Honeywell to supply zeolites to accelerate setting up of MOP in India to address the ongoing pandemic

Honeywell  to supply zeolites to accelerate setting up of MOP in India to address the ongoing pandemic

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Honeywell is partnering with Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) and with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research–Indian Institute of Petroleum (CSIR–IIP), Government of India, to supply molecular sieve adsorbents (zeolites) to accelerate setting up of Medical Oxygen Plants (MOP) in the country to address the ongoing pandemic, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Honeywell UOP has assured a timely supply of adsorbents to enable the country to produce sufficient medical grade oxygen to meet the increased demand, and has partnered with DRDO and CISR-IIP and their associates to identify and supply alternative adsorbents to optimize cost and streamline supply-related logistics without compromising output from plants.

Honeywell has instituted a cross-functional team to support DRDO and CSIR-IIP in this critical project. Scientists from Honeywell UOP, DRDO and CSIR-IP are collaborating to establish the suitability of absorbents for oxygen production in India. “Excellent cooperation is extended by Honeywell in application and supply of zeolite, an important constituent of Medical Oxygen Plants (MOP). This is helping industries to fabricate MOPs,” said Dr. G. Satheesh Reddy, Secretary, Department of Defence R&D, and Chairman, DRDO.

"Honeywell is committed to helping India address the current pandemic and is making every effort to find meaningful ways to engage with the Government of India in the fight to save lives,” said Dr. Akshay Bellare, President, Honeywell India. "We are shipping our global supply of Honeywell UOP adsorbents from Italy to India to help the Government of India install life-saving oxygen plants across the country. Our technologists and scientists are collaborating with DRDO and CSIR-IIP scientists to solve for India’s needs."

Honeywell UOP, a pioneer in the adsorbents industry, developed the first commercially viable adsorbent for medical oxygen applications more than 40 years ago. The technology enables adsorption of nitrogen from air using a pressure or vacuum swing system to obtain oxygen purity up to 95%.

Honeywell UOP’s range of molecular sieve adsorbents are used in large MOPs. Honeywell UOP also offers OXYSIV molecular sieve adsorbents that help make smaller and more energy-efficient medical oxygen concentrators.

With a legacy of eight decades in India, Honeywell UOP has been a strong partner with both state-owned and private Indian companies to help expand India’s refining and petrochemicals sector while improving efficiency and enhancing environmental performance and regulatory compliance. In 2013, the company established the Honeywell India Technology Center (HITC) in Gurugram. HITC supports Honeywell UOP's work in developing and licensing process technologies used in refining and the production of petrochemicals and renewable fuels.

As MRC informed earlier, Honeywell announced that Lotte GS Chemical Corp. will use Honeywell UOP Q-Max, Phenol 3G, and Evonik MSHP technologies to produce more than 565,000 metric tons per year of phenol and acetone at its petrochemicals facility in Yeosu, Korea. UOP is providing a license for the technology, in addition to basic engineering design services, key equipment, catalysts and adsorbents and technical services.

Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 744,130 tonnes in the first four month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, PP deliveries to the Russian market were 523,900 tonnes in January-April 2021, up by 55% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas shipments of PP random copolymers decreased.
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Solvay launches bio-based nylon fibre

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Solvay is globally launching Bio Amni, the first partially bio-based polyamide textile yarn developed by the company, said the company.

It is a polyamide 5.6, which is produced entirely at the company's textile industrial unit in Brazil. The development of Bio Amni® follows the growing global trend in demand for more sustainable textile products, especially bio-based materials. Solvay's research and innovation teams worked on the creation of the product for two years.

"Sustainability is one of the main drivers of the global textile market,” says Antonio Leite, global vice president of polyamides and fibers at Solvay. “Solutions and products must add value to the entire consumer chain - from its base to end consumers of textiles - and have less of an impact on the environment. Solvay’s Bio Amni® is part of a portfolio evolution to offer customers the most innovative products on the market."

The textile sector currently faces three main challenges in relation to the environment and sustainability: resources, the production process, and disposal. Solvay already has developed sustainable alternatives in the production process, using cleaner energy sources, closed water circuits, and zero effluent emissions at its industrial unit in Brazil, as well as more biodegradable products to support more sustainable disposal. With Bio Amni®, Solvay is now offering its first partially bio-based textile yarn, further expanding on its diverse portfolio of sustainable products.

With the launch of Bio Amni®, sustainable textiles will now account for 30 percent of Solvay's global polyamide portfolio, a figure which the group expects to reach 50 percent in the next three years. Bio Amni® is just the latest of Solvay's innovations for the global textile market. In 2020, as a quick response to COVID-19, the company launched Amni® Virus-Bac OFF, a functional polyamide that inhibits contamination between textiles and users, preventing the fabric transmitting viruses, including coronaviruses, and bacteria.

The company also created Amni Soul Eco®, the world's first biodegradable polyamide textile yarn, which facilitates the decomposition of textile articles in about three years after disposal in controlled landfills.

As MRC informed earlier, in August, 2020, through the acquisition of the Solvay polyamide (PA) business, BASF enhanced its R&D capabilities in Asia Pacific with new technologies, technical expertise, and upgraded material and part testing services. BASF is planning to integrate the R&D centers from Solvay into its R&D existing facilities in Shanghai, China, and Seoul, Korea. The enhanced capabilities will boost BASF’s position as a solution provider to develop advanced material solutions for key industries.

Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 744,130 tonnes in the first four month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, PP deliveries to the Russian market were 523,900 tonnes in January-April 2021, up by 55% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas shipments of PP random copolymers decreased.

Solvay is a science company whose technologies bring benefits to many aspects of daily life. With more than 24,100 employees in 64 countries, Solvay bonds people, ideas and elements to reinvent progress. The Group seeks to create sustainable shared value for all, notably through its Solvay One Planet plan crafted around three pillars: protecting the climate, preserving resources and fostering better life. The Group’s innovative solutions contribute to safer, cleaner, and more sustainable products found in homes, food and consumer goods, planes, cars, batteries, smart devices, health care applications, water and air purification systems. Founded in 1863, Solvay today ranks among the world’s top three companies for the vast majority of its activities and delivered net sales of EUR10.2 billion in 2019. Solvay is listed on Euronext Brussels (SOLB) and Paris and in the United States, where its shares (SOLVY) are traded through a Level I ADR program.
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Amcor to realize a circular economy for plastics in the United States

Amcor to realize a circular economy for plastics in the United States

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Amcor announced its support for the launch of the U.S. Plastics Pact’s Roadmap to 2025, an aggressive national strategy for how the U.S. Pact, Amcor and other signatory organizations – known as Activators – will achieve four 2025 targets, said the company.

Launched today, the plan delineates specific actions, responsibilities and timeframes necessary to realize a circular economy for plastics in the United States.

Launched in August 2020, the U.S. Plastics Pact is a consortium led by The Recycling Partnership and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) as part of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s global network. The network creates a holistic ecosystem of industry stakeholders with a common strategy: to address plastic waste at its source.

"Amcor is committed to creating responsible packaging that is recycled and reused,” said Amcor VP of Sustainability David Clark. “Our innovation is designing more and more of our packaging to be recycled and using more recycled content, but we need progress on infrastructure and consumer participation too.

The U.S. Pact Roadmap is designed to advance these goals and measure progress through annual reporting.

"The Roadmap is designed to help U.S. industry leaders act on the significant, systemwide change needed to realize a circular economy for plastics by 2025.” said U.S. Plastics Pact Executive Director Emily Tipaldo. “The timeframe is short, and the workload is immense, but if we choose to do nothing, the visions of a circular economy across the U.S. will give way to the status quo. We look forward to working with all our Activators to drive this critical change."

As MRC informed earlier, Packaging supplier Amcor has broken new ground in the Argentine dairy market by developing the first fresh milk bottle made of transparent post-consumer recycled (PCR) PET resin. The custom-designed one-litre container for leading dairy maker Mastellone Hnos SA, headquartered in Buenos Aires, supports the positioning of the La Serenisima Original milk brand as a natural product while also delivering optimum shelf life and increased sustainability benefits.

As per ScanPlast, Russia's calculated consumption of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) grew to 263,660 tonnes in the first four months in 2021, up 13% compared to the same period in the previous year. 78.3% of the increase in consumption falls on the share of bottled PET chips due to the virtual absence of exports and an increase in the volume of imports.

Amcor works with leading companies around the world to protect their products differentiate brands, besides improving value chains through a range of flexible and rigid packaging including specialty cartons, closures, and services. The company is focused on making packaging that is increasingly light-weighted, recyclable and reusable, and is made by using a rising amount of recycled content. Presently, Amcor has operations at 250 locations in 40-plus countries.
MRC

Portugal Galp moves to green hydrogen at Sines refinery with USD1.2 bln investment

Portugal Galp moves to green hydrogen at Sines refinery with USD1.2 bln investment

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Portugal's Galp Energia plans to install a 100-megawatt electrolyzer to power its refinery in Sines with green hydrogen by 2025, a project which could be expanded to up to 1,000 MW and be worth EUR1 billion (USD1.21 billion), reported Reuters with reference to Chief Executive Andy Brown's statement.

He told Reuters in an interview that the refinery, located south of Lisbon, was Portugal's biggest consumer of hydrogen from natural gas, but Galp wanted to gradually produce the zero-carbon fuel through a process of electrolysis using renewable solar energy.

Such hydrogen is now more expensive to extract than the heavily polluting conventional method of using heat and chemical reactions to release it from coal or natural gas, known as brown and grey hydrogen, respectively.

But Brown said "because of the cost of gas and the cost of CO2, at a certain point it can be profitable".

"It's a very exciting opportunity, we think we can profitably replace that hydrogen with green hydrogen," he said, adding that Galp should invest "between EUR100 million to EUR200 million in the first 100 MW by 2025".

"To fully convert the refinery to green hydrogen that will be closer to EUR1 billion – these are big investments," he said, adding that much still depended on whether Europe and Portugal give the right incentives for such renewable fuels.

Galp will be able to produce green ammonia or synthetic fuels, and as the project gains scale it could also sell green hydrogen to transport companies or highly polluting industries such as steel or cement manufacturing.

As MRC informed earlier, Portugal's oil and gas company Galp has fully ceased processing hydrocarbons at the smaller of its two refineries, in Matosinhos near Porto, since the beginning of 2021 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the regulatory environment. Instead, it will concentrate its downstream operations and their future development at the 220,000-barrels-per-day Sines refinery equipped with deep conversion units.

Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 744,130 tonnes in the first four month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, PP deliveries to the Russian market were 523,900 tonnes in January-April 2021, up by 55% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas shipments of PP random copolymers decreased.
MRC

Kuraray to divest part of businesses run by its US subsidiary

Kuraray to divest part of businesses run by its US subsidiary

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Kuraray Co., Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan) has announced its decision to divest operations related to UV-based water treatment and ballast water treatment run by Calgon Carbon Corporation, a Group subsidiary based in the United States, as per the company's press release.

The divested operations will be transferred to De Nora Water Technologies LLC in Italy.

The business transfer is scheduled for the end of June.

Financial details of the transaction have not been disclosed.

Calgon Carbon is the world’s largest manufacturer of activated carbon, supplying activated-carbon products including bituminous coal–based carbon, wooden carbon, and palm-shell-based carbon. Kuraray acquired Calgon Carbon in 2018 for USD1.1 billion.

As MRC informed before, Kuraray America, a subsidiary of the Kuraray Group and one of the leading international companies in the production of specialty chemicals, fibers, resins and elastomers, has resumed operations at its vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) plant in La Porte, Texas, USA. This plant with the capacity of 335,000 mt/year was shut in mid-February because of the unprecedently low temperatures in the region and restarted on 2 April, 2021.

VAM is the main raw material for the production of ethylene-vinyl-acetate (EVA).

According to MRC's DataScope report, April EVA imports to Russia rose by 35,63% year on year to 4,090 tonnes from 3,020 tonnes a year earlier, and overall imports of this grade of ethylene copolymer into the Russian Federation grew in January-April 2021 by 20,24% year on year to 14,990 tonnes (12,47 tonnes a year earlier).

iKuraray America is one of the world's largest specialty chemicals, fibers, resins and elastomers companies. The company's manufacturing facilities are located in Houston, Texas.
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