WORLD NEWS China | Lummus
selected for DPC facility
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ummus Technology has been awarded a technology contract by Zhangzhou CHIMEI Chemical Co., a subsidiary of CHIMEI Corp. of Taiwan, for a grassroots diphenyl carbonate (DPC) plant in Fujian Province, China. Zhangzhou CHIMEI will build a new polycarbonate (PC) production plant that leverages the Versalis DPC technology licensed by Lummus. The plant is expected to reach mass production in 4Q24. Zhangzhou CHIMEI’s new PC plant will implement eco-friendly features, introduce advanced
technologies to optimise energy efficiency, and produce intermediate products that can be recycled and reused in the circular economy. PC materials are some of the highest performing materials in the market because of their high-temperature resistance, high-impact strength and transparency. Lummus’ scope for this award includes the technology license, process design package services, operator training and technical services.
USA | EIA
expects increasing consumption of natural gas by US industry
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ased on the US Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) September ‘Short-Term Energy Outlook’, industrial sector natural gas consumption is expected to rise throughout 2021 and to exceed pre-pandemic 2019 levels. The EIA forecasts the growth to continue into 2022, with natural gas delivered to industrial consumers averaging 23.8 billion ft3/d next year. If realised, this amount would be near the current record high for
annual industrial natural gas consumption set in the early 1970s. In its report, the EIA expects natural gas consumption in the US industrial sector to average 23.5 billion ft3/d in the second half of this year and 23.2 billion ft3/d for 2021. If realised, this amount of industrial natural gas consumption would exceed the 2019 average of 23.1 billion ft3/d and mark the most US industrial natural gas consumption since 1997.
The Netherlands | Shell
to build biofuel facility
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oyal Dutch Shell plc has announced a final investment decision to build an 820 000 tpy biofuels facility at the Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Rotterdam, the Netherlands, formerly known as the Pernis refinery. Once built, the facility will be among the biggest in Europe to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel made from waste. A facility of this size could produce enough renewable diesel to avoid 2 800 000 tpy of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions a year, the equivalent of taking more than 1 million European cars off the roads. The new facility will help Europe to meet internationally binding emissions reduction targets. It will also help Shell to meet its own target of becoming a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050, in step with society’s progress towards achieving the climate goals of the Paris Agreement. Advanced production methods will be used to make the fuels. The facility is expected to use technology to capture carbon emissions from the manufacturing process and store them in an empty gas field beneath the North Sea through the Porthos project.
Sweden | Honeywell
and Preem conduct commercial co-processing trial to produce renewable fuel
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oneywell has announced the completion of a commercial refinery trial with Preem AB for the co-processing of biomass-based pyrolysis oil in a fluidised catalytic cracking (FCC) unit. Utilising UOP’s proprietary bioliquid feed system with OptimixTM GF Feed Distributor, pyrolysis oil was successfully
co-processed in the FCC at Preem’s Lysekil refinery to produce partially renewable transportation fuel. This test marks the sixth commercial co-processing trial conducted by UOP worldwide of this technology in an FCC, and the first pyrolysis oil co-processing trial in Scandinavia using UOP’s Optimix GF Feed Distributor technology.
To meet Sweden’s long-term goals of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions, fuel suppliers must reduce the carbon intensity of transportation fuels. Co-processing of biomass-based pyrolysis oil is one method to reduce the carbon intensity of transport fuels at the refinery compared to blending of biofuels downstream. HYDROCARBON
ENGINEERING
5
October 2021
