AGC to integrate its chlor-alkali subsidiaries in Thailand and CLMV markets

AGC has completed the consolidation of its chlor-alkali operations in Thailand and Vietnam under a new company called AGC Vinythai Public Co, the Japanese glass, said the company.

Placed under AGC Vinythai are two subsidiaries in Thailand, namely, a 58.78%-owned Vinythai Public Co (VNT) and a fully-owned AGC Chemicals (Thailand) Co; and a 78.11%-owned Vietnamese subsidiary AGC Chemicals Vietnam Co (ACVN).

AGC has a 70.22% stake in the newly formed company, with Thailand's PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC) holding a 27.32% stake.

AGC and PTTGC are now "in the consideration process" to increase the Thai producer's ownership in AGC Vinythai to as much as 35%, while the Japanese group's stake in the new company will not fall below 65%.

As per MRC, AGC will invest over 100 billion yen (USD770 million) to boost production of caustic soda and other chemicals in Thailand. The manufacturer looks to expand capacity at its two factories in Thailand by early 2025, with plans to produce 1.64 million tons of caustic soda annually, a 20% increase from current output. AGC, formerly known as Asahi Glass Co., is making its largest-ever investment as economic growth in Southeast Asia lifts demand for chemicals tied to industrial use and electric vehicle production.

As per MRC, AGC has begun evaluating an expansion of production capacity at its chlor-alkali subsidiary, Vinythai, as part of its initiative to expand its chlor-alkali business in Thailand. The project would involve increasing the production capacity of polyvinyl chloride to 860,000 t/y from 300,000 t/y, vinyl chloride monomer to 830,000 t/y from 400,000 t/y and caustic soda to 590,000 t/y from 370,000 t/y. A final decision will be made based on the findings of the environmental and health impact assessments.
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Wood has secured a new multi-million-dollar front-end engineering design (FEED) contract by Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL) for its planned Refinery Expansion and Upgrade Project (REUP) in Karachi, said Indianchemicalnews.

PRL’s refinery, situated on the coastal belt of Karachi, is designed to process various imported and local crude oil. It is one of the principal manufacturers and suppliers of petroleum products to domestic markets.

As part of the REUP project, PRL aims to increase its crude processing capacity to 100,000 bpd by adding an additional 50,000 bpd crude unit and associated processing facility to its existing refinery. The project seeks to upgrade the hydroskimming refinery to a deep conversion facility which will significantly reduce the production of high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) and produce environmentally friendly Euro-V compliant premium products such as High-Speed Diesel (HSD) and Motor Spirit (MS/Petrol). The upgraded complex will also produce propylene, a valuable feedstock for petrochemicals.

Having completed the early study and Pre-FEED work in 2021, this new award extends Wood’s involvement in PRL’s REUP project. ”We are delighted to have secured this new contract with PRL which demonstrates the strength of our decades long relationship with the client and their confidence in our extensive refining expertise” said Giuseppe Zuccaro, President of Process & Chemicals at Wood.

“The REUP project plays an important role in Pakistan’s energy landscape and is a significant addition to Wood’s Process & Chemicals portfolio. We are committed to delivering a world-class FEED, and ready to support PRL in the subsequent phases of this strategic investment."

The strategic project, with a total installed cost of over USD1 billion dollars, serves a critical role in meeting the increasing energy needs of Pakistan's domestic market. The FEED component of the project, which is expected to be completed in August 2023, is being led by Wood’s Reading office in the UK with specialist support from its Salt Lake City office in the US.

As per MRC, Wood, the global consulting and engineering company, has entered into a 10-year global master services agreement for engineering and project related services with Chevron. The agreement can be used by all of Chevron’s business units and covers both offshore and onshore assets within the upstream, midstream and downstream markets.

As per MRC, Wood has secured a new multi-million-dollar contract to deliver engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCm) for Solvay new polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) site to be built in Tavaux, France.
PVDF is a high-performance polymer and is produced to meet the growing demand of lithium-ion batteries for electric and hybrid vehicles, creating safer and longer-range performance. The site will increase Solvay France’s PVDF capacity to 35,000 tons per year – making it the largest PVDF production site in Europe.
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Technip Energies has been awarded a large(1) Engineering, Procurement, Construction (EPC) contract by Hafslund Oslo Celsio, the largest supplier of district heating in Norway, for a world-first carbon capture and storage (CCS) project at waste to energy plant located in Oslo, Norway, said the company.

The project will be the first full-scale waste-to-energy plant in the world with CO2 capture. 400,000 tons per year of CO2 will be captured, which is the equivalent of the emissions from around 200,000 cars and will reduce Oslo’s emissions by 17%. As part of the Longship project, the CO2 will then be liquified and exported to Northern Lights which is the first cross-border, open-source CO2 transport and storage infrastructure network.

The Carbon Capture plant will use the Shell CANSOLV CO2 Capture System, a state-of-the-art amine based technology for the capture of CO2 from the flue gas.

This EPC contract award follows several years of a joint journey with the completion of the design competition, the successful delivery and test of a pilot unit and continuous collaboration between Technip Energies and Hafslund Oslo Celsio to optimize project economics. Developing, testing and proving this cost-effective solution is the result of a close partnership and co-development with the owner, T.EN and the technology provider.

Technip Energies considers a “large” contract award to be worth between EUR250 million and EUR500 million (between USD25 million and USD50 million).

As per MRC, Technip Energies and Alterra Energy have now entered into a global joint development and collaboration agreement to integrate Technip Energies’ pyrolysis oil purification technology with Alterra’s commercially available liquefaction process technology. By integrating both their proprietary processes, the two companies aim to accelerate the adoption of recycled feedstock, thus improving circular economy solutions for the global petrochemical industry. The combination of advanced recycling and purification technologies will enable more efficient processing and reuse of hard-to-recycle plastic.

As per MRC, TechnipFMC announced the launch of the placement of 16 million Technip Energies shares, representing ca. 9% of Technip Energies’ issued and outstanding share capital, through a private placement by way of an accelerated bookbuild offering. Upon completion of the Placement, TechnipFMC would retain a direct stake of ca. 22% of Technip Energies’ issued and outstanding share capital.
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Belgian plastics firm Ravago has acquired UK recyclers Venture Polymers and Aurora Manufacturing for an undisclosed sum, said the company.

Cheshire-based Venture and Lancashire-based Aurora produce reprocessed PP and HDPE, with a joint 20,000 tonne capacity. Ravago said it intends to grow its operations further in the UK.

Manuel Gayo, Ravago Manufacturing Europe business director, said: “This is a key step in Ravago’s growth strategy in post-consumer recycling based compounds as we continue to support our customers with solutions to meet the ever-increasing demand for post-consumer recycled plastics."

Alex Cook, Aurora Manufacturing managing director, said: “Following two decades of work within the UK plastics recycling industry we are pleased to announce the acquisition of our businesses into the Ravago group.

As per MRC, Neste and Ravago aim to establish a joint venture to build an industrial facility for chemical recycling in North Sea Port in Vlissingen, the Netherlands. The facility is intended to be the starting point of joint global chemical recycling (often also called “advanced recycling”) activities, built upon the advancement of the thermochemical liquefaction technology of US-based Alterra Energy, an innovative chemical recycling technology company.

As MRC reported earlier, Ravago Group has carried out routine maintenance at its expandable polystyrene (EPS) plant in Schkopau, Germany. Thus, the turnaround at this plant with a capacity of 70,000/tonnes of EPS per year began on April 20, 2021, and was completed on April 28. Thus, the maintenance works at this plant lasted for one week.

Ravago represents more than 6.6 million metric tons of annual polymer sales, serving more than 50,000 active customers through more than 325 locations across more than 55 countries worldwide. Ravago's production capability consists of more than 45 manufacturing facilities, 19 of which are recycling and compounding plants in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa with a combined annual capacity of more than 775,000 metric tons; 13 of which are production plants in Europe that offer finished product solutions for the building sector; and seven of which are chemicals plants and 6 are application laboratories for its chemicals business.
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As part of the country’s intention to scale up clean energy production, industry body India Hydrogen Alliance (IH2A) is planning to create 25 National Green Hydrogen Projects and five national hydrogen hubs by 2025, said Gasworld.

Revealed by IH2A yesterday, 30th June, the organisation is currently seeking US$360m in public finance support over the next three years, in addition to its intent to create a National Hydrogen Development Corporation and a public-private hydrogen taskforce.

Dubbed the 25/25 National Green Hydrogen Hub Development Plan (25/25), the initiative was submitted by IH21 to NITI Aayoh and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India. The 25 scalable green hydrogen projects will see 150 megawatts (MW) of installed electrolyser capacity, and 12 industrial de-carbonisation projects across various hard to abate industries such as chemicals, steel, and heavy-duty transport.

The five hydrogen hubs will be installed across five different cities: Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala, and Andhra Pradesh.

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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