Honeywell UOP technologies selected for large US project to reduce CO2 emissions and produce clean hydrogen energy

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Honeywell announced Wabash Valley Resources LLC has selected a range of Honeywell UOP technologies to capture and sequester up to 1.65 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) annually and to produce clean hydrogen energy from a repurposed gasification plant in West Terre Haute, Ind., according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The project is expected to be one of the largest carbon sequestration initiatives in the United States to date.

“By implementing Honeywell UOP’s proven technologies for the capture of CO2 and hydrogen purification, we will significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said Dan Williams, Managing Director of Wabash Valley Resources. “This project will allow for market access to clean hydrogen, as well as support the domestic growth of the hydrogen economy.”

“Adding carbon capture and storage to hydrogen production is an economical solution for many companies looking to make significant progress on their sustainability goals,” said Laura Leonard, vice president and general manager, UOP Process Technologies.

UOP will provide technology licenses, basic engineering, and specialty equipment including a modular MOLSIV molecular sieve dehydration unit, modular Ortloff CO2 Fractionation unit, and Polybed pressure swing adsorption (PSA) unit to sequester carbon dioxide and process synthesis gas from the gasification unit.

The Ortloff CO2 Fractionation technology will produce a high-purity liquid CO2 stream while separating a hydrogen-rich stream that will be purified by the PSA unit. The CO2 stream will be sent for permanent geological storage, while the hydrogen stream can fuel a hydrogen turbine to generate electrical power.. The hydrogen stream can also be used in chemical synthesis, or marketed as a clean transportation fuel.

As MRC reported earlier, in Marhc 2021, Honeywell announced that Hengli Petrochemical Co. Ltd. successfully used Callidus burner technology from Honeywell UOP to minimize nitrogen oxide (NOx) and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions in China, and reduce the impact of these emissions while ensuring safe and stable operations.

Besides, in November, 2020, Honeywell announced Zhenhua Petrochemical Co. Ltd will use Honeywell UOP’s C3 Oleflex technology for propane dehydrogenation to process 1 million metric tons per year of polymer-grade propylene for a proposed plant in Dongying City, Shandong Province, China.

Propylene is the main feedstock for production of polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, 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

GM Canada completes federal order for 10 million face masks

MOSCOW (MRC) -- On April 8, GM Canada completed its order of 10 million masks for the Public Health Agency of Canada, said Canplastics.

Since the start of production on May 26, 2020, the team at Oshawa Operations produced approximately one million masks a month to help protect front-line workers and other Canadians during the COVID-19 pandemic.

GM Canada received its Medical Device Establishment License from Health Canada on April 22, 2020, and within about three weeks had sourced materials, built the clean room with enhanced safety protocols, installed the required equipment, and recalled and trained 60 workers for two shifts of production in Oshawa in partnership with Unifor. The first mask delivered to the government was produced on May 26, 2020.

“We want to thank the Government of Canada, our suppliers, and our Unifor partners for their support in making this project possible,” said Scott Bell, GM Canada president and managing director. “Although this milestone marks the end of our contract with Health Canada, GM will leverage the speed and agility of our pandemic response to continue supporting our customers and communities."

To commemorate the Canadian Mask Making (CMM) Room project, the official 10-millionth mask will be donated to the Ingenium, Canada’s Museums of Science and Innovation in Ottawa.

As it was written earlier, GM Canada’s Oshawa Operations produced its one millionth mask out of the Canadian Mask Making (CMM) room for the federal government. Navdeep Bains, minister of Innovation, Science and Industry and Anita Anand, minister of Public Services and Procurement, were on hand at the plant on July 10 to mark the milestone. The automaker has been contracted to produce 10 million masks by the feds, and is manufacturing them at cost at its Oshawa, Ont. plant for the Public Health Agency of Canada.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, 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

Sumitomo, Sekisui to start up a pilot plant in Chiba to produce ethylene from waste-based ethanol

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sumitomo Chemical and Sekisui Chemical are moving forward with a project to convert plastic waste into polyolefin, targeting to start up a pilot plant to produce ethylene as a first step, according to Kemicalinfo.

Sumitomo Chemical has established a cooperative relationship with Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd. for the social implementation of the technology to manufacture polyolefin using waste as raw material.

Toyo Engineering Corporation has been awarded a contract for the said project to construct an Ethylene Pilot Plant.
Toyo has worked with Sumitomo Chemical since the basic design of the plant and currently carries out the detail engineering, procurement, and construction under the engineering, procurement, construction (EPC) lump-sum contract, aiming to start demonstration operation of the plant for a short period.

The pilot facility will be located at Sumitomo’s Chiba plant near Tokyo. The output capacity of the ethylene plant has not been disclosed. Sekisui will supply unspecified volumes of plastic waste-based ethanol to the pilot plant.

The commissioning is scheduled for some time during the April 2022-March 2023 fiscal year. The project partners plan to start trial production in 2022-23 and begin normal operations in 2025-26.

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 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

ExxonMobil to reduce air pollution at its refinery near Chicago

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil, US largest private petrochemical company, has reached an agreement with US and Illinois regulators to reduce air pollution at its refinery near Chicago in Joliet, Illinois, reported Reuters with reference to the US Department of Justice's statement.

The consent decree, which will require ExxonMobil to make operational changes to its sulfur recovery plant to reduce emissions, marks yet another sign that the Biden administration will be flexing its muscles in an effort to crack down on big polluters.

It comes less than a month after the Environmental Protection Agency revoked an expansion permit for the Limetree Bay oil refinery in the Virgin Islands, amid concerns about the facility’s impact on air pollution.

Under the settlement with ExxonMobil, the company has agreed to pay more than USD1.5 million in penalties, a little over USD1 million of which will go to the federal government. The remainder will be paid to Illinois. It will also undertake an estimated USD10 million of improvements to reduce air emissions, the Justice Department said.

As MRC wrote before, ExxonMobil is considering whether to close down its Slagen oil refinery in Norway, which has a capacity to process 120,000 barrels of crude per day, turning the site into an import terminal. The refinery at Slagentangen near Toensberg in south-east Norway was built in 1961 and process crude oil from the North Sea, exporting about 60% of the output, according to Exxon.

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

Axens launches new SeLene brand for selective hydrogenation

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Axens announced the launch of SeLene, a newly created family brand dedicated to selective hydrogenation, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Selective hydrogenation is an essential purification step for the production of the most critical building blocks of the petrochemical industry. These blocks include ethylene, propylene, butadiene and aromatics. Selective hydrogenation is also applied in several refinery processing schemes, and plays an increasingly important role in the widely adopted, fully integrated, refinery and petrochemical operation.

Axens proposes a broad catalyst portfolio to deliver optimal performance, specifically tailored for the selective hydrogenation needs of the customers thanks to over 50 years of powerful innovation aimed at improving the active phase impregnation, combined with state-of-the-art alumina carriers.

Additionally, Axens highly integrated offer provides the convenience of a one-stop shop for its valued customers including Licensing, Basic Engineering, Internals & Dedicated Equipment, Adsorbents, Gradings, Unit Auditing, Consulting, Revamping and Digitalization revolving around the broad catalyst portfolio.

SeLene family combines over 20 industrially proven catalysts along with tailor-made services to provide dedicated solutions to meet customer needs. Moreover, SeLene also welcomes Axens latest catalysts with new performance features to help customers creating even more value along the whole olefins chain from the acetylene to the Pygas cut.

"The SeLene catalyst family is one of Axens’ first step to go hand in hand with customer in order to tackle the upcoming challenges related to the selective hydrogenation field. The SeLene catalyst family is focused on two main axes: innovative catalysts and dedicated services towards customer’s satisfaction." says Marie-Clotilde Gouvenot, Global Market Manager at Axens.

As MRC informed earlier, China's Zhejiang Petroleum & Chemical (ZPC) has selected Axens to supply catalysts for its Zhoushan ethylene project.

Also, The Baltic Chemical Complex (BHK), a subsidiary of JSC Rusgazdobycha, and the international company Axens signed an agreement on the supply of technology for the production of alpha-olefins used for the production of polyethylene. The technology will be applied within the framework of a project for the construction of a gas chemical complex as part of an ethane-containing gas processing complex near Ust-Luga in the Leningrad Region.

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