Air Products partners with World Energy to build new USD2 B major expansion project in California

Air Products announced that it is teaming up with World Energy to build a new USD2 B major expansion project at World Energy’s sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production and distribution hub in Paramount, California, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The L.A. county facility is the world’s first commercial scale and North America’s only SAF production facility and its total fuel capacity will be expanded to 340 MM gallons annually.

The long-term, take-or-pay agreement with World Energy includes Air Products’ construction and ownership of a new hydrogen plant to be operated by Air Products and renewable fuels manufacturing facilities to be operated by World Energy. The project is scheduled to be onstream in 2025 and continues Air Products’ leadership in driving the energy transition through world-scale projects.

As part of the agreement, Air Products has extended its Southern California hydrogen pipeline network to supply hydrogen to the existing World Energy facility and to further increase supply reliability for all of Air Products’ hydrogen pipeline network customers in Southern California. The expanded pipeline network will also enable Air Products to provide low-or-zero-carbon hydrogen in the future. Air Products and World Energy will collaborate on innovations to transition to green hydrogen inputs, further reducing the carbon intensity of the fuels it produces.

The SAF produced by World Energy is a 100 % sustainable fuel made entirely of renewable resources and contains no fossil-based feedstock. It is not co-processed with fossil fuel in traditional oil refineries, and its carbon attributes comply with all state and US federal regulations for advanced biofuels. Its lifecycle carbon emissions are currently up to 80 % lower than conventional jet fuel. It is currently approved at a 50/50 blend level with conventional jet fuel for commercial use. World Energy is collaborating with other industry leaders to gain approval for pure 100 % renewable SAF use in regular commercial aviation to enable a future of carbon net-zero fossil-free flight. SAF allows aviation to be powered by the sun’s energy, captured by organic materials, and converted into high-energy-density liquid fuels.

As MRC reported previously, earlier this month, Air Products announced that it had 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.

And 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

Borealis plans to build a plant in Stenungsund, Sweden that will upgrade pyrolysis oil (py oil) produced from chemically recycling plastics, said the company.

Under a licence agreement, Borealis will use Axens's Rewind Mix process technology for the unit, Axens said. The company will provide the process design package as well as the proprietary equipment, catalysts and adsorbents. The plant could start operations in 2025, pending a final investment decision (FID), Axens said. It will have a capacity to process 50,000 tonnes/year of pyrolysis oil.

The purified py oil will resemble virgin material, which could then be processed in a cracker to make feedstock for plastics, Axens said. Axens said the upgrading unit is a key part of the proposed chemical recycling plant that Borealis could build in Stenungsund. Axens did not provide details about the chemical recycling plant. ”Borealis has set ambitious targets to create a circular economy for plastic, as a part of our sustainability journey,” said Anders Froberg, Borealis director of manufacturing excellence and transformation.

We remind, Borealis (Vienna), a leading producer of polyolefins, has delayed the start-up of a new, world-scale propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant at its existing production site at Kallo, Belgium, which is the company's biggest investment in Europe, until Q3 2023, citing Covid-19. The plant in Kallo in the port of Antwerp was previously targeted to begin operations by the end of next year.

Borealis is owned by OMV AG and Mubadala Investment Co., the Abu Dhabi state investment company. Borealis is a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers. With headquarters in Vienna, Austria, Borealis currently employs around 6,500 and operates in over 120 countries.
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A fire at Chembond Chemicals’ plant in Maharasthra, India has killed one person, said the company.

The fire, which broke out at the plant in Tarapur at 9:30 am India time (04:30 GMT) on 21 April , was immediately brought under control, the company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). “The cause of the fire will be assessed in due course,” it added.

Operations at the plant have been temporarily suspended as the fire had damaged raw materials and finished goods stored at the plant, the machinery and the building, Chembond said. The plant will resume operations once it receives necessary approvals from statutory authorities, it added.

In addition to this, the fire has resulted in damage to raw materials and finished goods stored in the plant, the machinery and building, thereby disrupting the operations of the plant.

In a filing the company said, "Production operation at the said plant is suspended temporarily until the survey by the Insurance company. We would like to clarify that the Company has adequate insurance coverage and has given the required intimation to the Insurance company. Insurance survey is expected to be conducted in due course."

It further added, "The Company is in the process of ascertaining the actual loss caused due to the fire. We are undertaking adequate measures to ensure refunctioning of the plant at the earliest subject to obtaining of necessary approvals from statutory authorities."

As per MRC, a fire and chlorine spill at Olin Corp’s plant in Plaquemine, a tenant at the Dow Chemical facility, was reported to Iberville Sheriff’s office around 8:40 p.m., sheriff’s office official Clint Moore told Reuters by telephone.
Louisiana authorities lifted a shelter-in-place order within five hours of issuing it after a chlorine leak on Monday.

Also, an explosion at illegal oil refining depot in Nigeria's Rivers state has killed over 100 people overnight. "The fire outbreak occurred at an illegal bunkering site and it affected over 100 people who were burnt beyond recognition," the state commissioner for petroleum resources, Goodluck Opiah, said. As MRC informed earlier, Dangote's 650,000-bpd oil refinery being built in Nigeria is due to begin production by the 4Q of 2022.
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Linde will increase its helium supply to the US, the industrial gases major announced.

The UK-based producer signed a new long-term helium off-take agreement to recover gas contained in Freeport’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) production site in Texas.

Linde will also construct a new helium processing plant in Freeport to purify and liquify recovered helium, which will provide an additional source of supply for liquid helium in the US.

The plant is scheduled to come online in 2024 with capacity of 200m cubic feet (mcf) which will be supplied to strong growth markets including aerospace, electronics, healthcare and manufacturing.

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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ExxonMobil has made three new discoveries offshore Guyana and increased its estimate of the recoverable resource for the Stabroek Block to nearly 11 billion oil-equivalent barrels, said the company.

The three discoveries are southeast of the Liza and Payara developments and bring to five the discoveries made by ExxonMobil in Guyana in 2022.

The Barreleye-1 well encountered approximately 230 feet (70 meters) of hydrocarbon-bearing sandstone and was drilled in 3,840 feet (1,170 meters) of water. Drilling at Patwa-1 encountered 108 feet (33 meters) of hydrocarbon-bearing sandstone and was conducted in 6,315 feet (1,925 meters) of water. The Lukanani-1 well encountered 115 feet (35 meters) of hydrocarbon-bearing sandstone and was drilled in a water depth of 4,068 feet (1,240 meters). Operations are ongoing at Barreleye-1 and Lukanani-1.

“These discoveries and the updated resource estimate increase the confidence we have in our ambitious exploration strategy for the Stabroek Block and will help to inform our future development plans for the southeast part of the block,” said Liam Mallon, president of ExxonMobil Upstream Company. “ExxonMobil remains committed to delivering value at an accelerated pace to the people of Guyana, our partners and shareholders and reliably supplying affordable energy to meet increasing demand around the world."

ExxonMobil currently has four sanctioned projects offshore Guyana. Liza Phase 1 is producing approximately 130,000 barrels per day using the Liza Destiny floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel. Liza Phase 2, which started production in February, is steadily ramping up to its capacity of 220,000 barrels per day using the Liza Unity FPSO. The third project, Payara, is expected to produce 220,000 barrels per day; construction on its production vessel, the Prosperity FPSO, is running approximately five months ahead of schedule with start-up likely before year-end 2023. The fourth project, Yellowtail, is expected to produce 250,000 barrels per day when the ONE GUYANA FPSO comes online in 2025.

As per MRC, ExxonMobil Corp is considering a complete withdrawal from Russia by June 24. Exxon Mobil has not provided a timetable for the withdrawal but last month removed employees who are US citizens from Russia after Moscow launched what it calls its special military operation in Ukraine.

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.
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