Neste granted state funding for green hydrogen projects at Porvoo refinery

In order to develop strategies for producing renewable hydrogen, Business Finland has given Neste a public financial award of EUR 27.7 million for green hydrogen projects at Neste’s refinery in Porvoo, Finland, said Energynews.

For its hydrogen projects, Neste became the first Finnish firm to be given IPCEI (Important Project of Common European Interest) designation by the European Commission in July 2022. This gave Neste the opportunity to seek for the currently available public funding. EU IPCEI projects further the strategic goals of the EU and the shared interests of Europeans by funding innovation initiatives throughout the various EU Member States.

The decision to award the money is a part of the first wave of hydrogen IPCEI initiatives in the EU, which aims to advance and hasten the production and use of green hydrogen throughout Europe. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment and Business Finland has managed the EU application procedure in Finland. The Sustainable Growth Programme for Finland, which is sponsored by the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility, includes projects in Finland that deal with the value chain for the hydrogen industry.

Neste began a strategy research in September 2022 on how to transform its Porvoo refinery into a top-tier global facility for sustainable and circular solutions. In the middle of the 2030s, if the transformation path were followed, crude oil would be replaced by recycled and renewable raw resources. The shift that is anticipated and Neste’s objective to reach carbon neutral output by 2035 depend heavily on the renewable hydrogen projects the company is working on.

We remind, Neste, Brightlands Venture Partners, 4 Impact VC and Asahi Kasei announce a combined EUR11 mln investment into Netherlands-based startup Circularise. The goal of the investment is to accelerate the transformation to more sustainable materials within the polymers and chemicals industry by providing new digital solutions to boost traceability and visibility of material flows along value chains.
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NOVA Chemicals Corporation announced that its second Advanced SCLAIRTECH technology facility and the third phase of the Corunna Cracker Expansion Project (“Cracker Expansion”) have each reached mechanical completion, said the company.

The world-scale AST2 facility, located at the new Rokeby Site in St. Clair Township, Ontario will have a production capacity of approximately one billion pounds of polyethylene per year. The Cracker Expansion will provide ethylene feedstock to the new AST2 facility, expanding the existing cracker’s current capacity by more than 50 per cent.

Both projects represent a significant investment bringing new technology, jobs and long-term economic viability to the region. Since the growth projects began in late 2017, NOVA Chemicals has added approximately USD2 billion (CAD) to the provincial economy and over 7,000 workers were involved in construction.

NOVA Chemicals is the largest private employer in the Sarnia-Lambton region with three manufacturing facilities and one corporate office currently operating in the area. Once the growth projects are fully commissioned and complete, an estimated 150 permanent full-time jobs will be added between direct hires and contractors at both facilities. Post-construction commissioning activities at the Rokeby Site are fully underway with several onsite unit operations in the startup phase.

NOVA Chemicals’ Corunna Site produces 1.8 billion pounds of ethylene and approximately 700 million pounds of co-products annually. Corunna provides feedstock to NOVA Chemicals’ Moore and St. Clair River Sites where they convert ethylene into up to 1.3 billion pounds of polyethylene per year. Ethane, a component of natural gas, is the primary feedstock for ethylene production at the Corunna Site.

We remind, NOVA Chemicals Corporation, a leading producer of polyethylene resins, announced the launch of its new, mechanically recycled polyethylene resin: EX-PCR-NC4. Incorporating this product allows converters and brand owners to meet their sustainability goals, without compromising package performance in applications such as shrink, e-commerce, heavy-duty sacks, and protective packaging.

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CHIMEI Corporation, a world-leading performance material company, recently announced its completion of carbon footprint verification for its entire plastic and rubber product lines, marking a significant step towards its “Net Zero by 2050” goals, said Polymerupdate.

The comprehensive verification process was carried out in accordance with the ISO 14067 “Carbon footprint of products” standards and Plastics in Primary Forms Category Rules under the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from various manufacturing processes were disclosed, including raw material manufacturing, transportation, and processing. Results were validated for accuracy by DNV, a Norway-based third-party validator, as supported by the relevant data and documentation. A product carbon footprint certificate was issued to the company afterwards.

The certification covers the entirety of CHIMEI’s plastic and rubber product lines, including its ABS, AS, PMMA, PC, PS, MS, rubber, LGP, and post-consumer recycled plastic lines. By collecting energy consumption information from its manufacturing and transportation activities, the company is able to make its carbon emissions data more transparent for each production stage. Furthermore, CHIMEI is strengthening its personnel training to improve its analyzation of carbon emissions ratios from its material inputs, consolidate its GHG inventory and the associated environmental impact throughout the product lifecycle, and set carbon reduction goals so as to give way for better production processes, new manufacturing technologies, and fine-tuned procurement strategies. Its ultimate goal is to maximize the benefits of low carbon emissions products.

With an eye to a lower carbon footprint, CHIMEI is actively promoting its Supply Chain Carbon Reduction Initiatives by working with its suppliers and clients to extend their influence. In keeping with the ISO 20400 “Sustainable procurement” standards, CHIMEI is constructing a unique green supply chain to provide clients with high-performance products and solutions that are green, eco-friendly, and low in carbon footprint.

In line with its “Clean & Green” pledge, CHIMEI has always stayed ahead of carbon reduction issues. It has proposed a variety of sustainable materials and solutions that are highly functional while low in carbon emissions thank to its ingenious design product design process. The company is showing the world its determination to reach net zero by 2050 with tangible actions. In the future, CHIMEI will continue to contribute to the making of a sustainable environment through value chain collaborations and exchanges, as well as sustainable benefits of high-performance materials.

We remind, Lummus Technology announced it has been awarded a contract by Zhangzhou CHIMEI Chemical Co. Ltd. for digitalization services at their petrochemical facility in Gulei, Fujian Province, China.

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Grupa Azoty Polyolefins said on Thursday it has received a first delivery of propane in preparation for the launch of its world-scale propane dehydrogenation (PDH) and polypropylene (PP) plant in Police, northwestern Poland, said the company.

The 22,000-litre delivery was made in line with a contract signed with Trafigura for the supply of $250m of propane that will meet 50% of the facility’s propane demand over 2023 and 2024, the company, a unit of largest Polish chemicals producer Grupa Azoty, added.

No date for the launch of the EUR1.5bn (USD1.7bn) PDH/PP plant was given by Grupa Azoty Polyolefins, but the company said it was “close to launch”. “The overall progress of the works [for the plant] is over 98%, and the reloading of propane to a tank located in the new gas terminal in Police should be treated as a symbolic beginning of the completion of the construction of the new chemical complex,” said Grupa Azoty CEO Tomasz Hinc.

The propane was delivered by gas carrier Guadelupe Explorer to a cryogenic tank at a maritime gas handling and storage terminal specifically built as part of the project. The terminal boasts two 40,000cbm propane tanks and a 12,000cbm ethylene tank.

The PDH/PP project general contractor is Hyundai Engineering. The PDH facility is based on Honeywell’s Olexflex UOP technology, while the PP installation will use Unipol technology from Grace Technologies.

The PDH facility will have a capacity of 400,000 tonnes/year of polymer-grade propylene, while the polypropylene (PP) facility will have a 400,000 tonne/year capacity.

We remind, in August, Record natural gas pricing for Poland-based chemicals producer Grupa Azoty has driven the company to halt some caprolactam (capro), polyamide 6 (PA6), and nitrogen fertilizers production. The company is planning to halt production of nitrogen fertilizers, PA6, and capro at its Grupa Azoty SA division – the overall company parent, based in Tarnow, Poland – and reduce production at its Pulawy site in the country.

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BASF, Linde, and SABIC have begun the construction of the "world's first" demonstration plant for large-scale electrically heated steam cracker furnaces, said the company.

The new technology has the potential to lower CO2 emissions by using electricity from renewable sources instead of natural gas. The demonstration plant will be integrated into the existing steam crackers at BASF's Verbund site in Ludwigshafen, Germany.

It will process about 4 tonnes/hr of hydrocarbon and consumes 6 MW of renewable energy. The start-up of the plant is slated for 2023. Both SABIC and BASF are investing together for the project while Linde is the engineering, procurement and construction partner. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action has granted the project with EUR 14.8 mln.

We remind, BASF SE, Ludwigshafen, Germany, and StePac, Tefen, Israel, are partnering to create new sustainable packaging specifically for the fresh produce sector. BASF says it will supply StePac with its Ultramid Ccycled product, a chemically recycled polyamide 6 that will provide StePac with greater flexibility to advance contact-sensitive packaging formats to a higher sustainable standard within the circular economy.
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