Nexus plans to build an advanced recycling facility for Braskem

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Nexus Circular and Braskem S.A., the largest polyolefins producer in the Americas, as well as a market leader and pioneer producer of biopolymers on an industrial scale, announced that they have signed a detailed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to secure the production output from a new advanced recycling facility planned near Chicago, IL., said the company.

The new facility will have an initial capacity to convert over 30,000 metric tons annually of used plastic into new materials, with the potential to rapidly expand the processing capacity to over 120,000 metric tons annually.

Nexus Circular is a commercial leader in advanced recycling that uses proprietary technology and a leading process design to convert landfill-bound films and other hard-to-recycle plastics into high-quality materials used to produce virgin-quality sustainable plastics. Since 2018, Nexus has been supplying consistent, on-spec commercial volumes of ISCC PLUS certified circular products. In January 2022, Braskem made a strategic investment in Nexus Circular.

By the terms of the MOU, Braskem gains exclusive rights to the production output from this new advanced recycling facility, which supports Braskem's strategic objective to sell 300 thousand metric tons of products with recycled content by 2025 and 1 million metric tons by 2030. Braskem America's CEO Mark Nikolich said, "With the new facility, we will leverage Nexus' proven, commercial advanced recycling technology to secure high-quality feedstock for the production of Braskem's certified circular PP resins. Braskem has dedicated substantial resources towards reducing plastic waste and is making significant progress towards a more sustainable portfolio of PP to support our clients' goals."

Eric Hartz, Nexus Circular's Co-founder, and President added, "Nexus is rapidly expanding our production footprint, beyond our current commercial plant, with leading companies. We are thrilled to have Braskem as a committed partner, in addition to being an investor, as we move decisively to address the outsized market demand for circular recycled products while helping to mitigate the plastic waste challenge."

Nexus' unique solution is end-to-end acquiring and converting used plastics into circular virgin-equivalent feedstock for meeting recycled plastics objectives. The Nexus process is energy efficient, delivers unprecedented product quality, and has diverted over 5.5 million lbs. of used plastics from landfills to date.

As per MRC, Braskem Idesa's new partner in a USD400 MM investment in an ethane import terminal in Mexico will be Advario, part of the storage and logistic infrastructure company Oiltanking, Braskem said on June 14. Construction is scheduled to begin in July and end in 2024. The venture is majority owned by Sao Paulo-based Braskem with Mexico?s Idesa group as minority partner. Braskem and Idesa have been partners since winning in a consortium a tender for a long-term contract to buy ethane from Mexico?s Pemex about 12 years ago. The Puerto Mexico Chemical Terminal, as the ethane import terminal project will be called, will create 2,000 jobs during construction, the company has said.

Braskem is committed to contributing to the value chain for strengthening the circular economy. The petrochemical company's almost 8,000 team members dedicate themselves every day to improving people's lives through sustainable chemicals and plastics solutions. Braskem has an innovative DNA and a comprehensive portfolio of plastic resins and chemical products for diverse segments, such as food packaging, construction, manufacturing, automotive, agribusiness, healthcare, and hygiene, among others. With 41 industrial units in Brazil, the United States, Mexico, and Germany, Braskem exports its products to clients in more than 71 countries.
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Dow has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Chinese food and beverage firm Want-Want for zero-solvent emissions and to develop a circular economy for flexible packaging, said the company.

The agreement intends to strengthen value-chain partner cooperation with customised adhesives solutions to meet the demands of the industry for more eco-friendly packaging options. With Dow’s water-based and solventless adhesives technologies, Want-Want will shift to more sustainable laminating adhesives for all of its flexible packaging.

The food and beverage firm is also exploring opportunities to adopt recyclable packaging across more products in its portfolio. Dow Packaging & Specialty Plastics global adhesives business director Jayne Wong said: “Adhesives is an important sector that can help reduce emissions and enable a circular economy.

“Not only are we advancing sustainable packaging on a larger scale, but we are also exploring benefits such as efficiency optimization and energy savings, supporting customers in reducing carbon footprint during production and transportation processes."

Want-Want Group operations general manager Yongmei Cao said: “In order to tackle climate change and create long-term value, we have an important part to play as one of China’s largest food and beverage companies to establish an environmentally-friendly value chain – that inspires and encourages our consumers to make positive changes for the planet. “Solving sustainability challenges is not a one-man nor a one-organization job, but also falls on the shoulders of all stakeholders."

Cao added: “Not only are we thrilled to advance further in this journey with Dow, but we are also encouraged by the reality that we can offer our customers’ favourite products that are enveloped by Dow’s sustainable packaging innovation." The MoU supports Want-sustainability Want’s ambitions to reach carbon neutrality and use recyclable packaging for all goods, as well as Dow’s environmental goals to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

As per MRC, Dow announced that its carbon partnership with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has delivered on the goal of two mln tons of third-party verified CO2e emission reductions by end of year 2021, five years ahead of the original 2026 goal year. Dow was named the official carbon partner of the IOC in 2017 and has since developed a portfolio of global carbon mitigation projects based on Dow’s technology for the built environment, packaging and industrial processes, combined with carbon offsets from high quality external projects. The objective was to balance the IOC’s direct and indirect carbon emissions during the period of 2017-2020, while generating long-term carbon savings in different industry sectors well beyond that period. Altogether, the collaboration’s resulting emissions are expected to leave a positive climate legacy.
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Hungary's cap on fuel prices should be lifted because it will lead to shortages "sooner or later", said Reuters, citing the CEO of Hungarian oil and gas company MOL.

Zsolt Hernadi, in an interview on ATV late on Sunday, said Hungary was facing an "extremely dangerous" situation as the fuel price cap was driving up consumption. "This raises the question of how long this can be done," Hernadi said. MOL, which owns the largest network of service stations in Hungary, has previously called for the cap to be phased out. The limit was introduced last November and set the retail price for both 95-octane gasoline and diesel at 480 forints (USD1.20) a liter.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government introduced the cap, now set to run until October, to shield consumers from inflation now at its highest level in two decades. Last month MOL announced passenger car drivers in Hungary would be limited to buying 50 liters of fuel a day at its stations.

Hernadi said Hungary should be stockpiling fuel right now as 65% of MOL's refinery in Hungary will shut down for maintenance in August, while its refinery in Slovakia is currently not working and due to restart on July 20 after maintenance.

Due to the above reasons, stockpiling is going slower than planned, meaning MOL will need to ask for part of the country's strategic fuel reserves to be released, Hernadi said. "The long-lasting war (in Ukraine) and Brussels' sanctions have caused fuel prices to soar across Europe," a government spokesperson said in an emailed reply to Reuters.

Without the price cap the price of fuel would be nearly twice as high as it is now, he said, adding that the "government is constantly analysing the state of the fuel supply and will make a decision on the price caps."

As per MRC, TotalEnergies Marine Fuels and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) have successfully completed the first biofuel bunker operation for a vehicle carrier in Singapore.

The local operation was made possible with support from the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore. The MOL-operated car and truck carrier, Heroic Ace, was refueled by TotalEnergies-supplied biofuel on 11th June 2022 via ship-to-ship transfer, while the carrier performed cargo operations simultaneously. The biofuel has been consumed during the carrier’s voyage to Jebel Ali, in the United Arab Emirates.
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HPC Industries LLC and Macquarie Group's Commodities and Global Markets group (Macquarie) have formed a joint venture to produce recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET), said Petnology.

Under the name Circularix, the venture's plans include building and operating five recycling facilities across the U.S. with a total annual production capacity of more than 275 million pounds of rPET resin. The first facility, located in Hatfield, PA, is expected to be operational by December 2022. Leon Farahnik is chairman and CEO of Circularix. Alex Delnik, former CEO and founder of Verdeco Recycling, will serve as president and Chief Operating Officer. In addition to its investment as a partner in the joint venture, Macquarie is assisting Circularix with project debt, equipment finance, FX hedging and other risk management solutions to support its future growth.

"Consumer brands are struggling to meet their sustainability goals as current rPET supply is unable to scale as needed," Farahnik said. "Our move into rPET production is the beginning of a major and much-needed capacity expansion in the United States, and we are excited to continue playing an important role in the plastics recycling industry by uniting our experience with Macquarie's."

Macquarie is a leading provider of risk management, market access and capital and financing solutions to the petrochemicals industry and has played a leading role in environmental product markets, sustainable infrastructure and the waste sector around the world for more than 15 years. Macquarie formed its Sustainable Waste Solutions team in 2020 to provide finance and growth capital solutions to clients in the waste sector, with a focus on helping facilitate the transition to a circular economy.

Ben Glover, Executive Director in Macquarie's Specialized and Asset Finance division, said: "We are delighted to support our clients in delivering the practical infrastructure needed to expand production capacity for post-consumer recycled materials. Ventures such as Circularix are a key part of the supply chain that will drive more post-consumer material back into higher value recycled packaging markets."

The first facility will be located in Hatfield, Pennsylvania and is slated to be operational by the end of 2022.

We remind, Shiseido Company, Limited (Shiseido), SEKISUI CHEMICAL CO., LTD., and Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. will start a joint initiative to establish a circular economy for plastic cosmetics containers, in which used cosmetics plastic containers are collected, converted to resources and materials without sorting, and recycled back into plastic cosmetics containers.
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BASF has released preliminary figures for the second quarter of 2022, said the company.

Sales increased by 16 percent in the second quarter of 2022 to EUR22,974 million (Q2 2021: EUR19,753 million). This was mainly driven by higher prices; currency effects, primarily relating to the U.S. dollar, had a positive effect as well. Volumes declined slightly compared with the prior-year quarter. Sales thus exceeded average analyst estimates for the second quarter of 2022 (Vara: EUR21,737 million).

Income from operations (EBIT) before special items amounted to an expected €2,339 million in the second quarter of 2022, almost on a level with the prior-year quarter (Q2 2021: EUR2,355 million) and significantly above the analyst consensus for the second quarter of 2022 (Vara: EUR2,092 million). Increased prices for raw materials and energy were largely passed on through higher selling prices.

All segments except Nutrition & Care exceeded average analyst estimates for EBIT before special items in the second quarter of 2022. The Agricultural Solutions, Chemicals and Surface Technologies segments significantly exceeded average analyst estimates. In the Nutrition & Care segment, earnings were slightly lower than the average analyst estimates. In Other, EBIT before special items was significantly less negative than analysts had expected on average.

The BASF Group’s EBIT amounted to an expected EUR2,350 million in the second quarter of 2022, slightly above the figure for the prior-year quarter (Q2 2021: EUR2,316 million) and significantly above the analyst consensus for the second quarter of 2022 (Vara: EUR2,012 million).

Net income reached an expected EUR2,090 million, considerably above the figure for the prior-year quarter (Q2 2021: EUR1,654 million) and significantly above average analyst estimates for the second quarter of 2022 (Vara: EUR1,408 million). The considerable increase compared with the prior-year quarter primarily resulted from the higher income from the shareholding in Wintershall Dea.

The forecast published by the BASF Group for the 2022 business year remains unchanged for the time being.

As per MRC, BASF and Malaysia's Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd announced that they will build a major new production plant for 2-Ethylhexanoic Acid (2-EHAcid). The new facility will be located at the site of their existing joint venture, BASF Petronas Chemicals, in Kuantan, Malaysia. Construction is anticipated to start in the second quarter of 2015. Financial details of the investment were not disclosed.

As per MRC, BASF completed a double-digit million euro investment to increase production capacity for Tinopal CBS optical brighteners at its Monthey site. Following phase one of the stepwise capacity increase in 2021, the recent completion of the investment program has now brought significantly increased capacity on stream to meet growing global customer demand.

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.
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