LyondellBasell gains ISCC PLUS certification for certain PE and PP grades to extend Circulen product line to North America

LyondellBasell gains ISCC PLUS certification for certain PE and PP grades to extend Circulen product line to North America

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LyondellBasell has announced the company has obtained the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) PLUS certification for certain grades of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) produced at four of its US manufacturing sites, as per the company's press release.

ISCC PLUS certification is a globally-recognized system for providing traceability of recycled and renewable-based materials across the supply chain.

ISCC PLUS certification enables LyondellBasell to extend its Circulen suite of products to customers in North America and offer mass balance certificates for these products. The company will begin North American Circulen production with its CirculenRevive products, which are polymers produced from plastic waste through an advanced recycling process1, initially using feedstock provided by third parties. LyondellBasell expects to gradually ramp up production to meet growing demand over the coming years.

"The ISCC PLUS certification of four of our North American sites will help us bring more sustainable solutions to our customers," said Ken Lane, LyondellBasell Executive Vice President of Global Olefins and Polyolefins. "By delivering these new CirculenRevive products, we are proving plastics have value beyond their initial use, in any application that virgin plastic is used. The ISCC PLUS certification helps us to accelerate our progress as an industry leader in the production and marketing of recycled and renewable-based polymers."

LyondellBasell secured the certification for its crackers in Channelview, Texas and its polymer sites in Lake Charles, Louisiana; La Porte, Texas; and Clinton, Iowa. The company plans to broaden the ISCC PLUS certification to its other North American polymer plants.

The ISCC PLUS certification is part of the company's multi-pronged approach to help advance the circular economy. In addition, LyondellBasell continues to develop its own proprietary advanced (molecular) recycling technology to enable a more efficient chemical conversion process and use less energy than other technologies.

As MRC reported earlier, LyondellBasell said in early August it was restarting the polymers and olefins units at its La Porte, Texas, facility following an acetic acid leak on 27 July, 2021, that killed two people. Both units are located in other parts of the La Porte site.

Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,176,860 tonnes in the first half of 2021, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of exclusively low density polyethylene (LDPE) decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 727,160 tonnes in the first six months of 2021, up by 31% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased. Supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.

LyondellBasell is one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world. Driven by its 13,000 employees around the globe, LyondellBasell produces materials and products that are key to advancing solutions to modern challenges like enhancing food safety through lightweight and flexible packaging, protecting the purity of water supplies through stronger and more versatile pipes, and improving the safety, comfort and fuel efficiency of many of the cars and trucks on the road. LyondellBasell sells products into approximately 100 countries and is the world's largest licensor of polyolefin technologies.
MRC

PPG appoints Tikkurila executive for EMEA operations

PPG appoints Tikkurila executive for EMEA operations

MOSCOW (MRC) -- PPG Industries Inc. (PPG) has announced the appointment of Meri Vainikka as vice president, architectural coatings (AC), Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), north and east, effective immediately, as per the company's press release.

She will report to Tim Knavish, PPG executive vice president.

In this key leadership role, Vainikka will have full accountability for the AC EMEA north and east region, which includes the Tikkurila legacy business. She will work closely with the Tikkurila integration team to ensure an ongoing, effective transition over the coming months.

Vainikka joined Tikkurila in January 2017 as director, marketing communications. She was appointed senior vice president, offering in May 2017. In this role, she led strategic marketing, product management, and research and development (R&D) for the business.

As MRC reported earlier, in June 2021, PPG announced an expansion of its coatings manufacturing capacity in Europe for packaging applications. The investments at sites in The Netherlands and Poland will support growing customer demand in the region for the latest generation of coatings for aluminum and steel cans used in packaging for beverage, food and personal care items. The projects include a further expansion of the company’s location in Tiel, The Netherlands, which will increase the plant’s production capacity for PPG INNOVEL non-BPA internal coatings for beverage cans by 30%. Expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2022, the project follows a 50% expansion completed at the end of 2020.

BPA is the main feedstock for the production of polycarbonate (PC).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall estimated consumption of polycarbonate (PC) granules in the Russian market were almost 56,000 tonnes in January-July 2021, down by 3% year on year (58,000 tonnes).
MRC

SK Global Chemical rebrands to SK Geo Centric in line with its strategy to be focused on recycling and eco-friendly materials

SK Global Chemical rebrands to SK Geo Centric in line with its strategy to be focused on recycling and eco-friendly materials

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Korea’s SK Global Chemical has changed its name to SK Geo Centric with effect from Sep. 1 as it adopts a strategy centered on recycling and eco-friendly materials, according to CHEManager.

“The plastic waste problem could turn into an opportunity. We will grow into the world’s largest urban oilfield company that converts plastic waste back into oil,” said SK Geo Centric CEO Na Kyung-soo.

The company’s primary goal is to establish facilities to process 900,000 t/y of plastic waste, which is equal to its annual domestic plastic production, by 2025, ramping up to 2.5 million t/y by 2027. It plans to invest about 5 trillion Korean won by 2025, both in South Korea and internationally, which will also include expanding capacity for green materials.

In addition, the Seoul-based group proposes to recycle 2.5 million t/y of plastic waste. It has signed Memoranda of Understanding with undisclosed domestic and international partners while it develops its own pyrolysis post-processing technology. Based on collaborations with overseas partners that own chemical recycling technologies such as solvent extraction, depolymerization and pyrolysis, SK Geo Centric intends to invest in plants both within and outside South Korea.

Besides, by working with the South Korean government and SMEs throughout the recycling chain, the company said it will build a recycling cluster that can process PE, PP, PET and complex materials.

“The plastic recycling market will grow by 12% by 2030, and the plastic waste market size is expected to reach 600 trillion Korean won by 2050. This implies that there is much room for growth,” said Na. “In the year 2025, we will create 600 billion Korean won in EBITDA from the eco-friendly and recycling sector to offset existing businesses, and also become a completely green company, even from a financial standpoint.”

SK Geo Centric will also increase production of eco-friendly materials from 500,000 t/y to 1.9 million t/y by 2025, and use bio-oil and pyrolysis oil in its plastics production rather than petroleum-based raw materials.

We remind that, as MRC reported before, South Korea's SK Innovation Co Ltd said in August, 2021, iit is considering spinning off and listing its growing battery business, taking a page out of rival LG Chem Ltd's playbook that is on track to list its battery unit this year. The move, announced by SK Innovation CEO Kim Jun earlier this year, comes as demand for electric vehicles (EVs) surges and carmakers partner with battery makers to ensure uninterrupted supplies.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,176,860 tonnes in the first half of 2021, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of exclusively low density polyethylene (LDPE) decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 727,160 tonnes in the first six months of 2021, up by 31% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased. Supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.

MRC

Sherwin-Williams decreased Q3 sales guidance

Sherwin-Williams decreased Q3 sales guidance

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Sherwin-Williams Company (SHW) lowered its net sales guidance for the third quarter of 2021, while keeping its full-year net sales and net income per share view unchanged, said the company.

The company lowered its third-quarter consolidated net sales guidance to be up or down by a low-single digit percentage over third-quarter 2020 from its prior view of up mid-to-high single digit percentage.

The full-year 2021 consolidated net sales guidance remains unchanged at up a high-single to low-double digit percentage over 2020 levels.

The full-year net income per share guidance remains intact in the range of USD8.01-USD8.31 per share, including 80 cents per share for acquisition-related amortization expenses and a loss of 34 cents per share on the Wattyl divestiture.

The company stated that it is witnessing strong demand across the pro architectural and industrial end markets it serves. However, sustained and industry-wide raw material availability issues have not improved as expected, affecting its ability to fully meet high demand.

It now expects raw material availability, including the unfavorable impact of Hurricane Ida, to affect its third-quarter consolidated sales by a high-single digit percentage. Its total cost basket— including raw materials, transportation and labor— continues to move upward, the company noted.

As per MRC, the Sherwin-Williams Company will acquire the European industrial coatings business of Sika AG. The acquired business will become part of the Sherwin-Williams Performance Coatings segment and that includes approximately 130 Sika employees. The transaction is expected to close in the beginning of 2022.

We remind that Russia's output of chemical products rose in June 2021 by 10.2% year on year. However, production of basic chemicals increased year on year by 8.2% in the first six months of 2021, according to Rosstat's data. June production of polymers in primary form was 937,000 tonnes versus 956,000 tonnes in May. Russia's overall output of polymers in primary form totalled 4,460,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 12.8% year on year.
MRC

Binh Son refinery cuts output, faces suspension on weak demand

Binh Son refinery cuts output, faces suspension on weak demand

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Vietnam's Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical has cut output at its refinery for the second time in a month and could see operations suspended due to weak domestic fuel demand, as per Reuters.

The 130,000-barrel-per-day refinery in central Vietnam has cut output to 80% of capacity, the Thanh Nien newspaper reported, after a reduction last month to 90% of capacity as a worsening coronavirus outbreak hurt demand.

A new wave of infections since late April saw Vietnam impose movement restrictions in a third of its cities and provinces and forced many companies to suspend operations.

"If the restrictions in the southern provinces continued into October, the refinery would probably have to suspend its production," the newspaper cited an unnamed executive of the company as saying.

The plant's refined fuel inventories have more than doubled from a month ago to 410,000 cubic metres, the executive was quoted as saying, adding that monthly sales have halved from pre-pandemic volumes to 300,000 cubic metres.

Binh Son has had to sell 1 million barrels of crude oil and is considering selling another 1 million barrels to free up its storage capacity, the report added.

Contacted by Reuters, a company source, who declined to be named because he was not authorised to speak to media, said: "We are operating at the lowest capacity possible and are seeking measures to keep our supply chain from being disrupted."

As MRC wrote before, Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical took off-stream its PP plant in Vietnam for a maintenance turnaround in June 2017 for a period of around 7 weeks. The exact date shutdown could not be ascertained. Located in Vietnam,the plant has a production capacity of 150,000 mt/year.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,176,860 tonnes in the first half of 2021, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of exclusively low density polyethylene (LDPE) decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 727,160 tonnes in the first six months of 2021, up by 31% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased. Supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.

Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical (BSR) is a subsidiary of state-owned oil firm PetroVietnam.
MRC