BASF Venture Capital invests in Oceanworks, a sustainable plastic sourcing platform

BASF Venture Capital GmbH (BVC), the corporate venture company of BASF Group, announced a strategic investment in Oceanworks, a sustainable plastic solutions provider that brings traceability and transparency through digitalization to recycled plastics, said the company.

Oceanworks is based in the U.S. and offers a powerful platform for brands looking to reliably secure high-quality sources of ocean, ocean-bound, and averted PCR plastic (Post-consumer recycled products are made from recycled plastic and discarded materials.). For BVC this investment underlines BASF’s commitment to developing sustainable solutions to raise the transformation towards a circular economy to a new level.

Plastics are an integral part of everyday life. But too much plastic too often ends up in the sea after its intended use. The responsible handling of plastic waste is therefore critical. One aspect of this is recycling: more and more companies aim for higher recycled content rates in their products and need new trusted sources of recycled plastics.

Oceanworks, with its global marketplace for recycled plastic materials and products offers a sophisticated solution. The young company makes it easy for buyers to source recycled plastics likely to add to the 11 million tons of plastic flowing into the ocean each year. Digitized blockchain-based traceability, material quality assurance, global logistics and marketing support are part of Oceanworks’ offer for its customers and their partners.

BASF Venture Capital’s investment comes as a part of Oceanworks Series Seed financing, enabling the company to accelerate the development of its sourcing engine and track-and-trace verification for recycled ocean plastic. The parties have agreed not to disclose the financial details of the investment.

As MRC reported earlier, Air Liquide and BASF plan to develop world largest cross-border CCS value chain. The goal is to significantly reduce CO2 emissions at the industrial cluster in the port of Antwerp. The joint project has been selected for funding by the European Commission through its Innovation Fund, as one of the seven large-scale projects out of more than 300 applications.

We remind that BASF aims is to electrify its production processes for basic chemicals, which are currently based on fossil fuels.

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 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.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. announced an April 1 sales launch date for its newest product, MR-160DG, said the company.

Boasting a refractive index of 1.60, MR-160DG™ is being added to Mitsui Chemicals’ Do Green™ series of plant-derived high-index lens materials. MR-160DG™ has received Biomass Mark certification from the Japan Organics Recycling Association (JORA), which will make this new offering the world’s first optical lens material to be sold with Biomass Mark certification and a refractive index of 1.60.

Making use of an unparalleled material known as thiourethane resin, Mitsui Chemicals’ MR™ series exhibits characteristics not found in conventional resins. The series is rated highly as an optical lens brand of its own that underpins the superb quality of the world’s top brand optical lenses, and is used in many such lenses throughout the world.

Built upon the exceptional optical performance of MR, the Do Green series is thin and light; is safe and resistant to breakage; has lasting appeal; and provides a clear view. Following on from the ultrahigh-index product here that is Do Green™ MR-174™ and its refractive index of 1.74, the new offering from Mitsui Chemicals comes as a mass-market product with a refractive index of 1.60.

Mitsui Chemicals declared in November 2020 that it will endeavor to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. To this end, Mitsui Chemicals is pursuing a carbon neutral strategy based on the two-pronged approach of reducing the Mitsui Chemicals Group’s Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions while also maximizing the ability of the Group’s products to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Based on this strategy, Mitsui Chemicals’ Vision Care Materials Business aims to flesh out its lineup of Do Green™ products so as to meet various customer needs and provide solutions to social issues, ultimately contributing to a cohesive society in harmony with the environment.

As per MRC, Mitsui Chemicals, Maruzen Petrochemical Co., Toyo Engineering Corporation and Sojitz Machinery Corporation announced that a joint pilot project to be demonstrated by the four companies is to be funded by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization.

As MRC informed before, earlier this month, Covestro entered into an agreement with Mitsui Chemicals on the supply of raw materials phenol and acetone from ISCC Plus certified mass-balanced sources. Both components will be used for the production of polycarbonate at Covestro's Asian sites in Shanghai, China, and Map Ta Phut, Thailand. The high-performance plastic is used, for example, in car headlights, LED lights, electronic and medical devices and automotive glazing. Japan's Mitsui Chemicals and Mitsui & Co., Ltd are already a long-standing supplier to Covestro.
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China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, better known as Sinopec, is planning its highest capital investment in history for 2022 after recording its best profit in a decade, echoing Beijing’s call for energy companies to raise production, said the company.

Sinopec expects to spend 198 billion yuan (USD31.10 billion) in 2022, up 18% from a year ago, beating the previous record of 181.7 billion yuan set in 2013, according to a company statement filed to the Shanghai Stocks Exchange on Sunday.

It plans to invest 81.5 billion yuan in upstream exploitation, especially the crude oil bases in Shunbei and Tahe fields, and natural gas fields in Sichuan province and the Inner Mongolia region.

We remind, China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec), the country's largest oil refiner, said its net profit rose 114% in 2021 from the previous year. The net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company stood at 71.21 billion yuan (11.18 billion U.S. dollars) in 2021, the company said on Sunday. Its operating revenue reached 2.74 trillion yuan last year, up 30.2%year on year.

As it was written earlier, Sinopec will divest a 50% stake in Shanghai SECCO Petrochemical for a price of Yuan 10.3 bn (USD1.6 bn). The 50% stake comprises of 15% that is owned directly by Sinopec and 35% owned by its offshoot Sinopec Gaoqiao Petrochemical. Previously, Shanghai SECCO was 50% owned by BP East China, with Sinopec and Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical holding 30% and 20% stakes, respectively. The interest of BP was sold to Sinopec Gaoqiao Petrochemical in 2017.

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Fitch Ratings has revised its outlook on OMV's debt to stable, from negative, and affirmed its A- rating on expected strong financial performance partly based on the group's new strategy that assumes a gradual refocusing on chemicals and materials as well as sustainable fuels, said the company.

OMV is now the majority shareholder at petrochemicals and fertilizers major Borealis. Noting the Austrian group can also expect to benefit from higher oil and gas prices, Fitch also tightened the negative rating sensitivity to funds from operations (FFO) net leverage of 1.8x from 2.0x to reflect the chemical segment's higher future share in the group's cash flows.

“OMV plans to reach net-zero emissions by no later than 2050. The chemicals and materials segment will be key for further growth, with investments aimed at increasing its scale and diversification into circular economy,” said Fitch. “OMV also plans to transform its refining and marketing assets into sustainable fuels, feedstock and mobility solutions. The company will reduce oil and gas production by around 20% by 2030 and expects its E&P [exploration and production] to reach 450,000 bbl/day in 2025 and below 400,000 bbl/day in 2030."

OMV produced in 2021 490,000 bbl/day in 2021. Looking at economic impacts on OMV of the international response to the Ukraine war, Fitch said the group expects to recognise an impairment of €1.5-1.8bn related to its Russian assets, mainly including the write-down of financing for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

As per MRC, OMV reported utilization of 83% at its European refineries in H1, 2021, down by 3% on the year yet "relatively resilient in light of the COVID-19 impact". It expects the utilization rates at its European refineries to remain at the 2020 level this year. Last year its refineries reported 86% utilization. The company's refineries in Europe ran at 85% utilization in Q2, up from 81% in the year-ago quarter.

As MRC wrote before, OMV is investing EUR40 million (USD48 million) to expand and modernize a steam cracker and associated units at its refining and petrochemicals complex at Burghausen, Germany. The upgrade will increase the site’s ethylene and propylene production capacity by 50,000 metric tons/year. Following a planned turnaround of the refinery, the revamped cracker and petchem units are expected to start operations in the third quarter of 2022. Initial groundwork is already underway ahead of the upgrade.

OMV produces and markets oil and gas, innovative energy and high-end petrochemical solutions – in a responsible way. With Group sales of EUR 23 bn and a workforce of around 20,000 employees in 2019, OMV Aktiengesellschaft is one of Austria’s largest listed industrial companies.
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Clariant’s Catalysts business has been awarded three new contracts by China’s Lihuayi Group for its upcoming petrochemicals production units, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The agreements include three of Clariant’s high-performance catalysts for the production of ethylene, styrene, and propylene.

From Clariant’s ethylene catalyst line, Lihuayi chose the OleMax 101 catalyst for its 1000 KTA olefins plant for high-value olefins recovery from cracked gas and off-gas streams. The OleMax 100 series is used to purify gas streams for acetylene, dienes, oxygen, nitrogen oxides, and heavy metals, in a single reactor, enabling highly cost-efficient olefins production.

Lihuayi’s new 720 KTA styrene plant will rely on Clariant’s StyroMax UL 3 rib-shaped styrene catalyst. The catalyst is able to produce styrene monomer extremely efficiently due to its high activity, excellent selectivity, and reliable performance at ultra-low steam-to-oil conditions. Combined, these factors provide a greater yield of high-quality styrene with higher efficiency, as well as reduced energy consumption and lower CO2 emissions.

The third Lihuayi plant for propane dehydrogenation will have a design capacity of 600 KTA and operate with Clariant’s tailor-made CATOFIN catalysts and heat generating material. CATOFIN is a proven, highly reliable dehydrogenation catalyst used for the production of olefins, such as propylene or isobutylene, from light paraffin feedstocks. Since 2017, CATOFIN technology and catalysts have been selected for 33 new projects, representing more than 23,000 KTA of new propylene capacity globally. Over half of them are or will be constructed in China.

As MRC wrote previously, Clariant has recently announced that its StyroMax UL3 catalyst is demonstrating successful results at Risun’s new styrene monomer (MS) plant located in Tangshan, China.

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.

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