification PLUS (ISCC Plus) process, said Chemweek.

CPChem has also signed a long-term supply agreement with Nexus Fuels as its first supplier of pyrolysis oil, an ethylene feedstock derived from plastic waste.

CPChem announced commercial-scale production of circular PE based on pyrolysis oil in October 2020. The company says it will seek ISCC Plus for additional sites as it expands its advanced recycling program, which aims to produce 1 billion lbs (450,000 metric tons) of Marlex Anew PE annually by 2030.

Nexus Fuels’ facility in Atlanta, Georgia, is ISCC Plus certified for the production of pyrolysis oil from mixed plastic waste. In November 2020, Nexus announced a four-year agreement to supply 60,000 metric tons/year of pyrolysis oil to Shell’s Norco, Louisiana, chemical production facility.

As MRC informed previously, in March 2018, Chevron Phillips Chemical, part of Chevron Corp, successfully introduced feedstock and commenced operations of a new ethane cracker at its Cedar Bayou facility in Baytown, Texas. At peak production, the unit will produce 1.5 million metric tons/3.3 billion lbs. per year. This unit is one of the largest and most energy efficient crackers in the world. In September 2017, the company announced the successful commissioning and start-up of two new Marlex polyethylene (PE) units in Old Ocean, Texas, based on the company’s proprietary MarTech technologies. Together, these assets form the bulk of the company’s US Gulf Coast Petrochemicals Project (USGCPP), which was first announced in 2011.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing PE and polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia decreased in January-November 2020 by 17% year on year and reached 569,900 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the greatest reduction in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia increased by 21% year on year to about 202,000 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2020. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.

Headquartered in San Ramon, California, Chevron Corporation is the the second-largest integrated energy company in the United States and among the largest corporations in the world. Chevron is involved in upstream activities including exploration and production, downstream activities including refining, marketing and transportation, and advanced energy technology. Chevron is also invested in power generation and gasification processes.
MRC

ALPLA expediting a bottle cycle in Italy

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The ALPLA Group is investing more than EUR5m in an extrusion system for food-grade recycled PET made of used PET bottles at its site in Anagni, Italy, said Recyclingtoday.

Anagni is home to one of the ALPLA Group’s most important preform production plants. The plant, which currently has a workforce of 91, processes around 50,000 tonnes of PET a year, of which only a very small proportion is recycled material as of today. A substantial portion of the volume required is henceforth to be supplied in the form of recycled material.

ALPLA is thus installing an extrusion system for 15,000 tonnes of rPET a year at the existing business premises. The investment sum for construction of the building needed and for the system totals more than five million euros. It is scheduled to go into operation in the second half of 2021. Ten new jobs will be created.

Plant Manager Fabio Mazzarella said: “We will buy in PET flakes made from used household packaging from local recyclers, process them into food-grade rPET and then use this at the site for preforms."

Georg Lasser, Head of Corporate Recycling at ALPLA, added: “We want to promote the bottle-to-bottle cycle and avoid downcycling. In addition, we would like to boost local recycling solutions in a region that does not have the necessary infrastructure for the bottle loop up to now’ the recycling expert explains. The demand for recycled material can currently be managed well. ‘But with this measure, we are ensuring that we can offer our customers optimum support with realising new specifications and targets in the long term too and that we can offer them top-quality recycled materials."

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's PET consumption reached 61,110 tonnes in November 2020, up by 1% year on year. Overall PET consumption in Russia reached 648,110 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2020 , down by 18% year on year.
MRC

Sumitomo Corp to stop investing in new oil development projects

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Japanese trading house Sumitomo Corp will stop investing in new oil development projects as it shifts away from fossil fuels businesses amid a global push to cut greenhouse gas emissions, the Nikkei business daily reported, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The move comes as global miners and Japanese trading companies cut their exposure to coal operations, including mining and power generation to trim harmful carbon dioxide emissions and to slow climate change.

Major Japanese trading houses have said they would stop investing in new projects to develop thermal coal mines or build coal-fired power stations, but this would be the first time that a Japanese trading firm decided not to invest in new oil projects, the Nikkei said.

Sumitomo will no longer participate auctions for new oil projects, though it will continue its existing oil projects including those in North Sea, the paper said, without citing sources.

In energy and natural resources, Sumitomo will focus its management resources on renewable energy such as offshore wind farms and base metals, including copper and nickel used in electric vehicles, the Nikkei said.

Sumitomo was not immediately available for comment.

As MRC reported earlier, in December 2020, Sumitomo Chemical and Axens signed a license agreement of ethanol-to-ethylene technology Atol for Sumitomo Chemical’s waste-to-polyolefins project in Japan. In the project, to promote circular economy, Axens’ Atol technology will transform ethanol produced from waste into polymer-grade ethylene that will be polymerized in Sumitomo Chemical’s assets into polyolefin, a key product in the petrochemical industry.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia decreased in January-November 2020 by 17% year on year and reached 569,900 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the greatest reduction in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia increased by 21% year on year to about 202,000 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2020. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.

MRC

Shell, Vattenfall, Mitsubishi mull green hydrogen project in Germany

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shell is teaming up with three partners on a green hydrogen project in Hamburg, Germany, which includes a scalable electrolyser with an initial output of 100 megawatts (MW), said the company.

Production of green hydrogen at what would be one of the largest electrolyser plants in Europe could begin in 2025, the companies – Shell, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Vattenfall, and Warme Hamburg.

With the project, the companies aim to develop the site at Hamburg-Moorburg into a “Green Energy Hub”, encompassing the entire hydrogen value chain - from electricity generation via offshore wind power through to the sale of green hydrogen to transport or industrial sectors, Shell's CEO for Germany, Fabian Ziegler, said.

The site is home to a Vattenfall coal-fired power plant that recently terminated commercial operations as part of Germany’s nationwide coal phase-out. The City of Hamburg and Vattenfall plan to clear part of the site for the green hydrogen project.

The partners intend to apply for funding under the EU’s programme for “Important Projects of Common European Interest” (IPCEI). Detailed investment sums were not disclosed.

As MRC informed previously, Royal Dutch Shell plc. said in November that its petrochemical complex of several billion dollars in Western Pennsylvania is about 70% complete and in the process to enter service in the early 2020s. The plant's costs are estimated to be USD6-USD10 billion, where ethane will be transformed into plastic feedstock. The facility is equipped to produce 1.5 million metric tons per year (mmty) of ethylene and 1.6 mmty of polyethylene (PE), two important constituents of plastics.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing PE and polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia decreased in January-November 2020 by 17% year on year and reached 569,900 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the greatest reduction in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia increased by 21% year on year to about 202,000 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2020. 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.
MRC

HDPE production in Russia grew 90% in 2020

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's production of high density polyethylene (HDPE) totalled about 1,824,800 tonnes in 2020, up 90% year on year.
ZapSibNeftekhim accounted for the main increase in the output, according to MRC's ScanPlast report.

December PE production in Russia was 160,400 tonnes, whereas this figure was 158,600 tonnes a month earlier, output of high density polyethylene (HDPE) at the facilities of Zapsibneftekhim and Kazanorgsintez decreased. Thus, overall HDPE production reached 1,824,800 tonnes in 2020, compared to 960,600 tonnes a year earlier. All producers raised their output, but ZapSibNeftekhim accounted for the greatest increase.

The structure of PE output by grades looked the following way over the stated period.

Russia's December HDPE production at Kazanorgsintez increased to 40,300 tonnes from 37,700 tonnes a month earlier. Russian plants' overall HDPE output reached 484,800 tonnes in January-December 2020, up by 2% year on year.
Last month, HDPE production at Stavrolen facilities increased to about 25,300 tonnes against 25,900 tonnes in November. Thus, for the period under review, the total volume of polyethylene production by the Budenny producer amounted to 318,000 tonnes, up 21% than a year earlier.

Stavrolen's December output of HDPE at Gazprom neftekhim Salavat decreased to 7,200 tonnes from 8,200 tonnes a month earlier. Overall HDPE production grew to 120,000 tonnes in 2020 from 106,000 tonnes a year earlier.


ZapSibNeftekhim increased its production of HDPE to 87,500 tonnes last month against 86,800 tonnes in November. During the period under review, the new producer produced more than 902,000 tonnes of HDPE.

MRC