World news

USA | Linde starts up new hydrogen facility

Linde recently announced that it has started up a new hydrogen production facility in Texas, US, bringing the company’s total US Gulf Coast hydrogen capacity to approximately 1.5 billion ft3/d.

Linde’s new plant has started supplying high-purity hydrogen to the Phillips 66 Sweeny Refinery in Old Ocean, Texas, under a long-term supply agreement. The new facility is located on Linde’s approximately 600 km US Gulf Coast hydrogen pipeline, which runs from Lake Charles, Louisiana, to Freeport, Texas, and has now been extended to connect with the Sweeny Refinery.

In addition to supplying Phillips 66, the facility will meet the growing demand for hydrogen from other customers in the region.

Jeff Barnhard, Vice President South Region, Linde, said: “Supported by multiple supply sources and an innovative high-purity hydrogen storage cavern, this infrastructure enables us to provide our customers with reliable long-term supply.”

The Netherlands | Neste and Ravango to set up chemical recycling JV

Neste and Ravago have announced plans to establish a joint venture to build an industrial facility for chemical recycling in North Sea Port in Vlissingen, the Netherlands.

The facility is intended to be the starting point of joint global chemical recycling (often also called ‘advanced recycling’) activities, built upon the advancement of the thermochemical liquefaction technology of Alterra Energy, an innovative chemical recycling technology company.

With this, Neste and Ravago plan to demonstrate and advance the commercialisation of chemical recycling.

The transaction is awaiting, and subject to, regulatory approval.

Neste and Ravago are aiming for a fi rst industrial chemical recycling site in North Sea Port in Vlissingen with a processing capacity of approximately 55 000 tpy of mixed plastic waste.

UK | ExxonMobil increases participation in Scotland carbon capture and storage project

ExxonMobil has increased its participation in the proposed Acorn carbon capture project in Scotland by signing an expression of interest to capture, transport and store CO2 from its Fife Ethylene Plant.

The agreement to include the ethylene plant, located in Mossmorran, Scotland, is in addition to an earlier announced memorandum of understanding to capture and store emissions from gas terminals at the St Fergus complex at Peterhead, Scotland, which includes ExxonMobil’s joint venture gas terminal.

The initial phase of Acorn, which is bidding to be in the first wave of carbon capture clusters to be announced by the UK government, has the potential to deliver more than half of the country’s target of capturing and storing 10 million tpy of CO2 by 2030. When expanded further, it will have the potential to store more than 20 million tpy of CO2 by the mid-2030s.

Russia | McDermott wins Gas Chemical Complex contract

McDermott has signed a Letter of Guarantee to deliver engineering and procurement for the ethylene cracker of the Gas Chemical Complex (GCC) project – the largest polyethylene integration project in the world – with China National Chemical Engineering and Construction Corp. Seven Ltd (CC7).

This agreement follows McDermott’s safe and successful delivery of the front end engineering design (FEED) and early works phases of the project. The ethane cracker project is owned by Baltic Chemical Complex LLC (BCC), a subsidiary of RusGazDobycha, located onshore Russia in the Gulf of Finland.

Under the scope of the agreement, McDermott will provide complete project management, engineering and procurement services, including fi eld engineering, author supervision and the supply of equipment and materials for a two train ethane cracker unit with combined capacity of 2.8 million tpy of ethylene and is licensed by Lummus Technology.

McDermott and Lummus Technology work jointly through a strategic agreement that leverages their respective strengths for customers.

WORLD NEWS

DIARY DATES The Netherlands | Shell awards Worley low-carbon fuels services contract

15 - 18 November 2021

ADIPEC

Abu Dhabi, UAE www.adipec.com

15 - 18 November 2021

ERTC

Madrid, Spain www.worldrefi ningassociation.com/ertc21

01 - 02 December 2021

14th Annual National Aboveground Storage Tank Conference & Trade Show

The Woodlands, Texas, USA www.nistm.org

05 - 09 December 2021

23rd World Petroleum Congress

Houston, Texas, USA 23wpchouston.com

14 - 16 December 2021

Turbomachinery & Pump Symposia

Houston, Texas, USA tps.tamu.edu

21 - 24 February 2022

Laurance Reid Gas Conditioning Conference

Norman, Oklahoma, USA pacs.ou.edu/lrgcc

06 - 10 March 2022

AMPP Annual Conference + Expo

San Antonio, Texas, USA ace.ampp.org

13 - 15 March 2022

AFPM Annual Meeting

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA www.afpm.org/events Shell has awarded Worley a signifi cant low-carbon fuels services contract in the Netherlands. The facility will be able to produce approximately 820 000 tpy of low-carbon fuels every year. Once built, it is expected to be among the biggest in Europe to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel from waste. The construction of this new facility directly supports Shell’s strategy to transform its operations to sustainable Energy and Chemicals Parks, delivering low-carbon products of the future.

The renewable diesel alone could avoid 2.8 million tpy of CO2 emissions. The facility will also help increase SAF production. These fuels will be used for blending in support of EU legislation and commitments under the Paris Agreement.

Under the contract, Worley will provide detailed design and procurement services for the facility. This award follows the collaboration between Shell and Worley over the last 18 months to complete the early engineering and design services for the project.

USA | BP to invest in Cherry Point Refinery

BP has announced plans for a US$269 million investment in three projects at its Cherry Point Refi nery in Washington state, US, aimed at improving the refi nery’s effi ciency, reducing its CO2 emissions, and increasing its renewable diesel production capability.

The US$169 million Hydrocracker Improvement Project (HIP) will improve effi ciency and reduce periods of planned maintenance, resulting in fewer unit shutdowns and associated fl aring events.

The US$55 million Cooling Water Infrastructure Project (CWI) will enhance cooling water infrastructure, allowing for increased utilisation, better energy effi ciency, and a related reduction in CO2 emissions.

Finally, the Renewable Diesel Optimisation (RDO) project is a US$45 million investment that will more than double the refi nery’s renewable diesel production capability to an estimated 2.6 million bbl/yr.

04 - 08 April 2022

ACHEMA

Frankfurt, Germany www.achema.de/en/

09 - 13 May 2022

RefComm

Galveston, Texas, USA www.events.crugroup.com/refcomm

To keep up with all the latest news on key industry events in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, visit hydrocarbonengineering.com/events

Japan | Landmark for Sumitomo Chemical

Sumitomo Chemical successfully conducted the fi rst waste-based polyolefi n production at its laboratory in Japan earlier this year, using the ethylene produced by Axens’ ethanol-to-ethylene technology, Atol®.

This process value chain is complemented with Sekisui Chemical’s upfront ‘waste to ethanol’ technology.

This project promotes circular economy, making it possible to turn waste into polyolefi n. With this fi rst trial production, the project has entered into a new phase to corroborate the quality of the product on the laboratory basis until mid-2022. The next step will be the start-up of a pilot plant, currently under construction in Japan.