Neste works on commercializing chemical recycling of waste plastic at its refinery in Finland

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Proceeding on the target of commercializing chemical recycling of waste plastic, Neste is conducting a feasibility study to examine investing in capacity for processing liquefied waste plastic at its refinery in Porvoo, Finland, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The goal is to scale up processing capabilities for liquefied waste plastic by implementing proprietary technologies to pretreat and upgrade liquefied waste plastic and integrating the technologies into the refinery operations. The targeted pretreatment and upgrading capacity of this first step is 400,000 tpy. This development would be a major step towards Neste’s target to process over 1 MMtpy of waste plastic from 2030 onwards.

To produce drop-in petrochemical feeds from liquefied waste plastic (e.g. pyrolysis oil), intermediate refining is needed to remove detrimental impurities as well as optimize the chemical composition of the material.

“To turn chemical recycling into a viable and industrial-scale feed source for our downstream partners in the polymers and chemicals value chain, we have to bridge the quality gap between unprocessed liquefied waste plastic oil and our customers’ raw material requirements,” said Mercedes Alonso, Executive Vice President, Renewable Polymers and Chemicals at Neste. “We are a forerunner in refining liquefied waste plastic into drop-in petrochemical feeds. By scaling up our processing capabilities, we enhance our ability to process hard-to-recycle waste plastics and help enable our value chain partners to deliver substantial volumes of high-quality materials from recycled feedstock.”

In 2021, as MRC reported earlier, Neste successfully concluded the first series of trial runs processing liquefied waste plastic in its Porvoo refinery. Additional trial runs with larger volumes will continue in the course of 2022. While unprocessed liquefied waste plastic is usable for trial-scale runs, continuous processing at industrial scale will require the pretreatment and upgrading step to remove impurities and unwanted components.

“We are excited to continue to develop liquid waste plastic processing capabilities at our Porvoo refinery. The goal is to turn waste plastics into valuable resources and a sustainable replacement for crude oil. The planned new pretreatment and upgrading capabilities are part of our target to be the most sustainable refinery in Europe by 2030, while supporting the transition to circular polymers,” said Markku Korvenranta, Executive Vice President, Oil Products at Neste.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,487,450 tonnes in 2021, up by 13% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 1,494.280 tonnes, up by 21% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whreas shipments of PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

Neste (Helsinki) creates solutions for combating climate change and accelerating a shift to a circular economy. The company refines waste, residues and innovative raw materials into renewable fuels and sustainable feedstock for plastics and other materials. The company is the world’s leading producer of renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel, developing chemical recycling to combat the plastic waste challenge. In 2020, Neste's revenue stood at EUR11.8 billion, with 94% of the company’s comparable operating profit coming from renewable products.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- MEGlobal has announced its Asian Contract Price (ACP) for monoethylene glycol (MEG) to be shipped in April 2022, according to the company's press release.

Thus, on 20 March, 2022. the company said ACP for MEG would be at USD930/MT CFR Asian main ports for arrival in April 2022, up by USD40/tonne from the previous month.

The April 2022 ACP reflects the short term supply/demand situation in the Asian market.

As MRC reported earlier, MEGlobal announced its March ACP for MEG at USD890/MT CFR Asian main ports, up by USD10/tonne from February.

MEG is one of the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

According to ICIS-MRC Price report, the shortage of free PET quantities are expected to remain in Russia in April, whereas prices will continue to rise. PET prices for contract clients will also increase next month. Market participants said last week's deals for small lots of PET chips were done at Rb240,000-260,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT.

MEGlobal is a fully integrated supplier of monoethylene glycol (MEG) and diethylene glycol (DEG), collectively known as ethylene glycol (EG).
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Trinseo, a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex binders, and synthetic rubber, and its affiliate companies in Europe, have announced again a price increase for Poly Methyl Methacrylate (PMMA) Resins and PMMA Sheets, as per the company's press release as of 17 March, 2020.

Thus, the company's prices for the stated above products rose by EUR550/mt with immediate effect.

This price will be valid until further notice.

As MRC reported earlier, the company raised its PMMA prices by the same amount on 16 March, 2022.

We remind that in May, 2021, Trinseo announced the closing of the previously announced transaction to acquire Arkema’s polymethyl methacrylates (PMMA) business. PMMA is a transparent and rigid resin with a wide range of end uses that augments Trinseo’s existing offerings across several end markets including automotive, building and construction, medical and consumer electronics.

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 did not exceed 169,700 tonnes in the first two months of 2022, which virtually corresponds to the last year's figure. At the same time, three producers reduced slightly 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 USD4.8 billion in net sales in 2021, with 26 manufacturing sites around the world, and approximately 3,400 employees.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Airport operators Groupe ADP and GMR Airports together with Airbus, Axens and Safran have signed a MoU to conduct a joint study on sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) and their potential in India, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The objective of the study, conducted under the lead and coordination of Groupe ADP and GMR Airports and with the expertise of all partners, is to understand and evaluate the demand, the challenges and opportunities of supply, infrastructure and fueling, as well as to prepare a business case for SAF production and use in India for all kind of aviation purposes.

SAF is a clean substitute for fossil jet fuels. Rather than being refined from petroleum, SAF is produced from sustainable resources such as waste oils from a biological origin, agri residues, municipal solid wastes or algae. SAF produced using the most advanced pathways can provide CO2 emission reduction of up to 85% across the entire SAF lifecycle.

The aviation sector globally contributes to 2-3% of CO2 emissions as compared to other sectors. In 2009, the aviation industry collectively agreed under the frame of ATAG (Air Transport Action Group) to the world’s first set of sector-specific climate change targets. These targets include carbon neutral growth from 2020 and achieving 50% reduction in carbon emission by 2050 relative to a 2005 baseline.

In 2021, the ATAG commitments have been modified to aim at net zero in 2050, in order to be coherent with current global roadmaps defined in the Paris Agreement with 1.5°C temperature limit scenario. To realize this ambitious goal for the aviation sector, ATAG has identified SAF as one of the most promising options. International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) also stressed the need for massive deployment of SAF in its work dedicated to LTAG (Long Term Aspirational Goals) recently adopted.

In India, already the 3rd largest domestic aviation market in the world and with a forecasted yearly growth of about 9% going forward, SAF use will be a key element to achieve the targets of carbon reduction and net zero target of the country by 2070, set by the Indian Prime Minister Sri Narendra Modi.

The joint study on SAF will help Indian aviation sector in assessing all these critical factors and help them gear up for the future. The study will also review the regulations in place and what could be the necessary evolutions to permit to the SAF to take off in the operations. In addition, this study will also evaluate the business model and feasibility of the implementation of a pilot project in an appropriate location in India, which could be taken up in a second phase by the partners.

The study will be initiated in the 2Q of 2022 and is expected to be completed within 1 year. It may be further extended based on the agreement of all the Parties involved.

As MRC informed earlier, in January, 2022, SOCAR HQ held a ceremony to sign licensing and design agreements for the fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit between the Heydar Aliyev oil refinery (HAOR) and the French company Axens as part of the HAOR modernization and reconstruction project. It is worth noting that SOCAR and Axens have a long-term co-operation. At present, the diesel hydrotreatment, gasoline hydrotreatment and C4 (butane-butylene) hydrogenation units as part of the Heydar Aliyev refinery reconstruction project, as well as the C3 (propane-propylene) hydrogenation unit as part of the reconstruction works carried out at Azerkimya PU, the naphtha hydrotreatment, diesel hydrotreatment and kerosene hydrotreatment units at the STAR refinery built in Turkey are licensed by Axens.

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

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, in 2021, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 1,494.280 tonnes, up by 21% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whreas.shipments of PP random copolymers decreased significantly.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- India's ONGC Videsh Ltd has sold at least one cargo of Russian Sokol oil to India refiners Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp after failing to draw interest in a tender earlier this month, reported Reuters with reference to sources familiar with the matter.

Indian companies are snapping up Russian oil as it is available at a deep discounts after some companies and countries shunned purchases from Moscow due to sanctions against Russia for its Ukraine invasion.

India, the world's third-biggest oil consumer and importer, has not banned Russian oil imports.

ONGC Videsh, the overseas investment arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corp, has a stake in Russia's Sakhalin-1 project and sells its share of the oil from the project through tenders.

In the tender earlier in March, ONGC Videsh did not get any bids for the Sokol crude oil cargo for May loading.

The sources said HPCL and BPCL had been able to offer a discounted price for the cargo. This marks the first purchase of Sokol crude by HPCL. BPCL had previously purchased the grade in 2016.

The two refiners will pay ONGC in rupees, the sources added.

One of the sources said ONGC Videsh will look at selling more cargos to Indian refiners if there is no interest from overseas buyers.

ONGC Videsh, HPCL and BPCL did not respond to Reuters emails seeking comment.

Western sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine have hit Russian oil sales, making it possible for Indian and Chinese refiners to buy Russian Urals crude at a deep discount.

As MRC wrote before, crude oil processing by Indian refiners rose about 10% year-on-year in February, provisional government data showed, as demand in the world's third biggest oil importer and consumer grew. Throughput in February rose 9.8% to 5.35 MMbpd (20.44 MMt), the data showed. But processing fell 5.8% from January, with a drop at Indian Oil Corp's Bongaigaon Refinery in Assam due to a power failure.

We remind that last year the Indian company Nayara Energy, 49.13% of which is owned by Russia's largest state oil company - Rosneft, launched a USD750 million petrochemical development program. Nayara Energy has the second largest refinery in India with a capacity of 20 million tons per year. The Indian company has already launched a refinery development program: within the first stage, it is planned to build units for the production of polypropylene (PP) with a capacity of up to 450,000 tonnes per year.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, in 2021, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 1,494.280 tonnes, up by 21% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whreas.shipments of PP random copolymers decreased significantly.
MRC