North America chem rail traffic rises for fourth week

MOSCOW (MRC) -- North American chemical rail traffic rose for a fourth consecutive week as railcar loadings for the week ended 9 September were up 2.8% year on year to 43,757, with the US, Canada and Mexico all registering increases, according to Association of American Railroads.

For the first 36 weeks of 2023 ended 9 September, North American chemical rail traffic was down 1.8% year on year to 1,630,304 loadings - with the US down 3.2% to 1,119,971.

In the US, chemical railcar loadings represent about 20% of chemical transportation by tonnage, with trucks, barges and pipelines carrying the rest. In Canada, chemical producers rely on rail to ship more than 70% of their products, with some exclusively using rail.

We remind, North American chemical rail traffic rose for a third consecutive week, with railcar loadings for the week ended 2 September up 7.4% year on year to 47,935.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- BP plans to invest up to EUR10 B (USD10.7 B) in low-carbon fuels, renewables and EV charging in Germany by the end of the decade to rival local power firms, as competition over the energy transition of Europe's largest economy intensifies, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Germany is one of a handful of countries bp is targeting to roll out at scale its strategy to shift away from fossil fuels towards low-carbon fuels and electricity.

At the heart of the German investment push are plans to expand bp's local network of electric vehicle (EV) fast chargers, decarbonize its refineries, and develop wind power. It is also weighing a local hub to import low-carbon hydrogen.

"We are talking about refineries, we are talking about the largest petrol station network in Germany, we are talking about existing business relationships, about strong brands," Patrick Wendeler, who chairs the board of bp Europe, said. "These are all excellent assets that we can build on and that others do not have in this form. That is an advantage."

The €10 B are new investments, which however include a €678 MM payment bp has to make after being awarded in July two licenses in Germany's recent offshore wind auction. bp plans to spend $55 B–$65 B on its new transition businesses between 2023 and 2030, when the sum will equal its investment in oil and gas.

Former CEO Bernard Looney, who resigned late on Tuesday in a surprise move for failing to fully disclose details of past personal relationships with colleagues, told Reuters recently he would not further scale back his energy transition strategy after ceding some ground earlier this year.

The scale of investment is bound to challenge incumbent power utilities that are struggling to compete with the financial muscle of oil firms.

bp has been operating in Germany for more than a century through predecessor companies and employs about 4,000 people there, around 6% of its total.

Wendeler said there would be areas where bp would bring in new or retain existing expertise, declining to say whether the workforce would grow as a result of the investments.

bp recently opened a new office in Hamburg which will oversee its offshore wind expansion. "We will have areas where we will consolidate, because the existing energy system is one that is declining strongly," he said, adding crude oil capacity in Germany will drop further.

bp operates two refineries in Germany — Lingen and Gelsenkirchen — as well as Aral, Germany's largest petrol station network. It also provides more than 1,700 fast EV loading spots in Germany via its Aral brand.

By 2030, bp plans to have up to 20,000 charging spots, Wendeler said, hoping to cash in on the growing adoption of EV as carmakers from Volkswagen to BMW launch new models. bp's award in Germany's offshore wind tender along with TotalEnergies made headlines, as the oil majors beat out incumbents such as RWE and Orsted.

bp will mainly use the electricity to satisfy its own demand in Germany. Rivals bidders, including Shell, Orsted and RWE, have challenged the economic rationale behind bp's bid, which it says will generate returns of 6%–8%.

RWE, which itself is planning to spend €15 B in Germany by 2030, dropped out of the race because it said the bidding had reached unsustainable levels, its CEO said.

We remind, BP expanded its investment in bioenergy today as bp ventures committed USD10 mln, leading the Series B investment round, in WasteFuel, a California-based biofuels company that will use proven, scalable technologies to convert bio-based municipal and agricultural waste into lower carbon fuels, such as bio-methanol.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- 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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MOSCOW (MRC) -- 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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MOSCOW (MRC) -- 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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