The Catalyst Review July 2020 - 2

COMMERCIAL NEWS
Reliance and bp Launch
'Jio-bp' Partnership...
bp and Reliance Industries Limited (RIL)
announced the start of their new Indian
fuels and mobility joint venture, Reliance
BP Mobility Limited (RBML). Following
initial agreements in 2019, bp and RIL
teams have worked closely over the past
few months in a challenging environment
to complete the transaction as planned.
Operating under the "Jio-bp" brand, the
joint venture aims to become a leading
player in India's fuels and mobility
markets. It will leverage Reliance's
presence across 21 states and its millions
of consumers through the Jio digital
platform. bp will bring its extensive global
experience in high-quality differentiated
fuels, lubricants, retail and advanced
low carbon mobility solutions. The joint
venture will begin selling fuels and Castrol
lubricants with immediate effect from
its existing retail outlets, which will be
rebranded to "Jio-bp" in due course.
Source: bp, 7/9/2020.
PKN ORLEN Invests to Develop
its Refining and Petrochemical
Production...
PKN ORLEN commenced the construction
of a visbreaking unit, a key project for
the Płock refinery. In the visbreaking
unit, vacuum residue, which has so far
been used to make heavy fuel oils and
asphalt, will be processed into highmargin products: gasoline and diesel oil.
The unit will be built under a visbreaking
license from Shell/CB&I NEDERLAND
B.V. by a consortium of KTI Poland S.A.
(consortium leader) and IDS-BUD S.A.
(consortium member). The ORLEN Group
is also developing its refining assets by
upgrading existing units, for instance the
hydrocracker, which will increase the
annual output of diesel oil by 100,000
tonnes. Also, the diesel hydrotreater is
being upgraded with a view to increasing
diesel oil production by 150,000
tonnes. Work on the visbreaker will be
completed in 30 months, which means
that production from the unit should be
launched in December 2022. Source: PKN
ORLEN, 7/6/2020.

thyssenkrupp and BASF Sign Joint Development Agreement on
STAR Process® Dehydrogenation Technology...
thyssenkrupp and BASF have signed a joint development agreement to expand their
cooperation on the STAR process®. This proprietary dehydrogenation process from
thyssenkrupp produces propylene from propane feedstocks, or iso-butylene from
iso-butane feedstocks, using an exceptionally stable catalyst. thyssenkrupp, focusing
on process development, and BASF, focusing on catalyst development, together aim
to significantly increase the resource and energy efficiency of the process through
targeted improvements in catalyst and plant design. Plant operators can benefit from
lower investment and operating costs as well as lower CO2 emissions in the future.
"We are very pleased about this cooperation which combines BASF's expertise as a
world-leading catalyst manufacturer with our plant engineering competence," says Uwe
Boltersdorf, Chief Sales Officer of the business unit Chemical & Process Technologies
at thyssenkrupp. "With our combined know-how we can further reduce consumption
of energy and resources. New catalyst shapes will enable a smaller reformer design,
which also lowers the investment costs of dehydrogenation plants." "This project is
a good example of how technology development can be accelerated through crosssector collaboration," says Adrian Steinmetz, Vice President Global Chemical Catalysts
& Adsorbents at BASF. "We will specifically address topics like reducing precious metal
content. This lowers catalyst costs and additionally reduces feedstock and energy
consumption through increased selectivity. This will contribute significantly to a
reduction of the CO2 footprint." Source: BASF, 7/15/2020.
World's Largest Green Hydrogen Project Will Use Haldor Topsoe
Ammonia Technology...
A $5 billion dollar green hydrogen production facility to be sited in NEOM, Saudi
Arabia, will include Topsoe's proven ammonia technology. The NEOM project will use
about 4 GW of renewable power from solar, wind, and storage to produce 650 tons
per day of carbon-free hydrogen. Using Topsoe's proven technology, the hydrogen
will be converted into 3,500 tons per day - or 1.2 million tons per year - of green
ammonia. The conversion of hydrogen into ammonia is an innovative approach to
facilitate safe and reliable transport and storage of the green fuel, using existing,
well-proven infrastructure. Air Products will be the exclusive off-taker of the green
ammonia produced at the NEOM site and intends to transport it around the world
to be converted back into carbon-free hydrogen at local hydrogen refueling stations.
Air Products' focus is to supply hydrogen fuel cell buses and trucks with carbonfree hydrogen by 2025. The distribution to end customers represents an additional
investment of two billion dollars by Air Products. Source: Haldor Topsøe, 7/13/2020.
bp Agrees to Sell its Petrochemicals Business to INEOS...
bp announced that it has agreed to sell its global petrochemicals business to INEOS for
a total consideration of $5 billion, subject to customary adjustments. Under the terms
of the agreement, INEOS will pay bp a deposit of $400 million and will pay a further
$3.6 billion on completion. An additional $1 billion will be deferred and paid in three
separate installments of $100 million in March, April and May 2021 with the remaining
$700 million payable by the end of June 2021. Subject to regulatory and other
approvals, the transaction is expected to complete by the end of 2020. This agreement
means that bp has now agreed $15 billion of divestments and other disposals through
2019 and 2020 to date, an amount originally expected to be reached by mid-2021.
Source: bp, 6/29/2020.

The Catalyst Review

July 2020

The Catalyst Review July 2020

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