Covestro receives ISCC PLUS certification for its Map Ta Phut production site in Thailand

The Map Ta Phut site of Covestro in Thailand recently received ISCC PLUS certification, an internationally recognized system for biomass and bioenergy sustainability certification, said the company.

This means the company can now offer its customers in the ASEAN region large volumes of the high-performance plastic polycarbonate, including compounds and polycarbonate films, produced with alternative raw materials in the same good quality as their fossil-based counterparts.

“We are very pleased that Map Ta Phut is another major Covestro production site to be certified according to ISCC PLUS,” says Timo Slawinski, Managing Director and Head of the site. “With this, we are continuing to drive forward the replacement of fossil raw materials with alternative precursors.” The company received its first shipment of the mass-balanced raw materials phenol and acetone from an Asian supplier in August, producing its first batch of biocircular ISCC PLUS-certified polycarbonate in Map Ta Phut very recently.

The certificate enables Covestro to supply a wide range of mass-balanced products such as Makrolon® RE plastics and Makrofol® films at the cross-segment site, which have a significantly lower carbon footprint than fossil-based products. The first-mentioned plastics are part of the CQ family of circular intelligent solutions from Covestro. With the new CQ concept, the company is highlighting the alternative raw material base in its products, giving a clear indication to customers looking for such products.

In the mass balance approach, for example, bio-based or recycled raw materials are fed in at an early stage of raw material extraction and mathematically assigned to the finished products. This saves fossil raw materials and reduces CO2 emissions, while the quality of the mass-balanced products remains identical compared to purely fossil-based ones. With the drop-in solution, customers can continue to use their proven formulations, equipment, processes and specifications. At the same time, Covestro supports them in meeting their sustainability goals.

In addition to Map Ta Phut, Covestro’s sites in Shanghai, Changhua, Leverkusen, Dormagen, Krefeld-Uerdingen, Antwerp and Filago have already been certified to the ISCC PLUS standard.

We remind, Covestro has now received the internationally recognized ISCC Plus mass balance certification for its Leverkusen and Dormagen sites. Together with the Krefeld-Uerdingen site, which was already certified a year ago, the company can now supply its customers with large product volumes from renewably attributed raw materials from all three Lower Rhine sites in Germany. These are selected polycarbonates, components for polyurethane (PU) rigid and flexible foams, PU coating and adhesive raw materials, thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPUs) and specialty films. They are characterized by equally good quality and properties as their fossil-based counterparts.
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U.S. Department of Energy invests USD31 MM to advance carbon capture and storage for natural gas power and industrial sectors, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management announced more than USD31 MM in funding for 10 projects to develop carbon capture technologies capable of capturing at least 95 percent of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions generated from natural gas power plants, waste-to-energy power plants, and industrial applications, including cement and steel. Deploying these technologies in the power and industrial sectors at commercial scale is needed to advance the Biden-Harris Administration’s goal of a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035, and a net-zero greenhouse gas economy by 2050.

“Carbon capture technology plays an enormously important role in helping to achieve the deep carbon reductions we need as our energy and industrial sectors transition to net-zero emissions,” said Brad Crabtree, Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy and Carbon Management. “Today’s investment will support the technological advancement and cost reductions required for widescale deployment."

DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) will manage the 10 selected projects. The projects will support development and testing of transformational carbon capture materials, equipment, and processes for applications in natural gas combined cycle (NGCC), waste-to-energy power generation and the industrial sector. Other projects will perform front-end engineering design studies for industrial plants and NGCC power plants integrated with carbon capture systems.

Along with selections announced in October 2021, FECM has invested a total of $76 MM in 22 research and development, front-end engineering design, and engineering-scale projects at natural gas power, waste-to-energy, and industrial facilities as part of DOE’s overall efforts to decarbonize our existing infrastructure to help achieve the Biden Administration’s climate goals.

FECM funds research, development, demonstration, and deployment projects to decarbonize power generation and industrial production, remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and mitigate the environmental impacts of fossil fuel production and use. Priority areas of technology work include carbon capture, carbon conversion, carbon dioxide removal, carbon dioxide transport and storage, hydrogen production with carbon management, methane emissions reduction, and critical minerals production. To learn more, visit the FECM website, sign up for FECM news announcements and visit the NETL website.

We remind, U.S. refiners have boosted oil product exports this month as domestic crude oil production rose and global fuel demand continued to recover. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, in a letter sent Aug. 18, urged seven refiners including Valero, ExxonMobil and Chevron, to build supplies of fuels as the United States enters peak hurricane season.
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Russian energy giant Gazprom will halt flows on the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline to Germany for maintenance from 0100 GMT on Aug. 31 to 0100 GMT on Sept. 3, according to energy market information disclosure platform Seeburger, said Reuters.

The confirmation on timing of the maintenance on the pipeline that runs under the Baltic Sea to Germany continues an energy stand-off between Moscow and Brussels that has helped to accelerate inflation in the region and raised the risk of rationing and recession.

Gazprom flagged the shutdown early this month without giving exact times. Kremlin-controlled company has already reduced flows through Nord Stream 1, the single biggest pipeline carrying Russian gas to Germany, to 20% of capacity because of what it describes as faulty equipment.

Gas flows via other pipeline routes have also fallen since Russia sent troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24 in what Moscow calls a "special military operation".

Nominations for the Nord Stream 1 pipeline have fallen to zero from Aug. 31, 0200 CET, data on the operator's website show. Flows via Nord Stream 1 were fairly stable on Tuesday at about 20% of capacity.

The shutdown follows a 10-day maintenance curtailment in July and has raised fears over whether Russia will resume gas supplies after the shutdown.

As per MRC, Hungary will continue talks with Russia on additional gas supplies and expects to reach a deal with Gazprom to boost supplies further from next month. Szijjarto met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow last month, seeking 700 million cubic metres of gas on top of an existing long-term supply deal with Russia. Gazprom started to increase gas supplies to Hungary this month, adding to previously agreed deliveries via the Turkstream pipeline.
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Axens and Hyundai Chemical Co. successfully achieve the start-up of the pyrolysis gasoline (Pygas) unit, part of the Hyundai Chemical petrochemical grassroots complex in Daesan, South Korea, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The product has been on-specification regarding the aromatics recovery and the sulfur content in a short period. Thanks to the strong support of Axens personnel on-site during the commissioning and start-up activities, Axens and Hyundai Chemical, started-up the Pygas units (Pygas first and second stage) in December 2021, few months after entering into a collaboration.

"Thanks to the strong support of Axens personnel on-site during the commissioning and start-up activities, Axens and Hyundai Chemical, started-up the Pygas units (Pygas first and second stage) in December 2021, few months after entering into a collaboration," Hyundai Chemical said.

Since the first steps of the project, Axens and Hyundai Chemical Co. worked in close collaboration with the aim of optimizing the process scheme, thus achieving lower energy consumption on the Pygas first stage and less investment in equipment for the Pygas second stage while allowing South Korea to increase even more its ethylene production.

As per MRC, Borealis and Axens have signed a license agreement for the Rewind Mix process in order to purify and upgrade 50 KTA of pyrolysis oils produced from plastics wastes at the petrochemical plant of Borealis in Stenungsund, Sweden. The unit is planned to be in commercial operation in 2025, subject to FID, and will produce a virgin-like recycled feedstock to be further processed in the existing steam cracker unit for the production of recycled polymers, which could be used for food-grade packaging and other high-value applications.

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Malaysian state energy company Petronas reported a jump in second-quarter profit on higher oil and gas prices and said it would double its dividend to the government this year, said Reuters.

The world's fourth-biggest LNG exporter reported a profit for the April-June period of 23 B ringgit (USD5.13 B), up from 9.6 B a year earlier. Revenue rose 63% to 93.3 B ringgit. Petronas will pay the government, its sole shareholder, a total of 50 B ringgit (USD11.16 B) in dividends this year, CEO Tengku Muhammad Taufik told a media briefing.

The company was earlier expected to pay 25 B ringgit, the same as last year, but the government made a request for a higher amount, he said. Petronas is a key source of revenue for the Malaysian government, which is scrambling to fund a record USD18 billion in subsidies and cash aid to offset inflation.

The CEO said oil prices would start to correct gradually next year as supply normalises. He also said Petronas was on guard against any attempt to seize its foreign assets by a former sultan's heirs, who this year won a USD14.9 B arbitration award against the Malaysian government for reneging on a colonial-era deal.

Descendants of the last sultan of Sulu, whose territory once spanned the southern Philippines and parts of Borneo island in Malaysia, are seeking to seize Malaysian state assets in a bid to enforce the award handed to them by a French court.

In July, two Luxembourg-based subsidiaries of Petronas were seized. The CEO said the company had lawyers on standby to stave off any future seizure attempts in 44 countries where the company has assets. Petronas was also minimising its exposure by limiting funds being kept abroad, he said.

"What can be kept in Malaysia is maximised," he said. Petronas and the government have dismissed the claims as baseless. Malaysia has obtained a stay in France pending an appeal. The award remains enforceable globally under a U.N. convention on arbitration.

As per MRC, BASF and Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd announced that they will build a major new production plant for 2-Ethylhexanoic Acid (2-EHAcid). The new facility will be located at the site of their existing joint venture, BASF Petronas Chemicals, in Kuantan, Malaysia. Construction is anticipated to start in the second quarter of 2015. Financial details of the investment were not disclosed.
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