TotalEnergies to close cracker at Antwerp

TotalEnergies SA is the latest company to announce the permanent closure of a steam cracker in Europe as the region continues to battle petrochemical oversupply, weak demand and high costs, it said in a statement April 22.

The company will close the older of two crackers at its Antwerp, Belgium, refinery and petchem complex by the end of 2027.

“The Antwerp platform is facing considerable overcapacity in the petrochemicals market,” the statement said. The closure reflects “the significant surplus of ethylene expected in Europe,” it said.

TotalEnergies’ two ethylene plants at Antwerp are mixed-feed crackers, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights. One has the capacity to produce 550,000 metric tons per year of ethylene and the other has the capacity to make 610,000 metric tons per year of ethylene, according to Commodity Insights data.

The older cracker, which will close, was “historically dependent” on a major supply contract with a third-party user of the ethylene produced, which recently decided not to renew the contract by end 2027, TotalEnergies said. As a result, the cracker, which is not integrated to TotalEnergies' downstream polymer production, will no longer have any outlets for its ethylene production, it said. The identity of the customer has not been disclosed.

The closure will allow the Antwerp site to focus on the newer cracker, TotalEnergies said. This plant’s ethylene production is entirely consumed at TotalEnergies’ Antwerp and Feluy, Belgium, sites to make downstream products.

The restructuring will be carried out without any layoffs, TotalEnergies said. The 253 affected employees will each be offered retirement or an internal transfer to another position at the Antwerp site, it said. TotalEnergies will initiate the legally required employee consultation and notification process with employee representatives in late April.

TotalEnergies has at the same time highlighted a number of measures that it said will strengthen the competitiveness of the remaining Antwerp operations, mainly through decarbonization projects.

As part of a 200 MW Air Liquide SA electrolyzer project, TotalEnergies has signed a tolling agreement for 130 MW dedicated to the production of 15,000 metric tons per year of green hydrogen for the Antwerp complex. Upstream of the electrolyzer, TotalEnergies will supply green electricity from its OranjeWind offshore wind project. Scheduled for the end of 2027, the project will reduce CO2 emissions at the Antwerp site by up to 150,000 tons per year and contribute to the European targets (RED III) for renewable energy in transport, the company said.

Meanwhile, an initial project to produce 50,000 metric tons per year of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) via coprocessing will be implemented at the Antwerp complex in 2025. Coprocessing is an SAF production method that enables the simultaneous treatment of hydrocarbons and biomass in a conventional refining unit.

In addition, with a power rating of 25 MW and capacity of 75 MWh, Antwerp’s battery storage system is TotalEnergies’ biggest in Europe, the company noted. Commissioned last year, it helps offset the intermittency of renewable energies to encourage their development, it said.

“By adapting and investing regularly in our Antwerp site, we’re securing its long-term future and ensuring that this integrated refining and petrochemicals platform remains TotalEnergies’ most efficient in Europe,” said Ann Veraverbeke, managing director of the TotalEnergies Antwerp site.

Other cracker closure announcements in Europe in the past year have included ExxonMobil Corp.’s plant at Notre-Dame-de-Gravenchon, France; a Sabic unit at Geleen, Netherlands; and Versalis SpA’s facilities at Brindisi and Priolo, Italy. These four plants are all naphtha crackers.

LyondellBasell Industries NV announced last year that it was reviewing options for a number of its European sites including Berre, France; and Munchsmunster, Germany, where the company operates crackers.

Antwerp, meanwhile, is awaiting the startup of a major new cracker within the next few years. Ineos Group Ltd. is on course to start up a 1.4 million metric tons per year ethane cracker at Antwerp in late 2026.

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Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund said it has entered into a non-binding letter of intent to extend until 2044 its land lease with the Port of Vancouver for a portion of its chlor-alkali site in North Vancouver, British Columbia, as per Chemweek.

The remainder of the site is owned by Chemtrade. Chemtrade is also preparing to submit a rezoning application to local North Vancouver authorities, which, if approved, will enable the company “to continue producing liquid chlorine on the owned portion of the site and to implement several safety-enhancing capital improvements,” it said.

“We have been in discussions with the Port of Vancouver and the District of North Vancouver to secure a pathway to continued operations of this strategic asset,” which produces liquid chlorine for use in municipal water treatment in western Canada, said Chemtrade CEO Scott Rook. The site produces about 70% of all liquid chlorine available in British Columbia and Alberta, according to Chemtrade estimates.

The Province of British Columbia has submitted a letter “asking for the timely review and approval of our rezoning application,” Rook added.

Chemtrade’s current lease with the Port of Vancouver expires in 2032.

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Chinese chemical giant Befar Group (Binhua) has broken ground on a $500 million chlor-alkali project in Egypt’s Sokhna Industrial Zone, as per Chemweek.

The project, located within TEDA-Egypt's industrial park, will have a total production capacity of 100,000 tonnes, SCZONE said in a press statement.

The statement said the project is being developed in two phases, each covering 200,000 square metres (sqm), with $300 million allocated to the first phase and $200 million to the second.

Construction for the first phase is expected to be completed within 18 months.

According to the statement, the facility is set to become Egypt’s first green chemical plant, relying on a mix of wind and solar energy, electricity, and natural gas to generate steam for operations.

Waleid Gamal El-Dien, Chairman of SCZONE said the project is expected to create around 800 jobs and will contribute to import substitution and the localisation of strategic industries.

“This project is part of an integrated system for mineral extraction from seawater, including the production of bromine and other supporting and feeder industries,” he added.

Yinghui Cai, Vice President, Befar Group praised the support from SCZONE, TEDA-Egypt, and project partners, noting that the group currently exports to more than 100 countries and holds leading positions in the Chinese market for products such as allyl chloride, trichloroethylene, and caustic soda.

The project agreement was signed during SCZONE’s investment promotion tour on the sidelines of the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in September 2024.

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Clariant AG said it has renewed its cooperation with Midrex Technologies Inc. (Charlotte, North Carolina) and will intensify collaboration on direct reduced iron (DRI) technology for steel production, as per Chemweek.

Natural gas-based DRI is a low-carbon alternative to conventional coal-based ironmaking that converts natural gas with recycled CO2 and H2O to generate reducing gas for the steel production process, Clariant said.

The Midrex DRI technology avoids around one ton of CO2 per ton of crude steel. It combines Midrex reformers with Clariant-manufactured catalysts, marketed under the Reformex brand, the company said.

“The Midrex process is one of the most widely used technologies for producing all forms of DRI products, and it is well-known for its reliability and continuous operation. Clariant’s catalysts are tailor-made for our process to offer optimized and consistent performance. Our joint solution ensures the lowest CO2 emissions of any steelmaking route today,” said Sean Boyle, vice president/commercial at Midrex.

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PureCycle Technologies Inc. (Orlando, Florida) has raised $27 million in gross proceeds through the sale of Southern Ohio Port Authority tax-exempt facility revenue bonds, as per Chemweek.

PureCycle expects to use the funds to support commercialization of its dissolution-based polypropylene (PP) recycling process, the company said on April 22.

PureCycle sold approximately $30 million in aggregate par value at a price of $880 per $1,000 of face value. The company said it continues to hold about $87 million of salable Series A1 Southern Ohio Port Authority revenue bonds.

PureCycle’s flagship recycling facility in Ironton, Ohio, began operation in 2023. Since then, the company has been fine-tuning its process while ramping up production. In January, PureCycle announced an initial purchase of 227 metric tons of recycled PP by Drake Extrusion Inc. for the production of continuous filament yarns. In March, the company said it had secured PP waste feedstock for a planned recycling facility in Belgium.

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