MOSCOW (MRC) -- European vinyls producer INOVYN has launched the world's first commercially available bio-attributed polyvinyl chloride (PVC), reported S&P Global with reference to company representatives' statement.
The Biovyn product will be made using 100% renewable ethylene feedstock derived from biomass.
The product was officially launched Thursday at the K Trade Fair 2019 in Dusseldorf.
Biovyn will be manufactured at Inovyn's 320,000 mt/year Rheinberg site, where it will receive bio-attributed ethylenesupplied via pipeline from sister company Ineos' Cologne steam cracker.
Biovyn will be the first PVC made without using fossil fuels. Instead it will use a bio-attribution process, whereby bio-feedstock is strictly tracked to its precise output in the PVC product, following strict technical, social and environmental standards set out by the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials, the company said during the event.
"Through our sustainability program we are developing a new generation of PVC grades that meet both the rigorous product quality and performance needs of our customers, while moving us closer towards a circular, carbon-neutral economy for PVC", said Filipe Constant, Inovyn's business director.
"Driven by the increasing global focus on the circular economy, there is growing demand for a specialist, renewable PVC that decouples its production from the conventional use of virgin fossil feedstocks."
Biovyn is expected to be used in numerous applications, depending on customer demand, including general purpose but also specialty uses such as automotive and medical.
The event also discussed Inovyn's initiatives in producing recycled PVC, as part of its commitment to VinylPlus, a voluntary sustainability program to improve the sustainability performance of European PVC. In 2018 around 800,000 mt of recycled PVC was produced by the European PVC industry, with a target of around 900,000 mt/year by 2025, to make up around 20% of the current European virgin PVC market.
INOVYN is among the top four PVC producers in the world by volume, with around 1,800,000 mt/year capacity to produce various grades of PVC at seven plants across Europe.
As MRC reported before, in early October 2019, Inovyn started maintenance works at its PVC plant at its Jemeppe Site, Belgium. According to the company’s website, the Jemeppe site is one of the largest PVC production capacities in Europe with 420,000 tons/year of material supplied to key sectors including building, automotive and piping.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall PVC production exceeded 720,500 tonnes in the first nine months of 2019, up by 3% year on year. At the same time, not all Russian producers raised their output.
Headquartered in London, INOVYN has pro-forma sales of more than EUR3 billion, with 4,300 employees and assets across 14 sites in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the UK. Governance of the Joint Venture is equally split between the partners.
MRC