The Catalyst Review January 2020 - 2

COMMERCIAL NEWS
HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed
and Indonesian President Joko
Widodo Witness Exchange of
Signed Energy Agreements...
The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company
(ADNOC) and Indonesia's Pertamina
signed a Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) to explore potential development
of a crude to petrochemicals complex
in Balongan, Indonesia as well as a sales
agreement in which ADNOC will supply
Pertamina with up to 528,000 mt of liquid
petroleum gas (LPG) by the end of 2020.
ADNOC and Indonesia's Chandra Asri
also signed a MoU to explore potential
supply of naphtha to Chandra Asri that
would be utilized as a feedstock for
their current and potential new cracker
complex in Indonesia. The potential
crude to petrochemicals complex would
build upon the ambitions outlined in the
comprehensive framework agreement
signed by ADNOC and Pertamina in
2019, while accelerating Indonesia's path
towards petrochemical self-sufficiency.
Source: ADNOC; TCGR, 1/12/2020.
Milliken & Co. Announces
Intent to Buy Borchers...
Milliken & Co., a global diversified
manufacturer based in Spartanburg, South
Carolina (US) announced that it has signed
an agreement to acquire Borchers Group
Limited, a global specialty chemicals
company that makes high-performance
coating additives and specialty catalyst
solutions, from The Jordan Co. L.P.
The acquisition is expected to close
this month; terms were not disclosed.
Headquartered in Westlake, Ohio,
Borchers carries a portfolio of additives
for the coatings, inks and adhesives
markets with a range of cobalt-free driers,
dispersants, rheology modifiers, wetting
agents, polymerization catalysts and
adhesion promoters, according to the
news release. The addition of Borchers
builds Milliken's (US) portfolio and aligns
with the company's strategic objective
to develop a global range of growth
platforms, the release said. Source: GSA
Business Report, 1/14/2020.

Borealis to Acquire NOVA Chemicals Ownership Interest in
Novealis Joint Venture...
Borealis AG and NOVA Chemicals Corporation announced they have reached an
agreement for Borealis to buy NOVA Chemicals' 50% ownership interest in Novealis
Holdings LLC. Formed in 2018, Novealis is the joint venture between (JV) affiliates of
Borealis and NOVA Chemicals, which subsequently formed a 50/50 JV with an affiliate
of Total S.A. to launch Bayport Polymers LLC (Baystar) in Houston, Texas, US. The parties
expect the transaction to close in the first half of 2020. Source: Borealis, 1/9/2020.
Axens and ExxonMobil Sign Alliance Agreement to Provide
FLEXICOKING™ Technology and Integrated Resid Conversion
Solutions...
ExxonMobil announced that ExxonMobil Catalysts and Licensing LLC and Axens
have signed a licensing alliance agreement to allow Axens to provide ExxonMobil's
FLEXICOKING™ technology and integrated resid conversion solutions. Under the
agreement, Axens is granted a worldwide right to market, license and provide
engineering work and technical support for the design, construction and start-up of
new FLEXICOKING units. The technology will be offered under a single license and
engineering agreement to be provided by Axens. Source: ExxonMobil, 1/14/2020.
World's Largest ATR-Based Methanol Plant Has Been Put into
Successful Operation...
Recently, Haldor Topsoe announced the official opening of the world's only natural gasto-gasoline complex in Turkmenistan (Central Asia). The complex includes the world's
largest methanol plant based on autothermal reforming (ATR), using Topsoe's SynCOR
Methanol™ solution, with methanol production capacity of 5225 metric tons per day
(MTPD). In the Turkmen gas-to-gasoline complex, the SynCOR Methanol™ solution
has been combined with a gasoline synthesis loop to produce synthetic gasoline.
This concept is named SynCOR TIGAS™. Over the last two years Topsoe has signed
five license agreements of similar capacity based on the SynCOR™ technology. These
projects are in various stages of development. Source: Haldor Topsoe, 1/14/2020.
Shell and CNOOC Sign Deal to Enter Commercial-Scale
Polycarbonate Production...
Shell says it has signed a memorandum of understanding with CNOOC Oil &
Petrochemicals Co. (Beijing) to build what would be Shell's first commercial-scale
polycarbonate (PC) production unit, using newly-developed Shell technology, at
the companies' Nanhai JV petrochemicals complex at Huizhou, China. The project
is "a very clear proof point that Shell will continue to grow in chemicals, and grow
more in performance products and differentiated products," says Thomas Casparie,
executive vice president/global chemicals at Shell. Shell says it has started constructing
a development unit for the new, patented PC technology at the company's Jurong
Island petrochemicals complex in Singapore, as an interim step. The development
plant is scheduled to start up in 2021. Casparie says he is "confident" the company
will reach a final investment decision on the commercial-scale PC plant, which would
be a single-train unit with a nameplate capacity of 260,000 metric tons/year. This is
the largest single-train PC plant that can currently be built worldwide, Shell says. The
new technology is based on diphenyl carbonate (DPC). Shell says it has developed the
technology in recent years to achieve significant advantages in cost, safety, efficiency,
and CO2 footprint. Shell will combine its DPC technology with melt-phase PC technology
licensed from EPC Engineering & Technologies (Arnstadt, Germany), it adds. Shell's
planned PC production units will also produce alkyl carbonates, used for lithium-ion
batteries, it says. Source: Chemical Week, 1/13/2020.

The Catalyst Review

January 2020

The Catalyst Review January 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Catalyst Review January 2020