Umicore to build large-scale fuel cell catalyst plant in China

Umicore will invest in building a large-scale fuel cell catalyst plant in Changshu in China to capture the fast emerging growth in fuel cell technology, said the company.

The plant will enable the accelerated transformation to hydrogen-based clean mobility, serving demand through to 2030. The greenfield facility is planned and prepared to be carbon neutral from the start and will contribute to reducing scope 3 emissions in the value chain.

Located in the northwest of Shanghai, the facility is expected to become operational by the end of 2024 and will be scalable to align with the growth of our customers. It will reinforce Umicore’s leading technology and market position in Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell catalysts and complement Umicore’s current pioneering production and R&D facilities in Germany and in Korea.

We remind, Umicore and Solvay their respective 50% stakes in joint venture SolviCore to Japanese chemical company Toray.

Umicore, as part of its circular business model, also recycles fuel cell catalysts to re-use their metals such as platinum, for fresh fuel cell catalyst production, reducing their Scope 3 CO2 footprint. Fuel cell catalysts will be mainly used for long-haul, heavy-duty vehicles and to a smaller extent in mid- to light-duty vehicles.
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LG Chem issued green bonds worth USD300 million to raise funds to improve its capability in materials for rechargeable batteries such as cathodes and separators, said Koreantimes.

The company said it succeeded in issuing global green bonds a type of international bond issued and distributed in the global financial market. "It is a body that is limited in its use in eco-friendly projects and infrastructure investments such as climate change and renewable energy," the company said in a statement.

LG Chem has revealed that it is making efforts to strengthen its business competitiveness after spinning off its battery cell-manufacturing subsidiary, LG Energy Solution. The company said it would invest 10 trillion won (USD7.7 billion) by 2025 in battery materials, eco-friendly plastic materials and the development of new drugs.

In the first quarter of 2021, it announced that it will implement 4 trillion won worth of facility investments every year. To that end, the company is expected to secure 3.5 trillion won worth of investment funds this year alone by issuing green bonds and borrowing facility loans.

As per MRC, LG Chem Ltd., South Korean petrochemical major, has reported its 2021 net profit of 3.95 trillion won (USD3.3 billion), up 479.4% from a year earlier. The company said in a regulatory filing that operating income for the year rose 178.4% on-year to 5.02 trillion won. LG Chem's annual revenue increased by 41.9% to 42.65 trillion won.

As MRC reported before, LG Chem plans to shut down its naphtha cracker in the Korean city of Yeosu for a scheduled turnaround this year. Thus, LG Chem is expected to put its Yeosu naphtha cracker under scheduled maintenance sometime in the second half of 2022. LG Chem's Yeosu naphtha cracker can produce 1.16 MMtpy of ethylene.

LG Chem Ltd., often referred to as LG Chemical, is the largest Korean chemical company and is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. It has eight domestic factories and global network of 29 business locations in 15 countries. LG Chem is a manufacturer, supplier, and exporter of petrochemical goods, IT&E Materials and Energy Solutions.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Nexus Circular and Braskem S.A., the largest polyolefins producer in the Americas, as well as a market leader and pioneer producer of biopolymers on an industrial scale, announced that they have signed a detailed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to secure the production output from a new advanced recycling facility planned near Chicago, IL., said the company.

The new facility will have an initial capacity to convert over 30,000 metric tons annually of used plastic into new materials, with the potential to rapidly expand the processing capacity to over 120,000 metric tons annually.

Nexus Circular is a commercial leader in advanced recycling that uses proprietary technology and a leading process design to convert landfill-bound films and other hard-to-recycle plastics into high-quality materials used to produce virgin-quality sustainable plastics. Since 2018, Nexus has been supplying consistent, on-spec commercial volumes of ISCC PLUS certified circular products. In January 2022, Braskem made a strategic investment in Nexus Circular.

By the terms of the MOU, Braskem gains exclusive rights to the production output from this new advanced recycling facility, which supports Braskem's strategic objective to sell 300 thousand metric tons of products with recycled content by 2025 and 1 million metric tons by 2030. Braskem America's CEO Mark Nikolich said, "With the new facility, we will leverage Nexus' proven, commercial advanced recycling technology to secure high-quality feedstock for the production of Braskem's certified circular PP resins. Braskem has dedicated substantial resources towards reducing plastic waste and is making significant progress towards a more sustainable portfolio of PP to support our clients' goals."

Eric Hartz, Nexus Circular's Co-founder, and President added, "Nexus is rapidly expanding our production footprint, beyond our current commercial plant, with leading companies. We are thrilled to have Braskem as a committed partner, in addition to being an investor, as we move decisively to address the outsized market demand for circular recycled products while helping to mitigate the plastic waste challenge."

Nexus' unique solution is end-to-end acquiring and converting used plastics into circular virgin-equivalent feedstock for meeting recycled plastics objectives. The Nexus process is energy efficient, delivers unprecedented product quality, and has diverted over 5.5 million lbs. of used plastics from landfills to date.

As per MRC, Braskem Idesa's new partner in a USD400 MM investment in an ethane import terminal in Mexico will be Advario, part of the storage and logistic infrastructure company Oiltanking, Braskem said on June 14. Construction is scheduled to begin in July and end in 2024. The venture is majority owned by Sao Paulo-based Braskem with Mexico?s Idesa group as minority partner. Braskem and Idesa have been partners since winning in a consortium a tender for a long-term contract to buy ethane from Mexico?s Pemex about 12 years ago. The Puerto Mexico Chemical Terminal, as the ethane import terminal project will be called, will create 2,000 jobs during construction, the company has said.

Braskem is committed to contributing to the value chain for strengthening the circular economy. The petrochemical company's almost 8,000 team members dedicate themselves every day to improving people's lives through sustainable chemicals and plastics solutions. Braskem has an innovative DNA and a comprehensive portfolio of plastic resins and chemical products for diverse segments, such as food packaging, construction, manufacturing, automotive, agribusiness, healthcare, and hygiene, among others. With 41 industrial units in Brazil, the United States, Mexico, and Germany, Braskem exports its products to clients in more than 71 countries.
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Dow has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Chinese food and beverage firm Want-Want for zero-solvent emissions and to develop a circular economy for flexible packaging, said the company.

The agreement intends to strengthen value-chain partner cooperation with customised adhesives solutions to meet the demands of the industry for more eco-friendly packaging options. With Dow’s water-based and solventless adhesives technologies, Want-Want will shift to more sustainable laminating adhesives for all of its flexible packaging.

The food and beverage firm is also exploring opportunities to adopt recyclable packaging across more products in its portfolio. Dow Packaging & Specialty Plastics global adhesives business director Jayne Wong said: “Adhesives is an important sector that can help reduce emissions and enable a circular economy.

“Not only are we advancing sustainable packaging on a larger scale, but we are also exploring benefits such as efficiency optimization and energy savings, supporting customers in reducing carbon footprint during production and transportation processes."

Want-Want Group operations general manager Yongmei Cao said: “In order to tackle climate change and create long-term value, we have an important part to play as one of China’s largest food and beverage companies to establish an environmentally-friendly value chain – that inspires and encourages our consumers to make positive changes for the planet. “Solving sustainability challenges is not a one-man nor a one-organization job, but also falls on the shoulders of all stakeholders."

Cao added: “Not only are we thrilled to advance further in this journey with Dow, but we are also encouraged by the reality that we can offer our customers’ favourite products that are enveloped by Dow’s sustainable packaging innovation." The MoU supports Want-sustainability Want’s ambitions to reach carbon neutrality and use recyclable packaging for all goods, as well as Dow’s environmental goals to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

As per MRC, Dow announced that its carbon partnership with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has delivered on the goal of two mln tons of third-party verified CO2e emission reductions by end of year 2021, five years ahead of the original 2026 goal year. Dow was named the official carbon partner of the IOC in 2017 and has since developed a portfolio of global carbon mitigation projects based on Dow’s technology for the built environment, packaging and industrial processes, combined with carbon offsets from high quality external projects. The objective was to balance the IOC’s direct and indirect carbon emissions during the period of 2017-2020, while generating long-term carbon savings in different industry sectors well beyond that period. Altogether, the collaboration’s resulting emissions are expected to leave a positive climate legacy.
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Hungary's cap on fuel prices should be lifted because it will lead to shortages "sooner or later", said Reuters, citing the CEO of Hungarian oil and gas company MOL.

Zsolt Hernadi, in an interview on ATV late on Sunday, said Hungary was facing an "extremely dangerous" situation as the fuel price cap was driving up consumption. "This raises the question of how long this can be done," Hernadi said. MOL, which owns the largest network of service stations in Hungary, has previously called for the cap to be phased out. The limit was introduced last November and set the retail price for both 95-octane gasoline and diesel at 480 forints (USD1.20) a liter.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government introduced the cap, now set to run until October, to shield consumers from inflation now at its highest level in two decades. Last month MOL announced passenger car drivers in Hungary would be limited to buying 50 liters of fuel a day at its stations.

Hernadi said Hungary should be stockpiling fuel right now as 65% of MOL's refinery in Hungary will shut down for maintenance in August, while its refinery in Slovakia is currently not working and due to restart on July 20 after maintenance.

Due to the above reasons, stockpiling is going slower than planned, meaning MOL will need to ask for part of the country's strategic fuel reserves to be released, Hernadi said. "The long-lasting war (in Ukraine) and Brussels' sanctions have caused fuel prices to soar across Europe," a government spokesperson said in an emailed reply to Reuters.

Without the price cap the price of fuel would be nearly twice as high as it is now, he said, adding that the "government is constantly analysing the state of the fuel supply and will make a decision on the price caps."

As per MRC, TotalEnergies Marine Fuels and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) have successfully completed the first biofuel bunker operation for a vehicle carrier in Singapore.

The local operation was made possible with support from the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore. The MOL-operated car and truck carrier, Heroic Ace, was refueled by TotalEnergies-supplied biofuel on 11th June 2022 via ship-to-ship transfer, while the carrier performed cargo operations simultaneously. The biofuel has been consumed during the carrier’s voyage to Jebel Ali, in the United Arab Emirates.
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