Vietnam's Dung Quat refinery to close for maintenance in March–April

Vietnam's Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical will shut down its 130,000-bpd Dung Quat refinery in March and April next year for major maintenance, said Reuters.

The maintenance will take about 50 days, an unnamed company source said. This will be the fifth major maintenance for the refinery, which started commercial operations in 2009. Vietnam's other refinery, the 200,000-bpd Nghi Son Refinery, was also shut down from late August for 55 days for maintenance.

Combined, both refineries meet around 70% of Vietnam's refined fuel needs.

We remind, Vietnam's largest oil refinery has shut down some of its units, beginning a 55-day total shutdown for major maintenance. The 200,000-barrel-per-day Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical will be totally shutdown on Friday, said the source, who declined to be named as the person is not allowed to speak to media. "We have hired five contractors for the maintenance work, mostly domestic ones," the person said, declining to reveal the value of the contract.

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SABIC, a global leader in the chemical industry, has partnered with three specialists in the field of in-mold labeling (IML) to demonstrate the use of certified renewable polypropylene (PP) resins in high quality mono-PP thin-wall container packaging without compromising quality, processability, safety or convenience, said the company.

The single-step IML technology achieves a seamless part decoration right in the injection mold, where the label becomes an integral component of the packaging itself. Dedicated label film types and high-definition printing technology result in a very attractive and cost-effective decorative solution. Besides using certified renewable PP resins for both the molded parts and the label film, the resulting packaging can be recycled in existing rigid PP recycling streams.

Abdullah Al-Otaibi, General Manager, ETP & Market Solutions at SABIC, says: “The demand for in-mold labeled packaging is constantly growing across various different consumer market segments, as it provides major opportunities for cost effective and highly sustainable solutions. Together with the responsibly sourced and certified renewable polymers from our TRUCIRCLE™ portfolio, this flexible decoration technology has enormous potential in fully recyclable mono-material packaging with no compromise on shelf visibility and consumer appeal in the retail space. At the same time, it can help manufacturers and brand owners reduce their environmental impact and carbon footprint while addressing the need for preventing valuable used plastic from ending up as waste.”

The label material for the IML containers is a biaxially oriented polyethylene (BOPP) film produced by Taghleef, a leading global supplier of films solutions to customers worldwide, using a SABIC® certified renewable resin tailored to the BOPP process. BOPP films are widely used for in-mold labeled injection molding applications in food, dairy and beverages, home, beauty and personal care packaging. Taghleef offers transparent, white and metalized PP label films, which can all be produced using polymers with bio-based feedstock. Furthermore, they can easily be customized to meet specific needs of gravure or offset printing for desired haptic textures and visual appearance, from glossy, matt, orange peel or velvet feel to an entirely non-label look.

Monica Battistella, Sustainability Manager at Taghleef, adds: “Our BOPP film range for in-mold-labeling gives brand owners a wide choice of premium packaging finishes to enhance brand differentiation and shelf visibility with a low environmental impact. In combination with the sustainable nature of SABIC’s mass balance certified renewable polymer from second-generation feedstock, the exceptional printability, die-cutting, anti-static and non-stick properties of these films deliver maximum value throughout the entire life cycle of the labeled products, including end-of-life recycling.”

As part of the present collaboration, the final BOPP label film is supplied to Karydakis, a leading specialist in optimized printing techniques, ink formulations and conversion technologies tailored to PP-based in-mold labels. The company’s sophisticated process delivers high-quality labels pre-printed with captivating designs and branding elements to match end customer specifications and ensure the effortless integration with the containers throughout the molding process.

Augustinos Kotronis, General Manager at Kotronis Packaging, explains: "In-mold labeling offers substantial productivity benefits, since it eliminates the need for separately applied adhesive labels on the finished packaging product by forming a permanent, tamper proof bond with the container right in the mold. In addition, the renewable container material from SABIC complies with all relevant international standards for food-contact applications, while showing excellent processability on our machines, including high flowability for reduced wall thicknesses. Moreover, it meets with our targets for reducing both CO2 emissions and fossil consumption."

Cut to shape for stacking, the IML labels are finally supplied to Kotronis, a medium-sized family business specializing in injection molded containers for food products. Here, they facilitate the efficient in-mold labeling of cups and tubs in a seamlessly integrated and fully automated, single-step process. This IML solution will be on display at Taghleef’s Booth 4C35 during Labelexpo in Brussels from September 11 to 14.

We remind, the joint project between BASF, SABIC, and Linde to build the world’s first electrically heated steam cracker furnaces hit an important milestone recently with the installation of the last transformers for the demonstration plant. This is one of the final and most crucial steps of the construction and has taken place about a year after construction started. Completion is scheduled for the end of 2023, followed by a stepwise commissioning.

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Evonik Industries has completed the relocation and expansion of its precious metal powder catalyst plant in Shanghai Chemical Industrial Park (SCIP). Production is scheduled to commence in Q4, 2023, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Precious metal powder catalysts are widely used in industrial chemicals, life sciences and fine chemicals and are sold under Evonik’s Noblyst P brand name.

“China is one of the most important precious metal powder catalyst markets globally. This expansion enables us to meet local demand with the supply of high-quality products to fast-growing applications like active ingredients for pharma or agrochemicals, and other industries where catalyst performance is a main value creator for our customers,” says Dr. Lorenza Sartorelli, the Global Head of Production & Technology at Evonik’s Catalysts business line.

The new state-of-the-art plant fulfils not only international safety and quality standards but builds on Evonik Catalysts expertise in this technology platform. This enables the optimized production of customized products and a higher standardization of the established operation processes, leading to increased quality consistency for customers.

With this new plant, Evonik has completed the upgrade of its global network of five precious metal catalyst plants that offer the complete package, from catalyst customization and joint development to catalyst manufacturing and precious metal management & refining services.

We remind, Evonik is launching the first product from its new range of next generation of TEGO® RC solutions: TEGO® RC 2000 LCF. Made using recycled silicone feedstocks, the new release coating can be cured using either the less energy intensive UV LED or traditional UV Arc lamps, helping label producers lower their carbon footprint to meet growing sustainability ambitions.

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The joint project between BASF, Sabic, and Linde to build the world’s first electrically heated steam cracker furnaces hit an important milestone recently with the installation of the last transformers for the demonstration plant, said the company.

This is one of the final and most crucial steps of the construction and has taken place about a year after construction started. Completion is scheduled for the end of 2023, followed by a stepwise commissioning.

The electricity-based heating concepts for olefin production, which will be tested at the plant in the future, require a total of six megawatts of renewable energy. The transformers convert current to the voltage required at the plant. There are nine transformers in total, and through each of them flows several thousand amps of current.

Thanks to the novel heating concepts, and by using electricity from renewable sources instead of natural gas, electric steam cracker furnaces, one of the most energy-intensive production processes, can potentially reduce CO2 emissions by at least 90% compared to conventional technologies.

The demonstration plant will be fully integrated into one of the existing steam crackers at BASF’s Verbund site in Ludwigshafen, Germany.

The German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection is sponsoring the project with 14.8 million euros as part of the “Decarbonization in Industry” funding program, financed by the European Union’s NextGenerationEU fund.

We remind, BASF has commenced construction of its syngas plant at the Verbund site in Zhanjiang, China. This world-scale syngas facility, fully integrated into the Verbund site, is scheduled to start up in 2025.

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Air Products has been chosen by the city of Montreal to supply oxygen equipment to support an ozone generation site that will remove impurities from wastewater at the Jean-R-Marcotte Wastewater Treatment Plant, one of the largest wastewater treatment plants in North America, said Process-online.

Jean-R.-Marcotte treats almost half of Quebec’s wastewater before releasing it into the St. Lawrence River. On average, the wastewater treatment plant releases 2.3 million cubic meters of water into the river per day.

As part of its agreement with the city of Montreal, Air Products will provide oxygen equipment, including four vacuum swing adsorption (VSA) oxygen plants, to support the city’s new state-of-the-art ozone generation system. The ozone generation system will disinfect the water, removing viruses, bacteria and pharmaceutical products.

“Air Products is proud to collaborate with the city of Montreal on this important project. Air Products’ oxygen generating plants will support the city’s efforts to expand a sustainable water purification process to benefit the citizens of Quebec and the wildlife that depend on the St. Lawrence River,” said Air Products’ Chief Operating Officer, Dr. Samir J. Serhan. “As Air Products celebrates the 50th anniversary of Air Products Canada, this project reflects our continued commitment to Canada.”

We remind, Air Products has signed an investment agreement with the Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan and Uzbekneftegaz JSC (UNG) to acquire, own and operate a natural gas-to-syngas processing facility in Qashqadaryo Province, Uzbekistan for 1 billion dollars. The natural gas-to-syngas industrial complex is an integral part of state-owned energy company Uzbekneftegaz JSC’s multi-billion gas-to-liquid (GTL) facility?one of the most advanced energy plants in the world?producing 1.5 million tonnes per year of high value-add synthetic fuels for domestic use and potentially export.

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