Sasol joins German consortium project to turn CO2 from cement industry into aviation fuel

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sasol Ltd. (Johannesburg, South Africa) has joined Concrete Chemicals project, an innovative consortium of Sasol’s new business unit Sasol ecoFT, global cement producer Cemex, S.A.B. de C.V. (Monterrey, Mexico) and German renewable energy company ENERTRAG, according to Chemical Engineering.

The international consortium sets course for climate-neutral cement production by converting CO2 into sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) with use of hydrogen, thus presenting an opportunity for CO2 reduction in both sectors.

The three partners will combine their technical know-how in Germany: Sasol ecoFT will contribute its innovative Fischer-Tropsch technology to produce synthetic and sustainable aviation fuels and ENERTRAG will produce green hydrogen exclusively with energy from regional wind and solar plants. CEMEX will provide another raw material for SAF production by capturing CO2 generated during cement production.

To implement the project, the consortium is preparing European level funding applications.

As MRC wrote previously, Sasol's world-scale US ethane cracker with the capacity of 1.5 mln tonnes per year reached beneficial operation on 27 August 2019. Sasol's new cracker, the heart of Lake Charles Chemicals Project (LCCP), is the third and most significant of the seven LCCP facilities to come online and will provide feedstock to the company's six new derivative units at its Lake Charles multi-asset site.

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.

Sasol is an international integrated chemicals and energy company that leverages technologies and the expertise of our 31 270 people working in 32 countries. The company develops and commercialises technologies, and builds and operates world-scale facilities to produce a range of high-value product stream, including liquid fuels, petrochemicals and low-carbon electricity.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- UAE’s ADNOC Logistics & Services (ADNOC L&S), the shipping and maritime logistics arm of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has signed a ship building contract for the construction of two 175,000 cubic metre LNG vessels, said the company.

The vessels will be built at the Jiangnan Shipyard in China and join ADNOC L&S’ fleet in 2025. The new-build LNG vessels are significantly larger than the current ADNOC L&S fleet of LNG vessels, which have a capacity of 137,000 cubic metres each, according to news agency WAM.

Each of the new build vessels will carry enough LNG to power 45,000 homes for a year. The acquisition of the larger, more energy-efficient vessels allows ADNOC L&S to meet growing demand while improving the environmental footprint of its fleet.

The new vessels’ engine technology will slash emissions (CO2, NOX and SOX ), which along with an innovative air lubrication system further reduces fuel consumption by at least 10 per cent. These vessels will also feature partial reliquefication systems, which reduce emissions and conserve the cargo.

Jiangnan Shipyard was previously commissioned by ADNOC L&S in 2020 to build five Very Large Gas Carriers for AW Shipping, ANDOC L&S’ Joint Venture company with China’s Wanhua Chemical Group.

Over the past 24 months, ADNOC L&S acquired 16 deep-sea vessels, including eight Very Large Crude Carriers in 2021, adding 16 million barrels of capacity, six product tankers, which expanded the product tanker fleet capacity to over 1 million metric tonnes, in addition to five Very Large Gas Carriers for AW Shipping.

ADNOC L&S’ trading fleet transports crude oil, refined products, dry bulk, containerised cargo, LPG, and LNG to global markets through its owned chartered vessels.

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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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Swiss construction chemicals maker Sika AG reported a 20% jump in its first-quarter sales, as the broader construction industry benefited from an upturn in projects after the pandemic, as per the company's press release.

The company, whose chemical additives strengthen and waterproof concrete, said sales came in at 2.39 billion Swiss francs (USD2.57 billion) for the three months ended March 31, compared with 2.1 billion francs in the year-ago period. Sales in local currencies rose 21.9%.

Sika confirmed its annual sales forecast of crossing 10 billion francs for the first time in 2022, driven by a more than 10% sales jump in local currencies.

Sika, whose products are also used by car makers as adhesives, has forecast annual sales growth of 6%-8% in the years up to 2023 and an operating profit margin of 15%-18% from 2021.

After a series of acquisitions, Sika aims to increase its share of the construction chemicals market to 12% by 2025 from around 10% now.

As MRC reported previously, Sika has recently closed the transaction related to the divestment of the European industrial coatings business. The deal, which includes Sika's European industrial coatings business with the main location and manufacturing facility in Vaihingen, Germany, was announced on 19 August last year.

We remind that earlier this year, Sika acquired Canada’s Sable Marco Inc, which manufactures cementitious products and mortars, for an undisclosed amount. Sable Marco is headquartered in Pont Rouge, near Quebec City, and generates annual sales of Swiss francs (Swfr) 20m (USD22m). The acquisition “should open up new opportunities for Sika in the eastern region of Canada and clearly improve Sika’s access to the retail distribution channel,” the company said.

We also remind that Sika commissioned a manufacturing facility in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), which produces epoxy resins aimed at flooring solutions. Sika has decided to invest in the expansion of its manufacturing facilities at the Dubai site in order to increase flexibility in production, shorten delivery times, optimize cost structures, and reduce inventories.

Sika is a specialty chemicals company with a leading position in the development and production of systems and products for bonding, sealing, damping, reinforcing, and protecting in the building sector and motor vehicle industry. Sika has subsidiaries in 101 countries around the world and manufactures in over 200 factories.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Clariant increases prices across its Catalysts business portfolio, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Effective immediately, or as contracts permit, Clariant will implement price increases across its Catalysts portfolio.

The price adjustments are driven by the significant escalation of energy and key raw materials costs, as well as the continued increase of freight and logistics costs.

We remind, Technip Energies and Clariant announced that they have signed a cooperation agreement for the implementation of Clariant’s sunliquid cellulosic ethanol technology. 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.

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.

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.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Avantium N.V., announces that it has signed a conditional offtake agreement with Sukano AG for the development of antiblock masterbatches for PEF (polyethylene furanoate) film applications, according to SpecialChem.

To this end, Sukano and Avantium have conducted comprehensive lab trials in Sukano’s in-house R&D laboratory, producing biaxially oriented PEF films for packaging applications.

With PEF from Avantium’s FDCA flagship plant, Sukano will develop masterbatches for PEF resins, facilitating fast adoption in many diversified markets and thus accelerating the growth of PEF.

Avantium recently announced that it has started the construction of the world’s first commercial plant for the production of FDCA (furandicarboxylic acid) from plant-based sugars. FDCA is the key ingredient for making the sustainable, circular and high-performance plastic material PEF.

Sukano and Avantium have joined efforts in the development of antiblock masterbatches for PEF film applications. To this end, Sukano and Avantium have conducted comprehensive lab trials in Sukano’s in-house R&D laboratory, producing biaxially oriented PEF films for packaging applications.

Avantium expects that construction of this FDCA flagship plant is completed by the end of 2023, enabling the commercial launch of PEF from 2024 onwards. In 2021, Avantium generated offtake commitments for half of the Flagship Plant’s capacity.

The collaborative development work has resulted in two prototype masterbatches capable of providing antiblock performance of the surface of biaxially oriented PEF film. Both developed antiblock masterbatches offer a significant friction reduction and improve clarity without interfering with the performance of the stretched PEF films.

The availability of antiblock masterbatches opens the possibility to further develop PEF and PEF-based films at (pre-)industrial scale equipment.

As MRC reported before, earlier this month, Avantium N.V., announces that it has reached financial close for the construction of its FDCA flagship, plant in Delfzijl, the Netherlands. 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).
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