Plants - Restructuring

In the Middle East gas field development is continuing at a rapid pace, recording an average annual growth rate of about 9%  between 2000 and 2011, according to the International Energy Agency. Qatar and Iran represent almost 60% of the total regional supply. As ethane and liquefied petroleum
gas (LPG) are good feedstocks for petrochemical plants as well as condensates for refineries,
the recovery of liquids from natural gas is an added value.

It is worth noting that a typical regional condensate such as North Field Condensate (NFC) – being light (°API 57.95), sweet (0.23% sulfur content), and low in metals content – is an excellent raw material for a hydroskimming refinery. In addition, growing availability of feedstocks and low-priced
natural gas provide competitive advantages for additional capacities in the Middle East.

Strong growth of petrochemical and oil  demand in Asia, driven mainly by increasing population and high economic performance, is making this area an attractive market for major players. According to the latest release of the ICIS database (2013), oil consumption is expected to increase at a higher rate than supply, resulting in a growing deficit over the next few years.

Based on 2012 statistical trade data, northeast Asia shows a deficit of about 950,000 tonnes of mixed xylenes while maintaining a surplus of benzene (577,000 tonnes) and toluene (almost 260,000 tonnes). The SAP region records a shortage of 165,000 tonnes of toluene, a surplus of benzene (753,000 tonnes) and mixed xylenes (almost 70,000 tonnes). In addition, the spread between benzene, toluene, xylene (BTX) demand and supply should grow over the next few years unless additional
investments are made in petrochemical capacity.

Therefore,in this context, it is interesting to analyse a hypothetical hydroskimming refinery located in the Middle East and exportoriented towards the Asian market. For this type of plant, reformate represents the key interface between the refinery and petrochemical plant, as it is the most important
component for gasoline blending as well as a precious feedstock for BTX production

China chemical industry - Growth

The China chemical industry is maturing and will grow at a much more settled pace than during the  previous boom years. This new but stable GDP growth rate of around 7 % , along with urbanisation, rise in domestic consumption, greater demand for auto and electronic products and ambitious sustainability targets will provide ample growth opportunities. KPMG estimates that this will enable the Chinese chemical industry to grow by between 9 and 11 percent in the period 2013 to 2015.

Despite strong and stable growth in chemical manufacturing, China continues to have a net chemical deficit and is heavily dependent on imported material. This dependency makes the sector vulnerable; it has been affected by price trends in the world market caused by renewed international demand for raw materials, petroleum and other chemical inputs since last year.

Boosting the consumption of natural/shale gas can help China develop its low-carbon economy. For the chemical industry, natural gas could be used to produce synthetic ammonia and methanol, bringing economic benefits 20-30 times higher than those generated by coal and petroleum. China has approximately 26 trillion cubic metres of  recoverable shale gas, close to America’s 28.3 trillion cubic metres.

The US produced 87.8 billion cubic metres of shale gas in 2009, and if China’s output could reach one third of that, its natural gas gap of 30 billion cubic metres could be bridged.32 However, technology is a precondition for success in this sector and China has a long way to go — it needs  to promote shale gas exploration, deepen basic research in geology and improve exploration technologies before it can harness the industry’s full potential.

A trend to watch out for is the way domestic companies deal with specialty sector demand, which has grown in a spectacular manner. In 2012, the gross production value of China’s specialty chemicals exceeded RMB 2 trillion, while total domestic output exceeded 100 million tonnes.

China imported about 10 percent of its specialty chemicals and more than half of its electronic chemicals in 2012, indicating  that there is still a lot of scope for internal growth. The priority of industry managers is now on developing: a) high- performance electronic chemicals and fluoro coatings and b) high-end specialty chemicals, such as safe food additives and feed additives, eco-friendly adhesives, plastics additives and water treatment agents.

Among all specialty chemicals, China is least self sufficient in electronic chemicals, which now represent an RMB 30 billion market that has room for further growth

Cheap natural gas

Petrochemical companies are making multibillion-dollar bets to profit from the abundant cheap natural gas pouring out of shale-rock formations across the U.S. Making sure those plans pay off.

Natural-gas prices have plummeted in recent years as a new wave of supply has been unlocked from Texas to Pennsylvania through technological advances, including horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. The low prices have been tough on some oil and gas companies' bottom lines. But the trend has given chemical and plastics producers a reason to expand in the U.S., creating jobs and reviving a sector of the economy that many people had written off.

The manufacturing renaissance sweeping across the U.S. today is a shift from the turn of this century, when it seemed unlikely that new petrochemical plants would be built in places such as the coastal region near the Gulf of Mexico.

The assumption was that new petrochemical plants and associated investments in plastics, rubber resins and metals manufacturing would be focused in Asia and countries rich in natural gas, such as Iran. 

 

The resurrection of U.S. manufacturing in the service of developing the chemical sector and pumping more oil and gas—including building machinery and fabricating steel and iron—is breathing new life into major metropolitan areas.

From 2010 to 2012, energy-intensive manufacturing sectors added more than 196,000 U.S. jobs and increased real sales by $124 billion in the nation's metro areas, according to the report.

Biogas

Biogas is characterized based on its chemical composition and the physical characteristics which result from it. It is primarily a mixture of methane (CH4) and inert carbonic gas (CO2). However the name “biogas” gathers a large variety of gases resulting from specific treatment processes, starting from various organic waste - industries, animal or domestic origin waste etc

Benefits

Biogas can be an alternative to conventional transportation fuels. The benefits of biogas are similar to the benefits of natural gas. Additional benefits include:

• Increased Energy Security—Biogas offsets non-renewable resources, such as coal, oil, and fossil fuel-derived natural gas. Producing biogas creates U.S. jobs and benefits local economies.
• Fewer Emissions—Biogas reduces emissions by preventing methane release in the atmosphere. Methane is 21 times stronger than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas.
• Better Economics—Biogas reduces the cost of complying with EPA combustion requirements for landfill gas.
• Cleaner Environment—Producing biogas through anaerobic digestion reduces landfill waste and odors, produces nutrient-rich liquid fertilizer, and requires less land than aerobic

Chemical composition

Different sources of production lead to different specific compositions. The presence of H2S, of CO2 and water make biogas very corrosive and require the use of adapted materials. The composition of a gas issued from a digester depends on the substrate, of its organic matter load, and the feeding rate of the digester

Production

Biogas is a product of decomposing organic matter, such as sewage, animal byproducts, and agricultural, industrial, and municipal solid waste. Biogas must be upgraded to a purity standard to fuel vehicles and be distributed via the existing natural gas grid.

Biogas from Landfills

Landfills are the third-largest source of human-related methane emissions in the United States. Methane can be captured from landfills and used to produce biogas. Methane gas collection is practical for landfills at least 40 feet deep with at least 1 million tons of waste.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates 8,200 U.S. dairy and swine operations could support biogas recovery systems with the potential to generate more than 13 million megawatt-hours and displace about 1,670 megawatts of fossil fuel-fired generation collectively per year. Biogas recovery systems are also feasible at some poultry operations.
An example of converting livestock manure to biogas to fuel vehicles is the Western United Resource Development project.