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1 week ago | 
thechemicalengineer.com | Sam Baker
A SECOND UK bioethanol plant has said this week it faces “imminent closure” following the US-UK trade deal agreed last month. Teesside-based Ensus announced on Monday that it may be forced to close without government support for the UK bioethanol sector, which risks being undercut by US imports following the removal of 19% tariffs under the US-UK deal.
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1 week ago | 
thechemicalengineer.com | Sam Baker
OIL AND GAS giants Shell, Ithaca Energy and Equinor will use drones to measure methane emissions from leaks at 16 offshore platforms and onshore terminals in the UK.
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1 week ago | 
thechemicalengineer.com | Sam Baker
INEOS has announced it intends to close its phenol and acetone manufacturing plant in Gladbeck, Germany, blaming “sky high European energy costs” and “Europe’s punitive CO2 tax policy”. The UK-based company’s decision follows a “detailed strategic review”.
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1 week ago | 
thechemicalengineer.com | Sam Baker
VIVERGO Fuels has extended the deadline to close its bioethanol plant in Hull, UK, pending government support. After weeks of turmoil in the industry triggered by the UK-US trade deal agreed in May, the UK’s largest bioethanol manufacturer had initially told the government it had until yesterday to offer support, or it would close. Following talks between Vivergo and government ministers last Tuesday, however, the company has now extended that deadline to 25 June.
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2 weeks ago | 
thechemicalengineer.com | Sam Baker
THE ACORN carbon capture and storage (CCS) cluster across Scotland will receive £200m (US$271m) of state funding, the UK government confirmed yesterday following this week’s spending review. The government is investing the money “to prepare the Acorn project for delivery”, subject to business case approval.
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2 weeks ago | 
thechemicalengineer.com | Sam Baker
CARBON capture and storage (CCS) and research and development (R&D) received fresh funding commitments in the UK government’s spending review today, but industry is still awaiting further details expected later this month. In a review of the government’s departmental budgets covering the next three to four years, chancellor Rachel Reeves committed £9.4bn (US$12.7bn) in capital budgets for expansion of the existing East Coast and Liverpool Bay CCS projects.
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2 weeks ago | 
thechemicalengineer.com | Sam Baker
THE UK government today promised to invest an extra £11.5bn (US$15.5bn) for two new reactors at Sizewell C in Suffolk, greenlighting construction of the nuclear power station. The investment follows the £2.7bn committed by the government in last year’s autumn budget and takes the total investment to £14.2bn over the next four years.
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2 weeks ago | 
thechemicalengineer.com | Sam Baker
THE LARGEST producer of bioethanol in the UK could “begin the process of closure” next week if it does not receive any state support, the plant’s operator has warned. Vivergo Fuels, wholly owned by Associated British Foods (ABF), has said it will stop buying feedstock by 16 June if there is no response from the government to the company’s requests for support, which it says it needs after the US-UK trade deal was signed in May.
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3 weeks ago | 
thechemicalengineer.com | Sam Baker
CONTROL of a major source of the world’s tin supply has been sold by a US-based firm to a company owned by a member of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) government. Alphamin Resources, the Canada-based company that operates the Bisie tin mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), announced this week that majority shareholder Tremont Master Holdings, a subsidiary of US-based Denham Capital, sold a 56% stake in the mine to UAE-based International Resources Holding (IRH) for US$367m.
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3 weeks ago | 
thechemicalengineer.com | Sam Baker
NORTHERN Lithium, a startup planning to mine lithium in the northeast of England, has completed 60-day extraction testing which it says demonstrates “commercial suitability” of its technology. The company said yesterday that over 300 hours of “stable” operation, the demonstration plant achieved 92% end-to-end lithium recovery rates and 96.5% purity of lithium chloride/sulphate.
