PureCycle Technologies, Inc. and SK geo centric invest in building first polypropylene recycling plant in Asia

SK geo centric (SKGC), a South Korean-based global leader in polypropylene (PP) production, and PureCycle Technologies, Inc. signed a joint venture agreement to operate the first Polypropylene recycling plant in Asia, said the company.

SKGC will make a joint investment with PureCycle to build a plastic recycling plant in Ulsan, South Korea with an annual capacity of up to 60,000 tons. The plant, which is currently expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2025, will turn contaminated plastic feedstock into ultra-pure recycled ("UPR") resin that can be infinitely reused and recycled.

Each company will have 50/50 ownership of the joint venture. SKGC will bring marketing capabilities related to market development, strategy, and sales to the venture while PureCycle will provide their patented purification recycling technology / IP and contribute technical capabilities. PureCycle is uniquely capable of removing odors, colors and other contaminants from PP waste feedstock and transforming it into an Ultra-Pure Recycled ("UPR") resin that can be continuously reused. PureCycle is close to completing its first purification plant in Ironton, Ohio, and broke ground on a second recycling facility in Augusta, Georgia earlier this year.

With the JVA signed, SKGC and PureCycle will move forward with plans to open the facility by 2025. PureCycle has also agreed to provide SKGC with certain first rights to participate with PureCycle should PureCycle pursue expansion in the Asian region. This agreement is expected to expand SKGC's global market reach.

SK Innovation is part of the South Korean conglomerate SK Group, whose subsidiary SK ecoplant recently acquired DY Indus and DY Polymer which produce recycled polyethylene terephthalate (R-PET).

Another unit of the conglomerate, SK chemicals, has partnered with Chinese firm Shuye Environmental Technology to build a chemical recycled R-PET plant in China which is expected to start operations by 2024.

We remind, We remind that, as MRC informed earlier, South Korea's SK Global Chemical shut its small No. 1 naphtha-fed steam cracker in Ulsan permanently on Dec. 10, 2020, due to aging-related issues. The No. 1 steam cracker was able to produce 200,000 mt/year of ethylene and 140,000 mt/year of propylene. The company will keep normal operations of its No. 2 steam cracker at the same location. The No. 2 unit is able to produce 660,000 mt/year of ethylene, 350,000 mt/year of propylene and 110,000 mt/year of butadiene.

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South African petrochemicals company Sasol said it was partnering steelmaker ArcelorMittal South Africa to explore carbon capture technology and steel production using green hydrogen, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Green hydrogen, produced from splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using renewable energy sources such as solar and wind, is considered a cleaner energy source for the future, but the technology is still in its infancy and relatively expensive.

Sasol is the world's biggest producer of fuel products and chemicals from coal, but is transitioning away from the fossil fuel as part of its decarbonization plan. ArcelorMittal South Africa is Africa's biggest steel producer, with a significant carbon footprint.

Both companies are targeting net zero carbon emissions by 2050, in line with the South African government's aim to cut climate-warming gas emissions. In a statement, Sasol said the two firms would jointly advance a green hydrogen and derivatives study on the Saldanha region's potential as an export hub for green hydrogen and derivatives, as well as green steel production.

They will study the use of renewable electricity and green hydrogen to convert captured carbon from ArcelorMittal's Vanderbijlpark steel plant into sustainable fuels and chemicals, it said. "These studies are anchored by the local need for green hydrogen and sustainable products, cementing Sasol as the leading contributor to the development of southern Africa's green hydrogen economy," said Priscillah Mabelane, Executive Vice President for Energy.

The initiatives could see ArcelorMittal South Africa becoming Africa's first green flat steel producer using green hydrogen from its Saldanha works, which are currently under care and maintenance, while also reducing the carbon footprint of its flagship Vanderbijlpark works.

"These potential projects are an important kick-start to our decarbonization journey and create an exciting opportunity to contribute to the South African government's aspirations to transition to a green economy," said Kobus Verster, chief executive of ArcelorMittal South Africa.

As per MRC, Sasol Chemicals will lease land adjacent to its plant to Hamburger Energiewerke, Hamburg’s municipal utility, which plans to build the facility by the end of 2024. When fully operational in 2025, the plant will supply at least 70,000 megawatt hours of steam to Sasol each year, enabling the company to reduce its CO2 emissions from the plant by approximately 13,000 metric tons annually. In addition to green steam, the plant will produce more than 90,000 megawatt hours of sustainable electricity annually.
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State oil firm Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has invited banks to pitch for roles in an initial public offering of its marine services and logistics unit, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Reuters reported last year that ADNOC was weighing a potential float of ADNOC Logistics & Services (ADNOC L&S) in 2022. Banks are pitching for roles this week on the latest IPO of an ADNOC subsidiary, planned for next year, the sources said.

"Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) is continuously exploring a number of strategic options, including a potential initial public offering (IPO) of a minority stake, of its Logistics and Shipping unit ADNOC L&S. ADNOC will provide further material updates as and when appropriate," ADNOC said in an emailed statement in response to a Reuters query.

The invitation to banks comes amid an IPO boom in the Gulf, with issuers raising more than USD15 B in flotations this year, according to Refinitiv data. The region's IPO proceeds in the first half of 2022 exceeded European flotations, the data showed, even as global markets remained volatile because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

ADNOC, which supplies nearly 3% of global oil demand, is seeking to extract value from businesses it owns and divest assets seen as non-core businesses.

Borouge, jointly owned by ADNOC and Austria's Borealis, raised USD2 B in an IPO in late May. Last year the oil giant floated shares of ADNOC Drilling, which raised USD1.1 B, and fertilizers and clean ammonia products maker Fertiglobe, a joint venture with chemical producer OCI, which raised just under USD800 million.

ADNOC L&S delivers crude oil, refined products, dry bulk and liquefied natural gas from Abu Dhabi to its international customers. It was created in 2016 following a merger between Abu Dhabi National Tanker Co, Petroleum Services Co and Abu Dhabi Petroleum Ports Operating Co.

Other oil producers in the Gulf have, like ADNOC, sold stakes in energy assets, capitalizing on a rebound in crude prices to attract foreign investors. Some continue to explore fund raising options. ADNOC began floating units in late 2017, raising $851 MM in an IPO of its fuel distribution unit.

Saudi Arabia's oil giant Aramco went public in late 2019 in an IPO later upsized to USD29.4 B, the largest in the world.
The two Gulf oil majors have both also sold stakes in their pipeline infrastructure in lease-leaseback deals worth billions of dollars.

We remind, ADNOC Refining, a joint venture company between the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), Eni, and OMV, is set to complete the first phase of its innovative Waste Heat Recovery project at the General Utilities Plant in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi. ADNOC produces some of the world’s least-carbon intensive crude and the company is further reducing its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity by 25% by 2030, aligned to the UAE Net Zero by 2050 Strategic Initiative.

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Chinese private mega-refiner Zhejiang Petrochemical Corp (ZPC) has been awarded a 10 MMt additional crude oil import quota for 2022, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Separately, state-run China National Chemical Corp, better known as ChemChina, received 4.28 MMt of additional quota for the rest of 2022, according to a trading source with knowledge of the matter. Sinochem Holdings, parent of ChemChina, did not immediately respond to an email request for comment.

The issuance of new 2022 quotas with just over two months of the year left suggests the two refiners may ramp up imports to fully use up their quotas before the deadline. These additions bring the country's total amount of crude oil import quotas so far for 2022 - allotted mostly to independent refiners - to 178.89 million tonnes. That compares with the annual total quotas released in 2021 at around 189 MMt.

With the new issue, ZPC, China's largest refiner with 800,000 barrels per day crude processing capacity, has obtained 40 MMt of quotas for the year, fully matching its refining capacity. "(Our) plant has been in recent weeks raising crude processing volumes. It is our goal to fully utilize the quotas," said the executive, who declined to be named as he is not the company's spokesperson.

In a move to encourage higher refinery production to help a struggling economy, authorities earlier this month issued a small portion of the first-batch crude oil import quotas for 2023, months ahead of the usual timeline.

We remind, LyondellBasell announced that Zhejiang Petroleum & Chemical Co. (ZPC) will again license LyondellBasell's high-pressure low-density polyethylene (LDPE) technology at its complex in Zhoushan City, Zhejiang Province, China. The Lupotech A and Lupotech T process technologies will be used for a 100,000-t/y autoclave and a 300,000-t/y tubular line, respectively. Both trains will mainly be producing ethylene vinyl acetate copolymers.
Furthermore, an additional 400,000-t/y tubular line producing LDPE homopolymers will be built at the same site. Value of the contract and a schedule for the project were not given.
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US-based paints and coatings producer PPG reported on Wednesday a decline in Q3 net income because costs rose faster than sales, said the company.

The following table shows the company's Q3 financial performance. Figures are in millions of dollars. Sales rose in part because of a 12% year-on-year rise in selling prices. Volumes fell by 3%, because of weaker demand in Europe. Also, demand in China has recovered less than expected from the country's COVID lockdowns.

Unfavourable exchange rates made up a 6% hit to sales. The wind down of PPG's Russian operations made up a 1% hit. The company's automotive refinish business and its PPG Comex business in Mexico reported record sales.

Sales volumes rose by double digits for the company's businesses for aerospace and automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEM). Despite the increase, demand in both industries remains well below pre-pandemic levels.

The company's automotive refinish and aerospace coatings businesses continued to have order backlogs that are much larger than normal, totalling USD200m. A few raw materials remain tight, but overall availability continued to improve.

For logistics, truck availability and port congestion continued to improve. Labour availability showed modest improvement. China introduced new COVID lockdown restrictions.

We remind, PPG will invest USD11 million to double the production capacity of its powder coatings plant in San Juan del Rio, Mexico. The expansion project is expected to be completed by mid-2023 and will allow the plant to meet the expected future demand for powder coatings in Mexico.

PPG is a leading supplier of powder coatings to the automotive, transportation, appliance, furniture and other markets. The company expanded the business with its 2020 acquisition of Alpha Coating Technologies, which manufactures powder coatings for light industrial applications and heat-sensitive substrates, and its 2021 acquisition of Worwag, which makes liquid, powder and film coatings for industrial and automotive applications. PPG recently agreed to acquire the powder coatings business of Arsonsisi, including a manufacturing plant in Verbania, Italy.

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