Braskem invests in three plastic recycling plants to advance the circular economy

Braskem invests in three plastic recycling plants to advance the circular economy

To further strengthen its commitment to sustainable development, Braskem, the largest polyolefins producer in the Americas and leading producer of biopolymers in the world, announces the investment of R130 million dollars in three projects to advance the circular economy, according to SpecialChem.

This includes inauguration of a mechanical recycling plant, the start of construction of Brazil's first advanced recycling plant with technology developed by Valoren and the start of construction of a circular packaging development center.

Around R67 million dollars is invested in building a mechanical recycling plant in Indaiatuba, Sao Paulo, with startup slated for March. The project was made possible by the partnership with Valoren, a company engaged in the development of new technologies and the management of solid waste for its transformation into recycled products.

The expectation is that the region will transform 250 million units of post-consumer packaging made from polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) used in cleaning, personal care, cosmetics, and food products, for example, into 14,000 tons of high-quality resins for reuse as raw materials by the plastics converter industry. The plant is already in the commissioning and assisted pre-operational phase.

One of Braskem's innovative fronts for complementing the closure of the circular economy was the signing of another disruptive project with Valoren for the construction and startup of an advanced recycling unit, also located in the city of Indaiatuba. The unit will chemically transform plastic waste using a pyrolysis process into a certified circular raw material for use in making resins or chemical inputs.

The new unit, which was made possible by a joint investment of RD44 million and will start-up in the first quarter of 2023, will have an annual production capacity of 6,000 tons of circular products.

"After six years of research and development into innovative new technologies in the pyrolysis of plastic waste, we are very satisfied to be partnering once again with Braskem, which further confirms our joint commitment to the circular economy,” said Heinz-Peter Elstrodt, partner and chairman of Valoren.

By mid-2022, Braskem expects to inaugurate Cazoolo, its circular economy packaging development center located in the West zone of Sao Paulo city, for an investment of R20 million dollars.

The initiatives, which jointly will require an investment of over R130 million dollars, are directly related to the targets that Braskem has undertaken for the coming years.

In its efforts to eliminate plastic waste, Braskem will expand its production portfolio to include, by 2025, 300, 000 tons of thermoplastic resins and chemical products with recycled content, and by 2030, 1 million tons of such products. Also by 2030, it aims to eliminate 1.5 million tons of plastic waste from being sent to incineration, landfills, or disposal in the environment.

As MRC informed previously, in February 2022, Braskem S.A. announced its investment in Nexus Circular LLC. Using a proprietary advanced recycling technology, Nexus converts a range of hard-to-recycle plastics especially landfill bound plastic films into its circular feedstocks which can then be converted back into virgin plastics (fully circular).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,487,450 tonnes in 2021, up by 13% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 1,494.280 tonnes, up by 21% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whreas.shipments of PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

Braskem S.A. produces petrochemicals and generates electricity. The Company produces ethylene, propylene, benzene, toluene, xylenes, butadiene, butene, isoprene, dicyclopentediene, MTBE, caprolactam, ammonium sulfate, cyclohexene, polyethylene theraphtalat, polyethylene, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
MRC

Eni and the Republic of Benin to jointly develop industrial chain for biorefining

Eni and the Republic of Benin to jointly develop industrial chain for biorefining

Eni and the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries of the Republic of Benin signs a cooperation agreement to develop joint initiatives on the agro-industrial chain, for biorefining use, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Under the terms of the agreement, the parts will evaluate potential opportunities in the country in the field of agriculture and vegetable raw material to develop oil crops for Eni’s biorefining system.

The agreement will allow Eni to contribute to the development of new industrial models in the country, ensuring the sustainability along the whole agro-feedstock supply chain. It will play a key role in the energy transition for both Eni and the Republic of Benin, which is already a net negative CO2 issuer.

As MRC wrote earlier, Eni is evaluating conversion of its Livorno refinery in northwest Italy into a biorefinery, as part of the Italian company's wider strategy to make its activities more environmentally sustainable. Eni has already converted two of its Italian refineries and is looking to almost double its biorefining capacity to around 2 million mt/year by 2024, and expand this to at least five times by 2050, as part of its pledge to achieve complete carbon neutrality by 2050.

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 2,487,450 tonnes in 2021, up by 13% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 1,494.280 tonnes, up by 21% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whreas.shipments of PP random copolymers decreased significantly.

Eni, abbreviation of Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi, in full Eni SpA, Italian energy company operating primarily in petroleum, natural gas, and petrochemicals. Established in 1953, it is one of Europe's largest oil companies in terms of sales.
MRC

Akzo Nobel expects Russian operations to fold in weeks

Akzo Nobel expects Russian operations to fold in weeks

AkzoNobel expects business in Russia to wind down in the next couple of months due to difficulties accessing raw materials and the increasing deterioration of supply chains, said the company.

The firm, which operates four plants in the country, expects its Russian assets to go out of business within the next couple of months due to the impact of sanctions imposed on the country and intensifying supply chain disruption, as well as the ability of key customers to finance orders.

AkzoNobel is the latest producer to forecast a wind-down of Russian operations, after Germany-based LANXESS stated that it would cease business in the country as completely as contracts allow.

Most European oil and gas players have announced plans to pull out of Russia and divest stakes in joint ventures in the country, while Borealis stated don 11 March that it does not intend to accept an offer to acquire its fertilizers business from EuroChem, a Switzerland-headquartered player with most of its operations in Russia.

As per MRC, AkzoNobel strengthened its paints business and footprint in Spain by completing the acquisition of 100% of the shares of Spanish decorative paints maker Titan Paints for an undisclosed fee. The transaction includes Titan Paints' three production plants in El Prat (Barcelona), Las Palmas (Canary Islands), and Maia in Portugal, seven logistics and service centers for decorative paints, the company said in a statement. Titan Paints generated sales of about EUR80m in 2019 and has 425 employees. The deal was first announced in October 2020.

As MRC previously reported, AkzoNobel completed a capacity expansion at its industrial coatings plant in Songjiang, near Shanghai, China, in March 202, doubling its packaging lacquer and coating capacity. After expansion, the plant became one of the world's largest enterprises for the production of industrial coatings, as well as epoxy and polyester resins.

AkzoNobel is the world's largest manufacturer of paints and coatings, also a leader in specialty chemicals.
mrchub.com

BASF launched a new fluid catalytic cracking catalyst

BASF launched a new fluid catalytic cracking catalyst

BASF launched a new fluid catalytic cracking catalyst designed to maximize butylenes from resid feedstocks, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Fortitude, the latest product based on BASF’s multiple framework topology (MFT) technology, is optimized to deliver superior selectivity to butylenes while maintaining catalyst activity.

MFT technology enhances performance through the use of more than one framework topology working together to tailor the catalyst selectivity profile. Fourtitude combines the benefits of MFT and metals passivation technologies to deliver superior butylenes selectivity and metals resistance for resid feedstock applications. The superior butylenes selectivity is achieved by employing a specialty zeolite framework that is more effective at cracking small olefins to butylene.

Fourtitude refinery trials have validated its ability to deliver improved performance for refiners through increased butylenes and propylene yields, increased gasoline octane and improved coke selectivity.

"Fourtitude is an important addition to BASF’s industry-leading and advanced refinery catalysts portfolio,” said Detlef Ruff, Senior Vice President, Process Catalysts at BASF. “We are pleased to introduce an innovative product to help our customers processing resid feedstocks to improve butylenes selectivity and overall performance of refineries."

As per MRC, BASF, the world's petrochemical major, is strengthening its global catalyst development and helping customers to bring new products faster to the market. As part of this strategy, BASF is building a new pilot plant center at its Ludwigshafen site. The new Catalyst Development and Solids Processing Center will serve as a global hub for pilot-scale production and process innovations of chemical catalysts.

BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries.
mrchub.com

LANXESS suspends its business in Russia

LANXESS suspends its business in Russia

German speciality chemicals maker LANXESS on Friday said it was suspending its business activities in Russia due to the war in Ukraine, reported Reuters.

Thus, the company had “suspended business activities with Russian customers as far as contractually possible until further notice” and had suspended all investments in Russia.

Its sales in Russia and Ukraine made up less than 1% of its global sales, it said.

Sanctions imposed by Western countries on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine have fuelled a global surge in wholesale power and gas prices, which chemical companies are attempting to offset by passing the increases on to customers.

As MRC reported before, in October 2021, specialty chemicals company LANXESS and energy company bp entered into a strategic partnership for the use of sustainable raw materials in high-tech plastics production. bp will supply sustainably produced cyclohexane to the LANXESS’ production site in Antwerp, Belgium, starting in the fourth quarter of 2021. The sustainable origin of the raw materials is certified according to ISCC Plus rules (“International Sustainability and Carbon Certification”). With this partnership, both companies, which already have a long-standing business relationship, want to significantly advance the production of sustainable plastics.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated consumption of unmixed PVC was about 999,300 tonnes in 2021, up by 7% year on year. The emulsion and suspension PVC market showed stronger demand, despite over a twofold price increase. December estimated SPVC consumption was 81,200 tonnes (excluding deliveries to the Republic of Belarus and the Republic of Kazakhstan) versus 74,690 tonnes a month earlier.

LANXESS is a leading specialty chemicals company with about 19,200 employees in 25 countries. The company is currently represented at 74 production sites worldwide. The core business of Lanxess is the development, manufacturing and marketing of chemical intermediates, additives, specialty chemicals and plastics. Through Arlanxeo, the joint venture with Saudi Aramco, Lanxess is also a leading supplier of synthetic rubber.
MRC