Shell Chemicals to Build Pyrolysis Oil Upgrader for Bio-based Feedstocks

Shell Chemicals announces a new investment that supports its plan to transition the chemicals park into a site able to serve the changing needs of our customers. Customers want more low-carbon products and products made using recycled material.

The investment marks the first major step in transitioning the park, within ten years, by increasing the use of circular and bio-based feedstocks, growing its offer of low-carbon products, and becoming net-zero emissions through the application of hydrogen and CCS.

Investment for Circular Chemicals:

To achieve these ambitions, Shell intends to invest billions in Shell Moerdijk's chemical complex over the next decade, subject to investment decisions and within existing capital allocation frameworks.

"As our customers demand more low-carbon and circular chemicals we are seeing the reinvention of the chemical industry. At Shell Moerdijk and across our global chemicals business, Shell is investing to be ready to meet our customers’ needs as they change," said said Robin Mooldijk, executive vice president, Shell Chemicals and Products. Shell Moerdijk will build a new pyrolysis oil upgrader unit that improves the quality of pyrolysis oil, a liquid made from hard-to-recycle plastic waste and turns it into chemical feedstock for its plants.

“We are working together to deliver on shared decarbonisation and sustainability goals,” added Mooldijk. “This pyrolysis oil upgrader investment is part of our commitment to developing the chemical recycling industry, which can turn hard to recycle plastics into new and useful products, helping society tackle the key issue of plastic waste.”

The new pyrolysis oil upgrader unit treats liquid made from plastic waste that cannot be mechanically recycled and would otherwise be incinerated. Expected to start production in 2024, the unit will have a capacity of 50,000 tonnes per annum, which is the equivalent to the weight of about 7.8 billion plastic bags; and supports Shell’s ambition to recycle one million tonnes of plastic waste in its chemicals plants by 2025. Shell will use the treated pyrolysis oil to produce circular chemicals which are the ingredients used in many end products that are all around us. The investment responds to growing customer demand.

"Shell Chemicals Park Moerdijk wants to accelerate the energy transition, be a leader in the transformation of the Dutch chemical industry and grow by making more circular, low-carbon products for our customers and society. This comes with three major goals: net zero emissions within ten years, increasing the use of circular and bio-based feedstocks and doubling the number of chemical products by investing in new product lines.

Source: Shell Chemicals

Hyundai Motor among big three carmakers for first time

Hyundai Motor Group said Monday it ranked third globally in car sales in the first half of this year -- a first feat for the nation’s largest carmaker.

According to its sales data, Hyundai Motor Co., its luxury Genesis brand, and its smaller affiliate Kia Corp. sold a total of 3.299 million vehicles in global markets in the January-June period.

The sales figure is the third largest following Toyota Motor Group’s 5.138 million units and Volkswagen Group’s 4.006 million units.

Hyundai’s ranking jumped from No. 5 a year ago, outpacing Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance and Stellantis Group which sold 3.14 million units and 3.019 million units in the first half, respectively.

While its global rivals were hit hard by chip shortages, Hyundai is said to have pulled through the crisis as it was able to secure enough chip supplies. Adding to that, the robust sales of its luxury Genesis cars and new electric vehicle launches also helped drive overall sales.

Genesis sold a total of 25,668 units in the US alone during the first six months, the brand’s best-ever sales in the all-important market.

Its EV models, including Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6, performed well. Hyundai became the second-largest EV maker in the US with 27,000 units sold in the January-May period after Tesla, the world’s bestselling EV brand.

Despite its stellar performance, Hyundai’s first-half sales dropped 5.1 percent compared to a year ago, possibly due to supply chain disruptions and weaker consumer demands. Still, the drop was less severe considering its bigger rivals Toyota and Volkswagen saw 6 percent and 14 percent drops in sales during the same period. The Renault-Nissan alliance and GM also suffered 17.3 percent and 18.6 percent on-year losses in sales.

Source: Korean Herald

BMW fuel cell SUV to enter mass production as soon as 2025

BMW will start mass-producing and selling fuel cell vehicles developed jointly with Toyota Motor as early as 2025, sales chief Pieter Nota told Nikkei, outlining the German automaker's push into greener cars amid increasingly strict environmental regulations in Europe.

BMW unveiled the fuel cell iX5 Hydrogen concept car at the International Motor Show Germany in September 2021. Small-scale production of the sport utility vehicle will begin before the end of 2022, the company had previously announced.

FCVs can be refueled in three to four minutes -- much faster than a battery electric vehicle. Though BMW has not revealed the iX5's range, the model is equipped with two roughly 6-kilogram tanks to allow for long-distance travel.

"We see that hydrogen fuel cell technology is particularly relevant for larger SUVs," Nota said.

The iX5 is based on BMW's X5 SUV. BMW and Toyota have also jointly developed sports cars since partnering in 2013, released as the BMW Z4 and the Toyota Supra in 2019.

"We have various projects we work on with Toyota," Nota said, hinting at further collaborations with the Japanese automaker.

BMW will also accelerate its shift toward electric vehicles. It currently aims for 50% of groupwide new sales -- also including the Mini and Rolls-Royce brands -- to be electrics by 2030. EVs have been making up a larger portion of sales than expected, and "maybe if the current speed stays, we can reach that 50% one or two years earlier," Nota said.

Gasoline engine vehicles, including hybrids, are still expected to constitute around half of the group sales in 2030. "We are also keeping up our investment on the combustion engine side," Nota said.

"We do believe in the importance of various technologies -- battery electric vehicles, also hydrogen and efficient combustion engines -- because we don't want to put all our investment in one area," he said.

A protracted parts shortage looms large over BMW's strategy. EVs require more chips than engine vehicles, and automakers across the board are under pressure to secure enough of a supply.

BMW is responding to the challenge by securing long-term contracts to source chips used by its parts suppliers. It signed a contract with Inova Semiconductors and GlobalFoundries in late 2021 for smart-LED chips.

BMW is believed to be guaranteed millions of units a year under the deal. BMW plans to expand this approach both in terms of total volume and in the variety of semiconductors.

Big auto suppliers like Bosch and Continental have traditionally held significant buying power in Europe. But given the global semiconductor shortage, automakers cannot secure enough chips by relying solely on these suppliers, Nota said, explaining BMW's push to expand its own supply chains.

Source: Asia Nikkei

Type 4 composite CNG/H2 Cylinder Project report is available

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China’s CATL cements car battery dominance with €7bn Hungary plant

The manufacturer will start construction on the second European factory in Debrecen this year

China’s CATL will build a €7.3bn battery plant in Hungary, increasing its foothold in Europe and cementing its status as the world’s largest car battery manufacturer. Construction on the factory in the eastern city of Debrecen will start later in 2022, CATL said on Friday. It has a planned capacity of 100GWh a year, which would make it the largest “gigafactory” in Europe. CATL, which supplies batteries to Tesla and Volkswagen among others, did not specify when that target would be reached, but a company filing posted on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange showed that it expected to complete the Hungary factory within five-and-a-half years. Supplies from the 221-hectare site — CATL’s second in Europe — will be delivered to European carmakers, almost all of which have existing supply deals with the company.

Mercedes will initially be the largest single customer. “The greenfield project in Hungary will be a giant leap in CATL’s global expansion,” said founder and chair Robin Zeng. “There is no doubt that our plant in Debrecen will enable us to further sharpen our competitive edge, better respond to our European customers, and accelerate the transition to e-mobility in Europe.” Hungarian foreign affairs and trade minister Péter Szijjártó welcomed the development and said it would be “the biggest-ever greenfield investment in the history of Hungary”.

It is also Hungary’s largest-ever single foreign investment and will create 9,000 jobs. Thanks to hundreds of millions of euros in subsidies, Hungary has already attracted investment from Korea’s SK, which is building two vehicle battery plants in the country, and Samsung’s SDI. Japan’s GS Yuasa also produces batteries in Hungary. BMW is building a factory in Debrecen that will produce mainly electric vehicles. CATL, which is already building a European site in Erfurt, Germany, is by far the largest car battery producer, with a 35 percent market share in the first six months of this year, according to SNE Research. The top 10 manufacturers worldwide are all in Asia.

However, European companies have plans to catch up, most notably Volkswagen, which wants to build six car battery plants in Europe, starting with sites in Germany, Sweden, and Spain. Mercedes also has a deal with Stellantis and energy company Total to build factories that will provide 120GWh of battery capacity by the end of the decade. Later entrants also face a battle to secure raw materials such as lithium, which have soared in cost over the past year.

Source: Financial Times

India’s first indigenously built hydrogen-fueled electricvessel

 India’s first indigenously built hydrogen-fueled #electricvessel is planned to be delivered by 2023 Madhu S Nair, Chairman and Managing Director of Cochin Shipyard Limited

Indian Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways announced the innovative project, kick-starting #India’s efforts towards green shipping.

The ship in question will be a hydrogen-powered #fuelcell passenger ferry

Cochin Shipyard the largest #shipbuilding and maintenance facility in India has teamed up with Indian partners such as Pune-based KPIT Technologies developers in the area of hydrogen fuel cells #powertrain and the Indian Register of Shipping for developing rules and regulations for such vessels.

“The construction of India’s first indigenous hydrogen-fueled #electricvessel is a pilot project. We have completed the engineering and the construction will also start very soon as we are going to order the equipment required,” according to Nair.

Fuel cells operating on hydrogen fuel are an efficient, environmentally friendly, zero-emission, direct current (DC) power source already applied to heavy-duty buses, trucks, and trains, and are now under development for marine applications.

Source:H2 intelligence

A 50-50 joint venture agreement was signed and will involve sites in Germany, Austria, and Denmark.

 Phillips 66 and H2 Energy Europe have together announced that they have entered into a 50-50 joint venture for the establishment and operation of a network of hydrogen refueling stations.

The joint venture is called JET H2 Energy Austria GmbH. It exists between subsidiaries Phillips 66 Limited and H2 Energy Europe SA. It will bring together the retail expertise of Phillips 66 with the hydrogen expertise at H2 Energy. Combined, they have the opportunity for a solid position for the zero-emission fuel in the European market. The new joint venture company intends to construct around 250 hydrogen refueling stations by 2026.

“We will make hydrogen a leading energy solution for emission-free mobility,” said JET H2 Energy CEO Olaf Borbor. “We will align stakeholders’ interests along the hydrogen value chain and create a sustainable hydrogen ecosystem.”

The network of JET H2 Energy hydrogen refueling stations will serve heavy- and light-duty vehicles.

H2-powered passenger vehicles will also be able to use these hydrogen refueling stations locations, which will comprise both new locations and existing JET branded retail stations along major transport routes as well as at customer sites. The joint venture will need to achieve government funding where it is available, in order to move forward with the refueling network’s completion.

The sites throughout the network will be supplied with green hydrogen, which is H2 made using processes powered by renewable energy, so that both its production and use cause zero-carbon emissions.

The joint venture will benefit from the links it already has in place with Hyundai Hydrogen Mobility, which is the exclusive Hyundai Xcient H2-powered truck reseller in Europe.

“Phillips 66 has a successful retail presence in Europe with its JET® brand,” said Borbor in a news release about the hydrogen fuel stations. “H2 Energy has a proven track record in creating a successful green hydrogen ecosystem in Switzerland. The parties’ competencies complement each other ideally for the next stage in building up the hydrogen economy.”

Source:Hydrogenfuelnews