Honeywell and Environ intend to advance plastics circularity in Egypt through MoU

Honeywell has signed an MoU with Egypt’s Environ Adapt for Recycling Industries with the aim of advancing plastics recycling in the country, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The two organizations will explore the development of the first chemical recycling facility in Egypt that would be equipped with Honeywell’s advanced technology, capable of converting waste plastic into valuable recycled polymer feedstock (RPF).

Under the proposal outlined in the MoU, Honeywell UOP will work with Environ to deploy its latest UpCycle Process Technology - a technology that, when used in conjunction with other chemical and mechanical recycling processes, along with improvements to collection and sorting - has the potential to help recycle up to 90 percent of waste plastics.

This represents a considerable increase in waste plastics that can be turned into polymer feedstock. “With a broad portfolio of ready now solutions that reduce waste, lower carbon emissions and support sustainable energy transition, Honeywell is well-positioned to support Middle Eastern and North African countries in their ESG goals,” said Khaled Hashem, president, Honeywell Egypt and North Africa.

“Our Upcycle Process Technology represents an important milestone in the area of plastics circularity, and we are excited about the opportunity to collaborate with Environ to see how the technology could be deployed in Egypt in support of the country’s sustainability objectives.”

The MoU enables Environ to conduct a project feasibility study to explore trends, feedstock availability and potential markets, technical studies for the operation of the plant and facility, as well as overall project schedule, financial modelling and analysis. In parallel, Honeywell UOP will provide Environ with technical and commercial information and analysis and broader project support.

“We are fully invested along the entire waste value chain and moving into chemical recycling is a natural evolution of our scope of work,” said Omar M. El Hassanein, CEO for the Waste Treatment and Resource Recovery division within Intro Sustainable Resources. “We are always on the lookout for innovative technologies that will help us decarbonise our customers’ operations and contribute to the country’s NDCs. We see Honeywell’s UpCycle Process technology as a key enabler of this objective and are looking forward to working with Honeywell towards the deployment of this technology in Egypt.”

Honeywell is a world leader in sustainability-related innovation, combining this capability with a long legacy in technology for the digitalization of industries as part of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

While pursuing its own goal of becoming carbon neutral across its operations and facilities by 2035, Honeywell is supporting similar sustainability initiatives declared by nations, and their industries, across the Middle East and North Africa. The MoU, which was signed during the COP27 conference in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, supports the objectives of Egypt’s Vision 2030 – a unified long-term political, economic, and social vision developed in alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Under Vision 2030 Egypt has set a target to reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs) by 10 percent from the energy sector, including oil and gas, by 2030 compared to 2016 levels. Additionally, Egypt’s National Climate Change Strategy aims to increase the share of renewables in its power mix to 42 percent by 2035 and intends to invest USD10 billion to develop 10 GW of renewables and upgrade its thermal power plants.

We remind, Honeywell and Aramco have announced the signing of a joint venture agreement to provide a set of end-to-end business process automation solutions, under the Aramco Namaat Industrial Investments Program.

mrchub.com

Dow announced its 2022 Business Impact Fund selections: nine projects that help solve social challenges and advance sustainable solutions through multistakeholder collaboration, said Polymerupdate.

Founded in 2016, the Business Impact Fund brings together nonprofit organizations, entrepreneurs, and Dow customers, partners and employees to tackle many of society’s biggest challenges.

“Since its inception, Dow has awarded nearly $10 million through the Business Impact Fund to both solve world challenges while unlocking new business opportunities for the Company,” said Bob Plishka, global director of Strategic Corporate Partnerships, and Dow Company Foundation president. “This year, our selected projects address circularity and waste transformation initiatives, as well as climate protection, water conservation and biodiversity – all of which demonstrate Dow’s commitment to accelerating efforts to create a more sustainable and equitable future."

We remind, Dow, and ByFusion are announcing a new business agreement that continues their collaboration in the greater Boise area to divert hard-to-recycle plastics from the landfill. Dow, and ByFusion are announcing a new business agreement that continues their collaboration in the greater Boise area to divert hard-to-recycle plastics from the landfill, said the company.
mrchub.com

MRC --Technip Energies has been awarded a contract for work on the conversion of TotalEnergies’ Grandpuits refinery southeast of Paris into a zero-crude platform oriented towards sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), said the company.

The converted plant will have a capacity to produce 210,000 tonnes/year of SAF from sustainable feedstock such as used cooking oil and animal fat.

The contract covers engineering, procurement services and construction assistance, Technip said.

It did not disclose the contract value and did not comment on the timeline for project completion.

TotalEnergies previously indicated that the project would be completed in 2024.

We remind, Kumho Petrochemical signed a memorandum of understanding with Technip Energies to license a pyrolysis process enabled by US recycling technology company Agilyx. Technip Energies is the exclusive licensor for the Agilyx technology for the production of the recycled monomer via the pyrolysis of waste polystyrene.

mrchub.com

PKN Orlen’s third-quarter petrochemical operating profit dropped 56.4% to zloty (Zl) 350m (USD77.6m) on lower margins and sales volumes and currency depreciation, said Reuters.

Orlen’s Q3 2022 model petrochemical margin fell 18% to EUR1,155/tonne from €1,405/tonne in Q2 2022. Versus Q3 2021, it declined 12.4% from EUR1,318/tonne.

Orlen’s third-quarter petrochemical sales volume decreased by 18% to 1.1m tonnes from 1.4m tonnes in the second quarter of this year.

For polymers, the sales volume declined 7% year on year to 158,000 tonnes in Q3 2022 from 169,000 tonnes in Q2 2022.

There were marked declines for purified terephthalic acid (PTA) (down 24% to 122,000 tonnes), plastics (down 17% to 85,000 tonnes) and fertilizers (down 37% to 179,000 tonnes).

Orlen’s Group net result was boosted by the takeover of second largest Polish refiner Grupa Lotos.

Orlen said it expected its petrochemical model margin to remain at around the level of EUR1,000/tonne as a result of weak demand due to an economic slowdown and, potentially, the negative impacts of rising crude oil and natural gas prices.

We remind, PKN Orlen has submitted an application to the Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft for the supply of 3 MMt of oil to Poland through the Druzhba pipeline system in 2023 under continuing long-term contracts. Transneft confirmed to Kommersant that it had received requests from consumers in Poland for the next year, but did not specify who submitted the application or the volume.
mrchub.com

Analysts in the chemical sector expect Belgium's Solvay to report lower profits in 2023 due to volume and price pressures, as per Credit Suisse.

Credit Suisse has cuts its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) forecast by an average of 14% in fiscal year 2023-2024, which is 9% below the consensus. Credit Suisse has also reduced Solvay's target prices to €87/share and lowered its rating on the stock to underperform from outperform.

The change was driven by Solvay’s exposure to the later-cycle end market which Credit Suisse believes has insulated it from immediate headwinds, but says will come to an end next year.

It is forecasting a fall in Solvay's utilisation rates for soda ash in fiscal 2023, a lower than expected increase in demand for aerospace composites and a pricing headwind for specialty polymers.

“Solvay has outperformed core chemicals peers by 25% year to date... In 2022, peers’ earnings forecasts peaked in May; Solvay’s remained at all-time highs despite expected end market weakening in 2023."

Credit Suisse said rising costs will lead to a volume reduction of about 3% in 2023, compared with a market consensus of a 1% increase. “We also believe the proportion of fixed costs within Solvay (and therefore operating leverage to volume changes) is above the broader European peer set (Solvay 45% relative to peers 35%),” it added.

Baader Bank took a similar stance in an investment note to clients last week. "Due to the global macro uncertainties, there will be a lot of working capital management at the end of this year so as to start 2023 with the appropriate level for a year in which we anticipate lower volumes and pricing pressure,” said Baader analyst Martin Schnee.

There are some bright spots for Solvay as lower energy costs could provide some relief. The siphoning off of its commodity activities from its specialty business could also act as a cushion.

We remind, Solvay and Orbia recently announced their entry into a joint venture framework agreement to create a partnership for the production of suspension-grade polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), creating the largest capacity in North Americam said the company. As it is further stated in a press release, the joint venture will create the largest PVDF production facility for battery materials in the region. The total investment is estimated around 850 million USD, partially funded by a grant to Solvay from the U.S. Department of Energy for a total of 178 million USD.

mrchub.com