Azelis expands presence in India

Azelis announces that it has reached an agreement to acquire Chemo India and Unipharm Laboratories’ distribution assets, said the company.

Both companies are renowned local distributors of specialty chemicals and ingredients for the CASE (coatings, adhesives, sealants, elastomers), L&MWF (lubricants & metalworking fluids) and pharmaceutical market segments in India.

The acquisition strengthens the Group’s industrial chemicals portfolio and its footprint in the pharmaceutical market, further reinforcing Azelis’ lateral value chain (LVC) for these market segments. The transaction represents a solid fit with the Group’s growth ambitions in India, as well as its wider strategic vision for the Asia Pacific region.

Founded in 1966 and 1970 respectively with headquarters in Mumbai and four sites in Bhiwandi, Chemo India and Unipharm Laboratories are the distribution partners of global and regional principals, and serve a large and growing customer base. Owners Amit Shah and Jigar Shah will both continue to lead the business and support the integration into Azelis, working closely with Azelis’ existing CASE, L&MWF and Pharma business teams to grow the Group’s footprint in India and its subcontinents. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2022, after fulfilment of customary closing conditions.

Besides, Azelis made two acquisitions in July, 2021, both in South Korea. The most recent agreement, announced on Jul. 14, is the proposed takeover of Seoul-headquartered Coseal, which specializes in the distribution, repackaging and blending of agricultural/horticultural surfactants. This transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2021, when all of Coseal’s 45 employees, along with its owner and CEO Sang Jin Kang, will transfer to the Belgium-based distributor.

Nearly two weeks earlier, on Jul. 1, Azelis revealed it had purchased MH, a local distributor in the food ingredients market, providing the multinational specialty chemicals distribution group with a foothold in the food and health segment. Also headquartered in Seoul, MH is a family-owned business, supplying products such as gluten, starches, sweeteners and functional food ingredients.

Azelis is a leading distributor of speciality chemicals and food ingredients present in over 50 countries across the globe with around 2,200 employees. Our knowledgeable teams of industry, market and technical experts are each dedicated to a specific market within Life Sciences and Industrial Chemicals.
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Lummus Technology announced it and its catalyst partner Clariant have been awarded a major contract by Fujian Meide to supply CATOFIN technology and catalysts for a new, world-scale propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit in Fuzhou, China, said Hydrocabonprocessing.

Already operating one PDH unit at its Fuzhou petrochemical complex, Fujian Meide is now building one of the largest PDH units in the world and has selected the CATOFIN process and catalysts for the project's second phase. The new unit will produce 900,000 mtons of propylene annually and is scheduled to commence operation in 2023.

"Our close partnership with Clariant has continued to improve CATOFIN over the years to the benefit of our customers," said Leon de Bruyn, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lummus Technology. "The process has a proven track record of unmatched productivity, often beyond design capacity (up to 110% on average), giving producers a significantly higher return on investment and more profitable daily operations. This has made it a global leader for propylene production."

"This strategic collaboration exemplifies our dedication to product innovation with ground-breaking chemistry, such as our Heat Generating Material (HGM)," said Stefan Heuser, Senior Vice President and General Manager at Clariant Catalysts. "As a result, HGM, together with new Lummus process technology, reduces energy consumption of the CATOFIN process by one-third, making it a low-carbon route to propylene production."

"With an annual capacity of 900,000 tons, our second PDH unit will be among the world's largest," said Zheng Chaohui, President at Fujian Meide Petrochemical Co. "No other PDH technology is proven at this scale, and we needed best-in-class performance. CATOFIN was our first choice because it is widely recognized as the most advanced solution in the PDH industry. Clariant and Lummus Technology have already proven to be the right partners for us, not only with their products, but also their technical expertise."

The CATOFIN process combines Lummus' advanced technology with Clariant's tailor-made catalysts and HGM to convert propane to propylene with unsurpassed reliability. Since its commercial launch in 2017, CATOFIN has been selected for 34 new projects around the world, representing more than 24,000 kilotons of new propylene capacity annually. Over 50% of these plants are located in China.

Fujian Meide Petrochemical Co. is a fully owned subsidiary of Zhongjing Petrochemicals Group, which is headquartered in Fuzhou City, Fujian Province, China. Specializing in energy, petrochemicals, logistics and packaging, Zhongjing Petrochemicals Group is the largest producer of BOPP (biaxially oriented polypropylene) films in China, with an annual capacity of 1 million tons of BOPP and 4 million tons of Polypropylene.

We remind, Clariant (CLN.S) and its main shareholder Saudi Basic Industries Corp (2010.SE) are to end a so-called "governance agreement" defining their relationship, stirring speculation SABIC could launch a full takeover bid for the Swiss chemicals firm.

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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Clariant continues to join forces with Ineratec in the challenge for a greener future, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Since 2017, Clariant’s tailor-made catalysts have supported Ineratec’s power-to-liquid technology for producing sustainable fuels from lab-scale to industrial pilot-scale. Now it will be used in the company’s first globally pioneering pilot plant in Frankfurt Hochst. This new pioneer plant has up to 10 times higher production capacity and the several thousand tons per year will be a main driver for the broad availability of sustainable, CO2-neutral fuels and chemicals.

"The collaboration with Clariant during our scale-up phase was one crucial part for the successful deployment at industrial scale”, CEO Tim Boeltken states. Marvin Estenfelder, Head of R&D at Clariant Catalysts, commented, “we are very pleased to collaborate with such an innovative company as Ineratec to jointly tackle the challenge of fighting climate change. The successful scale-up is a major step towards accelerating pioneering work in sustainable fuel production to gradually drive the decarbonization of the transport sector."

The collaboration focuses on the first reaction step within the power-to-liquid process, the reverse water-gas shift (RWGS) reaction to produce syngas from CO2 and renewable hydrogen. Due to the cutting-edge reactor technology Ineratec has developed for this step, the catalyst must provide specific characteristics to be applicable within the micro-structured system.

The tailored catalyst from Clariant allows reaching the optimal desired syngas composition for the subsequent synthesis reactions. In two industrial pilot plants, located in Germany, Clariant?s ShiftMax 100 RE reverse water-gas shift catalysts have already been used and proven to meet the expected syngas yield and composition. For Ineratec’s new larger pioneering plant, the technology will again rely on Clariant’s ShiftMax 100 RE catalyst to produce renewable syngas via reverse water-gas shift – an essential step in the conversion of CO2. The promoted nickel catalyst shows an unprecedented high resistance against coking and low methane by-product formation. Furthermore, ShiftMax 100 RE offers high CO2 conversion over a long lifetime, high poison resistance, and superior strength.

As per MRC, Clariant (CLN.S) and its main shareholder Saudi Basic Industries Corp (2010.SE) are to end a so-called "governance agreement" defining their relationship, stirring speculation SABIC could launch a full takeover bid for the Swiss chemicals firm.

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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Worley has been awarded a contract by Heartwell Renewables LLC, a joint venture between The Love’s Family of Companies and Cargill, for a greenfield renewable fuels plant in Hastings, Nebraska, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The new plant will produce an estimated 80 MMgal/yr [around 303 MMl/yr (millions of liters/yr)] of renewable diesel per year from feedstocks such as vegetable oils and tallow. This renewable diesel has the potential to reduce at least 50% of greenhouse gas emissions compared to traditional petroleum-based diesel. It can also be used as a drop-in fuel in diesel-powered vehicles without any engine modifications.

Under the contract, Worley will provide detailed and field engineering services. Worley’s services will be executed in Houston, Texas with support from its Global Integrated Delivery (GID) team in India. The team will use a full suite of digital tools during project delivery.

As per MRC, Worley has announced that its strategic partnership with Avantium Renewable Polymers is now progressing to the next phase. Worley previously announced the partnership on 29 January 2021. Following the recent positive final investment decision (FID), Worley and Avantium have signed a technology cooperation agreement and Worley will now deliver engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services to develop the Avantium flagship facility in Delfzijl, the Netherlands.

As per MRC, Worley has bagged a front-end engineering and design (FEED) services contract from Trinseo for its first-of-a-kind chemical recycling plant in Belgium. Trinseo is a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics and latex binders. The plant will use gasification technology to depolymerise post-consumer polystyrene waste into pure styrene. It’s a first-of-its-kind project on an industrial scale.
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Chevron Corp Chief Executive Michael Wirth on Wednesday told shareholders the U.S. oil producer plans to focus on lowering the carbon intensity of its operations, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

"We aim to lead in lower carbon intensity oil, products, and natural gas, and to advance new products and solutions that reduce the carbon emissions of major industries," Wirth said in a statement.

He added that Chevron is doing its part to grow domestic supply, with U.S. oil and gas production up 10% over the first quarter of last year.

As per MRC, Chevron and ExxonMobil have signed separate agreements with state energy company PT Pertamina to explore lower carbon business opportunities in Indonesia. Chevron signed an MoU through its subsidiary, Chevron New Ventures Pte. Ltd, and is looking at potential businesses in new geothermal technology, carbon offsets through nature-based solutions, carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), Pertamina said.

We remind that Chevron Phillips Chemical, a joint venture of Phillips 66 and Chevron, will make a final investment decision on a new cracker in far southeast Texas in 2022, followed by an FID in 2023 on an USD8 billion joint venture petrochemical complex along the US Gulf Coast in 2023.
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