Borouge selects Technip Energies for construction of new ethane cracker in Ruwais

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Technip Energies has been awarded a substantial Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contract in consortium with TARGET Engineering by Abu Dhabi Polymers co. Ltd. (Borouge), a joint-venture between ADNOC and Borealis, for the construction of a new ethane cracker init, to be integrated in the Borouge 4 petrochemical complex in Ruwais, UAE, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The contract was signed by H.E Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, Managing Director and Group CEO of ADNOC and Chairman of Abu Dhabi Polymers Co Ltd. (Borouge), and Technip Energies CEO Arnaud Pieton, in presence of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron during the French delegation’s visit to the UAE.

This EPC contract covers the delivery of a new ethane cracker unit, in excess of 1,500 KTA, based on proprietary Technip Energies technology.

The new Borouge 4 complex will be located in the Ruwais industrial area in Abu Dhabi. It is considered as one of the major strategic projects to enable ADNOC to meet its target growth, which would sustain its current market share in the growing polyolefin market.

This award follows the successful execution of FEED competition, reflecting Technip Energies’ selective approach to be involved at a very early stage of any development and TARGET growth strategy to cooperate with major international contractors for projects in the country.

As MRC reported earlier, in mid-November 2021, ADNOC signed of a strategic partnership with Borealis AG that confirms a USD6.2 B (AED22 B) investment agreement between the companies to build the fourth Borouge facility - Borouge 4 - at the polyolefin manufacturing complex in Ruwais, United Arab Emirates (UAE), which will produce 1.4 MM tons of polyethylene (PE) per year.

Expansion project includes construction of a 1.5 MM tons ethane cracker, two state-of-the-art Borstar PE plants and a cross-linked PE plant. Borouge 4 will meet growing customer demand across the Middle East, Africa and Asia with differentiated polyolefin solutions in energy, infrastructure, and advanced packaging.

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 1,868,160 tonnes in the first nine months of 2021, up by 18% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,138,510 tonnes in January-September 2021, up by 30% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) decreased significantly.
MRC

Leonid Alekhin appointed head of Gazprom neftekhim Salavat

Leonid Alekhin appointed head of Gazprom neftekhim Salavat

MOSCOW (MRC) - Leonid Alekhin has been appointed the head of the Bashkir enterprise Gazprom neftekhim Salavat, said the company.

The report notes that a large project will be implemented in the near future on the basis of the Salavat petrochemical complex. As part of the creation of a new large-scale gas chemical cluster, the company focuses on the development and modernization of capacities. To provide raw materials for the enterprise in Salavat, it is planned to supply 28 billion cubic meters. meters of gas annually.

Leonid Alekhin was born in 1955 in the Samara region. Graduated from the Kazan Institute of Chemical Technology named after Kirov. He held various positions at the enterprises of the petrochemical complex of Russia, including from 2003 to 2012 he was the general director of Kazanorgsintez, and from 2012 to 2019 - OJSC TANECO.

According to the ICIS-MRC Price Report, Gazprom neftekhim Salavat (STS, Salavat, Bashkortostan) resumed production of low-pressure polyethylene (LDPE) after stopping for a long planned preventive maintenance. GNS from 1 October resumed production of low-pressure polyethylene (LDPE) after stopping for scheduled maintenance works. The idle capacity was quite long and started on the 20th of July. The annual production capacity is 45,000 tonnes per year.

OJSC Gazprom neftekhim Salavat (formerly OJSC Salavatnefteorgsintez) is one of the leading petrochemical companies in Russia, which carries out a full cycle of hydrocarbon processing. The list of commercial products manufactured by the enterprise includes more than 140 names, including 76 names of the main products: motor gasolines, diesel fuels, kerosene, heating oil, toluene, solvent, liquefied gases, benzene, styrene, ethylbenzene, butyl alcohols, phthalic anhydride and plasticizers, polyethylene, polystyrene, silica gels and zeolite catalysts, corrosion inhibitors, elemental sulfur, ammonia and urea, glycols and amines, a wide range of plastics household products, surfactants and much more.
MRC

Trinseo closes sale of synthetic rubber business to Synthos

Trinseo closes sale of synthetic rubber business to Synthos

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Trinseo, a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics and latex binders, has announced the closing of the previously announced transaction to sell its synthetic rubber business based in Schkopau, Germany to Synthos S.A. and its affiliates, as per the company's press release.

The sale was made for an enterprise value of approximately USD491 million, comprised of a cash purchase price of USD402.4 million, the assumption of approximately USD41.6 million of pension liabilities by Synthos, and net working capital (excluding inventory) retained by Trinseo of USD47.0 million.

In October, Trinseo and Synthos entered into an amendment to the original purchase agreement to reduce the cash purchase price from USD449.4 million to USD402.4 million in exchange for an equivalent amount (USD47.0 million) of net working capital to be collected by Trinseo. Following Trinseo’s collection of the net working capital, the expected net cash proceeds are approximately USD400 million after transaction-related costs and taxes.

The Business includes approximately 440 employees, mostly located in Schkopau, Germany. The transaction also includes the transfer of the associated Schkopau-based manufacturing and research and development facilities, as well as related intellectual property.

Trinseo’s sale of Synthetic Rubber to Synthos is another step forward in a series of strategic actions, including the recent acquisitions of Arkema's PMMA business in May 2021 and Aristech Surfaces LLC in September 2021, as well as the planned divestiture of its styrenics businesses, for which a formal sales process is expected to launch in the first quarter of 2022. These steps are part of the company’s transformation into a higher growth, higher margin and less cyclical specialty and sustainable materials provider.

The main application, consuming approximately 75% MMA, is in the production of polymethyl methacrylate acrylic plastics (PMMA). Methyl methacrylate is also used to produce methyl methacrylate-butadiene-styrene copolymer (MBS), used as a modifier for polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall production of unmixed PVC totalled 828,600 tonnes in the first ten months of 2021, up by 3% year on year. At the same time, only two producers raised their output.

Trinseo is a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex and rubber. Trinseo's technology is used by customers in industries such as home appliances, automotive, building & construction, carpet, consumer electronics, consumer goods, electrical & lighting, medical, packaging, paper & paperboard, rubber goods and tires. Formerly known as Styron, Trinseo completed its renaming process in 1Q 2015. Trinseo had approximately USD3.0 billion in net sales in 2020, with 17 manufacturing sites around the world, and approximately 2,600 employees.
MRC

Clariant developing next-gen ammonia cracking catalysts to facilitate future hydrogen transport

Clariant developing next-gen ammonia cracking catalysts to facilitate future hydrogen transport

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Clariant Catalysts’ role in the so-called “green hydrogen revolution” continues to grow. The company is now participating in Germany’s prestigious TransHyDE project AmmoRef, which is tasked to develop process technologies and catalysts for ammonia cracking to facilitate future hydrogen transport, also for large distances, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

With EUR14 MM in funding from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), AmmoRef is part of the overarching 135-MM-euro TransHyDE project, which aims to revolutionize the nation’s hydrogen transport infrastructure in preparation for a sweeping energy transition. TransHyDE is one of three hydrogen flagship projects aiming to prepare Germany’s entry into a hydrogen economy.

Marvin Estenfelder, Head of R&D at Clariant Catalysts, commented, “We are honored to have joined forces with some of the world’s most talented scientists in supporting Germany’s and the global transformation into a clean hydrogen economy. Clariant has been involved in R&D and cross-industry collaborations in this field for many years, and we have already developed numerous catalysts for use in innovative hydrogen applications. We are confident that together we will make it possible to recover pure hydrogen from ammonia in the scales required for efficient and safe mass transportation of hydrogen.”

Clariant will be collaborating non-exclusively with other prominent partners in academia and industry, amongst others are Prof. Schlogl (Max Planck Institute, Berlin and Muhlheim), Prof. Muhler (Ruhr-University Bochum), Prof. Behrens (University of Kiel), Prof. Lerch (Technical University of Berlin), as well as ThyssenKrupp, and BASF.

Clariant’s role in AmmoRef is to use their knowledge of the chemical reactions and catalytic processes to develop new and improved generations of its existing ammonia cracking catalysts. Furthermore, Clariant provides its benchmark ammonia synthesis catalyst AmoMax 10 Plus, for the synthesis of green ammonia. This project further strengthens Clariant?s position as one of the frontrunners in the ammonia-related new hydrogen economy.

Clariant is also involved in other major projects involving renewable hydrogen value chains. These include the Kopernikus initiative for advancing renewable energy and the Carbon2Chem program to reduce industrial CO2 emissions, both of which are also sponsored by the BMBF. The company offers extensive expertise in hydrogen technologies and a broad portfolio of adsorbents and catalysts for the production, conditioning, and purification of hydrogen and catalysts to convert hydrogen to sustainable chemicals and fuels.

As MRC informed before, Clariant's new AmoMax 10 Plus ammonia synthesis catalyst was successfully started up at the BASF ammonia plant in Antwerp, Belgium. German BASF, the world's petrochemical major and the inventor of the Haber Bosch process, has already installed Clariant's previous catalyst generation, AmoMax 10, at their BASF/Yara joint production plant in Freeport, Texas, USA. Based on the catalyst's highly favorable performance, BASF elected to use a Clariant catalyst again, this time the new AmoMax 10 Plus, which offers an additional boost in activity, stability, and startup speed.

We remind that in October 2020, Clariant announced the construction of a new state-of-the-art catalyst production site in China. This project represents a significant investment which further strengthens Clariant’s position in China and enhances its ability to support its customers in the country’s thriving petrochemicals industry.

The new facility will be primarily responsible for producing the Catofin catalyst for propane dehydrogenation, which is used in the production of olefins such as propylene. Thanks to its excellent reliability and productivity, Catofin delivers superior annual production output compared to alternative technologies, resulting in increased overall profitability for propylene producers, says the company. Construction at the Dushan Port Economic Development Zone in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province was scheduled to commence in Q3 2020, and Clariant expects to be at full production capacity by 2022.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,138,510 tonnes in the first nine months of 2021, up by 30% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

Clariant AG is a Swiss chemical company and a world leader in the production of specialty chemicals for the textile, printing, mining and metallurgical industries. It is engaged in processing crude oil products in pigments, plastics and paints.
MRC

ExxonMobil acquires California-based Materia

ExxonMobil acquires California-based Materia

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil Chemical has acquired California-based Materia for an undisclosed sum, said the company.

Materia makes thermoset resins based on dicyclopentadiene (DCPD). They are designed to be alternatives to epoxy resins, vinyl ester resins and unsaturated polyester resins (UPR). The materials can be used in a number of applications, including wind turbine blades, electric vehicle parts, sustainable construction, and anticorrosive coatings.

They are based on olefin metathesis catalyst discoveries made by Robert Grubbs and his research team at the California Institute of Technology. Grubbs received the 2005 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for these discoveries. “This acquisition ties together Materia’s Nobel Prize-winning technology with ExxonMobil’s complementary proprietary technology and world-class manufacturing capabilities to bring this exciting new class of structural materials to commercial scale,” said Karen McKee, president of ExxonMobil Chemical.

ExxonMobil has been collaborating with Materia since 2017 on the development of new hydrocarbon-based materials that are stronger, lighter and more durable than existing thermoset products such as epoxy. ExxonMobil intends to operate the acquired business under the Materia company name as a wholly owned affiliate. The acquisition includes Materia’s headquarters and technology centre in Pasadena, California and its manufacturing facility in Huntsville, Texas.

As MRC informed previously, ExxonMobil and SABIC have announced that their joint venture, Gulf Coast Growth Ventures located near Corpus Christi, Texas, has reached mechanical completion of a monoethylene glycol (MEG) unit and two polyethylene (PE) units. Project startup is expected to begin ahead of schedule, likely in the fourth quarter of 2021.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,868,160 tonnes in the first nine months of 2021, up by 18% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,138,510 tonnes in January-September 2021, up by 30% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) decreased significantly.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
MRC