Johnson Matthey and BP to support planned production of carbon negative renewable fuel

Johnson Matthey (JM) and bp announced that their co-developed, award-winning Fischer Tropsch (FT) CANS technology has been selected by Strategic Biofuels for their project which aims to produce the world’s lowest carbon footprint liquid fuel, said the company.

The technology has been licensed to Strategic Biofuels, a leader in developing negative carbon footprint biofuels plants, for the company’s Louisiana Green Fuels project (LGF) in Caldwell Parish, Louisiana. Located on a 327-acre site at the Port of Columbia, the LGF plant plans to convert 1 MMt of forestry waste feedstock into cleaner-burning renewable diesel and is projected to produce 31.8 MMgpy of biofuels once in operation. The aim is to increase production to over 165 MMgpy of renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) over 10 to 12 years.

The LGF plant currently aims to be operational by early 2027 and is expected to produce about 87% renewable diesel and 13% bionaphtha. The renewable diesel could be used as a blend component in conventional diesel or as a 100% paraffinic diesel finished fuel and the bionaphtha can be blended into the gasoline pool.

Strategic Biofuels is planning to utilize carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology at its LGF plant to further drive down carbon emissions. This technology captures and stores carbon dioxide formed in the process so that it is not emitted into the atmosphere. With the use of this technology, the Carbon Intensity (CI) of the LGF project, according to Life Cycle Associates, a leading analytical firm for the California Air Resources Board, would score at minus 294 (-294 gCO2e/MJ).

FT CANS technology, which will be leveraged at the LGF plant, was jointly developed by bp and Johnson Matthey to deliver environmental and operational benefits. It converts synthesis gas (syngas), generated from sources such as industrial emissions, direct air capture, municipal solid waste or other biomass, into long-chain hydrocarbons suitable for the production of renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuels.

In 2022, JM announced its refreshed strategy with an ambition to be the number one player across the syngas value chain, targeting an addressable market of up to ?12 billion by 2030. As a large-scale project, this licence to Strategic Biofuels hits one of JM’s key strategic milestones.

We remind, BP PLC on Wednesday revealed plans to evaluate the construction of an ammonia cracker in Wilhelmshaven, Germany and utilize repurposed oil/gas facilities to transport hydrogen. The project, which would be located in Wilhelmshaven, is expected to include an industry leading ammonia cracker which could provide up to 130,000 tons of low-carbon hydrogen from green ammonia, per year, from 2028.

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Dow and LVMH are collaborating to accelerate environmentally sustainable packaging across LVMH’s perfume and cosmetic products, said the company.

The companies plan on integrating bio-based and circular plastics into several multinational product applications. LVMH Beauty is home to 75 luxury brands. The transition is a part of LVMH’s Life 360 program, an initiative to create products in harmony with nature that respect and preserve biodiversity and the climate, engaging and motivating all stakeholders.

“At LVMH, with our Life 360 program, we made the decision that our packaging will contain zero plastic from virgin fossil resources in the near future,” says Claude Martinez, executive president and managing director at LVMH Beauty.

“Collaborating with Dow in developing sustainable Surlyn [bioplastic] is key as this material is used in some of our iconic perfumes, starting with Guerlain La Petite Robe Noire. It is helping LVMH achieve our sustainability targets without any compromise on quality.”

LVMH will make its packaging from bio-based and plastic waste feedstocks. These textiles will be used to produce Surlyn Ionomers. Surlyn is the name of Dow’s bioplastic made from polymers used to manufacture premium perfume caps and cosmetic cream jars.

The bio-based Surlyn plastic is made from raw materials such as cooking oil. LVMH Beauty says it will only utilize by-products from an alternative production process to create the plastic. The company continues that the raw feedstock materials will not consume extra land resources nor compete with the food chain.

We remind, Fluor has been awarded a reimbursable contract by Dow to provide front-end engineering and design (FEED) and engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) services for the world’s first net-zero carbon emissions (scope 1 and 2 carbon dioxide emissions) ethylene cracker and derivatives complex in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, Canada. Fluor will book the initial FEED award in the first quarter and anticipates the additional EPCM scope will be awarded throughout 2023 pending a final investment decision by Dow’s Board of Directors.

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LyondellBasell and Nexus Circular announced they have signed a definite long-term contract, which will supply LyondellBasell with approximately 24,000 tpy of recycled feedstock, said the company.

The material will be produced at Nexus Circular's new advanced recycling facility, which will begin construction in 2023. The new facility will convert mixed plastic waste, which today mostly ends up in landfills or incineration, into recycled feedstock. LyondellBasell will use the recycled feedstock at its Channelview, Texas facility to produce new plastics which will be marketed under the CirculenRevive brand.

"Customers and brand owners need sustainable solutions to meet their 2030 recycling commitments, and this contract is a concrete step toward advancing partnerships across the value chain," said Yvonne van der Laan, LyondellBasell Executive Vice President, Circular and Low Carbon Solutions. "This agreement is aligned with our circularity ambitions, advancing us closer to our 2030 goal."

Nexus Circular is a commercial leader in advanced recycling with a proven proprietary technology and a leading process design that converts landfill-bound films and other hard-to-recycle plastics into high-quality liquids which are then used to produce virgin-quality plastics. Since 2018, Nexus has been consistently supplying commercial volumes of ISCC Plus certified circular liquid products, having diverted over 8 million pounds of used plastics from landfill.

Clint Thompson, Chief Commercial Officer at Nexus, stated, "We are pleased to collaborate with LyondellBasell to leverage our proven commercial solution that unlocks the full value of plastics and accelerates the transition to a circular economy."

We remind, LyondellBasell announced that PetroChina Jilin Petrochemical Company will again license LyondellBasell’s polyethylene technology at their facility located in Jilin City, Jilin Province, P.R. of China. The newly licensed technology will comprise of LyondellBasell’s leading high-pressure Lupotech process technology which will be used for both a 100 kiloton per year (KTA) Autoclave and a 300 KTA Tubular line. Both production trains will produce mainly low-density polyethylene (LDPE) with ethylene vinyl acetate copolymers (EVA). Furthermore, an additional 400 KTA Hostalen “Advanced Cascade Process” (ACP) line for the production of high density polyethylene (HDPE) will be built at the same time.

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Japanese oil refiner Idemitsu Kosan Co has shut the 150,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) crude distillation unit (CDU) at its Hokkaido refinery in northern Japan on Feb. 14 due to system trouble, said Hydrocarbonprocessing, citing a company spokesperson.

He declined to comment on details of the glitch, but said it expects to restart operations soon.

We remind, Toray Industries, Inc., and Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd. have agreed to build a supply chain for plastics made from biomass naphtha. They would manufacture biomass styrene monomer derived from biomass naphtha and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) resin made from that monomer.

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Sulzer has signed an agreement with circular technology company Fuenix Ecogy to acquire a strategic stake in its plastic upcycling business, said the company.

The partnership will drive the development, commercialization and adoption of advanced, fully integrated solutions for plastic waste processing. The move will allow Sulzer to offer complete recycling lines based on Fuenix’s Ecogy technology and Sulzer’s own proven separation and purification solutions. Sulzer Chemtech is an established licensor of reaction and separation technologies aimed at driving the chemical recycling of materials.

Fuenix Ecogy technology converts sorted end-of-life mixed plastic waste into high-value hydrocarbons with virgin-like properties. The solution offers high recovery and conversion rates, enabling a high degree of circularity in the plastic value chain.

With this strategic investment, Sulzer is sharing its leading technical expertise to support the scale up and commercialization of a cutting-edge pyrolysis technology. The agreement also expands Sulzer Chemtech’s technology licensing portfolio for polymer processing, in line with its overarching mission to help industry adopt more sustainable practices.

As the exclusive licensor of the technology, Sulzer Chemtech will be able to offer complete as well as partial recycling lines based on Fuenix’s Ecogy pyrolysis technology and its own proven separation and purification solutions. At the same time, Sulzer Chemtech will continue to offer its separation and purification know-how and solutions to other plastic recycling technologies.

We remind, Sulzer Chemtech is providing process engineering and key equipment for the expansion of Dongsuh Indonesia (DSI) naphthalene downstream sector. The delivery of an advanced separation unit to DSI’s plant in Serang, Indonesia, will enable the production of high purity naphthalene that can be used for applications with stringent quality requirements.

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