Facility to increase production of cleaner-burning fuel additives at petrochemicals refinery

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Honeywell announced that Lukoil-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez, a subsidiary of Lukoil, will use a range of Honeywell UOP process technologies at its Kstovo refinery to produce cleaner-burning high-octane fuels that comply with Euro-V and Class 5 standards in Russia, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

UOP will provide technology licensing, design services, key equipment and state-of-the-art catalysts and adsorbents for the project at the refinery in the Nizhny-Novgorod region in central Russia. When completed, the production capacity of the unit will exceed 215,000 metric tons per year of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), a high-octane gasoline additive that reduces emissions in automobile exhaust.

The project includes the installation of a new UOP Ethermax unit that converts isobutylene and methanol into a high-octane MTBE blending agent that contains no benzene or aromatics. Earlier in 2020, UOP completed the revamp design for two existing Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) units and Merox unit to increase production of propylene at the refinery while maintaining high yield of gasoline production.

“These technologies will allow Lukoil to increase production of additives for cleaner-burning gasoline and meet Euro-V emission standards,” said Bryan Glover, vice president and general manager, UOP Process Technologies. “Lukoil elected to integrate the Ethermax technology into its existing FCC complex to reduce operating and capital costs, and begin operations more quickly.”

The Ethermax technology delivers a high MTBE yield and is extensively used worldwide. MTBE is produced from a chemical reaction between methanol, and isobutylene,. Due to its high octane number, MTBE is an effective anti-knocking fuel additive to produce cleaner-burning gasoline.

The project also includes revamping existing Selective Hydrogenation (SHP) units and process revamp study of hydrofluoric alkylation units to maximize the production of alkylate, which produces cleaner-burning fuels.

The Euro V standard limits sulfur content to less than 10 parts per million in transportation fuels and restricts emissions of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, nitrous oxides and particulate matter from gasoline and diesel vehicles and will improve overall refinery emissions.

Lukoil-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez is one of the largest petroleum refineries in Russia and has been operating in the Nizhny Novgorod region since 1958. It is the largest refinery operated by PJSC Lukoil, a Russian multinational energy corporation headquartered in Moscow, specializing in the business of extraction, production, transport, and sale of petroleum, natural gas and petroleum products.

As MRC reported earlier, Russian energy major Lukoil (Moscow) is studying several potential petrochemical projects in Russia and Bulgaria, with investment decisions expected to be made on two of them in 2021.

Thus, Lukoil announced an investment decision in June, 2019, to proceed with a 500,000-metric tons/year polypropylene (PP) plant at its Kstovo refinery. In September this year it selected Lummus Technology’s Novolen PP technology and basic design engineering for the facility’s production unit. Kstovo is one of Lukoil’s largest crude refineries in Russia with a throughput of 17 million metric tons/year, with the company recently adding a catalytic cracking unit that almost doubled the refinery’s production of propylene feedstock to 300,000 metric tons/year.

At Budennovsk in Russia’s far south west, the company’s Stavrolen petchems complex currently has the capacity to produce 350,000 metric tons/year of ethylene, 300,000 metric tons of polyethylene (PE), 120,000 metric tons/year of PP, and 80,000 metric tons of benzene. Lukoil has for several years been considering construction of a new gas chemicals plant at Stavrolen to crack more ethane extracted from associated petroleum gas produced by its oil and gas fields in the north of the Caspian Sea. The potential new plant would raise Stavrolen’s ethylene and PE output to around 600,000 metric tons/year each, and increase PP production to 200,000 metric tons/year.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing PE and PP.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2% year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market reached 1 240,000 tonnes in 2020 (calculated using the formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, excluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively PP random copolymer increased.

Lukoil is one of the leading vertically integrated oil companies in Russia. The main activities of the company include exploration and production of oil and gas, production and sale of petroleum products. Lukoil is the second largest privately-owned oil company in the world in terms of proven hydrocarbon reserves. Lukoil's production capacities include polyethylene polypropylene. The structure of Lukoil includes one of the largest petrochemical plant in Russia - Stavrolen.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A group of state treasurers are pressuring Marathon Petroleum to end a lockout at a Minnesota refinery that has left 200 union members out of work for two months, reported Reuters with reference to a letter the officials sent to the company.

Marathon has brought in out of state workers to operate its St. Paul Park refinery as it negotiates with members of the Teamsters Local 120 over new proposals by management that employees say threaten their jobs.

The union says the replacement workers have not been properly trained. The company denied this claim.

In the letter reviewed by Reuters, the Democratic state treasurers of Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Oregon told Marathon’s sustainability chair they are concerned that the lockout will have a long-term impact on safety and reliability.

“With the potential for losses of lives [at the refinery] there is great exposure for these companies in terms of lawsuits and reputational harm,” said Illinois state treasurer Michael Frerichs.

Minnesota politicians, including Governor Tim Walz, have previously urged the US refiner to end the prolonged lockout, saying it could create safety problems at the refinery.

Frerichs told Reuters the group of treasurers are working together on sustainability issues, and some have investments in the refiner, he added without elaborating. The group has requested a meeting with Marathon’s sustainability chair, Abdulaziz F. Alkhayyal.

The union opposes Marathon’s proposals that could cut some 50 jobs at the plant and subcontract out maintenance work. The company is the second-largest independent US refiner, with plants in Illinois, Minnesota, and other states.

“By locking us out they’re showing us this is what they’re going toward, that we’re not coming back,” said Matthew Foss, a St. Paul Park firefighter employed at the refinery for more than 22 years. He said workers risked coronavirus infection to keep the refinery operating through the pandemic.

The 102,000 barrel-per-day plant is currently being staffed by “trained and qualified Marathon Petroleum personnel,” Marathon said. The company said it does not foresee supply disruptions in its operating regions.

“We have continued negotiating in good faith with representatives of the Teamsters Local 120 throughout their strike, and we look forward to additional opportunities to work toward reaching agreement on the company’s and the union’s proposals,” a spokesman for Marathon said last week.

As MRC informed earlier, most units were shut on Sunday night and Monday morning (15-16 February) at Marathon Petroleum Corp's 585,000 barrel-per-day Galveston Bay Refinery in Texas City, Texas, as temperatures plunged due to a Arctic cold front reaching the Gulf Coast.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2% year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market reached 1 240,000 tonnes in 2020 (calculated using the formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, excluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively PP random copolymer increased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Milliken (Spartanburg, South Carolina) says it has acquired Zebra-chem (Bad Bentheim, Germany), a producer of peroxide masterbatches and blowing-agent masterbatches, reported Chemweek.

Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

Zebra-chem produces masterbatches for polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyolefins, and engineering plastics. Typical products are organic peroxide masterbatches, molybdenum disulfide masterbatches, and blowing-agent masterbatches, according to Milliken.

Peroxide masterbatches, such as those made by Zebra-chem and Milliken, make it possible to incorporate up to 100% recycled content in plastics, Milliken says. “Milliken’s long-term focus on innovation and sustainability encourages us to consider how we contribute to some of today’s leading challenges, like how to effectively incorporate recycled plastics in manufacturing,” says Halsey Cook, Milliken president and CEO.

As MRC informed earlier, in September 2020, Milliken (Spartanburg, North Carolina) said it had joined the Polypropylene Recycling Coalition (PRC), an industry collaboration launched in July by The Recycling Partnership (TRP) aimed at improving recovery and recycling of PP in the US.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2% year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market reached 1 240,000 tonnes in 2020 (calculated using the formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, excluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively PP random copolymer increased.

Milliken is an innovation company that has been exploring, discovering, and creating ways to enhance people’s lives since 1865. The company creates coatings, specialty chemicals, and advanced additive and colorant technologies that transform the way we experience products from automotive plastics to children's art supplies.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Songwon Industrial Co., Ltd. the 2nd largest manufacturer of polymer stabilizers in the world, and key global player in the specialty chemicals business announced today that it has made further changes to its leadership structure to streamline the company moving forward, said Chemweek.

The changes have been implemented to support faster decisions, simplified processes and enable SONGWON to increase its agility by returning to its traditionally lean organizational structure. With these changes, Philippe Schlaepfer, Leader Division Performance Chemicals / Chief Sustainability Officer, is leaving the company. SONGWON thanks him for his many years of dedication to the business. The responsibilities related to this business function have been split within the Group.

As MRC reported earlier, in August 2017, South Korean specialty chemicals company Songwon Industrial Co Ltd launched its new pilot plant in Panoli (Gujarat), thereby strengthening the organisation’s overall specialty chemicals development capability.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2% year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market reached 1 240,000 tonnes in 2020 (calculated using the formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, excluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively PP random copolymer increased.

Headquartered in Ulsan (South Korea), Songwon Industrial Co is a leader in the development, production and supply of specialty chemicals. The second largest manufacturer of polymer stabilisers worldwide, Songwon operates group companies all over the world, offering the combined benefits of a global framework and readily accessible local organisations.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The chemical recycling of plastics, also known as molecular or advanced recycling, is scaling quickly, according to Chemweek with reference to Bob Patel, CEO of LyondellBasell, and Jim Fitterling, chairman and CEO of Dow.

The two spoke last Tuesday at the CERAWeek 2021 by IHS Markit virtual conference.

Chemical recycling does not require the degree of sorting required by mechanical recycling, noted Patel, and it yields virgin resin completely identical to resins produced from traditional petrochemical feedstocks. "With molecular recycling, you can take mixed plastic waste, convert it back to feedstock, and then put it back in the front end of the cracker (to make olefins) and then polyethylene (PE) or polypropylene (PP)," he said.

Patel said chemical recycling has the additional advantage of much larger scale than mechanical recycling. "I think we're probably three to five years way from being at the scale that our industry is used to," he said. "I think it has to be some form of pyrolysis, and then it's a matter of how do you scale that up and manage any sort of environmental impacts from the pyrolysis process itself."

Fitterling noted that many pilot operations are underway. "Everybody is learning how to deal with this new raw material supply and how to manage it through existing assets, and I think we're making great progress," he said. "We're also getting good traction on the methodology for how to account for it and make sure you can prove that it's sustainable, and that it's an auditable, traceable closed loop."

Closing the loop is not a purely technological problem, however.

"I think great way to think about it is, you're trying to create an entire ecosystem," said Fitterling. "We talk a lot of times about policies around circularity at a very high level, maybe a national or global level, but in reality the waste issues are very local, and so you have to deal with the local consumer and sorting out waste plastics, making sure they don't go to a landfill in the first place, and getting them to a recycling facility."

A fundamental challenge is that the cost of recycling is greater than business as usual, Fitterling noted. "But policies and that whole system can help close that loop by creating an incentive that brings private investment in, that creates jobs for the local community, and that creates a way for that material to get back in," he continued. "Because we've changed the equation… from just being low cost to trying to reduce waste and get the carbon footprint down, and that's a different objective.

As MRC informed earlier, LyondellBasell Industries is restarting the gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracker (FCC) after completing the restart of the large crude distillation unit (CDU) at its 263,776 barrel-per-day (bpd) Houston refinery. The 147,000-bpd Unit 537 CDU is the first to restart since the refinery was shut on Feb. 15 by severe cold weather. The 90,000-bpd FCC could be back in production by early next week.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing PE and PP.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2% year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market reached 1 240,000 tonnes in 2020 (calculated using the formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, excluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively PP random copolymer increased.
MRC