Tecnicas Reunidas wins engineering contract for INEOS Antwerp cracker

Tecnicas Reunidas has won an engineering contract for work on INEOS’ planned Antwerp, Belgium, cracker project, said the company.

INEOS has awarded the firm a project management, engineering, procurement and project management contract for work on the development of the 1.5m tonne/year project that would be the first major new cracker in Europe for several decades.

Start-up of the facility, which is expected to cost EUR3bn-4bn, is expected in 2026. Tecnicas Reunidas expects staff demands to peak at 450 process and chemical engineers in Madrid, along with 225 players supervising construction in Antwerp.

The gas-powered cracker would be INEOS’ latest addition to its European ethylene-production footprint that can utilise lower-cost shale-derived feedstocks from the US, alongside its facilities in Grangemouth, UK, and Rafnes, Norway. The company has invested in a fleet of vessels designed to carry ethane across the ocean.

INEOS Had also mooted plans for a propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit at the Antwerp site, but announced in January last year that work on that unit had been postponed to focus on the cracker project, with market appetite for ethylene cited as the driver for that decision. The value of the Tecnicas Reunidas contract was not disclosed.

As per MRC, INEOS is to develop a dedicated acetonitrile unit at its Cologne, Germany site to capitalise on anticipated pharmaceuticals sector demand for the material. The company is to develop a 15,000 tonne/year production facility at the site to enhance supplies for its European customer base, on the back of anticipated demand from the pharmaceutical, agrochemical and bioscience sectors. Acetonitrile is usually produced as a co-product of acrylonitrile (ACN) rather than as a standalone product, and is a key component in many drug and nutrition manufacturing processes.

We remind that in April 2021, INEOS Styrolution, Recycling Technologies and Trinseo announced that they had reached a significant milestone in their plans to build commercial polystyrene (PS) recycling plants in Europe. Recycling Technologies has been selected as the technology partner.

INEOS Styrolution is the leading global styrenics supplier, with a focus on styrene monomer, polystyrene, ABS Standard and styrenic specialties. With world-class production facilities and more than 90 years of experience, INEOS Styrolution helps its customers succeed by offering solutions, designed to give them a competitive edge in their markets. At the same time, these innovative and sustainable best-in-class solutions help make the circular economy for styrenics a reality. The company provides styrenic applications for many everyday products across a broad range of industries, including automotive, electronics, household, construction, healthcare, packaging and toys/sports/leisure. In 2020, sales were at 4 billion euros. INEOS Styrolution employs approximately 3,600 people and operates 20 production sites in ten countries.
mrchub.com

Evonik's net income rose by around 69% year on year in the first quarter of this year amid higher selling prices at its performance materials and specialty additives businesses, said the company.

"Across all divisions, we were able to adjust selling prices successfully and therefore offset the increase in variable costs,” Evonik's chairman Christian Kullmann said in a statement.

"The performance materials division benefited from higher demand and improved selling prices for C4 products in the first quarter. "In the present situation, its naphtha-based price clauses act as a natural hedge against higher oil prices," the company said.

"The company expects to report adjusted EBITDA of between EUR2.5bn and EUR2.6bn and sales of between EUR15.5bn and EUR16.5bn. In 2021, Evonik’s adjusted EBITDA was EUR2.38bn and sales were EUR15bn.

"Higher energy prices and considerable uncertainty about the supply of raw materials are weighing on industry and the entire economy, Kullmann said.

"Based on our strong start to the year and assuming there will be no further escalation in the geopolitical situation, we are confirming our outlook for the full year," he added.

As per MRC, Evonik Catalysts has opened a new zero liquid discharge (ZLD) plant at its facility in Dombivli, India. The new plant reduces the amount of fresh water required for production processes and turns material that was previously considered waste into saleable products. ZLD purifies and recycles wastewater at the end of an industrial process, leaving little to no effluent remaining when it is completed. This means not only more efficient water use, but also a significant reduction in waste liquid.

We remind that in February, 2020, Dow and Evonik entered into an exclusive technology partnership. Together, they plan to bring a unique method for directly synthesizing propylene glycol (PG) from propylene and hydrogen peroxide to market maturity.

Evonik is one of the world leaders in specialty chemicals. The company is active in more than 100 countries around the world and generated sales of EUR12.2 billion and an operating profit (adjusted EBITDA) of EUR1.91 billion in 2020. Evonik goes far beyond chemistry to create innovative, profitable and sustainable solutions for customers.
mrchub.com

China’s Hualu Hengsheng Chemical is planning to construct a nylon 66 project as well as a solvent project at Dezhou in Shandong province, the company said.

The nylon 66 project will have two product lines, each at 40,000 tonnes/year of capacity. A 200,000 tonne/year adipic acid plant and other supporting facilities will also be installed.

For the solvent project, the company will build two dimethyl carbonate (DMC) plants each at 300,000 tonnes/year of capacity, a 300,000 tonne/year ethyl methyl carbonate (EMC) plant and some supporting units.

Hualu Hengsheng estimates that investments will be roughly yuan (CNY) 3.1bn (USD464m) for the nylon 66 project and CNY1bn for the solvent project. Constructions are expected to take 24 months for the nylon 66 project and 20 months for the solvent project.

As MRC informed earlier, Domo, a manufacturer of engineering and high performance materials has announced it will be investing millions of euros in updating and expanding the production capacity for high-performance Technyl polyamides over the coming years. The company said that the investment was necessary to meet growing demand in the automotive, electrical & electronics, and industrial consumer goods industries, and to help build a sustainable future. Domo Chemicals acquired Solvay's performance polyamides business, including its Technyl brand, in 2020. It has been selling its Technyl polyamide products in China and elsewhere since February 1, 2022.
mrchub.com

Sika has agreed to sell Aliva Equipment, a Swiss unit supplying machines for the application of shotcrete, to Normet Group Oy, a Finnish global company providing solutions for underground construction, said the company.

In 2021, Aliva Equipment generated sales of CHF 12 million. Aliva is a leading manufacturer of machines and accessories for the application of shotcrete, supplying customers through a wide network of dealers. With the equipment business only representing a small part of Group sales, Sika has decided to sell Aliva to an owner where it will be part of the core business. Normet Group is a global provider of equipment and services for underground construction. For Normet, the acquisition will provide improved presence in the DACH region, access to Aliva’s global dealer network, and an expanded portfolio of high-quality products.

"With Normet Group, Sika has found the right strategic owner for the Aliva Equipment business. Normet is specialized in underground construction and will expand investments in the long-term development of the Aliva business, its people, products, and technologies. Being a part of the core business of a global company will open up new opportunities for the strategic development of Aliva and its employees. Customers can continue to rely on the availability of high-quality equipment and support in the future."

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.
mrchub.com

MOSCOW (MRC) -- MOL Group, has teamed up with Plug Power Inc. , a leading provider of turnkey hydrogen solutions for the global green hydrogen economy, to build one of Europe’s largest-capacity green hydrogen production facilities at MOL’s Danube Refinery in Szazhalombatta, Hungary, said the company.

Green hydrogen will reduce the carbon footprint of the Danube Refinery operation and enable emission-free mobility in the longer term.

Utilizing a 10-megawatt (MW) electrolysis unit from Plug Power, MOL’s €22 million facility will be able to produce approximately 1,600 tons of clean, carbon-neutral, green hydrogen annually, removing up to 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide by displacing the currently used natural gas-based production process. As this process represents one-sixth of the carbon dioxide emissions of MOL Group, this investment supports MOL’s carbon neutrality goals and will contribute to energy independence for the region.

Once operational in 2023, MOL will use the green hydrogen in its Danube Refinery during fuel production of its own hydrogen system. It will be incorporated into the molecules of MOL fuels, lowering the carbon outputs from the production technology and the final product.

The production of green hydrogen does not generate any greenhouse gas emissions. The Plug equipment uses electricity from a renewable source to split water into oxygen and hydrogen gas by a process called electrolysis. This process does not produce any by-products that harm the environment. By producing one ton of hydrogen, eight-to-nine tons of pure oxygen is also produced by the equipment, saving nearly 10,000 tons of natural gas consumption in the process. Plug’s electrolyzers, with nearly 50 years of operational experience in applications demanding high reliability, are modular, scalable hydrogen generators optimized for clean hydrogen production.

The company behind the world’s first and most comprehensive Green Hydrogen Ecosystem , Plug is making green hydrogen adoption simple for companies ready to improve both efficiency and sustainability of their operations. Plug’s independent green hydrogen production network is targeting 70 TPD by the end of 2022 and remains on track to have 500 TPD of green hydrogen generation network in North America by 2025 and 1,000 TPD on a global basis by 2028.

As MRC reported earlier, MOL Group (Budapest, Hungary) has recently announced that Rossi Biofuel (a joint venture wherein MOL Group and Envien Group are the 25-75% owners) inaugurated a new plant in Komarom, Hungary, which will significantly increase the biofuel production volume in the country. With this investment, MOL Group and Envien Group launched a technology in Europe that can boost greenhouse gas savings by more than 85%. With a capacity of 50,000 tons per year, the plant is the first in Europe to use the RepCat technology offered by Austrian firm BDI-BioEnergy International GmbH, which is highly flexible in terms of raw materials - it allows the processing of greasy wastes of different types and origins, such as used cooking oils, trap grease, animal fats or residues from vegetable oil production. Biodiesel produced in this way is one of the most climate-friendly fuels.

We remind that in March 2021, MOL became a biofuel producer through the realization of an investment in the Danube Refinery. Bio feedstock will be co-processed together with fossil materials increasing the renewable share of fuels and reducing up to 200,000 tons /year CO2 emission without negatively affecting fuel quality.

MOL Group is an international, integrated oil, gas, petrochemicals, and consumer retail company, headquartered in Budapest, Hungary. It is active in over 30 countries with a dynamic international workforce of 25,000 people and a track record of more than 100 years. MOL Group operates three refineries and two petrochemicals plants under integrated supply chain management in Hungary, Slovakia, and Croatia, and owns a network of almost 2000 service stations across 10 countries in Central & South-Eastern Europe.
mrchub.com