Eni and LG Chem team up for biorefinery in South Korea

MOSCOW (MRC) - The sustainable mobility unit of Italy's Eni and petrochemicals maker LG Chem have teamed up to explore the potential development of a biorefinery in South Korea, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Eni believes biofuels made from vegetable oil, waste cooking oil and grease will play a key role in decarbonizing the truck, aviation and shipping sectors in the next few years. The Italian group, which already operates two biorefineries at home, recently said it also wanted to develop plants in Asia and the United States.

The new project, which is designed to process around 400,000 tons of bio-feedstocks per year, aims to meet growing demand for both sustainable fuels and plastics produced through low-carbon processes. It will have the flexibility to process renewable bio-feedstocks and produce multiple products including sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), and bio-naphtha.

A final decision for the investment is scheduled to be made by next year and the plant is set to be completed by 2026 at LG Chem's existing integrated petrochemical complex in Daesan, southwest Seoul.

Eni will provide the South Korean biorefinery with sustainable feedstock mainly sourced from waste and residue from the processing of vegetable oils, used cooking oil, and also vegetable oils from drought-resistant crops.

The Italian group recently signed several agreements with African and Asian countries to develop farming ventures able to produce these crops in degraded, semi-arid or abandoned soils not used for food production.

We remind, Nigerian state oil firm NNPC Ltd says a subsidiary of Italy's Eni did not obtain its consent prior to announcing a deal to sell onshore oil assets to local firm Oando PLC, a failure that could have breached terms of a joint operating agreement. The letter casts doubt on the speed of the transaction, announced on Monday, and underscores the difficulty international oil majors have faced in their years-long efforts to sell onshore oil and gas assets in Nigeria.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said on Thursday data-based forecasts do not support the International Energy Agency's projection that demand for fossil fuels would peak in 2030, said Reuters.

IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said in an op-ed in the Financial Times on Tuesday that new IEA estimates show "this age of seemingly relentless growth is set to come to an end this decade, bringing with it significant implications for the global energy sector and the fight against climate change."

OPEC, de facto led by top oil exporter Saudi Arabia, in its statement on Thursday said what made the projections "so dangerous" is they are often accompanied by calls to stop new oil and gas investments.

"Such narratives only set the global energy system up to fail spectacularly," OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais said in the statement. "It would lead to energy chaos on a potentially unprecedented scale, with dire consequences for economies and billions of people across the world."

OPEC said the projections do not factor ongoing technological progress by the oil and gas industry to cut emissions and that 80% of the world's energy mix comes from fossil fuels, the same as three decades ago.

"Based only on today's policy settings by governments worldwide — even without any new climate policies — demand for each of the three fossil fuels is set to hit a peak in the coming years. This is the first time that a peak in demand is visible for each fuel this decade — earlier than many people anticipated," Birol said in his op-ed.

But he added the forecasted decline was "nowhere near steep enough" to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the more ambitious target nations agreed to under the Paris climate agreement.

"Cognizant of the challenge facing the world to eliminate energy poverty, meet rising energy demand, and ensure affordable energy while reducing emissions, OPEC does not dismiss any energy sources or technologies, and believes that all stakeholders should do the same and recognize short- and long-term energy realities," Al Ghais said in the OPEC statement.

We remind, refiners across the top-importing region of Asia are being forced to adapt buying patterns as the additional output cuts by Saudi Arabia have reduced availability of their preferred medium sour grades of crude.
On September 5, the Kingdom, the top oil exporter and de facto leader of the OPEC+ group, extended its voluntary production cut of 1 MMbpd until the end of the year, while Russia, the second largest producer in the group, extended its 300,000 bpd output cut over the same period.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- TotalEnergies announced a call for tenders for the annual production of 500,000 tonnes of "green" hydrogen on Thursday, as part of the French oil major's plans to decarbonise its European refineries, said Reuters.

Its emissions reduction plan is to use green hydrogen, which is produced using renewable energy, to completely replace "grey" hydrogen in its carbon intensive industrial activities. TotalEnergies said the transition to green hydrogen would reduce emissions by around five million metric tons of CO2 per year from its refineries in Europe, including its three oil refineries and two biorefineries in France.

The call for tenders will complement other smaller, local projects, it added. The group also announced an agreement with Air Liquide to supply the Gonfreville refining platform with up to 15,000 tonnes of green and other low-carbon hydrogen, which is expected to reduce 150,000 metric tons of carbon emissions annually.

"We need electrolyzers in massive quantities. This is also the purpose of this call for tenders: to give a boost to this sector," Jean-Marc Durand, director of petrochemical refining in Europe at TotalEnergies, told journalists during a presentation.

"We talk a lot about green hydrogen, but at some point, players like us need to commit to getting these sectors off the ground via massive calls for tender. There needs to be an effect of scale. Ihat's what this work is all about," he added.

The group is also banking on various regulations and incentives in Europe to obtain "competitive" prices, as green hydrogen normally costs two to three times as much as grey hydrogen, Sebastien Bruna, director of hydrogen in the refining branch of TotalEnergies, said.

European Union lawmakers gave their final approval this week to legally binding targets to expand renewable energy faster this decade, part of which gave a concession to France for nuclear power to be considered in the production of hydrogen.

We remind, TotalEnergies restarted the coker at its 238,000-bpd Port Arthur, Texas, refinery, said people familiar with plant operations. TotalEnergies restarted the 150,000-pd ACU-1 crude distillation unit (CDU) and 60,000-bpd vacuum distillation unit-2 (VDU-2), the sources said. A TotalEnergies spokesperson was not immediately available to comment.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mitsui Chemicals recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new plant to produce the high-performance elastomer Tafmer at its Singapore-based wholly owned subsidiary Mitsui Elastomers Singapore, as per Process-worldwide.

The ceremony was held on 28 July, 2023. As part of Mitsui Chemicals’ Vision 2030 Long-Term Business Plan, the Mobility Solutions business aims to help solve social challenges and achieve sustainable business growth by providing unique materials, features and services.

Tafmer is used both as a soft molding material and as a resin modifier that dramatically improves resin properties. Its flexibility and lightness have resulted in Tafmer being used across a wide range of fields, including solar cell components, packaging materials, engineering plastic modifiers, sports shoes and automotive parts.

Demand for Tafmer is set to remain strong as the global economy grows, and is expected to rise further on the back of efforts to achieve a circular economy by stepping up the introduction of clean energy. Via the supply of Tafmer, which meets these needs, Mitsui Chemicals aims to become a global solutions company that leads change and contributes to the sustainable societies of the future.

We remind, Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. announced that new affiliate Mitsui Chemicals EMS Corporation has begun doing business after its establishment on July 1, 2023. Created to take over the pellicle business acquired from Asahi Kasei Corporation, Mitsui Chemicals EMS is the No. 1 player in the market for FPD pellicles, which are used in the LCD panel exposure process.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Braskem and Vitol S.A. have announced an agreement for circular feedstock derived from plastic waste. Under the agreement, Vitol will start to supply Braskem Netherlands B.V. with pyrolysis oil produced in the chemical recycling process at the facilities of WPU – Waste Plastic Upcycling A/S, in Denmark, said the company.

Chemical recycling is a complementary process to traditional mechanical recycling. It enables plastic waste that is unfit for mechanical recycling to be recovered and turned into valuable raw materials for the chemical industry, an alternative to fossil fuel-based feedstock.

The agreement with Vitol helps Braskem increase the circularity of its products around the world. It is part of the Wenew ecosystem, a concept that represents and consolidates Braskem’s efforts in the circular economy on four pillars – products, education, technology, and circular design. The initiative has a significant impact on the company’s growth strategy and the achievement of plastic waste reduction targets. By 2030, Braskem plans to sell 1 million tons of products with recycled material and recover 1.5 million tons of plastic from the environment.

“The circular economy is an objective linked to Braskem’s business strategy. Adopting initiatives that include plastic waste recovery, and mechanical, and chemical recycling in our production processes is connected to our company’s purpose to provide a more circular and sustainable future. We believe that Vitol’s infrastructure and expertise combined with WPU’s plastic waste recycling technology will enable Braskem to take an important step towards developing sustainable solutions for our clients,” said Walmir Soller, VP of Olefins and Polyolefins at Braskem Europe & Asia.

Global Head of Naphtha trading at Vitol, Tom Baker, said: “We are delighted to supply Braskem with pyrolysis oil from WPU, which complements Braskem’s desire to further the circularity of its products globally. Incorporating waste-derived feedstock into the supply chain is a cost-effective upcycling solution that will ensure Braskem can meet its clients’ sustainable needs.”

For Niels Stielund, chairman of the board at WPU – Waste Plastic Upcycling A/S, the agreement with Braskem is an important step. “We are delighted that we can support Braskem’s efforts to achieve sustainability using the pyrolysis oil we produce at our factories. That a world-renowned actor like Braskem will now use our feedstock is a milestone for us and a stamp of approval for our proprietary technology. It also highlights how end-of-life plastic can be a valuable resource in a circular process instead of ending up in incinerators or landfills, and we are humbled and happy to embark on this journey with Braskem and Vitol,” says Stielund.

We remind, Braskem and the University of Sao Paulo (USP) have announced a partnership to develop lines of research for converting CO2 into other chemical products. CO­2 is one of the greenhouse gases and among the biggest contributors to climate change.

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