Vioneo to import green methanol from China for proposed Antwerp polyolefins project

Vioneo, a subsidiary of AP Moller Holding AS (Copenhagen), plans initially to source approximately 800,000 metric tons per year of renewable methanol from China as feedstock for a proposed €1.5 billion green polyolefins project in Belgium, a Vioneo spokesperson told CW in an exclusive briefing on April 15, as per Chemweek.

AP Moller announced potential plans in October last year to develop the polymers complex at Antwerp, which would produce a combined 300,000 metric tons per year of fossil-free polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP). Vioneo would use green methanol derived from renewable hydrogen and biomaterials to produce feedstock ethylene and propylene, for the onward production of PE and PP.

The 800,000 metric tons of green methanol feedstock, in line with media reports at the time of the original announcement, will be derived from agricultural waste in China and imported to the proposed Antwerp plant, the company told CW.

The “fossil-free” PE and PP produced is expected to carry a price premium of 2-3 times that of conventional PE and PP, it said.

A final investment decision (FID) on the project is anticipated by October or November this year, although its future progress hangs on a successful application to the EU’s Innovation Fund for funding, and securing a minimum number of offtake deals from brand owners, it said.

The plant’s scheduled start of commercial operations is currently pencilled in for late 2028 or early 2029, Vioneo said. This is slightly later than in AP Moller’s original announcement for startup “in 2028.” A front-end engineering and design study was scheduled to start in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Technology licensing awards for the PE and PP production processes to be used at the complex are anticipated to be made within the next month or so, the company told CW. In January, Vioneo selected Honeywell International Inc.’s methanol-to-olefins (MTO) technology for the project, and will also utilize Honeywell’s light olefins recovery process and olefins cracking process, it said.

If it proceeds, the MTO plant would be the first in Europe and one of only two to be developed outside China, the other being in Uzbekistan.

Vioneo will also consider plans to replicate with a second plant elsewhere once the Antwerp complex is up and running, it said. Multiple potential locations at demand centers for the second and other future plants are being considered, including in southern Europe; mainland China, including Hong Kong; and the US, Vioneo said.

The plants in the first complex, to be located within Vopak NV’s Energy Park at Antwerp, would produce PE and PP of “drop-in quality,” according to the company.

The €1.5 billion total investment figure would include funds from privately owned AP Moller Holding, as well as investment via the EU Innovation Fund, for which the company is currently applying, the spokesperson said. Further funds could also come from investment banks, they said.

In terms of potential long-term offtake agreements, the company said it expects to announce progress within the next couple of months. In its original announcement, it said it was in “advanced discussions” with several major global brands from various industries including healthcare, automotive, fast moving consumer goods, beauty and home products.

The Antwerp plant is planned to be wholly powered by renewable electricity.

AP Moller Holding is an investment company and the parent of AP Moller Group, which has a 41.5% stake in shipping company AP Moller-Maersk AS.

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The European Commission has unveiled its annual report on Safety Gate, the European rapid alert system for dangerous non-food consumer products, as per Chemweek.

The report presents an overview of dangerous products notified under Safety Gate during 2024. Chemicals, including plastic additives and cosmetic ingredients, were the reason for many of the product alert notifications.

A total of 4,137 alerts were notified last year — the highest recorded number since the launch of the system in 2003, the commission said. “This increase in alerts demonstrates the growing effectiveness and trust in the Safety Gate system, as authorities are using the platform more often to report and address potential threats to consumer safety,” it said.

Last year, cosmetics (36%) remained the most frequently reported products posing health risks, followed by toys (15%), electrical appliances (10%), motor vehicles (9%) and chemical products (6%).

Chemical ingredients in products were the main cause of risk in almost half of the alerts, the commission said. “Dangerous chemicals” include “synthetic chemicals used to soften plastic,” it said.

About 97% of the cosmetics notified were reported to contain BMHCA, also known as 2-(4-tert-butylbenzyl) propionaldehyde or commonly known as lilial, the commission said. BMHCA is a banned synthetic fragrance that can harm the reproductive system and cause skin irritation, it said.

Alerts registered in the Safety Gate system triggered “a robust response” from market surveillance authorities with more than 4,200 follow-up actions taken to stop the sale of these products or even take them off the market.

The commission said it is working closely with national market surveillance authorities to prepare a set of checks that would be carried out on websites simultaneously to identify breaches of EU consumer law in a particular sector.

We remind, the European Commission has ruled that a planned ban on non-recyclable styrene packaging in France will not be legally binding. The ban, set out in the country’s Climate and Sustainability Act, was due to come into force on 1 January 2025. However, it conflicts with the EU’s upcoming Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), so the country’s government has decided not to ban styrene polymers or copolymers.

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Ecolab Inc. has announced a 5% trade surcharge on all of its solutions and services in the US, effective May 1, to mitigate the impact of rising raw material costs due to recent changes in international trade policies, as per Chemweek.

“Through our ‘local for local’ model, we’ve strategically positioned ourselves to ensure that more than 90% of our sales are produced close to our customers, allowing us to effectively navigate challenges like this with confidence,” said Christophe Beck, Ecolab’s chairman and CEO. “We are leveraging the strength of Ecolab to mitigate the impact of the 10% global baseline tariff. However, global tariffs greater than 10% and the 145% tariff placed on China are having broader impacts on the cost of some raw materials, packaging and equipment. We cannot fully mitigate these increases, necessitating adjustments in our pricing.”

Beck added that due to proactive actions Ecolab has taken the company can limit its products’ price increase to 5% for its US customers. “We will continue to monitor the situation closely and stand ready to take decisive, market-driven action to adjust the surcharge accordingly.”

We remind, new US tariffs will affect US chemical producers mainly through their impact on demand rather than trade.

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The Turkmen state concern Turkmenhimiya has signed three framework agreements with companies from Turkey and Japan for projects in gas and oil processing, the newspaper Neutral Turkmenistan reported, as per Interfax.

The documents were signed following Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov's visit to Japan on April 14-15.

An agreement was signed with Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. (Japan), Ronesans Endustri Tesisleri Insaat Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S. (Turkey), and Itochu Corporation (Japan) for engineering, procurement, and turnkey construction of a second gas-to-gasoline plant in Turkmenistan's Ahal region.

Another agreement was concluded with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (Japan), Gap Insaat Yatirim ve Dis Ticaret Anonim Sirketi (Turkey) and Mitsubishi Corporation (Japan) for designing, procuring, and turnkey construction of a carbamide plant with annual capacity of 1.155 million tonnes in the Kiyanly settlement of the Balkan region.

A separate agreement was signed with Toyo Engineering Corporation (Japan) and Ronesans Endustri for major repairs at the Kiyanly polymer plant.

Additionally, the Turkmen Energy Ministry and Japan's Sumitomo Corporation signed a framework agreement for converting power plants to combined-cycle operation. Several memorandums of understanding were also signed between Turkmen agencies and Japanese companies.

Specific memorandums of understanding include those between the Turkmen Energy Ministry and Muroosystems Corporation, the Turkmen State Committee for Arkadag City Construction and Sumitomo Heavy Industries Ltd, and the Turkmen State Water Management Committee and Kubota Corporation.

The Turkmen State Bank for Foreign Economic Affairs also signed a cooperation memorandum with the Japanese Export and Investment Insurance Agency.

Turkmenhimiya previously said that the new gas-to-gasoline plant will have annual capacity of 600,000 tonnes. The first such plant launched in 2019 processes 1.785 billion cubic meters of gas annually to produce 600,000 tonnes of Eco-93 gasoline, 12,000 tonnes of diesel, and 115,000 tonnes of LPG.

The Kiyanly polymer plant, commissioned in 2018 through a $3.4 billion project implemented by Turkmengaz with Korea's LG International Corp and Hyundai Engineering plus Japan's Toyo Engineering, processes 5 bcm of natural gas annually to produce 381,000 tonnes of high-density polyethylene, 81,000 tonnes of polypropylene, and up to 4.5 bcm of commercial gas fed into pipeline systems. Production figures aren't published. Turkmengaz previously announced an international tender to build an isobutane production unit at the plant for capacity diversification.

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The State Oil Company of the Azerbaijani Republic (SOCAR) has conducted talks in Cairo on partnership opportunities and investment in the Egyptian oil and gas sector, particularly in hydrocarbon exploration and production, Egyptian Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Karim Badawi said, as per Interfax.

The minister met with Azerbaijani ambassador Elkhan Polukhov and a delegation from SOCAR led by Business Development Director Zaur Hasanov. Other participants included Salah Abdel Karim, CEO of the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) and Osama El Samannoudi, Vice President of the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS), the Egyptian oil ministry said on social media.

The ministry said that the parties had discussed opportunities for establishing a strategic partnership between Egypt and Azerbaijan in the field of oil and gas, as well as the potential for enhancing interaction and exchanging expertise.

"Badawi confirmed Egypt's ambition for long-term cooperation with SOCAR as part of the ministry's strategy to develop regional partnerships and joint projects. Parties also discussed possible investments in Egypt's petroleum sector, particularly in geological exploration and oil and gas production," the ministry said.

The parties discussed the possibilities for a partnership between EGPC and SOCAR, as well for developing mature oil fields to boost production.

"The parties agreed to create task groups which will conduct joint meetings in the near future and devise in a short time frame a cooperation mechanism which corresponds to the strategies and abilities of both sides," the Egyptian ministry's press service said.

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