Linde to continue expanding capacity in U.S. Gulf Coast

MRC) -- Linde announced it is expanding its La Porte, Texas, facility, effectively doubling the facility’s merchant liquid production capacity, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Starting up in 2024, the increased capacity will help Linde to meet growing demand from the petrochemicals, clean energy, manufacturing, food and aerospace sectors in the U.S. Gulf Coast. It will also supply Linde’s existing Gulf Coast pipeline system, which includes nitrogen and oxygen pipelines extending from the Houston ship channel south to Freeport, Texas.

“This investment will further strengthen our robust supply capabilities in the U.S. Gulf Coast, allowing Linde to take advantage of growing demand,” said Jeff Barnhard, Vice President South Region, Linde. “This project provides significant productivity benefits by building on the unique infrastructure Linde has already established in the U.S. Gulf Coast."

Linde has signed a long-term agreement with BASF to supply BASF’s planned hexamethylenediamine (HMDA) project in Chalampe, France, with hydrogen and steam. As part of the contract, Linde will design, build, own and operate a new hydrogen production facility at Chalampe, doubling its capacity there. The new Linde plant is expected onstream in the first half of 2024. Financial details were not disclosed.

We remind, BASF, SABIC and Linde have signed a joint agreement to develop and demonstrate solutions for electrically heated steam cracker furnaces. The partners have already jointly worked on concepts to use renewable electricity instead of the fossil fuel gas typically used for the heating process.

As per MRC, JSC SIBUR-Neftekhim and JSC Linde Gas Rus signed an agreement on the utilization of carbon dioxide formed in the technological process of SIBUR.

Linde is a global leader in the production, processing, storage and distribution of hydrogen. It has the largest hydrogen liquefaction capacity and gaseous hydrogen pipeline distribution system anywhere in the world. The company operates the world's first high-purity hydrogen storage cavern plus pipeline networks totaling approximately 1,000 kilometers globally, to reliably supply its customers. Linde is at the forefront in the transition to clean hydrogen and has installed 200 hydrogen fueling stations and 80 hydrogen electrolysis plants worldwide. The company offers the latest electrolysis technology through its world class engineering organization, key alliances and partnerships.
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India’s state-run Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro (L&T), and renewable energy player ReNew Power have announced a joint venture (JV) company to develop the nascent green hydrogen sector in India, according to Kemicalinfo.

The tripartite venture is a synergistic alliance that brings together the strong credentials of L&T in designing, executing, and delivering EPC projects, IndianOil’s established expertise in petroleum refining along with its presence across the energy spectrum, and the expertise of ReNew in offering and developing utility-scale renewable energy solutions.

Additionally, IndianOil and L&T have signed a binding term sheet to form a JV with equity participation to manufacture and sell Electrolyzers used in the production of Green Hydrogen.

SN Subrahmanyan, chief executive officer and managing director of L&T, said the JV would focus on developing the projects in a time-bound manner to supply green hydrogen at an industrial scale.

“While L&T will bring its strong EPC credentials to the table, IOC being India’s premier oil refiner with extensive capabilities in chemical processes and refining has established deep R&D capabilities in many aspects of the green hydrogen value chain. ReNew Power has in a short time established itself as a leading renewable energy supplier and has built itself a very strong reputation,” he said.

Additionally, IndianOil and L&T have signed a binding term sheet to form a JV with equity participation to manufacture and sell electrolyzers used in the production of green hydrogen.

“Both these JVs aim to enable the nation’s ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ mission to rapidly build, expand, and bring in economies of scale to make green hydrogen a cost-effective energy carrier and a chemical feedstock for many sectors,” Subrahmanyan said.

The planned JVs aim to enable India’s transition from a grey hydrogen economy to a greener economy that increasingly manufactures hydrogen via electrolysis powered by renewable energy.

The central government in February notified the Green Hydrogen policy aimed at boosting production of green hydrogen and green ammonia to help the nation become a global hub for the environmentally friendly version of the element.

Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries recently announced setting up a facility to produce green hydrogen. Adani Enterprises also announced a new company - Adani Petrochemicals - to venture into green fuels.

As MRC informed before, IOC, the country's top refiner, will increase crude purchases from Iraq by 11.5% in 2022 to 390,000 bpd, partly to make up for a shortfall from Mexico and a possible supply cut from Kuwait. Iraq is the top supplier of oil to India and its market share there is set to rise as another refiner Hindustan Petroleum Corp. will also buy more crude from the Middle Eastern nation. India is the world's third biggest oil importer.

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, whereas shipments of PP random copolymers decreased significantly.
MRC

Avantium N.V., announces that it has reached financial close for the construction of its FDCA flagship, plant in Delfzijl, the Netherlands, according to SpecialChem.

The world’s first commercial FDCA factory is set to produce 5 kilotonnes of FDCA (furandicarboxylic acid) per annum, the key building block for the 100% plant-based, recyclable polymer PEF (polyethylene furanoate).

Avantium CEO, Tom van Aken comments, “Reaching Financial Close is the culmination of a decade’s worth of hard work to bring Avantium’s lead product - PEF - to market.

"It is a huge step forward in bringing a new, revolutionary material to the market, and a milestone in the sustainability transition of the packaging, fibre and specialty markets,” adds Aken.

With financial close, engineering company Worley and the Groningen Consortium have become minority shareholders in the Avantium subsidiary Avantium Renewable Polymers, responsible for the FDCA flagship plant.

Furthermore, the €90 million debt financing package has been signed with the consortium of Dutch banks, comprising ABN AMRO Bank, ASN Bank, ING Bank and Rabobank, as well as with impact investment fund InvestNL. Avantium will now immediately start the construction of the FDCA Flagship Plant, planned to be completed by the end of 2023.

This will enable the commercial launch of PEF from 2024 onwards. On 9 December 2021, Avantium announced that it had taken a positive Final Investment Decision (FID) to construct the FDCA flagship plant, after obtaining, amongst other, sufficient financing. Worley and the Groningen Consortium together have acquired a 22.6% shareholding in Avantium Renewable Polymers, while Avantium continues to hold 77.4% of the equity.

As MRC informed before, in 2011, Avantium (Amsterdam) raised EUR 30 million, money it says it will use to develop and commercialize a next-generation polyester based on bioderived Furanics building blocks. Avantium will apply the funds to the construction and operation of its pilot plant in Geleen, the Netherlands, as well as to develop more green materials, including a polyamide, on the basis of its YXY building blocks.
MRC

Founded in 1922, the OQEMA Group (Korschenbroich, Germany) celebrates its 100th anniversary this year and continues to expand its presence in Europe, according to firmenpresse.

We are proud to announce the acquisition of the Orosolv Group of companies based in Oyonnax, France, the French Plastics Valley (Ain) and in Brignais, near Lyon, with a total of over 20 employees, two warehouse locations, its own logistics, blending and repacking facilities. The company was founded in 2005 by Stephane Farissier and will be integrated in the future with OQEMA France, managed by Jean-Francois Daligault.

With this acquisition, the OQEMA Group is further expanding its infrastructure by focusing on the network expansion of its own warehouses. In addition, Orosolv’s focus on repackaging and the formulation of paints and solvents complements the existing offer perfectly and strengthens OQEMA's French market position as well as the OQEMA Group’s European presence.

Jean-Francois Daligault, Managing Director of OQEMA France, is looking forward to the expansion and development of the business in France: ‘The Orosolv Group with its warehouses, bulk storage, service facilities and its high level of technical expertise offers us great opportunities in the expansion of our portfolio and in value added services for our customers.’

As MRC informed earlier, in February 2022, Chemical distributor Oqema (Korschenbroich, Germany) says it has taken a majority stake in CB Chemie (Drassburg, Austria), a company founded in 2016 by Christian Braunshier. CB Chemie focuses on distributing specialty chemicals to the construction, and paints and coatings industry. It has a subsidiary, CB Nutrition, specialized in supplying natural ingredients to the food industry.

The OQEMA Group is one of the leading chemical distributors in Europe. Almost 1,300 employees currently work for OQEMA at 45 locations in 23 countries. At the interface between chemicals manufacturers and chemical-processing industries, the OQEMA Group provides pan-European services along the supply chains, which includes procurement, product development, individual mixing, logistics and recycling. The Group has specific expertise in the technical and regulatory support of its customers. OQEMA is also the exclusive distribution partner of various renowned producers. OQEMA offers a highly dynamic and continuously expanding product portfolio of more than 14,000 products.
MRC

Brightmark Energy and a county in the U.S. state of Georgia scrapped plans to build "the world's largest" facility to turn plastic waste into fuel, according to a termination agreement published on Monday, a blow to a technology the petrochemical industry has promoted heavily, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Brightmark missed a deadline to deliver "end product" to customers from a similar facility in Indiana, a condition of its contract with the Macon-Bibb County Industrial Authority, which had planned to build a USD680 MM chemical recycling facility.

The project Brightmark described as the world's largest advanced recycling project was no longer "in the interest of either Company or Authority," according to the termination agreement signed by both parties this month and posted online by the Macon Newsroom newspaper.

Brightmark had said the Renewal Georgia project would use its pyrolisis technology to convert hard-to-recycle plastics, like films and styrofoam, into 64 MMg of low sulfur diesel fuel and naphtha blend stocks, and 20 MMg of wax. It aimed to divert 400,000 tpy of plastic waste from landfills and incinerators. Neither Brightmark nor the Macon Bibb County Industrial Authority were available for comment.

Months earlier, the mayor of Macon-Bibb county withdrew his support of the proposal, citing worries about safety of an "unproven process." Many advanced recycling projects have emerged in recent years in response to a global explosion of plastic waste. More than 90% gets dumped or incinerated because there is no cheap way to repurpose it, according to a landmark 2017 study in the journal Science Advances.

The project is the latest in a series of failed efforts to deploy chemical or advanced recycling technology at commercial scale to solve the world's burgeoning plastic waste problem. The petrochemical industry has touted this technology as a way to process all types of plastic, eliminating the expensive sorting and cleaning needed for traditional recycling. More than a dozen states have passed laws aiming to spur its development.

We remind, scientists from Nanyang Technological University have found a way to convert plastic waste into low-carbon hydrogen, which is considered a cleaner fuel than natural gas. The discovery, which could power vehicles and contribute to the power grid in as soon as three years, comes as the Republic looks to adopt hydrogen as an alternative fuel, as it does not produce carbon dioxide (CO2) when burned.

Plastic consumption is anticipated to double in the next two decades, after doubling in the prior five decades. To reduce environmental difficulties, the polymer industry must focus on recovering value-added goods rather than single-purpose plastics.
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