Mkango eyes construction of rare earths plant at Grupa Azoty site in Poland by 2028

Canadian rare earth elements-focused explorer Mkango Resources plans to complete a full feasibility study for its proposed rare earth separation plant on land leased from Grupa Azoty at Pulawy, Poland, with the refinery to be completed by 2028, according to Grupa Azoty, as per Chemweek.

“At this stage, Mkango intends to complete a full feasibility study. The company assumes that the construction of the refinery will take 18 months in the years 2027-2028,” Grupa Azoty said in a March 25 announcement following a decision announced that day by the European Commission to include the project in an adopted list of 47 critical raw material projects in the EU.

Grupa Azoty said it signed a land lease agreement with Mkango in February for the construction of the rare earth metals separation installation adjacent to Grupa Azoty’s existing fertilizer and chemicals complex at Pulawy.

The proposed rare earths refinery would process raw materials primarily sourced from a proposed mine in Malawi, for the onward production of neodymium oxides, praseodymium oxides, lanthanum, and cerium, it said.

Plans for the plant were first announced in 2021, with the facility expected to initially produce around 2,000 metric tons per year.

Rare earth metals are used in military and defense technology, steel alloys, in permanent magnets found in electric vehicles, wind turbines and other green technology and strategic applications.

The EU is aiming to ensure European extraction, processing and recycling of strategic raw materials to meet 10%, 40% and 25% of EU demand by 2030, respectively, according to the EC. The EC said the 47 projects had an expected overall capital investment of €22.5 billion to become operational.

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Air Liquide SA has reduced its scope 1 and 2 CO2 emissions by 11% compared to its baseline year of 2020 and said it is “ahead of schedule” to achieve its inflection target by 2025, as per Chemweek.

The company has also lowered its carbon intensity by 41% compared to 2025, which means it has already passed its previously set target of a 30% reduction by this year, it said in an announcement March 31.

Air Liquide said it progressed in all areas of its sustainable development strategy in 2024, including accelerating its low-carbon electricity sourcing, the share of which reached more than 40% last year in terms of power purchases derived from renewables or nuclear. It also secured future low-carbon energy supplies with a record volume of PPAs signed for 2,500 GWh, it said.

Air Liquide is targeting carbon neutrality by 2050.

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TotalEnergies SA (Paris) said it expects a new chemical recycling plant for waste plastics at Grandpuits, France, to start operations “within a few months” but added that it has shelved plans for mechanical recycling and biomethane plants at the site, as per Chemweek.

It did not give a specific reason for the suspension of the projects. The advanced recycling plant will have capacity to initially produce up to 10,000 metric tons per year of pyrolysis oil (pyoil) from waste plastic, it said March 31.

TotalEnergies and Plastic Energy (London) are developing the facility, with commissioning previously announced as having started in December. In that announcement, the companies said the chemical recycling plant’s full capacity would be 15,000 metric tons per year. The plant was originally planned to start operations in 2024.

TotalEnergies is also building a biorefinery for the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at Grandpuits as part of a project to make the site the company’s first zero-crude platform, it said. The biorefinery is scheduled to start production of up to 230,000 metric tons of SAF at the beginning of 2026, it said.

However, the company said that “some projects at the site due to be developed in a second phase — biogas and mechanical recycling — have been suspended and the employees who were to join them are assigned, with their agreement, to the success of the first two major projects.”

TotalEnergies said the conversion of its former Grandpuits oil refinery into a zero-crude platform continues and it will “meet all its commitments.” Local media outlets had recently reported that the company had scaled down or put on hold some of its plans for the transitioning of the Grandpuits site.

The plant for the mechanical recycling of waste plastics was previously planned to be operational in 2026 with a production capacity of 30,000 metric tons per year. The biomethane plant, with a proposed annual capacity of 80 GWh, was to be supplied with organic waste from the biorefinery.

TotalEnergies ended crude oil refining at Grandpuits in the first quarter of 2021.

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Mitsubishi Chemical Group (MCG) said that its affiliates Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. (MMC) and Shinryo Corp. will stop manufacturing at their respective sites located in Onahama, Japan, said the company.

Production at the plants will be discontinued in stages starting in March 2026 and fully terminated by the end of March 2027.

MCC, at Onahama, produces ammonia and derivatives, as well as methanol, formalin, wood-based adhesives, fatty acid amides, ultra-high purity process chemicals such as hydrochloric acid, nitric acid and ammonia solution, and triallyl isocyanurate (TAIC) derivatives.

Shinryo, at Onahama, manufactures fine chemicals, TAIC and distilled products.

“The two plants have been engaged in the manufacture of various chemical products, and in recent years, have undertaken initiatives to streamline operations and attract new business in response to drastic changes in the market environment. Despite these efforts, however, securing profitability at these plants has become extremely difficult,” said MCG.

In February 2024, MCG announced it would end production of methyl methacrylate through the acetone cyanohydrin process at the company’s Hiroshima, Japan, site.

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Styrene monomer(SM) prices were assessed higher in Asia on Thursday, as per Polymerupdate.

An industry source in Asia informed a Polymerupdate team member, SM prices increased on the back of stronger energy values coupled with a bullish market momentum in the Asian region.

The source added, "Higher upstream benzene values further pushed SM prices up in Asia".

On Thursday, FOB Korea SM prices were assessed at the USD 960-970/mt levels, a rise of USD (+10/mt) from Wednesday's assessed levels.

CFR China SM prices on Thursday were assessed at the USD 970-980/mt levels, a day on day gain of USD (+10/mt).

Meanwhile, upstream benzene prices on Thursday were assessed at the USD 810-820/mt FOB Korea levels, up USD (+15/mt) over from Wednesday.

It was previously reported that the Dutch styrene market was extremely volatile in March following the announcement of the closure of the propylene oxide and styrene production facility in Maasvlakte. The facility, which is jointly operated by LyondellBasell and Covestro, has been operating in the Rotterdam area since 2003. The propylene oxide and styrene co-production (POSM) process is one of the methods used to produce styrene. The plant has a capacity of 680,000 tonnes of styrene and 315,000 tonnes of propylene oxide.

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