US EPA calls for testing of oil derived from plastic waste

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday said it will require companies that produce oil from a process known as "advanced recycling" to submit the product to the agency to test it for impurities, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The measure is one of dozens of goals and objectives the EPA has outlined in a new draft federal strategy for preventing plastic pollution that was required by a law passed in 2020 aimed at keeping plastic waste and post-consumer materials out of waterways and oceans.

The agency is seeking public input on an array of strategic objectives and voluntary actions that can be taken to "reduce, reuse, collect, and capture plastic and other waste from land-based sources" by 2040.

While the EPA has said it wants to promote "circular economy policies," which focus on the reuse of plastic waste, it said it will exclude "processes that convert solid waste to fuels, fuel ingredients, or energy from being considered as a recycling practice in this strategy."

"Advanced recycling," also known as pyrolisis or chemical recycling, is a set of reprocessing technologies that the plastics industry has touted as a solution to deal with the global scourge of plastic waste. It uses heat or chemicals to turn plastic waste into fuel or reclaimed resin to make new plastic.

The agency said that though it had welcomed "further discussion" on the technology when its released a separate draft national recycling plan in late 2021, it now "reaffirms that...it does not consider activities that convert non-hazardous solid waste to fuels or fuel substitutes or for energy production to be 'recycling' activities."

The EPA also said it has become aware of health concerns and environmental risks related to impurities found in oil from pyrolisis and will require companies to submit oil chemicals to the Agency for review under the Toxic Substances Control Act for testing prior to approval of projects, and ongoing testing to ensure there is no variability in the plastic waste stream used to generate the pyrolysis oil.

A recent Reuters investigation found that advanced recycling projects backed major companies have been dropped or indefinitely delayed because they were not commercially viable.

We remind, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed increases in the amount of ethanol and other biofuels oil refiners must blend into their fuel over the next three years. The agency is also proposing incorporating electricity made from renewable biomass and used for electric vehicle into the program for the first time. The agency's long-awaited proposal will call for overall blending mandates of 20.82 B gallons in 2023, 21.87 B gallons in 2024 and 22.68 B gallons in 2025.

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The new RadiciGroup industrial site in Suzhou, China has been officially opened. Designed to double capacity for manufacturing engineering polymers, the area will significantly step up the Group’s presence on the Asian market as a key player serving numerous sectors – from the automotive and electrical/electronics industries to consumer and industrial goods, said the company.

The Group has had production operations in China since 2006, when it first opened in a small factory in Jiangsu Province. In 2012 it moved to a larger site, to then start on the construction from the ground up of this new fully-owned facility, designed for future scalability, as required.

RadiciGroup invested €35 million in the development of the new complex, sited on 36,000 square metres of land, around half of which is occupied by production and research & development facilities. The rest houses offices, meeting rooms, and communal areas, along with gardens and parking areas.

The state-of-the-art complex features the most advanced green building technologies available today, for which it is LEED Gold (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified. This international standard for high-performance green buildings incorporates parameters such as benefits for the environment and human health, the reduced consumption of water, energy efficiency, and the use of environmentally-friendly building materials and solutions. Notable features of the Suzhou site include the installation of a continuous monitoring system to ensure the energy efficiency of the building, rooftop solar panels to produce renewable energy, and a rainwater recycling system to meet the water needs of the site.

We remind, RadiciGroup High Performance Polymers acquired the Engineering Plastics business of the Indian company Ester Industries Ltd. Last May, RadiciGroup announced this important action aimed at strengthening its internationalization strategy, with an investment of around 35 million euros: the transaction allows RadiciGroup - in India since 2006 - to further reinforce its local presence through the acquisition of one of the main and historic players on the Indian market.

RadiciGroup High Performance Polymers is a multinational organization with the capacity to manufacture and supply engineering polymers (based on polyamide, polyester and other materials) around the globe, with the backing of a production and sales network across all continents, as well as research and development increasingly focused on high-performance polymers.

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Japan received its first low-carbon ammonia cargo from Saudi Arabia on Friday which it plans to use for co-firing with fossil fuels to reduce carbon emissions, a joint statement from the four companies involved in the deal said, said Reuters.

Energy-poor Japan wants to add hydrogen and ammonia to its energy mix, a move criticized by climate activists as costly and not fully effective. Japan has agreed with a number of countries to study hydrogen and ammonia supply chains.

Ammonia shipped to Fuji Oil Company (FOC) on Friday was produced by SABIC Agri-Nutrients using feedstock from Aramco and the cargo was delivered by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, the four companies said in the joint statement.

The statement did not disclose the amount or value of the cargo but said that ammonia - considered low-carbon as CO2 from the associated manufacturing process was captured and utilized - was transported to FOC's Sodegaura refinery for use in co-fired power generation.

Japan aims to boost its fuel ammonia demand to 3 million tons annually by 2030 from nearly zero at present. Its top power generator JERA has been co-firing ammonia with coal in a trial project at its power station in central Japan since 2021.

We remind, Finnish engineering and technologies company Coolbrook announced a collaboration with Saudi Arabia’s petrochemicals major SABIC on piloting its RotoDynamic Reactor (RDR) technology for decarbonised ethylene production. RDR technology aims to replace the burning of fossil fuels with electrification in steam crackers. SABIC agreed to assess the potential for industrial deployment of RDR technology at its production sites.

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A crude distillation unit (CDU), a coker and the alkylation unit are shut at TotalEnergies' 238,000 barrel-per-day Port Arthur, Texas, refinery, people familiar with plant operations said Reuters.

The refinery since Sunday has been dependent on the neighboring BASF SE chemical plant for steam following the shutdown of its cogeneration plant because of a fire, the sources said. The BASF steam supply went down on Friday morning.

TotalEnergies spokeswoman Tricia Fuller said the refinery lost its steam supply at about 7:55 a.m. CDT (1255 GMT) on Friday. “The refinery immediately responded by following established procedures to minimize emissions,” Fuller said. “The steam loss caused operational upsets at some process units resulting in process upset gas being routed to the refinery flares.”

In a filing with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the company said a coker was also shut at the refinery. The refinery shut the ACU-3 CDU on Friday afternoon while the alkylation unit and sulfolane unit were shut earlier in the day, the sources said.

CDUs break down crude oil into feedstocks for all production units at the refinery. Cokers convert residual crude oil from distillation units into either feedstock for motor fuels or petroleum coke, a coal substitute.

We remind, TotalEnergies and Paprec, leader in plastic recycling in France, have signed a long-term commercial agreement to develop a French value chain for advanced recycling of plastic film wastes. The agreement will secure the supply of TotalEnergies' future advanced plastic recycling plant in Grandpuits. Following the terms of this agreement, Citeo, the main organization in charge of end-of-life household packaging in France, will provide a stream of flexible plastic waste sorted from post-consumer packaging.


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UK supermajor Shell has awarded the Serikandi Kent Energy Solutions joint venture a five-year commissioning and start-up services contract for its activities in Brunei Darussalam, said Upstreamonline.

Details and the value of this long-term contract – the first win for Serikandi Kent Energy Solutions - were kept under wraps although Joe McCormick, Kent’s executive vice president for Asia Pacific, said the JV would be building up its local resources in tandem with the BSP work.

Revi Bhaskaran, Serikandi Oilfield Services chief executive, said: “We are excited that Serikandi Kent Energy Solutions has won this business.

"This is another step towards our vision of becoming Brunei's first EPCM (engineering, procurement and construction management) company, supporting Brunei's Wawasan 2035 goals of producing educated, highly skilled and accomplished people and building a dynamic and sustainable economy."

Serikandi Kent Energy Solutions, which was established last October, is a Bruneian incorporated JV between Dubai-headquartered Kent and local player Serikandi Oilfield Services.

It aims to provide integrated services including engineering, procurement and construction, and EPCM, to clients in the sultanate for greenfield and brownfield projects, asset integrity and rejuvenation.

One of the key projects on its radar is understood to be Petronas’ on-off Kelidang field development that could yet get off the drawing board in the not too distant future.

We remind, CNOOC and Shell Petrochemicals Company Ltd (CSPC), a joint venture established by China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) and Royal Dutch Shell, signed a framework agreement worth USD5.6-bn with China’s Huizhou city government to expand its ethylene project in the city. CSPC is expected to add 1.5 million tons per annum ethylene production capacity on top of its existed 2.2 million tons in Huizhou, according to a statement issued by CNOOC on Sunday night.

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