January 1, 2023 | By Mary Page Bailey

Plant Watch

December 13, 2022 — Air Liquide S.A. (Paris, France; www.airliquide.com) has signed a long-term contract to supply Kumho Mitsui Chemical (KMCI) with additional hydrogen and carbon monoxide in South Korea’s Yeosu National Industrial Complex, where Air Liquide currently operates four production units. This contract will enable Air Liquide to support KMCI’s additional expansion of 200,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr) of methyl diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI).

December 13, 2022 — CropEnergies AG (Mannheim, Germany; www.cropenergies.com) plans to build a plant for the production of renewable ethyl acetate from sustainable ethanol. The planned location for the plant is the Zeitz Chemical and Industrial Park, in Elsteraue, Germany. The total investment for the new production facility will be around €120–130 million. Groundbreaking is to take place early in 2024 and the commissioning is scheduled for summer 2025.

December 9, 2022 — OCI N.V. (Amsterdam, the Netherlands; www.oci.nl) started construction on a ‘blue’ ammonia facility in Texas, which is scheduled to begin operation in 2025. The project’s site is adjacent to OCI’s existing integrated 1.4-million-m.t./yr methanol-ammonia production facility in Beaumont and 1.8-million-m.t./yr 50%-owned methanol joint venture, Natgasoline.

December 9, 2022 — Air Products (Lehigh Valley, Pa.; www.airproducts.com) and The AES Corp. (Arlington, Va.; www.aes.com) plan to invest approximately $4 billion to build, own and operate a ‘green’ hydrogen production facility in Wilbarger County, Tex. This renewable-power-to-hydrogen project includes approximately 1.4 GW of wind and solar power generation, along with electrolyzer capacity capable of producing over 200 m.t./d of hydrogen, making it the largest ‘green’ hydrogen facility in the U.S. 

December 6, 2022 — Johnson Matthey plc (London; www.matthey.com) announced the expansion of its manufacturing facility in Perstorp, Sweden, to meet growing demand for formaldehyde. The expansion, which will be operational by the end of March 2024, will increase the site’s capacity by approximately 50%. 

December 6, 2022 — ExxonMobil Corp. (Houston; www.exxonmobil.com) announced the startup of its new polypropylene production unit at its polyolefins plant in Baton Rouge, La. The unit increases polypropylene production capacity along the Gulf Coast by 450,000 m.t./yr. The total capital investment was more than $500 million.

December 2, 2022 — Cepsa (Madrid, Spain; www.cepsa.com) will invest more than €3 billion to establish the Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley, creating the largest ‘green’ hydrogen hub in Europe in southern Spain. Cepsa will build two plants with a total capacity of 2 GW to produce ‘green’ hydrogen. The plants, each with 1 GW of capacity, will be located in Palos de la Frontera (Huelva) next to Cepsa’s La Rábida Energy Park and at the company’s San Roque Energy Park in Cádiz. The Huelva plant will start up in 2026, reaching full capacity in 2028, while the Cádiz facility will be operational in 2027.

December 1, 2022 — Honeywell International Inc. (Charlotte, N.C.; www.honeywell.com) announced that its Baton Rouge facility has doubled production capacity for Solstice ze (HFO-1234ze). Solstice ze is used in foam insulation, as an aerosol propellant and in refrigeration and air-conditioning applications.

November 28, 2022 — Covestro AG (Leverkusen, Germany; www.covestro.com) started up production of naphthylene-diisocyanate (NDI) at a newly built plant at its Map Ta Phut site in Thailand. The plant is part of several recent investments by the company into cast polyurethane raw materials.

November 28, 2022 — Invista (Wichita, Kan.; www.invista.com) inaugurated its new adiponitrile plant at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park. The plant is a critical part of Invista’s integrated nylon 6,6 value chain, and represented an investment of over $1 billion. It has a capacity of 400,000 m.t./yr of adiponitrile.

Mergers & Acquisitions

December 13, 2022 — Synthomer Plc (London, U.K.; www.synthomer.com) intends to sell its laminates, films and coated fabrics businesses to Surteco Group for $255 million (£208 million). Surteco is a Germany-based developer, designer, producer and marketer of surface materials based on paper and plastics. The laminates, films and coated fabrics businesses were acquired as part of the purchase of Omnova Solutions Inc. in 2020.

December 8, 2022 — Röhm GmbH (Darmstadt, Germany; www.roehm.com) has agreed to acquire the Functional Forms business of Sabic (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; www.sabic.com). With this acquisition, Röhm adds polycarbonate sheets and films to its existing range of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) sheets and films. The new combined business will have sales of more than €700 million.

December 7, 2022 — Ineos Ltd. (London; www.ineos.com) and Sinopec Group (Beijing, China; www.sinopecgroup.com) have announced a new joint venture agreement under which Ineos acquires a 50% share in the existing Tianjin Nangang Ethylene Project from Sinopec. The project is currently building a 1.2-million-m.t./yr ethane cracker, expected to come onstream at the end of 2023, and several other downstream derivative plants in Tianjin, China.

December 6, 2022 — ArcelorMittal S.A. (Luxembourg; www.arcelormittal.com) announced that it has acquired Riwald Recycling, a ferrous scrap-metal recycling business based in the Netherlands. Riwald Recycling operates two fully certified scrap-metal yards in Almelo and Beverwijk, the Netherlands, both of which have direct port access. Riwald processed over 330,000 m.t. of ferrous scrap metal in 2021. It sources material from industrial companies, demolition companies, traders, car dismantling companies and regional and national governments.

December 6, 2022 — Nouryon N.V. (Amsterdam, the Netherlands; www.nouryon.com) acquired an alkoxylation plant on Jurong Island, Singapore to enhance the company’s ability to serve key end markets, including agriculture, food, home and personal care, natural resources and paints and coatings.

December 1, 2022 — Shell plc (London; www.shell.com) agreed to acquire Nature Energy Biogas A/S for $2 billion. Based in Denmark, Nature Energy is a producer of renewable natural gas from agricultural, industrial and household wastes. The acquired firm currently has 14 operating sites and a pipeline of around 30 new plant projects in Europe and North America.