The Catalyst Review January 2017 - 3

COMMERCIAL NEWS
SK Innovation to Invest Up
to $2.5 B in 2017 to Boost
Growth...
SK Innovation Co Ltd, which owns South
Korea's top refiner SK Energy, said it will
spend up to $2.49 billion in chemicals,
oil exploration and battery businesses
to boost its global growth. Kim Joon,
president of SK Innovation, said in a
statement that the investments would
target new growth options and innovate
its business, even though 2017 is expected
to be a tough business environment.
Under the plan, SK Innovation aims to
continue its investment on mergers
and acquisitions in chemicals and oil
exploration sectors as well as expansion
of its battery plants, according to
the statement. SK Innovation said in
September last year it would expand
its businesses in China through joint
venture or mergers and acquisitions of
Chinese chemical companies. In 2013, SK
Innovation subsidiary SK Global Chemical
invested a total of $3 billion into the
Sinopec-SK Wutan Petrochemical joint
venture. Source: Hydrocarbon Processing,
1/2/2017.

Fluor Awarded Refinery
Project in Chile...
Fluor Corporation announced that it was
awarded a contract by Empresa Nacional
del Petróleo (ENAP) for the engineering,
procurement and construction of a new
process unit at its Biobío refinery in Chile.
Fluor booked the undisclosed contract
value in the fourth quarter of 2016. Fluor
will perform the engineering, procurement
and construction services to install a
new flue gas steam generator, a wet gas
scrubber and purge treatment unit to treat
residual gas generated in the refinery's
fluid catalytic cracker that will reduce air
emissions. Fluor is also responsible for
interconnections between the new and
existing unit, which will occur during a
schedule-driven 2017 turnaround. Source:
Fluor Corporation, 1/4/2017.

Clariant and KBR Supply Turnkey Design for Low-Cost, HighEfficiency Ammonia Synthesis in Indonesia...
Clariant announced that it is providing total catalyst solutions for two major ammonia
production plants in Indonesia, in cooperation with its licensing partner KBR. The
new projects rely on KBR's process technologies combined with a complete range
of Clariant catalysts for the entire ammonia production process. The key catalysts
selected for the projects include AmoMax® 10 for ammonia synthesis, ReforMax® 330
LDP and ReforMax 210 LDP for reforming, as well as ShiftMax® 120, ShiftMax 217 and
ShiftMax 210 for high temperature shift (HTS) and low temperature shift (LTS) reactions.
Of particular importance is the highly active AmoMax 10 catalyst, which presents a
significant change in ammonia production after more than a century. In contrast to
conventional magnetite catalysts, AmoMax 10 is based on a Wustite structure, which
offers more than 20% higher activity. Besides boosting energy savings and ammonia
yields, the catalyst's unique physical and chemical characteristics allow faster start
of production, and reduce consumption of natural gas. AmoMax 10 has already
demonstrated excellent performance in more than 100 ammonia plants worldwide.
Source: Clariant, 1/11/2017.

Praxair, Linde to Merge Into Industrial-Gas Giant Worth $67
Billion...
Industrial-gas giants Praxair Inc. and Germany's Linde AG concluded a two-year
courtship, agreeing to join forces to create the industry's biggest player with a
combined market value of $66.6 billion. The two companies said they were working
to quickly cement a definitive merger agreement. One big hurdle will be winning
global regulatory approval. Analysts at Bernstein Research expect the companies
may have to part ways with activities generating around $5 billion in annual sales to
appease regulators. Linde is currently the industry's No. 2 player and Praxair, based in
Danbury, CT, is No. 3, behind industry leader Air Liquide SA of France. A Linde-Praxair
combination would have about $30 billion in annual sales before divestitures. In May,
Air Liquide completed its own big deal, buying U.S.-based Airgas Inc. for about $10
billion, and propelling the French company to the top of the industry pack. Munichbased Linde had previously wrested the No. 1 position from Air Liquide with its
$14-billion takeover of the U.K.'s BOC PLC in 2006. Source: The Wall Street Journal,
12/21/2016, p. B1.

Total and Sonatrach Sign Agreement to Build PDH and PP JV
Complex in Algeria...
Sonatrach (Algiers), Algeria's state-owned energy company, and Total concluded an
agreement to build a world-scale petrochemical complex in Algeria. Total will carry out
a feasibility study that will cover construction of a propane dehydrogenation (PDH) and
a polypropylene (PP) production complex. Sonatrach plans five petchem joint venture
(JV) projects, including a 600,000-metric tons/year PDH and PP facility. The company
says the project is not related to a plan announced several years ago to build an ethane
cracker at Arzew. Sonatrach earlier this month said it is in talks with international
technology partners to form five JVs. The ventures include a flexicracker based on
ethane and LPG with capacity for 1 million metric tons/year (MMt/y) of ethylene; the
PDH and PP complex, and a methanol plant capable of producing 1 MMt/y. Another
two complexes under planning will produce synthetic rubber and 5 million tires/year.
In addition to the new complexes, Sonatrach has also launched three petrochemical
projects to restore the Skikda, Algeria, ethylene plant to produce 120,000 metric tons/
year and construct a 200,000-metric ton/year methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) complex
and a linear alkyl benzene (LAB) plant with capacity to produce 100,000 metric tons/
year. Source: IHS Chemical Week, 12/23/2016.

The Catalyst Review

January 2017

The Catalyst Review January 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Catalyst Review January 2017