INEOS Aromatics to propose mothballing one of its PTA plants in Geel, Belgium

INEOS Aromatics is today announcing its intention to mothball the smaller and older of two of its PTA (Purified Terephthalic Acid) units at its integrated PX and PTA production facility in Geel, Belgium, said the company.

This unit has been off-line since 2022 and a review of its long-term future has been pending for some time. Despite the company’s best efforts to make the unit competitive, difficult market conditions have brought things to a head. An increase in energy, raw material and labour costs has made European production increasingly uncompetitive relative to exports from new PTA and derivative capacity commissioned in Asia.

PTA (or purified terephthalic acid) is an essential raw material for the manufacture of polyester PET, used principally to make textiles, fabrics and food and beverage packaging materials as well as many other items found in homes and businesses.

INEOS will now start a consultation process with the affected employees’ representatives to mitigate the impact of the plans, including where possible finding redeployment opportunities in other activities at the Geel site. Customers will not be affected as both the PX unit and the second, larger PTA unit at the site, which is newer and more efficient, continues to operate.

Steve Dossett, INEOS Aromatics CEO, said: “This is a difficult decision to take and I thank everyone on site that has worked hard to improve the competitiveness of the unit since it was taken off line in May 2022. High energy and operating costs have put European PTA production at a major disadvantage relative to exporters from Asia, who benefit from access to discounted Russian hydrocarbons.”

He adds, “The EU’s imposition of provisional anti-dumping duties on Chinese PET Resin is a step in the right direction, but European industry urgently needs more help. At the EU level, further action is still required against other artificially low-cost PTA and PET resin importers. In Belgium action is needed to control spiralling employment costs.”

INEOS Aromatics is a leading, global producer of PTA (purified terephthalic acid) and PX (paraxylene), with production facilities in the US, Belgium, Indonesia, Taiwan and Mainland China.

We remind, INEOS has announced it has completed the acquisition of the Eastman Texas City site, the 600kt Acetic Acid plant and all associated third party activities, from Eastman Chemical Company, said the company.
As previously announced, Eastman and INEOS have also entered into a Memorandum of Understanding to explore options for a long-term supply agreement for vinyl acetate monomer.

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EU antitrust regulators fined Lantmannen, the largest ethanol producer in the Nordic region, $51.4 MM for rigging ethanol benchmarks between November 2012 to March 2014, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The European Commission raided some companies in 2014 and 2015 that subsequently led to investigations into Lantmannen, Alcogroup and Abengoa in 2015.

It said the three companies took part in a cartel focusing on the wholesale price formation mechanism for ethanol in Europe.

The EU antitrust enforcer dropped its case against Alcogroup earlier this year because of insufficient grounds to continue its investigation while Abengoa was hit with a 20 million euro fine two years ago.

We remind, Indonesia has allotted 13.41 million kiloliters of biodiesel for mandatory blending in 2024, slightly more than this year's allocation, the chairman of biodiesel producers' association said on Thursday. The Southeast Asian country allocated 13.15 million kiloliters of biodiesel for this year after in February raising its mandatory palm oil blend for the fuel from 30% to 35%, a program better known as B35.

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BASF and Heidelberg University will continue to jointly operate the Catalysis Research Laboratory for a further five years, said the company.

The two partners signed an agreement to continue this successful research collaboration until 2028. Currently, 10 researchers are employed at CaRLa. Since the founding of the catalysis laboratory in 2006, more than 100 employees from 34 countries have been involved in the development of new processes for homogeneous catalysis and organic synthesis.

“Basic research in the field of homogeneous catalysis is important for BASF, as it helps us develop chemical processes that require less energy and generate less waste. CaRLa is thus an important cornerstone for us to achieve BASF’s sustainability goals,” said Dr. Helmut Winterling, President BASF Group Research. “At BASF, we have benefited in recent years from CaRLa’s broad expertise and research findings. We are therefore very pleased to continue our collaboration with Heidelberg University and our access to this chemical and technical know-how in the future.” Since 2015, 18 projects have been transferred to BASF research, where they are further developed for industrial applications. CaRLa therefore represents a successful collaboration between academic and industrial research.

“Going beyond the classic partnerships between science and industry, the concept of the CaRLa catalysis laboratory is based on close integration of the research fields. This accelerates the transfer of technology and knowledge into large-scale applications, which is particularly important given that society is facing the challenge of sustainable resource use. Another important building block of this collaboration is promoting new talent. Young researchers benefit from this collaboration within the framework of CaRLa because the knowledge relating to sustainability that they acquire can also be applied in their subsequent careers in industry or academia,” said Prof. Dr. Katja Patzel-Mattern, Vice-Rector Innovation and Transfer at Heidelberg University.

To use raw materials more efficiently and reduce the CO2 footprint of products and production processes, CaRLa has in recent years intensified its work on new processes for the chemical recycling of plastic waste. One example is selectively breaking down polyurethane plastics into basic building blocks which can be recycled to form polymers (complete plastics) again. Besides the development of new processes for chemical recycling, the scientists are also working on catalysis systems for the efficient production of bio-based and biodegradable polymers.

CaRLa’s work has so far resulted in 104 academic papers published in renowned journals. Moreover, the catalysis laboratory has filed 41 patent applications since its founding.

In connection with the extension of the contract, there will be organizational changes at CaRLa: Prof. Dr. Thomas Schaub and Dr. Jaroslaw Mormul will jointly assume leadership of the laboratory on the BASF side. In addition to Dr. Julia Schuller, Vice President Chemicals Research at BASF, Dr. Christian Rein, head of the research group Homogeneous Catalysis and Acrylics at BASF, will join the steering committee. From Heidelberg University, the steering committee includes organic chemist Prof. Dr. A. Stephen K. Hashmi as scientific manager, and inorganic chemist Prof. Dr. Peter Comba as another member.

We remind, BASF Services Europe GmbH today opened its new service Hub location in Berlin. BASF will use 15,000 square meters over eight floors in the SCALE office complex in the Prenzlauer Berg district, said the company. With around 2,800 employees, BASF Services Europe GmbH provides a wide range of business management services for BASF Group companies in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

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BOBST was proud and delighted to receive the sought-after Top Company to Watch Award at the Digital Packaging Summit 2023, said The company.

The event took place in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, on November 13–15, 2023, organized by Printing United Alliance and its advisory board.

The invitation-only event was attended by more than 240 senior managers and business executives, who enjoyed a program of educational sessions, expert analyses, and real-life case studies combined with great networking opportunities.

BOBST presented several case studies to the executive attendees, who later voted to crown the award winners. Simplifying label production with BOBST’s All-in-One technology was the focus for Ken Brown, Product Business Development Manager, and Matt Bennett, Business Unit Director, BOBST North America. They demonstrated how two leading European label printing companies – Geostick in Belgium and Germark in Spain – have implemented All-in-One platforms from BOBST to optimize their production floor and explore new opportunities in a sustainable and productive way. The All-in-One platform combines BOBST’s advanced flexo automation and digital inkjet technology to deliver full flexibility, ease of operation, and faster turnaround allowing Geostick and Germark to accelerate productivity. The case studies were met with great interest from the audience, laying the foundation for the prebooked one-to-one meetings with converters.

“BOBST was proud to support the Digital Packaging Summit which has become the premier digital event of the year in North America. Our case study sessions resonated exceptionally well with the attendees, and I suspect the majority came away with a newfound appreciation for BOBST and our capabilities in label and packaging printing,” said Matt Bennett. “The recognition as the Top Company to Watch is a tremendous honor, reinforcing BOBST’s position as a prominent player in the market. It perfectly reflects our strong commitment to excellence and innovation in the label industry.”

This award follows hot on the heels of BOBST’s highly successful participation at Labelexpo Europe 2023 in September. BOBST takes pride in being recognized as a global leader in label production, boasting a presence with over 1200 machines deployed worldwide. In the past year alone, the company has installed over 100 digital narrow-mid-web presses, covering flexo and digital technologies along with an extensive service and support program. With a rich history of over 130 years, BOBST has extensive experience in serving customers globally across labels, flexible packaging, folding cartons, and corrugated board.

We remind, Equinor UK Ltd. has extended its contract with Wood for operations, maintenance, modifications, and offshore services on the Mariner A platform and Mariner B floating storage unit on Mariner field in the UK North Sea, said Ogj. Wood also will deliver front-end concept and feasibility studies, detailed design, construction, and commissioning services for future project developments. The contract will be delivered by Wood’s team in Aberdeen and offshore North Sea.

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Trinseo, a specialty material solutions provider, is helping advance the potential of sustainable plastics with the inauguration of its next generation, polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) depolymerization plant in Rho, Italy, said the company.

Scheduled to be commissioned in Q1 2024, this demonstration facility marks a pivotal step towards reshaping the plastics ecosystem as part of the circular economy. PMMA, renowned for its versatility in various applications, will be transformed through this advanced recycling and purification process where it can go back into the plastics value chain and support the goal of circularity.

This depolymerization operation will be designed to enable the efficient recycling of end-of-life PMMA, as well as other difficult to recycle structures, which will ultimately be used to produce acrylic resins, sheets, and compounds containing recycled materials.

Depolymerization is a chemical recycling technology which is complementary to more traditional mechanical recycling processes. While mechanical recycling is vital to a successful circular economy, depolymerization creates brand new opportunities by reducing the polymer back to its constituent monomers. This allows for the recycling of a wider variety of PMMA-based materials, supporting an increase in recycled content and overall recycling rates, and helping reduce the manufacturing demand for virgin materials.

“Innovation in recycling technologies is imperative to effectively recycle various types of materials. This new facility is yet another major achievement towards a scalable system with the goal of making PMMA a truly circular material of high quality,” said Trinseo’s Chief Sustainability Officer, Francesca Reverberi. “When combined with our own in-house sourcing and treatment of collected materials through our Heathland recycling operation, our PMMA depolymerization plant will offer a high-performance solution for a world increasingly looking for new ways to address sustainability in the plastics supply chain,” added Reverberi.

We remind, Trinseo, a specialty material solutions provider, today announced its decision to discontinue operations at its ethylbenzene styrene monomer (EBSM) manufacturing facility in Terneuzen, the Netherlands, said the company.

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