MOSCOW (MRC) -- UPM (Helsinki, Finland) says it has agreed to buy the entire annual lignin production of Domtar Paper Co.’s plant at Plymouth Mill, North Carolina, starting in January 2021, said Chemweek.
The 20,000-metric tons/year of lignin will enable UPM to increase its existing supplies and expand its role in the growing lignin business and different application segments, it says. Part of the additional lignin supply will be used to complement UPM’s BioPiva products brand.
The agreement with Domtar “enables us to expand our lignin business in the growing biochemicals market before the start-up of our biorefinery in Leuna, Germany,” says Juuso Konttinen, vice president/biochemicals at UPM. Demand for sustainable lignin solutions has been increasing steadily, according to the company.
Lignin products can be used as a renewable alternative to fossil-based products in a growing range of applications, including lignin-based phenolic resins.
UPM is building a EUR550-million (USD652 million) biochemicals refinery in Leuna, Germany, to produce up to 220,000 metric tons/year of biobased monoethylene glycol, monopropylene glycol, and industrial sugars as well as renewable functional fillers and lignin, using sustainably sourced hardwood as feedstock. The biorefinery is scheduled to start operations by the end of 2022.
As mRC informed earlier, Neste, a leading producer of renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel and a forerunner as a provider of renewable and circular solutions for the petrochemical industry, and LG Chem, South Korea’s largest diversified petrochemicals company and a leading manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries for energy solutions, have announced their aim to build a strategic long-term partnership to develop and grow the biopolymers and biochemicals market globally, and more specifically, in the LG Chem’s home market Korea.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing PE and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,760,950 tonnes in the first ten months of 2020, up by 3% year on year. Only high density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 978,870 tonnes in January-October 2020 (calculated using the formula: production minus exports plus imports minus producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively of PP random copolymer increased.
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