Topsoe supports SGP BioEnergy in renewable fuels production in Panama

Topsoe, a global leader in carbon emission reduction technologies, has been appointed by SGP BioEnergy to support the production of renewable fuels in South America’s largest upcoming renewable fuels plant, located in Panama, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Topsoe will provide its innovative HydroFlex technology to produce SAF and RD, while also deploying its H2bridge technology to ensure the plant has a net-zero greenhouse gas footprint, recycling green hydrogen generated by waste carbon and production by-product back into the plant’s operations.

Henrik Rasmussen, Managing Director, The Americas, Topsoe, said: “This is truly an amazing project, and we are proud to work with SGP BioEnergy to bring it to life. We are excited to support the production of low-carbon fuels with our proven technologies for what will be the largest renewable fuels plant in South America, while also facilitating the net-zero operations of the biorefinery. It is a true model for a low-carbon energy future."

Construction is on schedule for first production by 2025. The biorefinery will have a producing capacity of 180,000 barrels per day (2.6 B gallons per year) of biofuel and 405,000 metric tons of green hydrogen annually once fully operational. Panama offers great potential as a platform to transport the sustainable fuels globally.

Randy Delbert Letang, CEO of SGP BioEnergy, said: “This facility is truly a model of the future of the energy transition. We will not only produce the fuel that will decarbonize transportation but do so in a way that is also decarbonizing the manufacturing process itself. It is the first time both advanced biofuels and green hydrogen will be produced together at this scale, and we are excited to be bringing this innovation to Panama."

We remind, Topsoe, a global leader in carbon emission reduction technologies, today announces its commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2040, setting near-and long-term company-wide emission reduction targets. The target commitments have been sent to SBTi for validation. Through investment in renewable energy technology and changes to production processes, Topsoe aims to reduce operational emissions by 30% in 2024 and at least 95% in 2030, with a transition to 80% renewable power within all the Company’s operations by 2025.
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Linde and SLB announced that they have entered into a strategic collaboration on carbon capture, utilization and sequestration (CCUS) projects to accelerate decarbonization solutions across industrial and energy sectors, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The collaboration will combine decades of experience in carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and sequestration; innovative technology portfolios; project development and execution expertise; and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) capabilities.

CO2 is found or produced in many industrial and energy applications. This collaboration will focus on hydrogen and ammonia production, where CO2 is a by-product, and in natural gas processing. CCUS abates the emissions from these energy-intensive industries, creating new low-carbon energy sources and products. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that over 6Gt of CO2 per year will need to be abated with CCUS in order to reach net zero by 2050.

“CCUS is vital in creating the decarbonized energy systems our planet needs to balance energy demand with climate objectives,” said Olivier Le Peuch, Chief Executive Officer, SLB. “We are excited about this collaboration with Linde to develop CCUS projects and support the growth of low-carbon energy products from conventional energy sources."

“Carbon capture and storage will be a key lever for tackling global warming,” said Sanjiv Lamba, Chief Executive Officer, Linde. “We are committed to helping customers decarbonize their operations in a cost-effective way. With SLB, we are able to offer technology-driven solutions - from execution of complex EPC projects through to ensuring reliable and safe long-term storage."

Linde and SLB have been working on decarbonization opportunities for over a year already. Using their global footprint across multiple sectors and industries, the collaboration will expand customer reach and will focus on designing business and operating models that maximize value for all stakeholders.

As per MRC, Linde’s sales and earnings rose year on year in the third quarter on the back of higher selling prices and sales volumes. The margin for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA), a key measure of a company’s profitability, fell slightly to 31.1%, down from 33.4% in the third quarter of 2021.
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Mexican state oil company Pemex reported its third quarter net loss narrowed to USD2.58 billion (52.0 billion pesos), but said it had suffered from increased sales costs as well as currency exchange losses as the peso weakened against the dollar, said Reuters.

The company posted a net loss of 52.0 billion pesos for the three months through September, compared with a loss of 77.2 billion pesos in the same period of 2021. The red ink came despite a 56.5 percent jump in revenue, to 602 billion pesos, thanks to higher energy prices and strong demand.

Pemex is recovering from what it called the worst crisis in its history in 2020, when it lost around $23 billion due to the coronavirus pandemic. The group posted a sharp increase in profit in the second quarter of this year, to 131.4 billion pesos, on the back of rising oil prices.

Since taking office in late 2018, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has sought to help Pemex with cash injections and other measures following years of declining production.

Even so, credit ratings agency Moody's downgraded Pemex from Ba3 to B1 in July, putting it deeper in junk bond territory due to concerns about its debt.

Pemex said its total debt stood at USD105 billion at the end of September, 5.2 percent lower than at the start of the year.

We remind that n late January, 2022, Pemex signed a long-term crude supply contract with Royal Dutch Shell Plc as part of its acquisition of the Deer Park refinery in Texas. Pemex and Shell in May, 2021, announced the transaction, which is worth almost USD600 MM and will make the Mexican firm the sole owner of the refinery near Houston. The facility has capacity to process 340,000 bpd. Shell will supply about 200,000 bpd of foreign and US crude to the plant for at least 15 years.

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The world’s first commercial scale CO2-to-methanol plant has started production in Anyang, Henan Province, China, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The cutting-edge facility is the first of its type in the world to produce methanol — a valuable fuel and chemical feedstock — at this scale from captured waste carbon dioxide and hydrogen gases.

The plant's production process is based on the Emissions-to-Liquids (ETL) technology developed by Carbon Recycling International (CRI) and first demonstrated in Iceland. The new facility can capture 160,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year, which is equivalent to taking more than 60,000 cars off the road. The captured carbon dioxide is then reacted with the recovered hydrogen in CRI’s proprietary ETL reactor system with the capacity to produce 110,000 tons of methanol per year.

The successful start-up marks the end of a two-year project and months-long commissioning phase. Following sign-off by the CRI’s technical service team, the plant operations are now in the hands of Shunli, the project company (majority-owned by the Henan Shuncheng Group).

This flagship plant represents the achievement of an important milestone in the ongoing development of carbon capture and utilization (CCU) technology as well as the progression in industry towards a circular carbon economy.

At the heart of the process is CRI’s bespoke reactor that uses specialized catalysts to convert the carbon and hydrogen feed gases into low carbon-intensity methanol. The entire unit weighs around 84 tons or the weight of a fully-loaded Boeing 737. The reactor is mounted in a dedicated steel frame and connected to a specialized gas compressor and a distillation column that is just under 70-meters-tall.

The ETL process uses emissions that would have otherwise been released into the atmosphere, producing liquid methanol — from carbon dioxide that is recovered from existing lime production emissions and hydrogen that is recovered from coke-oven gas. Methanol production and use has grown rapidly in China in recent years and this new production method offers an alternative to the traditional coal-based methanol currently manufactured in China, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving air quality.

Bjork Kristjansdottir, CEO of CRI, emphasizes the importance of the plant’s start-up, “We are proud to have successfully realized this important project and to bring our environmentally friendly, ETL technology into the global market. We take great pleasure in being able to offer our proven technical solution to produce a valuable product directly from waste streams. This can support large scale reduction of CO2 emissions and help facilitate the energy transition. With increased demand for such solutions, we look forward to continuing to make meaningful impact by deploying the technology with our current and future partners."

CRI’s second project in China was announced last year and is already well on its way. It is expected to come online in the second half of 2023.

We remind, Italy is working on ways to keep a Lukoil-owned refinery in business despite new sanctions against Russia kicking in next month, as Rome tries to buy time to agree the sale of the plant. Lukoil's ISAB refinery in Sicily stands to be hit by an embargo on seaborne Russian oil that comes into force on Dec. 5, putting at risk jobs in Italy's poorer south and the country's refining capacity.
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The new unit installed at IRPC's petrochemical plant will maximize polymer-grade propylene production and the recovery of polymer-grade ethylene, to be used as feedstock for petrochemical derivate units at the same plant, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Sarens, world leader in heavy lifting, engineered transport and crane rental, assisted IRPC in the dismantling of the previous cyclone reactor, which had been installed in 2012, and the erection and installation of the new unit.

IRPC Public Company Limited's petrochemical plant in Rayong, Thailand, is currently undergoing renovation and upgrading works to optimize its production processes. One of the most important upgrades is the replacement of its DCC (Deep Catalytic Cracking) cyclone reactor, which will allow the plant to exceed the production of 640,000 tons of propylene produced per year.

These new upgrade works are in addition to those carried out in March and are part of IRPC's ongoing efforts to make its petrochemical plants the benchmark in Asia, for which it has invested more than USD1.3 B since 2012.

IRPC decided to rely on the international expertise of Sarens for the new upgrade works, which was in charge of the dismantling of the plant's DCC cyclone reactor and the lifting and installation of the new unit. For this work, Sarens sent three cranes from its international fleet to Rayong: a Terex-Demag CC2800, a Terex-Demag AC650, and a Tadano Faun ATF160G, as well as a team of seven specialists.

Sarens team had to practically adapt the design of the lifting frame to be used for both the disassembly and the lifting and installation of the new reactor, as the weight to be lifted was much greater than initially planned. In addition, the need to interrupt the operation of the plant only for the time strictly necessary led the Sarens specialists to operate uninterruptedly during the development of this new project.

According to Socrates Kannan, Sarens’ Fleet & Operations Manager in Thailand, “the operating time has been the main challenge for us. We were aware that any delay in dismantling the existing reactor or installing the new one could mean a delay in the reopening of the plant, and therefore a financial loss for our client. Therefore, the entire Sarens team worked around the clock to meet our client's needs”.

The new DCC reactor cyclone will allow IRPC to optimize the process of distillation of crude oil by transforming long residue - the remains resulting from the crude oil process - into propylene. Thanks to this new unit, IRPC expects to exceed 640,000 tons per year, of which approximately half will be used in the manufacture of polypropylene, while the other half will be dedicated to the production of specialized chemicals that will be used in the manufacture of value-added products.

Sarens owns more than 60 years of international experience in the development and installation of strategically important projects. In the energy sector, Sarens has been directly involved in the Clean Fuel Project’s expansion works in Thailand, or in the ensemble of two jackets in the Al Shaheen Oil Field in Qatar. The company has also worked in the expansion of the S-Oil plant in Ulsan, South Korea, in the construction of the Petroperu refinery in Talara (Peru), and in the Skikda refinery in Algeria.

We remind, IRPC Public Company Limited, a PTT Plc subsidiary, in March took off-stream its polypropylene (PP) plant in Rayong, Thailand for maintenance. The turnaround lasted 15 days in March, 2022.

PTT Global Chemical is a leading player in the petrochemical industry and owns several petrochemical facilities with a combined capacity of 8.45 million tonnes a year.
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