Alpla, Ecohelp and UPT launch joint PET recycling operations in Romania

Alpla, Ecohelp and UPT launch joint PET recycling operations in Romania

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Alpla Group, the global packaging solutions and recycling specialist, is investing in the construction of a recycling plant in Targu Mures, Romania as part of a joint venture with its partners, said Recyclingportal.

The plastic granulate recycled there in the future will come from PET bottles collected from household waste and will be used to manufacture new PET bottles.

By creating the planned PET Recycling Team Targu Mures joint venture, Alpla and companies Ecohelp SRL (Romania) and United Polymer Trading AG (Switzerland) are each investing equally in the installation of an extrusion line to recycle post-consumer PET bottles at the Romanian partner’s site. They aim to produce 15,000 tonnes of food-grade post-consumer recycled PET (rPET) each year. The rPET granulate will then be used to manufacture new preforms and bottles, with an intention to strengthen the local materials cycle within the Central and South-Eastern Europe region.

The three partners contribute different areas of expertise to the joint venture. While Alpla acts as a recycling specialist and a preform and bottle manufacturer, Ecohelp supplies base material in the form of PET flakes that will go through an extrusion process to produce high-grade rPET granules. UPT in turn co-owns the rPET Upcycling facility Cumapol Emmen in The Netherlands and specialises in trading plastics and recycled material. The entire amount being invested in the plant and the associated building and infrastructure comes to roughly €7.5 million. The plant expansion will create 15 new jobs at the site in Targu Mures.

Alpla Chairman Gunther Lehner, who is responsible for developing the company’s Sustainability and Circular Economy departments, emphasises the significance of the investment: “Our aim at Alpla now and in the future is to establish a bottle-to-bottle cycle – including in regions in which the collection and recycling of waste still has potential for development. By participating in this joint venture, we are taking a strategically important and sustainable step in this direction."

Georg Lasser, Head of Corporate Recycling at Alpla, adds: “We are seeing consistent growing demand from our customers for recycled material, and this demand is worldwide and unbroken. It and our customers’ need to close local material cycles give us an opportunity to boost investment projects like these. With our two partners, we have brought together our different areas of expertise and are looking forward to a new form of collaboration."

Rainer Widmar, Regional Manager CEE at Alpla, emphasises the relevance for local customer relationships: “With this investment, we are bringing our recycling expertise to our customers in the region, letting us operate within the market at even closer proximity." The joint venture is subject to regulatory approval by competition authorities. The parties signed the contract for it on 9 September 2021, with production planned to commence in mid-2022. The parties have agreed not to disclose any further details.

In early 2021, the Alpla Group announced that it would invest an average of €50 million each year in the ongoing expansion of its recycling activities until 2025. In particular, it plans to globalise its activities in the area of high-quality recyclates in order to close the materials cycle in as many regions as possible. In all, the annual capacity of the Alpla recycling companies, joint ventures and partnerships amounts to approximately 130,000 tonnes of PET and 60,000 tonnes of PE.

As per MRC, ALPLA Group is purchasing the Wolf Plastics Group for an undisclosed amount in a move to expand the company's product portfolio in Central and Southeastern Europe. Headquartered in Kammern, Austria, Wolf also has production facilities in Hungary and Romania. The Austrian and Romanian competition authorities are currently examining the proposal, Alpla officials said in a news release. Closure of the deal is subject to regulatory approval.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PET consumption totalled 411,200 tonnes in the first six month of 2021, up by 12% year on year. Russian companies processed 62,910 tonnes in June, compared to 85,890 tonnes a month earlier.

Headquartered in Hard, Austria, ALPLA specializes in blow molded bottles and caps, injection molded parts, and preforms and tubes.
MRC

Regulators probe Phillips 66 refinery work

Regulators probe Phillips 66 refinery work

MOSCOW (MRC) -- California Bay Area regulators are investigating whether Phillips 66 failed to obtain necessary permits to produce renewable fuels at its oil refinery in Rodeo, according to an email reviewed by Reuters.

The refiner is undergoing a multi-step conversion of the plant to turn it into the world's largest producer of renewable fuels using feedstocks such as soybean oil and animal fats. California is the biggest gasoline market in the United States, but some of the state's 14 refineries are not always profitable. Several are looking to survive long term by cashing in on state incentives for production of lower-carbon fuels.

Phillips 66 started to process small volumes of soybean oil at the Rodeo refinery in the first quarter of 2021, the company said this year. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD), which regulates stationary sources of air pollution in the region, is investigating whether the company modified its refinery without getting required additional permits, according to an email last week seen by Reuters.

Phillips 66 wants the Rodeo project to produce more than 800 million gallons of renewable diesel, renewable gasoline and sustainable jet fuel annually. That effort requires increased use of hydrogen, which can cause flaring events and refineries to malfunction, environmental groups say.

At least 10 groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, have complained to regulators about the additional emissions produced by using more hydrogen to treat feedstocks like soybean oil and animal tallow. The NRDC, in a July letter, argued that Phillips 66 did not request proper approval from the air quality management district to start processing that oil this year.

The management district, in its email this month to NRDC, said it will conduct an on-site investigation and engineering review of the Rodeo facility, the email said. Phillips 66 told Reuters it obtained the necessary permits to produce renewable diesel from an existing hydrotreater as part of a standalone flexibility project. The management district declined to comment.

As per MRC, Phillips 66's 255,600-barrel-per-day (bpd) Alliance, Louisiana, refinery faces a monthslong shutdown for repairs following flooding from Hurricane Ida, sources familiar with plant operations said. Phillips 66 said it was still assessing the refinery and a timeline for operational restarts was not available. The sources said the company plans to complete its damage assessment next week when floodwaters fully recede. So far, the company still plans to restart the refinery, which in August it announced was up for sale.

We remind that US-based Phillips 66 remains open to developing another ethane cracker for its Chevron Phillips Chemical (CP Chem) joint venture, the refiner's CEO said in March 2018.

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.

Phillips 66 is a diversified energy manufacturing and logistics company. With a portfolio of Midstream, Chemicals, Refining, and Marketing and Specialties businesses, the company processes, transports, stores and markets fuels and products globally. Phillips 66 Partners, the company’s master limited partnership, is integral to the portfolio. Headquartered in Houston, the company has 14,300 employees committed to safety and operating excellence. Phillips 66 had USD55 billion of assets as of Dec. 31, 2020.
MRC

Kazanorgsintez shut PE production

Kazanorgsintez shut PE production

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Kazanorgsintez (part of TAIF Group) has completely shut its polyethylene (PE) production capacities for a scheduled turnaround, according to ICIS-MRC Price report.

The plant's customers said Kazanorgsintez had completely took off-stream its low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) production capacities for the annual scheduled maintenance on 14 September. The outage will be lengthy, the completion of the maintenance works is scheduled for the second decade of October.

It is also worth noting that Gazprom neftekhim Salavat plans to resume its HDPE production after a long turnaround in the third decade of September, and its LDPE production - in early October. The plants' production capacities are 120,000 and 45,000 tonnes per year, respectively.

PJSC "Kazanorgsintez" (part of TAIF Group) is one of Russia's largest plants. Kazanorgsintez produces 40% of overall Russian polyethylene (PE) and is the country's largest exporter. To date, the plant produces PE, polycarbonate (PC), PE pipes, phenol, acetone, bisphenol A. Kazanorgsintez is Russia's only PC producer. It manufactures a total of 170 items of products. Kazanorgsintez's annual output is 1.6 million tonnes. The plant is Russia's largest producer of high density polyethylene (HDPE). The plant's annual HDPE production capacity is 540,000 tonnes and its annual LDPE capacity is 225,000 tonnes.
MRC

COVID-19 - News digest as of 16.09.2021

1. Crude oil prices continue rising in Asia after sharp overnight increase on bullish supply-demand outlook

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Crude oil futures continued their uptrend in midmorning Asia trade Sept. 16 after sharp overnight gains on a bullish supply-demand outlook, reported S&P Global. At 11 am Singapore time (0300 GMT), the ICE November Brent futures contract was up 28 cents/b (0.37%) from the previous close at USD75.74/b while the NYMEX October light sweet crude contract rose 26 cents/b (0.36%) at USD72.87/b. "Crude oil rallied to a six-week high following another large drawdown in inventories. US stockpiles fell 6,422 kbbl last week, according to EIA data. The data follow warnings from the International Energy Agency that supply lost from storms in the Gulf of Mexico would offset gains from OPEC," ANZ analysts said Sept. 16.

MRC

NSRP restarts its new PP plant in Vietnam after turnaround

NSRP restarts its new PP plant in Vietnam after turnaround

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical (NSRP) has completed maintenance works at its new polypropylene (PP) plant in Vietnam this week, reported CommoPlast.

The 400,000 mt year of PP plant was shut on 24 August 2021, instead of the initially scheduled date of 17 August, for approximately three weeks. The company decided to postpone the maintenance shutdown at this plant by one week from the previous schedule due to the COVID-19 related lockdown.

Demand in the local Vietnam market has been sluggish due to the COVID-19 outbreak that forced many manufacturing plants to shut down.

As MRC reported earlier, in the third week of September 2020, NSRP restarted its PP unit in Vietnam following a 10 days unscheduled shutdown starting 7 September 2020 due to a persistent technical issue. And this year, NSRP also shut its PP plant in central Vietnam from 30 March to 13 April 2021 for a two-week turnaround due to a technical issue.

We also remind that Vietnam’s Nghi Son oil refinery officially began commercial production from 14 November 2018, following months of tests. The USD9 billion refinery is 35.1% owned by Japan’s Idemitsu Kosan Co, 35.1% - by Kuwait Petroleum, 25.1% - by PetroVietnam and 4.7% - by Mitsui Chemicals Inc.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, 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