Air Products declares quarterly dividend

The Board of Directors of Air Products declared a quarterly dividend of USD1.75 per share of common stock, said the company.

The dividend is payable on August 14, 2023 to shareholders of record at the close of business on July 3, 2023.

We remind, Air Products has signed an agreement with Aers Energy Belgie to develop a multi-fuel, hydrogen refueling station for trucks. It will be located on a concession in the port of Zeebrugge, which Aers Energy Belgie has been awarded. Within this location, Aers will also operate a new secure truck stop, rest area, convenience store and restaurant.

Air Products is a world-leading industrial gases company in operation for over 80 years focused on serving energy, environmental, and emerging markets. The Company has two growth pillars driven by sustainability. Air Products’ base business provides essential industrial gases, related equipment and applications expertise to customers in dozens of industries, including refining, chemicals, metals, electronics, manufacturing, and food.

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TotalEnergies SE is collocating what will become Belgium’s first battery-based energy storage system (BESS) at the operator’s 338,000-b/d integrated refining and petrochemical platform near the Port of Antwerp in the Antwerp-Rotterdam-Amsterdam (ARA) multi-port refining, trading, and storage hub, said the company.

Launched as part of a portfolio of activities in renewables and electricity to support TotalEnergies’ ambition to achieve net zero by 2050 and help meet challenges of balancing electricity grids, the proposed 25-Mw Antwerp BESS will consist of 40 Intensium Max High Energy lithium-ion containers supplied by subsidiary Saft Group SA that have a total storage capacity of 75 Mw-hr, equivalent to the daily consumption of nearly 10,000 households, the operator said on May 15.

Scheduled to be operational by yearend 2024, TotalEnergies said the Antwerp BESS specifically will help meet European and Belgian high-voltage transmission network needs 24 hr/day, 7 days/week by smoothing daily power fluctuations in the national grid, especially during peak winter periods, and guaranteeing grid security by actively contributing to the national grid's reserve services.

The proposed Antwerp industrial-scale stationary energy storage project also will enable more renewable electricity to be integrated into the Belgian and broader European grids to help ensure their stability, according to the operator.

Selected for collocation at the Antwerp platform to benefit from the site’s available land and its grid connection, the planned storage project forms a new step in TotalEnergies' development of BESSs, which aims to strengthen the company's presence across the entire electricity value chain—including production, storage, and supply—in Belgium, the operator said.

Because they can be deployed quickly, have a limited footprint, and high reactivity, batteries effectively respond to the growing need for grid balancing and are essential to supporting greater development of renewable energies by compensating for the intermittency introduced by these energies, TotalEnergies said.

As part of its multi-energy strategy, TotalEnergies intends to continue deploying energy storage solutions, notably in countries where it is actively developing renewable energies, said Olivier Jouny, the operator’s senior vice-president of integrated power.

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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LANXESS will be at the Battery Show Europe showcasing its portfolio for batteries for electric and hybrid vehicles, said the company.

The event in Stuttgart is Europe’s largest trade fair for cutting-edge technologies and production processes in this fast-growing segment.

LANXESS offers numerous key raw materials along the entire value chain for the production of lithium-ion batteries. These include raw materials for cathode materials and electrolytes, ion exchange resins for extracting and recycling ultra-pure metal compounds for cathode materials, coolants and colorants for high-voltage applications as well as polyurethane (PU) casting compounds for protecting electronic battery components. Another key product area features flame retardants for high-performance plastics and non-flammable electrolytes that help to improve safety inside and outside battery cells.

The company positions itself as a sustainable and reliable supplier of materials for European battery producers. “Our extensive product range allows us to provide support for setting up local value chains,” says Dr. Martin Saewe, who is heading LANXESS’s initiative for electromobility and circular economy. “Among the areas that we are focusing upon are concepts for establishing circular material flows in the recycling of batteries, further improving the carbon footprints of electric vehicles."

We remind, Advent and LANXESS announced the envisaged establishment of an Advent controlled, leading global engineering materials joint venture company with sales of around EUR3 billion, combining the DSM Engineering Materials business with LANXESS’ High Performance Materials business.

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Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd., KUMHO Petrochemical Co., Ltd., and Sumitomo Corporation have signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to establish a long-term collaboration for the development and further growth of the sustainable polymers and chemicals market in Asia, said the company.

In this project, Idemitsu, the largest SM manufacturer in Japan, will produce bio-SM in the mass balance method**, and KUMHO, the largest synthetic rubber manufacturer in South Korea, will produce bio-SSBR (Solution Styrene Butadiene Rubber)*, one of main products for high-functional tires by using bio-SM. Sumitomo Corporation will be coordinating the collaboration and develop bio material market. The companies plan to commence production of biopolymer in 2024.

Bio-SM is from bio-naphtha that is bio-based raw material such as waste and residues. Conventionally, naphtha is extracted from crude oil and has been widely used to produce?basic chemical elements such as ethylene and butadiene. By increasing the use of bio-SM from bio-naphtha, the companies expect to reduce carbon and greenhouse gas (GHG) generation, or carbon footprint, as well as strengthen ESG management cooperation network.

We remind, Idemitsu SM (ISM) and Petrochemicals P(M), Malaysia, subsidiaries of Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd., successfully obtains the ISCC PLUS certification, an international certification system for sustainable products, for the production of styrene monomer and polystyrene.

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Sumitomo Corporation's Metal Product business unit posted profit of Yen 110.4 bn in FY 2022-2023 (year ended 31 Mar 2023), an increase of Yen 55.2 bn compared to Yen 55.2 bn in FY 2021-2022, said the company.

This was due mainly to increasing in earnings accompanied by favourable market conditions for the tubular products business in North America and stable performance by overseas steel service centres.

We remind, Sumitomo Chemical Co, Maruzen Petrochemical Co and Mitsui Chemicals have signed an agreement to jointly study the feasibility of implementing projects at the Keiyo Coastal Industrial Complex in Chiba, Japan.

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