Global and U.S. chemical production trended higher in April, ACC says

Global and U.S. chemical production trended higher in April, ACC says

Marking another month of incremental gains, global and U.S. chemical production rose in April. According to the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.), the Global Chemical Production Regional Index (Global CPRI) rose by 0.4% in April following a revised 1.5 % increase in March, said Chemengonline.

In the U.S., the U.S. Chemical Production Regional Index (U.S. CPRI) rose 0.5% in April. Both indices are measured on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis to reduce month-to-month volatility.

“Chemical output increased in April for all regions except South America,” said Martha Moore, ACC’s chief economist. “On a year-over-year basis, while global production remained lower compared to a year ago, output was higher in Europe, Asia Pacific, and Africa & Middle East.”

In the U.S., April’s gain reflects improvement across several chemistries, especially those recovering from production outages during Q1 due to bad weather and maintenance to refineries, says ACC.

We remind, The U.S. Chemical Production Regional Index (U.S. CPRI) rose by 0.7% in February, following declines of 2.4% in December and 0.6% in January, according to the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.).

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PureCycle clears hurdle for second PP recycling plant in Georgia

PureCycle clears hurdle for second PP recycling plant in Georgia

PureCycle Technologies, Inc., today, announced that it has received approval from the Development Authority of Augusta, GA (AEDA) to proceed to closing on the project site in Augusta, Georgia, said Bloomberg.

This will allow PureCycle to begin development activities for its polypropylene purification facility. The AEDA
approval confirms and preserves financial and tax incentives offered for the development.

PureCycle CEO Dustin Olson commented, "We're excited for PureCycle to expand and Augusta is the perfect home for our second purification complex. This approval is the result of several months of hard work to secure the funding
required for at least one purification line and close collaboration with the local community." He added, "PureCycle is extremely grateful to the AEDA for their ongoing support to help bring PureCycle's sustainable solution to the
world."

Located at the Augusta Corporate Park, PureCycle's Augusta facility will begin as a single-line facility with the capability of expanding to eight total purification lines. Fully completed, these eight purification lines are
expected to produce approximately one billion pounds of PureCycle's ultra-pure recycled (UPR) resin.

PureCycle CFO Larry Somma added, "Financing the Augusta project has been an ongoing process and we're very proud to have secured the necessary funding for the first line and we're already working on finalizing the financing for the second line. We're thankful to our investors for their continued financial support to help bring us to this point."

Preparation for the modular construction of the Augusta project has already begun and equipment has started to arrive onsite at Gulfspan's Beaumont, Texas facilities.

The Augusta project is the first step in PureCycle's global expansion plan as the company seeks to use their innovative purification technology to improve the circularity of polypropylene plastic.

We remind, PureCycle Technologies Inc.'s flagship polypropylene recycling facility in Ironton, Ohio, is "days away" from beginning the start-up phase of commercial pellet production.

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Shell Chemical fined USD10 mln, restarting production

Shell Chemical fined USD10 mln, restarting production

Shell (London) has agreed to pay nearly USD 10 mn (EUR 9.3 mn) for breaking emissions rules at its Monaca polyethylene complex in the US state of Pennsylvania, according to the office of governor Josh Shapiro, which said the resin maker had formally acknowledged the violations, said Plasticsnews.

The company’s Shell Chemicals Appalachia unit is to pay a fine of almost USD 5 mn to the Pennsylvania Department of the Environment and local communities, which receive 25%, the office said. USD 5 mn has been earmarked for community environmental protection projects, so municipalities in the western part of the state are to receive USD 6.2 mn. If more violations occur, further payments will be due.

Citizens’ groups have accused the plant of exceeding emissions limits. According to the oil company, some of these emissions – but not all – resulted from the start-up process.

The governor’s office said, “Shell exceeded its rolling 12-month total emission limitations for volatile organic compounds (VOC) beginning in October 2022 through April 2023, carbon monoxide (CO) from February through March 2023, nitrogen oxides (NOx) from December 2022 through April 2023, and hazardous air pollutants (HAP) from December 2022 through April 2023.”

Shell was set to restart the ethane cracker with an ethylene capacity of 1.5 mn t/y and three PE lines with a combined available output of 1.6 mn t/y, which have been shut down since March. Until normal operation, which was originally planned for mid-2023, the group must submit monthly reports on the extent of the respective emissions.

We remind, Shell's Upstream segment includes exploration and extraction of crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. It also markets and transports oil and gas, and operates the infrastructure necessary to deliver them to the market.

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PPG expands on 2030 sustainability goals

PPG expands on 2030 sustainability goals

PPG Industries today announced a variety of sustainability goals for 2030, with a focus on issues related to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and environmental stewardship, said the company.

The move follows last week’s announcement of 2030 targets related to sales and GHG emissions. The company is aiming to reduce scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions, from a 2019 baseline, by 50% by 2030, and reduce scope 3 emission by 30% as of the same date – both goals announced last week. Adding onto this, PPG is aiming for a water intensity reduction of 15% by 2030 and a waste intensity reduction of 25%. It is also aiming to derive 50% of sales from “sustainably advantaged products,” as determined by an in-house methodology informed by United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs), PPG said.

PPG also reported on progress for its 2025 goals, which are based on a 2017 baseline. Progress was made on a variety of goals, including a reduction in waste disposal intensity, GHG emissions intensity, and sourcing electricity from renewable power. However, energy consumption intensity and water consumption intensity increased in 2022, due to product mix changes.

“Our efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across our value chain will include evaluating more circular and renewable raw materials, collaborating with suppliers to lower their emissions footprint, and innovating new lower carbon solutions for our customers,” said Diane Kappas, vice president/global sustainability at PPG.

Renewable energy sourcing will be also a growing area of focus as the company moves to decarbonize. “As we prepare for the next phase of our decarbonization journey, we will be partnering with clean energy solutions providers to define a comprehensive global strategy for renewable and clean energy sources to our network of facilities around the world,” PPG said in its sustainability report. In 2022, the company derived 6% of its total energy consumed from renewable sources.

PPG recently signed an agreement with power utility NRG Energy (Houston) to run four coatings manufacturing plants and 62 stores in Texas on fully renewable electricity.

We remind, PPG will invest USD11 million to double the production capacity of its powder coatings plant in San Juan del Rio, Mexico. The expansion project is expected to be completed by mid-2023 and will allow the plant to meet the expected future demand for powder coatings in Mexico.

PPG is a leading supplier of powder coatings to the automotive, transportation, appliance, furniture and other markets. The company expanded the business with its 2020 acquisition of Alpha Coating Technologies, which manufactures powder coatings for light industrial applications and heat-sensitive substrates, and its 2021 acquisition of Worwag, which makes liquid, powder and film coatings for industrial and automotive applications. PPG recently agreed to acquire the powder coatings business of Arsonsisi, including a manufacturing plant in Verbania, Italy.

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Mexico's gasoline independence dream sinks in dirty fuel oil glut

Mexico's gasoline independence dream sinks in dirty fuel oil glut

Mexico's president took office in late 2018 pledging to boost local output of gasoline while phasing out imports, but so far state refineries have instead set a different course: bumper production of highly contaminating fuel oil, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

To make Mexico self-sufficient, leftist resource nationalist President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador wants the country to wean itself off dependence on foreign gasoline and diesel supplies, mostly from U.S. refiners, and replace them by 2024 with production from state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex).

The push to increase Pemex's output, however, has ramped up fuel oil production, due mostly to its refineries' struggle to efficiently process the heavy crude Mexican oil fields pump. Some Pemex executives describe Lopez Obrador's promise as more ideological, and less tethered to technical realities.

"It's really more of a political statement than a reachable goal," one Pemex executive told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity to candidly discuss the quandary. Pemex did not respond to requests for comment.

In April, Pemex fuel oil production averaged over 322,000 barrels per day (bpd), the highest since July 2010 - even though the company's total crude output is now over a fifth lower than it was during 2016, official data show. By contrast, gasoline output was 291,000 bpd in April. While over 40% higher than the 2019 average, the figure is down 4% from April 2022, and over 10% below the 2016 average.

We remind, Mexico's northern state Nuevo Leon on Sunday warned that it would seek penalties for state oil company Pemex after a dramatic increase in visible emissions from its Cadereyta refinery earlier in the day. Video footage posted on social media, including by State Governor Samuel Garcia, showed thick, yellow and black smoke billowing from flare stacks - meant to burn off only small volumes of excess natural gas.


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