Neste invests in its world scale renewable products refinery in Rotterdam

Neste invests in its world scale renewable products refinery in Rotterdam

Neste has made the final investment decision to invest into new renewable products production capacity in Rotterdam, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The decision is based on demand for renewable products growing substantially with customers' higher climate ambitions. Neste’s current 1.4 MMt capacity for renewable products in Rotterdam is the largest in Europe. The Rotterdam refinery expansion investment of approximately EUR 1.9 B will expand Neste’s overall renewable product capacity by 1.3 MMtpy, bringing the total renewable product capacity in Rotterdam to 2.7 MMt annually, of which sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production capability will be 1.2 MMt. The company’s target is to start up the new production unit during the first half of 2026.

“The investment in the expansion of our Rotterdam refinery strengthens our global leading position in renewable products. It also marks an important step in ensuring our future competitiveness and our renewables’ growth strategy execution as it will bring a substantial amount of renewable diesel, SAF and renewable feedstock for polymers and chemicals to our sustainability-focused customers,” says Matti Lehmus, President and CEO of Neste.

“This investment will further strengthen our competitive advantages which are based on the global optimization of our production and waste and residue raw material usage. With our proprietary NEXBTL™ technology, high quality renewable products can be refined flexibly from a wide variety of lower quality waste and residues. The new production line - together with our Singapore expansion - will be best in class in terms of energy efficiency and raw material flexibility,” continues Lehmus.

Neste currently has a renewable products global production capacity of 3.3 MMt annually. Neste’s ongoing Singapore expansion project and the joint venture with Marathon in Martinez, CA, that is still pending for closing, will increase the total production capacity of renewable products to 5.5 MMt by the end of 2023, and make Neste the only global provider of renewable fuels and renewable feedstock for polymers and chemicals with a production footprint on three continents. When completed, the Rotterdam expansion project will further increase the company’s total production capacity of renewable products to 6.8 MMt by the end of 2026.

As per MRC, Neste and United Airlines announced that they have signed a new purchase agreement that provides United the right to buy up to 160,000 mtons (52.5 MM gallons) of Neste MY SAF over the next three years to fuel United flights at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, and potentially other airports, as well. With this agreement, United became the first U.S. airline to make an international purchase agreement for SAF.

As MRC reported earlier, Neste has a target to process annually over 1 MM tons of waste plastic from 2030 onwards. The company plans to use liquefied plastic waste as a raw material at its fossil oil refinery to upgrade it into high-quality drop-in feedstock for the production of new plastics.
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INEOS Oligomers started up its new LV PAO unit at Chocolate Bayou

INEOS Oligomers started up its new LV PAO unit at Chocolate Bayou

INEOS Oligomers has announced that it has started up its new 120,000 tonne per annum Low Viscosity Polyalphaolefin (LV PAO) unit at Chocolate Bayou, TX, said the company.

This facility is the world’s largest single PAO train and complements existing units in La Porte, TX and Feluy, Belgium.

It positions INEOS Oligomers as the world’s largest merchant supplier of LV PAO with an unprecedented production footprint in LV PAO. Facilities operated across 3 distinct locations, provide stronger security of supply to the global lubricants industry.

The new Chocolate Bayou LV PAO unit is fully integrated into INEOS’ production of Linear Alpha Olefin (LAO), the raw material used for PAO. Its feedstocks are also supplied from the adjacent LAO plant that started up in 2020 and from its Joffre, Canada LAO unit.

Peter Steylaerts, Business Director INEOS Oligomers said “Our new LV PAO unit comes at the right time to fulfil increasing needs from the lubricant industry for low viscosity low volatility engine oils, electrical transmission fluids and heat transfer fluids for data servers and electrical batteries. It also brings state of the art technology allowing a step change in efficiency of production."

LV PAOs are used in various lubricants such as engine oils, gear oils, transmission fluids, hydraulic fluids and greases. They offer excellent thermal and oxidative stability, better flow properties and better energy efficiency leading to reduced fuel consumption, reduced emissions, less frequent oil changes and improved reliability of machineries. They are also used in other applications such as processing aids, polymer modification and cosmetics.

As per MRC, INEOS Olefins Belgium is the first industrial player to sign an agreement with Fluxys to participate in the feasibility study for the development of an open access hydrogen network in the port of Antwerp, said the company.
The cooperation follows the market consultation initiated by Fluxys last year to match supply and demand for hydrogen in the Belgian industrial clusters. The European Commission considers hydrogen essential for becoming carbon-neutral. When hydrogen is used as a fuel, it is carbon-free and essentially only water vapour is emitted. It is also an important raw material for the chemical industry.

NEOS 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.
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Neste acquires European rights to Alterra Energy thermochemical liquefaction technology

Neste acquires European rights to Alterra Energy thermochemical liquefaction technology

Neste has purchased the European rights to Alterra Energy’s liquefaction technology, further solidifying the company’s efforts to advance chemical recycling, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Alterra Energy is a US-based company that has developed a proprietary thermochemical solution for liquefaction of hard-to-recycle plastic. In Akron, Ohio, the company is already running an industrial-scale facility that transforms end-of-life plastics into an intermediate product, which can be further refined into raw material for new plastics and other petrochemical products.

In 2020, Neste acquired a minority stake in Alterra Energy. Neste has further processed liquefied waste plastic sourced from, among others, Alterra Energy in a series of trial runs at its refinery in Finland. Together with Ravago, Neste also plans to set up a joint venture to deploy the Alterra Energy technology in Vlissingen, the Netherlands. Furthermore, to scale up processing capacities for liquefied waste plastic at its Porvoo refinery in Finland, Neste is currently conducting a feasibility study to examine investing in proprietary pretreatment and upgrading capabilities. Through chemical recycling, the company aims to reduce dependence on virgin fossil resources and accelerate circularity in the production of polymers and chemicals.

"Acquiring the rights to Alterra Energy’s technology in Europe enables us to offer a holistic solution to our partners,” says Heikki Farkkila, Vice President Chemical Recycling at Neste Renewable Polymers and Chemicals. “Neste will be able to provide the full chemical recycling package: from waste plastic to product, offering high-quality drop-in feeds for the production of new polymers and chemicals."

As per MRC, Neste and United Airlines announced that they have signed a new purchase agreement that provides United the right to buy up to 160,000 mtons (52.5 MM gallons) of Neste MY SAF over the next three years to fuel United flights at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, and potentially other airports, as well. With this agreement, United became the first U.S. airline to make an international purchase agreement for SAF.

As MRC reported earlier, Neste has a target to process annually over 1 MM tons of waste plastic from 2030 onwards. The company plans to use liquefied plastic waste as a raw material at its fossil oil refinery to upgrade it into high-quality drop-in feedstock for the production of new plastics.
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Indorama Ventures enters world-first China license agreement with Shandong Binhua New Material

Indorama Ventures enters world-first China license agreement with Shandong Binhua New Material

Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited, a global sustainable chemical company, has signed a license agreement with Shandong Binhua New Material Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Befar Group, a leading petroleum and chemical enterprise in China, to build, own and operate a propylene oxide (PO), t-Butanol (TBA) and t-Butyl methyl ether (MTBE) co-production unit, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Featuring the world’s only MTBE ‘single-step’ reaction technology, IVL’s proprietary innovation, the project is part of the ‘C3 and C4’ comprehensive utilization project in Shandong, China. It is one of the largest in the province, covering an area of over one million square meters.

"On completion, this project will be able to produce 600,000 tons of propylene, 800,000 tons of butane isomerization, 150,000 tons of synthetic ammonia, 240,000 tons of propylene oxide and 742,000 tons of MTBE per year. With the lowest operational cost of all other propylene oxide technologies and close to 50 consecutive years of successful and safe operation, the license with IVL was selected because of its superiority, unique features, and competitiveness,” said Mr. Liu Hongan, Vice President of Befar Group and General Manager of Shandong Binhua New Material Co. Ltd.

Under the contract, IVL will provide a design package, technology, operational know-how and training to enable the construction and operation of a PO co-production with MTBE and TBA units for Binhua. The plant is part of a larger complex comprising propane dehydrogenation to propylene, butane isomerization, synthetic ammonia, and other installations.

Alastair Port, Executive President, Integrated Oxides and Derivatives (IOD), IVL, said, “IVL is honored to be providing this important technology license, enabling the monetization of Binhua’s raw materials in Shandong Province with a world-class and cost-effective plant. Our technology uses 130 U.S. patents and more than four decades of continuous development. This allows IVL to provide both the license, and owner/operator knowledge to deliver the quality and effective solutions a project of this scale requires."

As per MRC, Indorama Ventures completed the acquisition of Ngoc Nghia Industry, one of Vietnam’s leading PET packaging companies. The acquisition will boost IVL's market position as it continues to expand its integrated offering of PET products to major multinational customers throughout the region.
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Howden supplies hydrogen compression solution to refinery expansion mega project

Howden supplies hydrogen compression solution to refinery expansion mega project

Leading global provider of mission critical air and gas handling products, technologies and services, Howden, has signed a contract to supply hydrogen reciprocating compressors for MSB Unit for the Numaligarh Refinery Expansion Project (NREP) in India, said Hydrpcarbonprocessing.

Numaligarh Refinery Limited is expanding its refining capacity from its current three million to 9 MMtpy by installing a new six MMTPA capacity Crude Oil Distillation Unit / Vacuum Distillation Unit and associated downstream process units as part of the NREP.

The hydrogen rich gas compressor supplied by Howden will be used in a Continuous Catalytic Reforming (CCR) process, which is part of Motor Spirits Block Unit for compressing the hydrogen rich gas. This is a unique compressor with six large cylinders to handle the high volume of hydrogen. In this process application, reciprocating piston type compressors are used for low pressure and high capacity hydrogen application. This results in large cylinders of approximately one meter in diameter, for which Howden is known to be the most experienced manufacturer.

Melle Kruisdijk, Managing Director of Howden’s Thomassen Reciprocating Compressors range, commented: "One of the major factors for awarding this contract to Howden was our proven equipment reliability at competitive pricing, whilst meeting all the contractual requirements. With this contract we have demonstrated that we can be competitive in the local market by considering the right approach to address individual requirements."

Parvesh Mittal, Managing Director - India business – Howden, said: “Howden has proudly supported our customers in this region for over five decades. As a leading global provider of mission critical air and gas handling products, we work in partnership with our customers to deliver sustainable and customised solutions for their needs. With four sites in India - Chennai, Delhi, Hosur and Pune - we have responsive local service and delivery teams ready to support our customers."

Howden focuses on helping customers increase the efficiency and effectiveness of their air and gas handling processes, enabling them to make sustainable improvements in their environmental impact. Howden designs, manufactures and supplies products, solutions and services to customers around the world across highly diversified end-markets and geographies.

The business recently announced its target to be carbon Net Zero by 2035 through the purchase of renewable energy and carbon free energy; efficiency gains from energy conservation measures; and by renewable energy projects at its manufacturing facilities. The largest impact the business will have on global sustainability will be through its partnership with customers to supply equipment that will make a major impact on their carbon emissions and sustainability.

As per MRC, TotalEnergies has entered into an agreement with Adani Enterprises Limited (AEL) to acquire a 25% interest in Adani New Industries Ltd. (ANIL). ANIL will be the exclusive platform of AEL and TotalEnergies for the production and commercialisation of green hydrogen in India. ANIL will target a production of 1 million t of green hydrogen per year (Mtpa) by 2030, underpinned by around 30 GW of new renewable power generation capacity, as its first milestone.
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