IVL-led collaboration delivers recycling solution for monolayer PET trays

A six-year project in France to develop a recycling solution for monolayer and multilayer food packaging PET trays has led to a new technology that makes it possible to process the monolayer trays into a recycled product that is suitable for new tray production, said Sustainableplastics.

With the support of the French not-for-profit organisation Citeo, Indorama-owned Wellman France Recycling and Valorplast, a company specialised in the collection and management of household plastic packaging, collaborated for six years on the project. During that period, Valorplast was responsible for the collection of quantities of post-consumer PET trays, while Wellman conducted a number of industrial runs. The flakes produced through the process have been tested by several actors in order to explore the quality and potentially possible applications for this material.

The outcome of these tests has now enabled a commercially feasible, circular recycling solution for monolayer PET trays to be developed by the project’s participants, who are now working with Klockner Pentaplast on its further implementation. “We will be using this flake as part of our kp Tray2Tray initiative to include recycled content in our food packaging trays for the fresh food sector across Europe,” said Adam Barnett, President of the Food Packaging Division at Klockner Pentaplast.

The new technology is expected to result in over 50 million post-consumer PET trays being diverted away from landfill or incineration in the future. The project is still working on solutions for multilayer PET trays, noted Catherine Klein, general director of Valorplast.

But the new technology means that, for the first time, ‘we have a circular recycling solution for PET tray packaging’ said Francois Lagrue, head of operations – Europe, Indorama Ventures Recycling Group, which will lend significant support in realising the EU’s plastic collection and recycling targets. “This is a true value circle effort. Tests were performed at all levels, including sorting, recycling and conversion,” said Lagrue. “Ensuring the input met the right quality and purity levels is our top priority. Development of tray recycling has been a goal for some time. We are proud that – together with our partners – we have been able to develop a commercially and technically feasible process, that allows us to produce a dedicated rPET flake product for the food packaging market."

Testing has now moved into commercial production. 500 tonnes of PET trays are now being processed monthly and transformed into a high-quality tray flake, which can be used to produce new trays. The purity of the flakes is comparable with high-quality bottle flake. A further scale-up is foreseen, and the company plans to process 10KT of tray flake in 2022.

As per MRC, Indorama Ventures completed the acquisition of Ngoc Nghia Industry, one of Vietnam’s leading PET packaging companies. The acquisition will boost IVL's market position as it continues to expand its integrated offering of PET products to major multinational customers throughout the region.

Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited (IVL) is the biggest PET producer and, since its acquisition of Wellman International in 2011, has also grown into one of the biggest PET recyclers in the world, producing bottle flakes, rPET and recycled fibres. Since 2011, with IVL has been recycling PET bottles into clear PET flakes for fibre, sheet and bottle applications. Its latest acquisition in this areas was an 85% equity stake in Czech Republic-based PET plastic recycler, UCY Polymers CZ, an investment designed to boost that country’s and Europe’s plastic collection and recycling ambitions. IVL has pledged to invest USD1.5 billion towards achieving the goal of recycling 750,000 tons of post-consumer PET materials as feedback into its own polymer production per year by 2025.
mrchub.com

The Rehau Group will sell its business in Russia to the local management and will withdraw completely from the country. A corresponding preliminary agreement has now been signed by both parties, said Sustainableplastics.

Rehau had previously announced that, in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it was suspending its activities in Russia and would ramp down its business there in a controlled manner. The company said in its 24 May statement announcing the decision that the ‘ongoing acts of war, which are fundamentally at odds with our values, unfortunately make further action unavoidable. We have accordingly decided to sell our business in Russia’.

The Rehau Group has been active in Russia for around 30 years and has served the market there primarily with polymer-based solutions for the window, construction and furniture sectors. It has almost 700 employees at 23 locations in the country, including a plant near Moscow – its second largest worldwide – that produces PVC window and door profiles.

Rehau is also active in Ukraine. The company has organised emergency aid measures, including the emergency aid fund "Family for Families". It serves to provide short-term support, but is also meant to be used for later reconstruction.

As per MRC, Rehau GmbH, a family-owned supplier of polymer-based solutions to the construction and automotive industries headquartered in Muri, Switzerland, has completed its acquisition of MB Barter & Trading AG. First announced in September, the transaction includes Rehau GmbH in Muri bei Bern, Switzerland, as well as the worldwide subsidiaries of the MB Barter & Trading Group. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

We remind, Rehau Americas, a molder of plastic products for the construction, automotive and industry sectors, will close its manufacturing plant in Winnipeg, Manitoba by the end of 2018. The Winnipeg plant employs approximately 75 workers, and produces rigid PVC profiles for residential and commercial window manufacturers in the U.S. and Canada.
mrchub.com

Abu Dhabi-based petrochemicals company Borouge has attracted demand of USD80 billion for its initial public offering, two sources told Reuters, as retail investors snapped up shares despite volatile global markets.

The company, which is jointly owned by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and Austria’s Borealis, has attracted orders of USD63 billion from institutional investors, said the sources, declining to be named as the matter is not public. Borouge is due to list on the Abu Dhabi stock exchange on Friday.

Demand for the retail tranche, which includes employees in the company, totalled USD17 billion, the highest for an IPO in the United Arab Emirates in almost two decades. Asset managers BlackRock and Fidelity were among institutional investors taking part in the offering, the sources said.

Borouge and ADNOC declined to comment when contacted by Reuters on Monday. BlackRock and Fidelity did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Borouge’s total offering was about 40 times oversubscribed.

Bankers carved out almost a week to draw interest in the Abu Dhabi offering, but it took less than an hour before they had excess orders.

Borouge last week set the offer price for its initial public offering, which showed it could raise USD2 billion in the deal, implying an equity value of USD20 billion for the company. Gulf issuers have raised USD8.76 billion from IPOs so far this year, Refinitiv data shows, exceeding European flotations even as global markets remain volatile in the wake of the conflict in Ukraine.

Gulf markets are highly correlated to oil prices, which have surged since the conflict in Ukraine with Brent crude now trading at around USD120 a barrel.

As pre MRC, Abu Dhabi-headquartered petrochemicals firm Borouge said on Monday it secured seven cornerstone investors, including India's wealthy Adani family for its USD2 billion initial public offering (IPO). Borouge, a joint venture between Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) and Austrian chemical producer Borealis, on Monday said it secured seven cornerstone investors, including India’s wealthy Adani family for its USD2 billion initial public offering (IPO).

We remind, Borealis (Vienna), a leading producer of polyolefins, has delayed the start-up of a new, world-scale propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant at its existing production site at Kallo, Belgium, which is the company's biggest investment in Europe, until Q3 2023, citing Covid-19. The plant in Kallo in the port of Antwerp was previously targeted to begin operations by the end of next year.

Borealis is owned by OMV AG and Mubadala Investment Co., the Abu Dhabi state investment company. Borealis is a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers. With headquarters in Vienna, Austria, Borealis currently employs around 6,500 and operates in over 120 countries.
mrchub.com

The Chairman of Petronor, Emiliano Lopez Atxurra, today announced the upcoming construction work for the new Bilbao decarbonization hub that will be composed of a synthetic fuels plant and an urban waste processing project, said the company.

At the event, he was accompanied by the President of the regional Basque Government, Inigo Urkullu; the CEO of Repsol, Josu Jon Imaz; the Chairman of Kutxabank, Gregorio Villalabeitia; the Deputy General of the province of Bizkaia, Unai Rementeria; and the Minister for Economic Development, Sustainability and Environment of the regional government of the Basque Country, Arantxa Tapia.

Josu Jon Imaz, CEO of Repsol said that “the project will allow us to test the technologies that will be used together for the first time in the world here in Bilbao."

Emiliano Lopez Atxurra stated that "with this project we unite present, past, and future, because this port is part of Petronor's history and present. Now it is also part of the future. This is an example of the technological neutrality that we champion as a guide for a sustainable and inclusive energy transition."

With the construction of these new plants, Repsol continues to advance in its commitment to decarbonization to achieve the goal of zero net emissions by 2050. The company's strategy is fully aligned with the objectives laid out by both the European Union and the Spanish Government. The Fit for 55 regulatory package, presented last year by the European Commission, supports the deployment of fuels with a low carbon footprint, produced either from waste or from non-biological sources, such as synthetic fuels, as is the case for these new plants presented by Imaz.

These are two major industrial projects that also demonstrate the importance of maintaining technological neutrality in the search for sustainable and complementary alternatives to achieve the decarbonization of the economy.

Repsol lifted the force majeure for the supply of butadiene in Tarragona (Tarragona, Spain), announced earlier in February. On February 10, the company stopped two lines for the production of butadiene with a total capacity of 130 tons per year in Tarragona. According to a company source, butadiene production was resumed on 23 March.

Earlier it was reported that against the backdrop of a change in global strategy, the Spanish Repsol, formerly a major investor in the Russian fuel and energy complex, announced its withdrawal from Russia in December last year. The company will sell its shares in the oil assets of Evrotek-Yugra and ASB Geo to a Russian partner, Gazprom Neft.

Repsol is the largest oil and gas company in Spain and Latin America, one of the ten largest oil and gas corporations in the world.
mrchub.com

CHIMEI completed a one-year-long ecological survey of its Green Energy Park, covering the diversity of animals, plants, and soil properties. Results of the survey indicate that 282 species of animals and plants have been recorded in the park, showing that the ecology of animals and plants in our Green Energy Park is quite rich compared with that in general low-altitude farmland and rural areas, said the company.

Its soil, common loam of the alluvial plain surrounding the Zengwen River, is of good quality, and there is no heavy metal pollution. The CHIMEI Green Energy Park was officially opened in August 2020. Under its core concept of "symbiosis of trees and electricity", a solar power plant was set up on the premise of preserving existing trees and vegetation to the greatest extent possible. In addition to having installed solar panels with total potential energy generation of 20 million kWh per year, the park also has a rich and valuable natural ecology. Nevertheless, it lacked systematic ecological survey data.

CHIMEI saw that it was necessary to conduct a detailed ecological survey of the park to maintain its existing natural ecology. Through professional academic surveys, CHIMEI has gained a deeper understanding of the ecological characteristics of its Green Energy Park, which will serve as the basis for monitoring the future ecological impact of the region over the long term.

Therefore, in April 2021, CHIMEI commissioned the team of Prof. I-Ling Lai from the Graduate Institute of Bioresources of the National Pingtung University of Science and Technology to conduct a quarterly ecological survey for a period of one year (a total of four surveys). The survey targeted three categories: plants, animals, and soil. The park was divided into 14 survey areas, according to characteristics of landscape and vegetation, and the ecology of each area was recorded.

In the plant survey, a total of 282 species were recorded, which included 148 native species, of which 10 species endemic to Taiwan and 12 protected species were planted. A total of 282 animal species were surveyed, including 14 species endemic to Taiwan, 17 subspecies endemic to Taiwan, and 8 protected species.

The survey also showed that the grass in the solar panel area was flourishing. This was a result of CHIMEI adopting a green construction method. Zero concrete was used in the panel foundations and zero cement and asphalt were used in the entire park area, meaning that plants are free to grow under the photovoltaic panels. In addition, the park is regularly weeded and maintained. Although this means increased maintenance costs, it is beneficial to the growth, proliferation, and diversity of plants. When solar panels are cleaned, only water is used, so the risk of adverse effects on the soil is reduced.

The animal survey indicates that fireflies and dragonflies, which are both indicator organisms, have been recorded in the park, meaning that the park’s habitat is in a good state. Presence of birds of prey, such as collared scops owls and black-winged kites, also indicates that the park has a complete food chain and superb biodiversity.

At present, the survey has established complete data on the animal and plant species as well as the soil properties of the Green Energy Park. In the future, CHIMEI will use this survey as the basis to conduct long-term monitoring and plan conservation actions, thereby continuing to protect its biodiversity.

As per MRC, Lummus Technology announced it has been awarded a technology contract by Zhangzhou CHIMEI Chemical Co., a subsidiary of CHIMEI Corp. of Taiwan, for a grassroots diphenyl carbonate (DPC) plant in Fujian Province, China. Zhangzhou CHIMEI will build a new polycarbonate (PC) production plant that leverages the Versalis DPC technology licensed by Lummus. The plant will have a capacity of 156,000 MTA of DPC and is expected to reach mass production in Q4 2024.

We remind, EPC Engineering & Technologies GmbH has been selected as technology licensor by ChiMei Corporation and its subsidiary Zhangzhou CHIMEI Chemical Co., Ltd. for a new 180 KTPA Polycarbonate Project to be located in Zhangzhou, China. EPC will provide a license for its patented EPC variPLANT Technology and proprietary equipment to CHIMEI and will also deliver engineering and onsite support for this project.
mrchub.com