Page 158 - CW E-Magazine (30-7-2024)

News from Abroad

GROWING PRESENCE
Aramco to acquire stake in Air Products jv’s lower-

carbon hydrogen business in Saudi Arabia

Saudi state-owned energy & chemi- gen business and expand its portfolio marketplace for lower-carbon hydro-
cals company, Aramco, has agreed of alternative energy solutions, Aramco gen – helping lay the foundations of a
to acquire an equity interest in the expects its investment in BHIG future energy system.”
Jubail-based Blue Hydrogen Industrial will contribute to the development of
Gases Company (BHIG), a wholly- a lower-carbon hydrogen network in BHIG, which is designed to pro-
owned subsidiary of Air Products Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province. Upon duce lower-carbon hydrogen while
Qudra (APQ). completion of the transaction, Aramco capturing and storing CO , is intended
2
and APQ, are expected to each own a to commence commercial operations
APQ is a development and invest- 50% stake in BHIG. in coordination with Aramco’s CCS
ment company formed as a joint ven- activities.
ture between industrial gases group, Mr. Ashraf Al Ghazzawi, Aramco
Air Products, and Qudra Energy, a Executive Vice President of Strategy & Dr. Samir Serhan, Air Products
subsidiary of Vision Invest. Corporate Development, said, “We Qudra Chairman, commented, “We
intend to leverage our growing capa- look forward to providing our expertise
The transaction will also include bilities in carbon capture and storage in hydrogen and pipeline operations and
options for Aramco to offtake hydro- (CCS), as well as our technical exper- supporting Aramco’s need for a reliable
gen and nitrogen. Building on its tise in hydrogen, with the ambition to supply of lower-carbon hydrogen for
efforts to develop a lower-carbon hydro- support the establishment of a vibrant domestic and regional requirements.”
PARTNERSHIP
Syngenta & Ginkgo Bioworks to develop new

biological solution for agriculture

Syngenta Crop Protection and US- Biologicals pipeline. This strain engineering strate-
based biotech firm, Ginkgo Bioworks, molecule is earmarked by gies to develop the micro-
have announced a new cooperation Syngenta as a pioneering bial strain that is robust
aimed at accelerating the launch of a biological solution. Suc- enough to meet Syngenta’s
new biological solution. The two com- cessful cost-effective and goals.
panies have previously collaborated large-scale production
on next-generation seed technology. of this targeted metabo- Ginkgo will leverage
lite would significantly expedite Syn- its biological knowledge and ma-
Through this new collaboration, genta’s market launch timeline for its chine learning approaches to develop
Ginkgo plans to develop and opti- latest biological solution. To achieve insights from multiple complex data
mise a microbial strain that can meet this, Ginkgo will use its Ag Biologi- sources and apply this toward diag-
the productivity targets of a secon cals capabilities to calculate theore- nosing strain performance limitations
dary metabolite from the Syngenta tical performance and guide rational as well as biological feature discovery.
INDUSTRIAL GASES
Air Products to build, own and operate two new ASUs

in US

Industrial gases major, Air Pro- at its existing Conyers, Georgia and units, provide additional capacity at
ducts, has announced plans to construct Reidsville, North Carolina locations. the locations, and are projected to be
two new air separation units (ASU) Both new ASUs will replace older onstream in 2026.

158 Chemical Weekly July 30, 2024

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