Shell and Raizen sign large cellulosic ethanol deal

MRC --Shell has agreed to buy a total of 3.25 billion litres of sugar-cane cellulosic ethanol under a long-term agreement with Brazil’s Raizen, said the company.

The low-carbon fuel is expected to be produced by five plants that Raizen plans to build in Brazil, bringing its total portfolio of cellulosic ethanol facilities to nine.

Shell contributed the cellulosic ethanol technology during the formation of Raizen, a joint venture with Cosan SA, in 2011. Since then, Raizen has developed and scaled-up the process for making low-carbon intensity ethanol from sugar-cane waste. The new plants will enable Raizen to operate highly integrated bio-energy parks, while the supply deal will help Shell with its strategy of becoming a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050.

By making use of sugar-cane waste, Raizen’s second-generation ethanol (E2G) technology can produce about 50% more ethanol from the same amount of land. The new plants, the first of which is expected to begin production in 2025, will enable Raizen to provide significantly more low-carbon fuel without creating land-use competition with food crops.

Raizen expects to invest around USD1.5 billion in the plants, the last of which is expected to be operational by the end of 2027, at the latest.

We remind, Shell has acquired Singapore-registered waste oil recycling firm EcoOils via wholly-owned subsidiary Shell Eastern Petroleum for an undisclosed fee. This acquisition is part of Shell’s ambition to increase production of sustainable low carbon fuels for transport, including sustainable aviation fuel, it said in a statement. The deal includes all of EcoOils' Malaysian subsidiaries and 90% of its Indonesian subsidiary, Shell said.
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Venator Materials said it received notice on 2 November from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) indicating the company is no longer in compliance with the continued listing standard, sai dthe company.

The company said the noncompliance occurred because the average closing price of the company's ordinary shares was less than USD1 US per share over a consecutive 30 trading-day period. The notice does not result in the immediate delisting of the company's ordinary shares from the NYSE. Venator, a global manufacturer of titanium dioxide and performance additives, made the announcement in a news release.

Venator said it will notify the NYSE by 16 November plans to cure the stock price deficiency and return to compliance with the NYSE standard. Venator can regain compliance at any time within the six-month cure period if, on the last trading day of any calendar month during the cure period or on the last business day of the six-month cure period, Venator's ordinary shares have a closing price of at least USD1 per share and an average closing share price of at least USD1 over the 30 trading-day period ending on such date.

Venator said it intends to consider available alternatives, including but not limited to a reverse stock split that is subject to shareholder approval, no later than the company's next annual shareholders' meeting, if necessary to cure the stock price non-compliance.

Venator's ordinary shares will continue to be listed and trade on the NYSE during this period, subject to its compliance with other NYSE continued listing standards.

We remind, Venator Materials named three new members to its board of directors, all of whom are affiliated with private equity firm SK Capital Partners (New York, New York). The appointments come after SK Capital acquired a 39.75% stake in Venator for USD100 million. The three new board members are Barry Siadat, co-founder of SK Capital; Aaron Davenport, managing director at SK Capital; and Heike van de Kerkhof, CEO of Archroma, a portfolio company of SK Capital. Siadat also serves on Archroma’s board, and is chairman of Ascend Performance Materials’ board.

Based in Wynyard, U.K., Venator employs approximately 3,500 associates and sells its products in more than 110 countries.
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NOVA Chemicals Corporation launches a new family of high-performance plastomer resins under the brand ASTUTE, said the company.

These high-performance ASTUTE brand resins - ASTUTE QPsK905 and ASTUTE QHsK908 - leverage NOVA Chemicals' proprietary Advanced SCLAIRTECH technology to produce polyethylene (PE)-based sealant resins.

The plastomer resins provide opportunities for downgauging and lightweighting while enabling excellent processability and sealant properties. This new product family will become a new building block for all PE recyclable packaging enabling converters and brand owners to reach their sustainability goals.

The two new ASTUTE offerings include ASTUTE QPsK905 plastomer is suitable for use as a single layer or in blends and offers superior package integrity and robust sealing on a broad range of packaging equipment, including high-speed packaging lines. It is also easier to handle than conventional plastomers, thanks to less pellet and film blocking, and is less prone to bridging in the feed throat or extruder, providing peace of mind to converters and material handlers.

ASTUTE QHsK908 showcases one of the broadest hot tack window and lowest seal initiation temperature, with excellent seal around contamination providing outstanding package integrity on high-speed packaging equipment. Its unique combination of dart and stiffness (secant modulus) and best-in-class puncture resistance, make it ideal for packaging sharp products such as crackers and bone-in meats.

In particular, ASTUTE products are suitable for a wide variety of product applications including food packaging, heavy duty sacks and e-commerce. NOVA continues to offer the full range of resins, from high-barrier/high-density to linear low-density PE (LLDPE), with the addition of very LDPE and plastomers, providing a full array of PE solutions for the entire value chain.

We remind, NOVA Chemicals Corporation (“NOVA Chemicals”) is introducing new resin technology for machine direction oriented (MDO) and biaxially oriented (BO) processes to help its customers and brand owners meet their sustainability goals. NOVA Chemicals’ innovative technology marks a major advancement in the pursuit of a plastics circular economy, as it enables recyclable all-polyethylene (PE) packaging.

NOVA Chemicals, headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, has 2,400 employees worldwide and is wholly owned by Mubadala Investment Company of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
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Sonoco Products Company reported its financial results for 3Q 2022 ended 2 Oct 2022, said the company.

In 3Q 2022, net sales grew by 34% year-on-year to USD1.9 bn. Both GAAP operating profit and base operating profit improved year-over-year from strategic pricing benefits and acquisitions. GAAP net income and base net income grew from strong operating performance.

The company’s net sales increased 34 percent year over year to USD1.9 billion, while GAAP operating profit and base operating profit increased year over year to USD182 million and USD225 million, respectively.

Sonoco reports its financial results in two segments—consumer packaging and industrial paper packaging, with all remaining business reported as “all other.”

The consumer packaging segment new sales increased 72 percent year over year to USD1.03 billion, and Sonoco says a positive volume/mix growth was driven by global rigid paper containers and flexibles. The segment’s operating profit increased 93 percent to USD128 million.

In the industrial paper packaging segment, net sales increased 4 percent to USD661 million through what Sonoco says is strong strategic pricing performance that was partially offset by the impact of foreign currency exchange and lower volume/mix in both paper and converted products. It’s operating profit, however, increased more substantially to USD82 million, up 48 percent compared with the previous year’s quarter.

The all other business segment saw a 10 percent increase in net sales to USD198 million.

We remind, Sonoco has expanded the post-consumer recovery and recycling possibilities for its EnviroCan paper containers in the US. The announcement comes after Sonoco confirmed that all its US paper mills will accept rigid paper cans in mixed paper bales from residential Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs). Sonoco operates ten mills in various states including Wisconsin, Tennessee, California, South Carolina, Massachusetts, Virginia, Washington and Kansas.

Founded in 1899, Sonoco is a global provider of a variety of consumer packaging, industrial products, protective packaging, and displays and packaging supply chain services. With annualized net sales of approximately USD5 billion, the Company has 21,000 employees working in more than 300 operations in 33 countries, serving some of the world’s best known brands in some 85 nations. With a purpose focused on Better Packaging. Better Life., Sonoco ranked first in the Packaging sector on Fortune’s World’s Most Admired Companies 2018 list.
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The Sherwin-Williams Company holds a ceremonial groundbreaking to mark the start of construction of a 36,000 square foot extension of its existing 200,000 sq ft manufacturing facility and new 800,000 square foot distribution and fleet transportation centre, said the company.

The project also adds four new rail spurs at the existing manufacturing site and leaves another 200,000 square feet available for future expansion at the distribution site. The project is expected to be completed by end-2024.

Sherwin-Williams plans to invest a minimum of $300 M in the project and add more than 180 full-time jobs at the site over the next three years, which would essentially double the existing workforce.

The company announced in Feb 2022 that it signed an agreement with the state of North Carolina, US, Iredell County and the City of Statesville to significantly expand its architectural paint and coatings manufacturing capacity and establish a larger distribution facility in Statesville, NC, US. The Statesville facility was chosen for its transportation infrastructure, the strength of the current workforce and depth of the local talent pool, the facility's ability to handle additional capacity, and a location that provides for the centralization of existing distribution opportunities for the company's regional operations.

We remind, Sherwin-Williams Company has announced an agreement to acquire Industria Chimica Adriatica (ICA), an Italian designer, manufacturer and distributor of industrial wood coatings used for kitchen cabinets, furniture and decor, building products, flooring and other specialty applications.
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