Air Products acquires Air Liquide industrial gases business in UAE and Bahrain

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Air Products has announced that it has acquired Air Liquide’s industrial gases business in the UAE, including liquid bulk, packaged gases and specialty gases; and Air Liquide’s majority share in MECD, which owns and operates a liquid CO2 production facility in Bahrain, as per the company's press release.

Financial terms are not being disclosed for the agreement.

“The acquisition builds on many years of good experience working in and serving customers in the Middle East and supports our growth strategy for the region,” commented Hamid Sabzikari, vice president and general manager, Air Products Industrial Gases Middle East, Egypt and Turkey.

“It is yet another example of how Air Products is building and strengthening its industrial gas business in the Middle East. In acquiring these businesses, we have further expanded our footprint and regional presence in the UAE and Bahrain, strengthened our product sourcing and reliability, and welcomed talented and dedicated people into our Middle East organization who are passionate about serving local customers.”

As MRC reported earlier, in March, 2022, Italian oil and gas company Eni and Air Liquide entered into a collaboration agreement aimed at assessing decarbonization solutions in the Mediterranean region of Europe, focusing on hard-to-abate industrial sectors. The two companies join forces to enable CO2 capture, aggregation, transport and permanent storage.

We remind that Eni is evaluating conversion of its Livorno refinery in northwest Italy into a biorefinery, as part of the Italian company's wider strategy to make its activities more environmentally sustainable. Eni has already converted two of its Italian refineries and is looking to almost double its biorefining capacity to around 2 million mt/year by 2024, and expand this to at least five times by 2050, as part of its pledge to achieve complete carbon neutrality 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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Technip Energies and Clariant announced that they have signed a cooperation agreement for the implementation of Clariant’s sunliquid cellulosic ethanol technology, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

By choosing Technip Energies, sunliquid customers can benefit from combining Clariant’s proven technology with Technip Energies’ deep experience as an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor to build advanced biofuel plants.

The sunliquid process converts agricultural residues, woody materials or municipal solid wastes into advanced biofuel. The bio-sourced feedstock is converted into cellulosic sugars, which is then fermented into cellulosic ethanol.

The process design is completely integrated and based upon proven process technology. The innovative technology involves enzymes that are produced as part of the process and tailored to respective raw materials to deliver the highest possible sugar yields.

End of 2021, Clariant completed the construction of its first full-scale commercial sunliquid cellulosic ethanol plant in Podari, Romania, which has started-up and will be fully operational in 2022. The plant will process approximately 250,000 tons of straw to produce 50,000 tpy of cellulosic ethanol.

The cellulosic ethanol produced by the sunliquid process can be used as a drop-in solution for fuel blending and offers further downstream application opportunities into sustainable aviation fuels and bio-based chemicals. In addition, it can be further processed into green ethylene and ethylene derivatives, and other sugar-derived chemicals using other proprietary technologies offered by Technip Energies.

As MRC wrote previously, Clariant has recently announced that its StyroMax UL3 catalyst is demonstrating successful results at Risun’s new styrene monomer (SM) 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

MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF and Henkel jointly commit to replacing fossil carbon feedstock with renewable feedstock for most products in Henkel’s European Laundry & Home Care and Beauty Care businesses over the next four years following a successful pilot with Henkel’s cleaning and detergent brand Love Nature in 2021, as per Henkel's press release.

Through the cooperation, the fossil feedstock for around 110,000 tons of ingredients per year will be substituted with renewable feedstock using BASF’s certified biomass balance approach. As a result, Henkel’s core brands like Persil, Pril, Fa and Schauma will come with a reduced carbon footprint, avoiding around 200,000 tons of CO2 emissions in total.

“We are delighted to build on our ongoing cooperation with BASF and significantly increase the share of biomass in our value chain for our products used by millions around the world every day,” said Carsten Knobel, CEO of Henkel. “To foster a regenerative planet, we are on a journey toward an environmental transformation of our business model. We intend to continuously enhance our processes, products and use of raw materials for a resource-efficient, carbon-neutral future. Integrating BASF’s biomass balance approach into our supply chain as an early-mover is a right step in that direction.”

The replacement of fossil feedstock is possible through BASF’s biomass balance approach: renewable resources are used in the very first steps of chemical production. The bio-based feedstock amount is then attributed to specific products by means of the certified method.

BASF has established a closed chain of custody from the renewable feedstock it uses through to the final product. TUV Nord, an independent certification body, supports the practical implementation and confirms according to the REDCert2 certification scheme that BASF replaces the required quantities of fossil resources for the biomass balanced product with renewable feedstock.

As MRC reported previously, BASF is to increase its production capacity for plastic additives at its sites in Pontecchio Marconi, Italy and Lampertheim, Germany. BASF did not disclose, however, current or future capacities for its production of plastic additives hindered amine light stabilizers (HALS).

We remind that BASF is strengthening its global catalyst development and helping customers to bring new products faster to the market. As part of this strategy, BASF is building a new pilot plant center at its Ludwigshafen site. The new Catalyst Development and Solids Processing Center will serve as a global hub for pilot-scale production and process innovations of chemical catalyst.

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.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China’s Maoming Petrochemical, part of Sinopec, has decided to bring forward the maintenance shutdown schedule at its plant in Guangdong after a fire broke out at the complex, forcing the producer to shut the No. 2 cracker, according to CommoPlast.

It is reported that the fire started at one of the furnaces at the No. 2 cracker at noon on 30 March 2022. It took the response team about half an hour to distinguish the blaze.

Maoming Petrochemical initially planned an overhaul at several units at the beginning of May 2022 for 48 days, however, the maintenance has now been brought forward. The turnaround at its No.2 cracker started on 30 March, 2022.

As MRC informed before, Sinopec Maoming Petrochemical Company delayed the turnaround at its No. 2 low density polyethylene (LDPE) unit in Guangdong, China until 24 March, 2021. Initially the company intended to take off-stream its 250,000 tons/year No. 2 LDPE unit on 15 March, 2021.

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.

Sinopec corp. is one of the world's largest integrated energy and chemical companies. Business Sinopec Corp. includes oil and gas exploration, production and transportation of oil and gas, oil refining, petrochemical production, production of mineral fertilizers and other chemical products. In terms of refining capacity, Sinopec Corp. ranks second in the world, in terms of ethylene capacity - fourth.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Compact Membrane Systems (CMS) and Braskem announced that the pilot demonstration of CMS's Optiperm technology for light olefin paraffin separation has started up at Braskem's Marcus Hook facility, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Optiperm is designed to increase olefin production efficiency while decreasing waste streams, lowering carbon emissions and reducing total energy usage. The modular nature of membranes allows olefin recovery from small and large process streams alike, debottlenecking processes and leveraging existing infrastructure in a more energy-efficient manner. CMS and Braskem recognize that capturing olefins from unused hydrocarbon process streams is essential to decreasing environmental impact while continuing to create the chemical building blocks for plastic resins and chemical products for diverse customer segments, such as healthcare and hygiene, food packaging, construction, manufacturing, automotive and agribusiness.

This project will address the critical milestones of simultaneously producing high purity (>90%) paraffin and olefin rich streams with a multistage membrane design. The design is a replica of the design with membrane areas balanced between two stages and a full control system to meet stream purity specs. The rig itself was built by Zeton. The pilot has been deployed at Braskem's Marcus Hook facility and will be operated for a period of 500 days.

"Braskem believes that investing in the advancement of technology is a leading factor in the search for a more sustainable future" said Kevin Soucy, Technology Improvements Manager, Braskem. "The successful startup of this pilot supports our commitments to the circular economy. Special thanks to both CMS and Braskem team members for completing the first step of such a complex project despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. We are very excited to continue to work with CMS through optimization and commercialization of their Optiperm technology."

This is the largest demonstration of the Optiperm platform to date and includes commercial sized modules. Previously, CMS has demonstrated the stability of small-scale membranes. This will be the first demonstration that includes CMS's proprietary humidification design and a full-scale commercial membrane module produced at an industrial scale manufacturing facility. Commercial membrane products will be available from CMS as early as 2023.

As MRC wrote earlier, in late 2020, Braskem announced its latest sustainability ambitions to significantly expand its efforts to eliminate plastic waste in the environment by 2030 and to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

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.

Braskem S.A. produces petrochemicals and generates electricity. The Company produces ethylene, propylene, benzene, toluene, xylenes, butadiene, butene, isoprene, dicyclopentediene, MTBE, caprolactam, ammonium sulfate, cyclohexene, polyethylene theraphtalat, polyethylene, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
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