NextChem to act as technology and EPC partner on series of chemical recycling projects globally

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Maire Tecnimont S.p.A. announced that its subsidiary NextChem, and Agilyx Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Agilyx AS (Euronext Growth (Oslo)б have entered into an agreement to support the development of advanced chemical recycling facilities globally, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

This agreement combines Agilyx’ s leading pyrolysis technology with NextChem’s expertise, as a leader in licensing, implementation, and EPC services for plastics recycling solutions.

Under the agreement, NextChem will act as a technology and EPC partner for Agilyx. The aim of this partnership is to accelerate the implementation of chemical recycling facilities globally, utilizing Agilyx advanced pyrolysis technology in the conversion of mixed waste plastic into circular olefins and circular fuels. With a longstanding expertise in the advanced recycling of plastics, Agilyx’s proprietary chemical recycling process can turn post-use plastics back into their original chemical components for continued use, increasing the recovery of plastics that cannot be recycled with traditional recycling processes.

The scope of the partnership, in its first phase, is to develop a series of chemical recycling projects for third parties. The initial focus will be on two already identified projects, one in Europe and one in South America. Furthermore, the agreement would represent an opportunity for co-investments in specific projects in order to accelerate the overall commercial pipeline.

“We are proud to include this new partnership with Agilyx into our portfolio and further develop our basket of technological solutions for the circular economy, that already include Upcycling, waste to chemicals, waste to fuels, polymerization and now also thermochemical conversion (pyrolysis). We are strongly committed to finding solutions for plastics sustainability along its life-cycle and to enabling a new circular, low carbon economy.” commented Pierroberto Folgiero, CEO of Maire Tecnimont Group and NextChem.

“This alliance represents an acceleration for Agilyx to expand our footprint and implement our advanced recycling technology globally,” said Tim Stedman, Agilyx CEO. “NextChem is a global leader in the deployment and realization of projects and technologies for energy transition and circular economy and we are pleased to be partnering with them to accelerate our go to market strategy as we seek to expand our technology licensing.”

As MRC reported earlier, Agilyx Corporation (AGLX), a wholly owned subsidiary of Agilyx AS (Euronext Growth (Oslo) and a leader in advanced recycling technology, established Cyclyx International LLC., on January 1, 2021. ExxonMobil joined Agilyx to become a founding member of the joint venture which is focused on helping increase plastic waste recycling. Cyclyx will aggregate and pre-process plastic waste to meet the technical requirements of a wide range of recycling processes while ensuring reliable supply of feedstock to its customers. Cyclyx aims to transform the current supply chain and help accelerate the growth of the advanced recycling industry by connecting companies looking for plastic waste solutions with customers engaged in recycling initiatives.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 241,030 tonnes in January 2021 versus 217,890 tonnes a year earlier. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 141,870 tonnes in January 2021 versus 123,520 tonnes a year earlier. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Advanced Petrochemical Co. (Jubail, Saudi Arabia) says it has received approval for a new petrochemical complex in Jubail, including a steam cracker, for the production of 2.4 million metric tons/year of ethylene, propylene, and aromatics, reported Chemweek.

All units at the new complex are scheduled to start up in the fourth quarter of 2025, it says. No investment figure has been given.

The facility will produce 1.15 MMt/y of ethylene, 850,000 metric tons/year of propylene, and 400,000 metric tons/year of aromatics, fuels, and their derivatives, the company says in a Saudi stock exchange announcement.

Advanced Global Investment Co. (AGIC), a wholly owned subsidiary of Advanced, says it has received approval from Saudi Arabia’s energy ministry “for allocating the required quantities of feedstock to set up a petrochemical complex project in Jubail Industrial City using cracking technology.” The company will "select leading and most efficient technologies, in energy and feedstock consumption, to produce ethylene and propylene and their derivatives,” it says.

Advanced Polyolefins Co. (APOC), a joint venture of AGIC and SK Gas Petrochemical (SKGP), a unit of SK Gas (Seoul, South Korea), is already underway with plans to build and operate a 7.05-billion Saudi riyals (USD1.87 billion) propane dehydrogenation (PDH) and polypropylene (PP) complex at Jubail, with a design capacity for 843,000 metric tons/year of propylene and 800,000 metric tons/year of PP. Advanced said in December 2020 that construction would start in 2021, with start-up scheduled for the second half of 2024. Saudi Aramco will provide propane feedstock on a long-term basis to the PDH plant. AGIC holds an 85% share of the APOC JV, with SKGP owning the rest.

AGIC also signed in December long-term offtake agreements with three firms for the sale of PP totaling almost 620,000 metric tons/year. Agreements were signed with Vinmar International and with Tricon Dry Chemicals - part of Tricon Energy - for 250,000 metric tons/year each, and with Mitsubishi Corp. for 120,000 metric tons/year.

Advanced Petrochemical already operates a PDH plant producing 455,000 metric tons/year of propylene and a 450,000-metric tons/year PP unit at Jubail.

As MRC informed before, Advanced Petrochemical Company has shut its PDH unit and PP plant in Jubail, Saudi Arabia for maintenance. Thus, these plants were takenloffstream from 11 March, 2021. PP plant is aimed to restart on 27 March, whereas PDH unit is to come back on-line on 5 April.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 241,030 tonnes in January 2021 versus 217,890 tonnes a year earlier. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 141,870 tonnes in January 2021 versus 123,520 tonnes a year earlier. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Elkem has announced its results for full-year 2020 and says that net profits dropped 69%, to 278.0 million Norwegian kroner (USD32.9 million), despite a 9% increase in sales, to NKr24.7 billion, reported Chemweek.

The company says that “even though realized prices declined in 2020 and overall market demand was weak, Elkem’s sales volumes increased in the year owing to an enhanced sales strategy, enabled by competitive cost positions and improved operations compared to 2019.” EBITDA increased 1%, to NKr2.7 billion and EBIT declined 19%, to NKr957 million. The company's fourth-quarter profits and sales increased significantly year on year, as reported in February.

“We remain optimistic regarding the longer-term global trends that will drive demand for our products. We have all the ingredients in place to make 2021 a successful year for Elkem, while remaining mindful of the uncertainty in our external environment,” says Michael Koenig, CEO of Elkem.

As MRC informed previously, in 2015, a consortium of industrial companies, including BASF, universities and research institutes recently launched project RECOBA (Cross-sectorial REal time sensing, advanced COntrol and optimization of BAtch processes, saving energy and raw materials). Under the project coordination of BASF SE, the RECOBA partners include ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe AG, Germany; ELKEM AS Technology, Norway; University of Cambridge, United Kingdom; RWTH Aachen University, Germany; University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Czech Republic; the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Spain; VDEh-Betriebsforschungsinstitut GmbH, Germany; Cybernetica AS, Norway; and Minkon Sp. z o.o., Poland.

We remind that in mid-February, BASF said it was restarting one of its steam crackers at its Ludwigshafen complex in Germany after operations were halted last Wednesday due to a technical issue. The naphtha cracker produces ethylene and propylene, and is one of two crackers on the site. One has a production capacity of 420,000 metric tons/year, with the other"s capacity at 240,000 metric tons/year, according to IHS Markit data.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 241,030 tonnes in January 2021 versus 217,890 tonnes a year earlier. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 141,870 tonnes in January 2021 versus 123,520 tonnes a year earlier. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Overall polyethylene (PE) imports into the Ukrainian market totalled 34,900 tonnes in the first two months of 2021, down by 13% year on year. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the main decrease in imports, according to MRC DataScope report.

Last month's PE imports to Ukraine were 17,700 tonnes versus 17,200 tonnes in January, local companies increased their purchases of high density polyethylene (HDPE). Thus, overall PE imports reached 34,900 tonnes in January-February 2021, compared to 39,900 tonnes a year earlier. HDPE imports decreased significantly, whereas linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) imports increased.

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

Last month's HDPE imports were 5,800 tonnes, compared to 5,100 tonnes in January, Ukrainian companies increased their purchases of extrusion blow moulding (EBM) PE. Overall HDPE imports totalled 10,900 tonnes in the first two months of 2021 versus 15,900 tonnes a year earlier.

February imports of low density polyethylene (LDPE) into Ukraine were 5,500 tonnes versus 6,100 tonnes a month earlier. Overall LDPE imports totalled 11,600 tonnes over the stated period, compared to 12,500 tonnes a year earlier.

Last month's LLDPE imports were 5,800 tonnes, compared to 4,700 tonnes in January, shipments of film grade LLDPE from the USA decreased. Overall LLDPE imports reached 10,500 tonnes in the first two months of 2021, compared to 9,500 tonnes a year earlier.

Imports of other PE grades, including ethylene-vinyl-acetate (EVA), totalled 1,900 tonnes over the stated period, compared to 2,000 tonnes a year earlier.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China's daily refinery throughput rose 15% in the first two months of the year, from a low base a year earlier, as fuel demand remains solid and refineries rush to hike production ahead of maintenance season, reported Reuters.

Refinery processing reached 114.24 million tonnes in the January-February period, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Monday, equivalent to about 14.13 million barrels per day (bpd). The agency didn't disclose numbers for January and February separately.

The daily rate is about the same level as in December 2020, up from 12.07 mln bpd in Jan-Feb 2020 and also above the 12.68 million bpd recorded in the first two months of 2019.

Chinese refineries slashed output in the first quarter last year as the rapid spread of the coronavirus decimated fuel demand.

Chinese refined fuel consumption has staged a strong rebound from coronavirus-induced weakness as the economy recovered and government stimulus kicked in.

The latest data also showed China's crude oil production in the first two months rose 0.4% from a year earlier to 32.08 million tonnes, or 3.97 million bpd. That compared with an average of 3.89 million bpd for 2020.

Meantime, China's natural gas output expanded 13.5% in January-February from a year earlier to 34.8 billion cubic metres, extending a jump that saw near 10% growth for full-year 2020.

As MRC informed before, in early December 2020, Sinopec’s board approved plans to build a 1.2-million metric tons per annum ethylene plant and downstream units in the Nangang area of the port of Tianjin, China. Sinopec estimates the cost of the project at 28.8 billion renminbi (USD4.4 billion).

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 241,030 tonnes in January 2021 versus 217,890 tonnes a year earlier. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 141,870 tonnes in January 2021 versus 123,520 tonnes a year earlier. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.
MRC