ExxonMobil starts operations at large-scale advanced recycling facility

ExxonMobil Corp., Irving, Texas, has announced plans to build its first large-scale postuse plastic advanced recycling facility in Baytown, Texas. The company says it expects to begin operations at the facility by the end of 2022, said the company.

ExxonMobil reports that it wants to use this facility to help address the challenge of plastic waste in the environment. According to a news release from ExxonMobil, a smaller, temporary facility already operates and is producing commercial volumes of certified circular polymers that will be marketed by the end of this year.

“We’ve proven our proprietary advanced recycling technology in Baytown, and we’re scaling up operations to supply certified circular polymers by year-end,” says Karen McKee, president of ExxonMobil Chemical Co. “Availability of reliable advanced recycling capacity will play an important role in helping address plastic waste in the environment, and we are evaluating wide-scale deployment in other locations around the world.”

The company has performed an initial trial of its proprietary process for converting plastic scrap into raw materials. According to ExxonMobil, the trial recycled more than 1,000 metric tons of plastic scrap and has demonstrated the capability of processing 50 metric tons per day.

Upon completion of the large-scale facility, the operation will have the capacity to recycle 30,000 metric tons of plastic scrap per year. ExxonMobil says it anticipates that operational capacity could be expanded if policy and regulations that recognize the lifecycle benefits of advanced recycling are implemented for residential and industrial plastic scrap collection and sorting systems.

The company also plans to build about 500,000 metric tons of advanced recycling capacity globally over the next five years. In Europe, the company is collaborating with Plastic Energy on an advanced recycling plant in Notre Dame de Gravechon, France, which is expected to process 25,000 metric tons of plastic scrap per year when it starts in 2023, with the potential for further expansion to 33,000 metric tons of annual capacity. The company also is assessing sites in the Netherlands, the U.S. Gulf Coast, Canada and Singapore.

ExxonMobil also has formed a joint venture with Agilyx Corp., Cyclyx International LLC, focused on developing solutions for aggregating and preprocessing large volumes of plastic scrap that can be converted into feedstocks for products. The company reports that Cyclyx will help to supply its advanced recycling projects.

We remind, ExxonMobil expects to double earnings and cash flow potential by 2027, and will increase investments in lower-emissions efforts, the company said on Thursday in news release detailing plans for the next five years, said the company. The corporate plan through 2027 maintains annual capital expenditures at USD20bn-USD25bn, while growing lower-emissions investments to approximately USD17bn. ExxonMobil said the approach prioritises high-return, low-cost-of-supply assets in the Upstream and Product Solutions businesses and supports efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions intensity from operated assets.

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Clariant will invest Swiss francs (Swfr) 80m (USD86m) to expand its Care Chemicals facility at Daya Bay in China’s Guangdong province, boosting support for pharmaceutical, personal care, home care and industrial application customers, the company said.

This investment will increase Clariant’s production capacity for existing products as well as the introduction of new products by the end of 2024. Clariant also aims for the site to become a new global hub for its healthcare business, saying it believes China would remain a growth driver for many chemicals.

Clariant is looking to expand the contribution of China sales in its global total to 14% from its present 11% and raise its China production share to 50% from 35%, both by 2025.

Its most recent investments in Daya Bay include a Swfr40m second production line of flame retardants, slated to come on stream in 2024, and its Swfr60m first line, due to start up in 2023.

The company on Thursday held a ground-breaking ceremony for the new surfactant plant at Daya Bay.

We remind, Clariant on Monday announced a financial impairment of its cellulosic ethanol plant in Podari, Romania, amounting to some 225 million Swiss francs (USD241 million/ 225 million euro).

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Italian energy group Eni is studying the possibility of developing and operating a biorefinery in Malaysia together with Japan's Euglena and Malaysia's Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas), said Reuters.

The plant would be based in the integrated refinery and petrochemical Pengerang Integrated Complex (PIC) in Southeast Asia, they said in a joint statement.

An investment decision for the project is expected by 2023 and the plant is targeted to be completed by 2025.

The biorefinery would have a flexible configuration to focus on sustainable fuels for aircraft, on-road vehicles, train and marine transportation, the groups said.

The plant is expected to have the capability to process about 650,000 tpy of raw materials to produce up to 12,500 barrels per day of biofuels.

Eni, which plans to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, said earlier this year it aimed to build a third biorefinery in Italy by converting one of its industrial sites in Tuscany.

We remind, Eni confirmed it is conducting a feasibility study with the intention to build a new biorefinery in Livorno, Italy. Hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), which is produced by hydrogenating vegetable oils, will be the primary biofuel produced at the planned biorefinery. Three new plants are being planned for the biorefinery, including a biogenic feedstock pre-treatment unit, a 500,000 tonne/year Ecofining plant and a plant to produce hydrogen from methane gas.
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Russia has for the first time emerged as top oil supplier to India replacing Iraq as refiners last month snapped up oil from Moscow fearing a price cap from Dec. 5 could hit supplies and choke payment avenues, data obtained from trade sources showed, said Reuters.

India's oil imports from Russia rose for the fifth straight month, totaling 908,000 bpd in November, up 4% from October, the data showed. The Group of Seven nations, Australia, and the 27 European Union countries have imposed a price cap of USD60 a barrel on Russian seaborne oil from Dec. 5 as the West tries to limit Moscow's ability to finance its war in Ukraine.

The price cap plan calls for G7 countries to deny insurance, finance, brokering, navigation, and other services to oil cargoes priced above the price cap on crude and oil products. Russian oil accounted for about 23% of India's overall import of about 4 million bpd oil in November, the data showed.

India's overall imports in November declined 11% from October on lower purchases by Russia-backed Indian refiner Nayara Energy, which had shut its 400,000 bpd refinery for maintenance during the month, the data showed. India, which rarely used to buy Russian oil because of costly logistics, has emerged as Russia's second biggest oil client after China as refiners snap up discounted crude shunned by Western nations since the February invasion of Ukraine.

Last month India's oil imports from Iraq declined to the lowest since September 2020, while that from Saudi Arabia plunged to a 14-month low, the data showed. Indian refiners that were initially wary of placing orders for Russian crude for loading post Dec. 5, have resumed purchases from Moscow as sanctions allow direct payment for Russian oil, sources said.

Higher purchases of Russian oil dragged down Indian imports from the Middle East and member nations of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) declined to the lowest ever in November, the data showed. During April-November, the first eight months of this fiscal year, Iraq continued to be the largest oil supplier to India followed by Saudi Arabia and Russia, which has knocked down UAE to the fourth position.

We remind, BP would like to confirm the current status of its business and interests in Russia, said the company.
On 27 February 2022, bp’s board decided that bp would exit its 19.75% shareholding in Rosneft and its other business in Russia. bp was the first international company to announce such an exit. That decision remains unchanged and bp has no intention of returning to business as usual in Russia.
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MEGlobal has nominated its January 2023 monoethylene glycol (MEG) Asian Contract Price (ACP) at USD820/tonne, up by USD20/tonne from the December ACP, said the company.

The price is on a CFR (cost and freight) Asia basis.

Asia MEG market has bottomed out in December after China relaxed its COVID curbs, but the upcoming new capacities in China and India may weigh on the prices.

We remind, MEGlobal has nominated its December 2022 monoethylene glycol (MEG) Asian Contract Price (ACP) at USD800/tonne, down by USD10/tonne from the November ACP.

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