Unigel and thyssenkrupp nucera sign Memorandum of Understanding to increase production capacity of green hydrogen plant

Unigel and thyssenkrupp nucera sign Memorandum of Understanding to increase production capacity of green hydrogen plant

Thyssenkrupp nucera and Unigel have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to increase the capacity of the green hydrogen plant that Unigel is developing in Bahia, Brazil, from 60 MW to 240 MW of water electrolysis, said the company.

The signing ceremony was held in Belo Horizonte, during the visit of the German Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Dr. Robert Habeck. This is a key step for both companies continue their good collaboration to accelerate the green transformation through the development of the green hydrogen economy worldwide.

Unigel's facility will be the first industrial-scale green hydrogen plant in Brazil. It is planned to be delivered at the end of the year. In the first phase, the plant will have a total water electrolysis capacity of 60 MW with thyssenkrupp nucera standard electrolyzers and an initial production capacity of 10,000 tons/year of green hydrogen and 60,000 tons/year of green ammonia. Unigel is one of the largest chemical companies in Latin America and the largest producer of nitrogen fertilizers in Brazil. The new plant will be an important stimulus for the development of the entire region.

“Unigel's green hydrogen plant will be the first on an industrial scale in Brazil. We continue to negotiate strategic partnerships to enable the new phases of the project”, said Roberto Noronha Santos, CEO of Unigel. The green hydrogen and green ammonia will be offered to customers seeking to decarbonize their production chains such as the steel industry, oil refineries and ammonia producers. Green ammonia will also be used in Unigel's value chain, as it is a raw material for the production of fertilizers and acrylics.

"Brazil has not only set ambitious climate protection plans, but is also implementing them. This includes, in particular, consistently exploiting the opportunities offered by green hydrogen. This is because Brazil is one of the nations predestined to take on a key role in the green transformation by consistently exploiting the potential in renewable energies. With our technologies for the development of a hydrogen economy, we are making our contribution to paving the way for the green transformation," says Dr. Werner Ponikwar, CEO and Chairman of thyssenkrupp nucera AG & Co. KGaA.

Federal Minister Dr. Robert Habeck is traveling to Brazil and Colombia from March 11 to 15. The aim of the trip is to strengthen economic relations and climate cooperation with Brazil and Colombia. Brazil and Colombia play a key role in global climate protection. This year's EEBA (German-Brazilian Business Meeting) will take place in Belo Horizonte in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil, where Federal Minister Dr. Robert Habeck will hold talks with representatives from politics and business. Participation in the signing ceremony is part of the official agenda of the delegation.

We remind, Unigel announced plans to build a green hydrogen plant in the northeastern state of Bahia, with an initial investment of USD120 million and the goal of making it one of the largest of its kind in the world. The plant will starts its production planned for late 2023. At this moment, Unigel's integrated green hydrogen and green ammonia plant is expected to be the largest in the world. In the first phase of the project, Unigel installs three 20 MW standard electrolyzers from thyssenkrupp nucera, adding up to a total capacity of 60 MW.

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LyondellBasell announces decision to acquire Mepol Group

LyondellBasell announces decision to acquire Mepol Group

LyondellBasell and Mepol Group announced they have entered into a definitive agreement for LyondellBasell to acquire Mepol Group, a manufacturer of recycled, high-performing technical compounds located in Italy and Poland, consisting of Mepol S.r.l. and its subsidiaries Polar S.r.l. and Industrial Technology Investments Poland Sp.z.o.o., said the company.

"This acquisition demonstrates LyondellBasell's commitment to move the circular economy forward," said Torkel Rhenman, executive vice president of Advanced Polymer Solutions. "With Mepol Group's expertise in sustainable compounds and LyondellBasell's scale, we will enhance our CirculenRecover and other sustainable solutions for our customers."

Mirco Melato, CEO of Mepol commented, "We are delighted to join forces with LyondellBasell, an industry leader we have admired for many years. LyondellBasell shares our commitment towards sustainability and with its scale and resources, the combined business will be better positioned to address customer needs."

LyondellBasell continues to pioneer circular and low carbon solutions for its customers. The company began engineering work for a new advanced recycling plant at its Wesseling, Germany site in November last year. LyondellBasell has existing mechanical recycling facilities in the Netherlands and Belgium and is developing new plastic waste sorting and recycling plants in Houston, Germany, China and India, which was announced during the fourth quarter of 2022.

The transaction closing is subject to regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions. During this period, Mepol Group will continue to operate on a standalone basis. Jones Day and Wardynski & Partners served as LyondellBasell's legal advisor on the transaction. Special Affairs S.r.l. served as Mepol Group's financial advisor and Gitti & Partners is acting as its legal advisor.

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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BASF breaks ground on acrylic acid complex at Zhanjiang Verbund site in China

BASF breaks ground on acrylic acid complex at Zhanjiang Verbund site in China

BASF has broken ground on a new production complex at its Verbund site in Zhanjiang, China, that includes plants for glacial acrylic acid (GAA), butyl acrylate (BA) and 2-ethylhexyl acrylate (2-EHA), said the company.

Planned to come on stream by 2025, the complex will have an annual production capacity of approximately 400,000 metric tons of BA and 100,000 metric tons of 2-EHA.

"The groundbreaking marks a significant milestone in further expanding our production capacities in the acrylics value chain in China,” said Hartwig Michels, President of BASF’s Petrochemicals division. “These new world-scale facilities will enable us to meet the growing Chinese and Asian market demand for acrylics that are used in various industries like hygiene or paint and coatings."

“By strengthening our presence in key markets where our customers are located, we can more efficiently support our customers’ business growth. Being fully backward integrated in Zhanjiang Verbund site, the new acrylics facilities will provide our regional customers with a reliable supply of high-quality products with short lead times,” said Haibo Tian, Vice President, Industrial Petrochemicals Asia Pacific, at BASF.

Acrylic acid is an important precursor for the production of superabsorbent polymers. Butyl acrylate, an ester of acrylic acid, is used, for example, in the production of adhesives and architectural and industrial coatings. 2-ethylhexyl acrylate is an important raw material for adhesives and coatings.

We remind, BASF said it would cut 2,600 jobs, halt share buybacks and hike investment to improve competitiveness as it warned of a further decline in earnings due to rising costs. The German chemicals giant said in a statement that adjusted 2023 earnings before interest and tax (EBIT), would fall to between 4.8-5.4 billion euros (USD5.09-USD5.69 billion) from 6.9 billion euros in 2022, which was down 11.5% from 2021.

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US ethane demand grew 9% in 2022

US ethane demand grew 9% in 2022

In 2022, US ethane demand increased by approximately 9%, or almost 0.2 million bpd, according to the EIA's preliminary annual data published in the Petroleum Supply Monthly, said Hydrocarbonengineering.

US production and consumption of ethane, a hydrocarbon gas liquid used almost exclusively as a feedstock in the petrochemical industry, has grown since 2010 along with the build-out of US petrochemical capacity. More recently, international demand for ethane exported from the US, also for use as a petrochemical feedstock, has been growing. Petrochemical plants consuming ethane use steam crackers to produce ethylene, a precursor chemical for manufacturing many plastics and resins. US ethane product supplied, a proxy for ethane demand for domestic ethylene production, averaged just under 2.0 million bpd in 2022, reaching a peak of almost 2.2 million bpd in July.

Ethane prices almost doubled between January and June 2022, from approximately US$0.37/gal., or US$5.65 per million British thermal units (Btu), to USD0.64/gal., or USD9.67/million Btu, according to Bloomberg Finance, L.P. Most petrochemical cracking capacity built in the US since 2012 can only use ethane as a feedstock, meaning high ethane prices can reduce ethylene margins. In 3Q22, new ethylene crackers came online in Port Arthur, Texas, and Monaca, Pennsylvania, adding a combined 156 000 bpd of domestic ethane cracking capacity. These capacity additions follow a 108 000 bpd increase in cracker capacity in 2021. Ethane demand declined in December due to a winter storm that caused some petrochemical facilities in the Gulf Coast to be idled prior to the storm.

US ethane exports rose to 447 000 bpd in 2022, up from 369 000 bpd in 2021 and 271 000 bpd in 2020, as the capacity to consume ethane as a petrochemical feedstock rose internationally. Ethane exports from the US to China increased 50% from 2021 levels to average a record 157 000 bpd in 2022, as an additional 75 000 bpd of ethane-fed cracker capacity came online in China. The construction of new ethane tankers has facilitated higher utilisation of US ethane export capacity.

In the EIA's February 2023 Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), it is forecast that domestic ethane consumption will grow slightly to just under 2.1 million bpd in 2023 and just over 2.1 million bpd in 2024, reflecting no anticipated new petrochemical cracker completions through the end of the forecast period. EIA forecasts ethane exports to continue growing to an average of 460 000 bpd in 2023 and 490 000 bpd in 2024. Increased petrochemical capacity coming online abroad, paired with export capacity additions, is expected to drive these increases.

We remind, Braskem Idesa (BI) and Advario announce the formalization of their partnership, by virtue of which Advario acquired 50% of the capital of Terminal Quimica Puerto Mexico (TQPM), a company whose purpose is the construction and operation of a new ethane import terminal in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, said the company.
The total estimated investment for the project amounts to USD400 million. The new terminal will have an area of 10 hectares for ethane storage connected to the BI petrochemical complex through an ethane pipeline of approximately 10 kilometers; it will have a storage capacity of 100 thousand m3 and will supply the ethane required by the BI plant to operate at full capacity. The project will have a positive impact on the southern region of Veracruz through the generation of approximately 2 thousand direct jobs, the contracting of suppliers and the creation of new logistics infrastructure for the area and the state.

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DIC and Idemitsu Kosan agree to begin exploring the production of biomass polystyrene

DIC and Idemitsu Kosan agree to begin exploring the production of biomass polystyrene

DIC Corporation announced that it has reached an agreement with Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd., to build a new biomass plastics supply chain, as well as to begin exploring the production of biomass polystyrene, said the company.

Actual production of biomass polystyrene, at DIC’s Yokkaichi Plant, is scheduled to commence by the second half of the fiscal year 2023.

In recent years, climate change—a key cause of which is CO2 emissions—has been identified as an increasingly critical global challenge and as a crucial social imperative. In Japan, initiatives aimed at achieving resource circulation and carbon neutrality are accelerating. Recent developments include the enforcement of the new Plastic Resource Circulation Act and the implementation of various adjustments in advance of the launch of a carbon pricing system, scheduled for some time in the 2030s. Both DIC and Idemitsu Kosan recognize stepping up efforts to address climate change and advancing the sustainable, circular use of resources as key management responsibilities, prompting the decision to explore the production of low–environmental impact polystyrene made with biomass naphtha–based styrene monomer.

Because it is derived from plant matter, a renewable resource, biomass naphtha boasts lower CO2 emissions than conventional petroleum-derived naphtha. Idemitsu Kosan’s biomass naphtha–based styrene monomer† has earned ISCC PLUS certification under the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) system‡, verifying its sustainability, in line with which the company employs the mass balance approach§ for the products its supplies. DIC also expects to obtain ISCC PLUS certification in the first half of the fiscal year 2023, positioning the two companies to begin the production of biomass polystyrene as scheduled.

Biomass plastics supply chains require stronger partnerships at all stages—from production of raw material biomass naphtha through to the production of biomass polystyrene—than those for conventional products. DIC and Idemitsu Kosan have agreed on a basic policy of contributing to the reduction of CO2 emissions in the plastics industry for the new supply chain they will build. Through this partnership, the two companies will continue to strengthen their cooperation with customers and suppliers, to ensure the new supply chain’s carbon neutrality and contribute to a circular economy.

We remind, 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.

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