Indorama Ventures remains committed to supply North American lithium-ion battery market

Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited (IVL), a global sustainable chemical company, is continuing to assess plans to build and operate a world-class lithium-ion battery solvents plant at one of its petrochemical facilities in the U.S. Gulf Coast, including sourcing new license partners to speed up the development of the technology, said the company.

Indorama Ventures' Integrated Oxides & Derivatives (IOD) business segment is exploring licensing opportunities with a range of technology partners, after withdrawing from an initial non-binding agreement with Capchem Technology USA Inc.

Entering the lithium-ion battery market will reinforce the company's downstream specialty products portfolio, serving attractive end-market applications. Indorama Ventures is leveraging its global integrated petrochemicals model by investing in adjacent businesses that offer High Value Add (HVA) products that contribute to a more sustainable world.

Alastair Port, Executive President, Integrated Oxides and Derivatives (IOD), IVL, said, "The EV market is a significant opportunity for Indorama Ventures to leverage our world-class petrochemical assets in the U.S. Gulf Coast, which are ready to host a new world-class lithium-ion battery solvents plant. From our base near Houston, our Integrated Oxides & Derivatives business has a successful track record of working with technology license partners to benefit the high-growth North American market."

We remind, Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited (IVL) are collaborating to use flake from recycled PET trays to produce PET film suitable for food packaging trays, said the company. The partnership is an important step in diverting PET trays from landfill or incineration to support the EU’s recycling targets and create a circular economy for PET trays.

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Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) is India’s second-largest government-owned downstream oil producer after ONGC, said Equitypandit.

The company plans to set up 240-MW of renewable power capacity at Rs 600 crore this fiscal year. Sukhmal Jain, the Marketing Director of BPCL, said that the firm would soon build up solar and wind power facilities. “We have ideas to set up 240-MW of solar and wind energy farms in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra at a projected cost of Rs 600 crore.”

Solar projects of around 50 MW are already under construction at BPCL’s facilities. The company is aiming for a captive necessity for its refineries first, which is about 350 MW. According to company reports, Bharat Petroleum is exploring organic and inorganic opportunities and forecasting to bid for industry estimates moving forward.
The company commenced many solar projects of smaller size to increase understanding and is confident to take up bigger projects, participating in renewable energy tenders in the future.

Recently, it has signed an agreement with the Rajasthan Government under which BPCL will inaugurate renewable projects costing 1 GW of capacity in the state. It also has signed an MoU with Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) to set up 10 GW of renewable energy capacity system by 2040.

We remind, Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) plans to invest rupee (Rs) 430bn-500bn (USD5.2bn-6.1bn) to expand its Bina refinery and build a petrochemical complex at the site in the central Madhya Pradesh state. BPCL has received necessary approvals from the Madhya Pradesh state government for the project, the company said in a regulatory filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on 14 April.

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Indian state-owned oil marketing company Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd said it had received approval from the Madhya Pradesh state government for expanding its Bina refinery and setting up a petrochemical project, said Reuters.

Bharat Petroleum will invest 430 billion rupees (USD5.27 billion) to 500 billion rupees for the two projects, adding that the petrochemical project would start production by fiscal year 2027-28.

We remind, Bharat Petroleum Corp said it had signed a preliminary agreement with Brazil's national oil company Petrobras to help it diversify its crude oil sourcing. Indian state refiners rarely buy Brazilian oil.

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Lummus Technology has expanded its Novolen polypropylene (PP) portfolio with the addition of Novolen Enhance performance PP polymers, said the company.

The new products are an expansion of Novolen’s PP portfolio and are specially designed to reduce carbon footprints while providing excellent material performance in blends with recycled polymers from post-industrial or post-consumer waste.

“With the new line of Enhance polymers, Lummus can deliver more innovative solutions for a circular economy,” said Leon de Bruyn, President and Chief Executive Officer, Lummus Technology. “These products enable brand owners to create more sustainable products with reduced carbon emissions and outstanding material properties. From injection molding, thermoforming, to film and textile applications, Enhance polymers significantly expand the range of possible applications of recycled polymers, increasing their commercial value.”

Using Enhance performance polymers in combination with recycled polymers, carbon footprint can be reduced by more than 40 percent compared to fully virgin materials, while achieving virgin-like material performance. This enables customers to achieve demanding sustainability targets while maintaining high product quality and customer satisfaction.

Enhance polymers combine tailored molecular weight characteristics with an outstanding physical property profile due to Novolen’s catalyst and process technology. When blended with recycled polymers, Enhance polymers significantly boost stiffness while preserving impact resistance. The polymers are suitable for combining with a wide range of recycled polymers, including post-consumer and post-industrial waste, and all types of polypropylenes such as homopolymers, random copolymers or impact copolymers.

We remind, Lummus Technology, a global provider of process technologies and value-driven energy solutions, announced an integrated technology award from SP Chemicals and its subsidiary SP Olefins. SP Chemicals will license Lummus' CATOFIN technology for a new 800 KTA propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit, and SP Olefins will license Lummus' Novolen technology for a new 400 KTA polypropylene (PP) unit. Both units will be located at SP Chemicals' complex in Jiangsu Province, China.

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The two largest U.S. oil companies are road testing renewable gasoline blends that they say could bring down emissions from conventional autos to levels competitive with electric vehicles (EVs), said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The fuels being promoted by Chevron Corp and Exxon Mobil Corp, if made commercially available, potentially would extend the life of the gasoline market as part of the world's transition to cleaner fuels and electric vehicles.

"We really believe there has to be alternatives for the light duty vehicle," Chevron President of Americas Products Andy Walz said at an event on Wednesday to road test the fuel. "Electrification is not the only answer." Chevron and Exxon disclosed in the past days test results from partnerships with automaker Toyota Motor Corp using renewable gasoline partially made from soybeans or other non-fossil feedstocks. The blends could be used by the existing U.S. car fleet and gas stations, the oil majors have said.

The tests came as U.S. President Joe Biden's administration last week proposed new pollution standards that could result in EVs accounting for up to two-thirds of U.S. light vehicle sales by 2032, according to government calculations.

Bringing the cost of these renewable gasoline blends to affordable levels would depend on supportive government policies, Exxon said. Chevron added it could be years before the renewable fuel could be available in pumps. "We believe it is going to need government help to get up and running, and get scale," Walz said, referring to existing incentives such as those provided for biodiesel and renewable diesel.

The most efficient way to bring scale to renewable gasoline would be through a carbon price, but not all jurisdictions are ready for it, said Balaji Krishnamurthy, Chevron's vice president of strategy and sustainability.

The companies use different metrics to measure emissions. Exxon said its renewable gasoline could reduce emissions by as much as 75% compared to conventional gasoline on a life cycle basis. Chevron said its blend was more than 40% less carbon intensive than traditional gasoline, including the carbon intensity of manufacturing the vehicle.

We remind, Chevron Lummus Global LLC (CLG) announced a recent contract award from Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras) for a new 12,580 BPD hydroisodewaxing (HIDW) unit at the GasLub Hub, a lubricant plant in Itaborai, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil. Chevron Lummus Global's scope includes the technology license, basic design engineering, and research unit testing services.

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