Hexion recognized for waste minimization, energy efficiency and facility safety

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Two projects and 12 facilities at Hexion Inc. were named Responsible Care® award winners by the American Chemistry Council (ACC) and honored for excellence in waste reduction, energy efficiency, and overall safety performance, said the company.

"The latest recognition from the ACC reflects how our associates are leveraging our strategic sustainability initiatives to steadily guide our business and serve our global customers,” said Craig Rogerson, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. “We remain committed to operating our sites safely and in a sustainable manner."

Hexion was recognized in the following categories for its achievements: Waste Minimization, Reuse and Recycling – Hexion’s Sheboygan, WI site received an ACC Award with Exceptional Merit. By utilizing Six Sigma planning, the manufacturing facility reduced distillate water disposal volumes by 90 percent and eliminated nearly 90 truck shipments of wastewater annually from the roadways. Process piping and filtration modifications were made in the plant, and testing proved that reuse of the distillate stream was possible without negative process or product quality impacts.

Energy Efficiency – Hexion’s Geismar, LA facility significantly reduced the electricity consumed by its continuously operating production units by strategically revamping its cooling processes and making strategic investments in its infrastructure. This included installing variable frequency drives and automated controls logic on the cooling pumps to improve its cooling water tower electric efficiency.

As per MRC, Hexion is strategically strengthening its manufacturing footprint in support of its ArmorBuilt Fire Protection product through an expansion of its Missoula, Montana site. To meet the continued strong demand, Hexion previously announced two capacity expansions at its Portland, Oregon manufacturing site in 2021. The Missoula site expansion will enable Hexion to significantly increase its capacity to serve customers more easily in the Western United States and beyond, which are areas prone to wildfires. The new capacity is expected to come online in fourth quarter of 2022.

As previously announced, Hexion is working closely with one of the largest wood pole producers in North America to make ArmorBuilt wrap the specified solution for Pacific Gas & Electric Company to protect their utility pole infrastructure in wildfire prone areas. Hexion also continues to strategically expand its manufacturing capabilities for other adhesive applications around the globe, such as the expansion of its Brimbank, Australia, site.

We remind, Hexion Holdings Corporation announced that it has completed the sale of its epoxy-based Coatings and Composite businesses, which includes the epoxy specialty resins and base epoxy resins and intermediates product lines for approximately USD1.2 billion to Westlake Chemical Corporation.

Based in Columbus, Ohio, Hexion Inc. is a global leader in thermoset resins. Hexion Inc. serves the global adhesive, coatings, and industrial markets through a broad range of thermoset technologies, specialty products and technical support for customers in a diverse range of applications and industries.
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ExxonMobil announced that construction of the new linear alpha olefins (LAO) manufacturing unit at its Baytown, Texas, integrated petrochemical complex is progressing and targeting commercial start up in mid-2023, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

When fully operational, the new facility will have the capacity to produce approximately 350,000 metric tons of LAO annually.

ExxonMobil will manufacture 10 high-purity LAO products at the site and market the new offering under the ELEVEXX brand name. Extremely diverse, LAO molecules are used in a broad range of applications, including in plastic packaging, high-performing engine and industrial oils, and as building blocks for surfactants and other specialty chemicals.

The new manufacturing facility will feature the latest quality control technology, including in-line analyzers engineered to assess product quality and purity in real time, helping to maximize finished LAO molecule consistency and supply reliability.

As MRC wrote before, KBR and ExxonMobil Catalysts and Licensing will collaborate to bring significant advancements to propane dehydrogenation (PDH) technology. Under the collaboration, ExxonMobil's new proprietary catalyst technology will be combined with KBR's proprietary K-PRO PDH technology to convert propane into propylene. Enabled by the superior performance of ExxonMobil's new catalyst, the combined technology solution could offer financial savings compared to PDH technologies currently available.

We remind that in February, 2022, ExxonMobil and SABIC successful started up Gulf Coast Growth Ventures world-scale manufacturing facility in San Patricio County, Texas. The new facility will produce materials used in packaging, agricultural film, construction materials, clothing, and automotive coolants. The operation includes a 1.8 MM metric tpy ethane steam cracker, two polyethylene (PE) units capable of producing up to 1.3 MM metric tpy, and a monoethylene glycol (MEG) unit with a capacity of 1.1 MM metric tpy.

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 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.

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

Amidst the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine in Eastern Europe, key industry players are releasing announcements regarding their stand on this topic. From taking firm actions such as retracting services to provide humanitarian resources, there is a lot happening around the globe, according to SpecialChem.

In this curated piece, get a clear understanding on plastic additives industry’s take and the measures they are adopting that will alter the market trends and developments moving forward.

Clariant announced that it will suspend business with Russia in response to the Russian state’s intolerable acts of violence in Ukraine with immediate effect. Clariant’s operations in Russia include a sales office and a laboratory in Moscow and contribute approximately 2% to the company’s annual sales.

Honeywell has substantially suspended sales, distribution and service activities in Russia and Belarus. The company prioritizes the safety and security of the employees and partners in the region and responding to their immediate needs.

Solvay has decided to suspend its operations and new investments in Russia. Further, Solvay will suspend dividend payments from Rusvinyl, an independent 50:50 joint venture in Russia.

Effective immediately, LyondellBasell will not enter into any new business transactions or relationships with Russian state-owned entities. LyondellBasell also intend to discontinue business relationships with Russian state-owned entities to the extent legally possible. The company is in the process of assessing how this will affect the operations, including feedstocks, utilities, supply chain providers, and customers. Additionally, they are complying with all US and international sanctions which have been put into place because of this crisis.

ExxonMobil discontinues operations and developing steps to exit the Sakhalin-1 venture. The company’s operations in Sakhalin-1 project was on behalf of an international consortium of Japanese, Indian and Russian companies. The process to discontinue operations will be carefully managed and closely coordinated with the co-venturers to ensure it is executed safely.

As MRC wrote earlier, in July, 2021, Neste and LyondellBasell announced a long-term commercial agreement under which LyondellBasell will source Neste RE, a feedstock from Neste that has been produced from 100% renewable feedstock from bio-based sources, such as waste and residue oils and fats. This feedstock will be processed through the cracker at LyondellBasell’s Wesseling, Germany, plant into polymers and sold under the CirculenRenew brand name.

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 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.
MRC

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and partners in ICE Futures Abu Dhabi (IFAD) have officially celebrated the first anniversary of trading of the Murban Futures Contract on the IFAD commodities exchange, said the company.

IFAD began operations on 29 March 2021 and during its first year, the equivalent of around 1.5 billion barrels of Abu Dhabi’s flagship lower-carbon Murban crude oil was traded on the exchange. IFAD has attracted over 90 market participants and Murban is now more widely available to both physical purchasers of crude oil and financial market participants around the world, reinforcing the United Arab Emirate’s (UAE) role as a reliable global energy supplier.

The introduction of the Murban Futures Contract was backed by ICE, ADNOC and nine of the world’s largest energy companies who joined IFAD as founding partners; BP, GS Caltex, INPEX, ENEOS, PetroChina, PTT, Shell, TotalEnergies and Vitol.

The IFAD exchange situated in ADGM capitilizes on the growing demand for Murban crude oil, particularly from markets in Asia where Murban is popular with many longstanding customers. It is located between Asian, European and United States (U.S.) trading time-zones, allowing Murban to be traded at least 22 hours of each trading day.

The continual growth of the trading ecosystem at Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), including the establishment of ADNOC Global Trading, ADNOC Trading and the opening of trading offices for both India’s Reliance Industries and Thailand’s PTT, signals the growing importance of Abu Dhabi as a trading hub.

Following the launch of IFAD, Murban is freely traded, offering crude customers increased access, better price transparency, and flexibilty to hedge and manage risks. Traded alongside Brent and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crudes, Murban is well-positioned to act as an important price marker for crude oil. ICE Murban Futures are physically delivered contracts, with one futures contract equating to 1,000 barrels of Murban crude oil delivered from the ADNOC Terminal located in Fujairah, on the East coast of the UAE.

Murban is a light, sweet crude grade that is unique to the UAE, with consistent and stable production volumes, large number of international buyers, and numerous long-term concession and production partners. ADNOC’s flagship crude has a carbon intensity less than half the industry average, positioning it in the market as a lower carbon crude oil when compared to other crude grades.

Discovered in 1958, Murban has played a pivotal role in enabling the UAE’s economic growth and development. Production capacity of Murban is over 2 million barrels per day and it accounts for around 50% of the UAE’s total production capacity. ADNOC plans to increase the production capacity of Murban to more than 2.5 million barrels per day by 2030 as it expands its crude oil production capacity to 5 million barrels of crude per day.

As per MRC, The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company has activated business continuity plans to ensure continued supply of products to its local and international customers following an incident on its Mussafah fuel depot. The company in an earlier statement that the incident at the fuel depot occurred at around 10:000 hours (06:00 GMT) on 17 January. The incident resulted in the outbreak of a fire and three workers were killed as a result, it said.

As per MRC, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has 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.


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Baker Hughes is collaborating with C3 AI, Accenture and Microsoft on industrial asset management (IAM) solutions for clients in the energy and industrial sectors, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The collaboration will focus on creating and deploying Baker Hughes' IAM solutions that use digital technologies to help improve the safety, efficiency, and emissions profile of industrial machines, field equipment, and other physical assets. Applying their individual strengths, the four companies will collaborate on Baker Hughes IAM capabilities that help optimize plant equipment, operational processes and business operations through improved uptime, increased operational flexibility, capital planning and energy efficiency management.

The solutions will be designed for industries including oil and gas, renewable energy, thermal power generation, metals and mining, chemicals and pulp and paper.

The companies will also explore collaborating on solutions that help achieve net-zero carbon emissions and decarbonize energy and industrial sectors, including emissions management.

Baker Hughes will provide domain-specific digital expertise and technology for industrial customers, including leading condition-monitoring software for mission critical machinery, industrial asset strategy advisors, proven machine and equipment edge sensor and related controls capabilities.

C3 AI will provide a flexible artificial intelligence (AI) application development platform that complements Baker Hughes technologies as well as experience developing and deploying applications at scale for a wide range of equipment used across industries.

Accenture will help drive product innovation, design and development and provide strategic support and systems integration at scale, drawing on its experience to transform asset management across industries to help improve profitability and reduce risk.

Microsoft will provide secure cloud infrastructure for big data, advanced Microsoft Azure services including AI, IoT, high performance computing as well as modern work and business applications.

As MRC reported earlier, in November 2021, Shell Global Solutions BV and energy technology company Baker Hughes signed a broad strategic collaboration agreement to accelerate the global energy transition by helping each other achieve their respective commitments for net-zero carbon emissions and advancing solutions to decarbonize energy and industrial sectors.

We remind that Royal Dutch Shell plans to reduce its refining and chemicals portfolio by more than half, it said in July 2020 without giving a precise timeframe. The move is part of the Anglo-Dutch company's plan to shrink its oil and gas business and expand its renewables and power division to reduce greenhouse gas emissions sharply by 2050.

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 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.
MRC