Topsoe joins circular industrial plastics initiative, will increase plastic recycling by 20%

The newly formed partnership, Circular Industrial Plastics, which consists of large Danish companies, commits to increase recycling of industrial plastics by at least 20% before 2025, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Circular Industrial Plastics has a budget of USD5.6 MM, of which USD2.4 MM were granted by the Danish Eco-Innovation Program under the Danish Environmental Protection Agency. The ambition is to make knowledge and technology within circular plastic available for Danish companies.

Today, many industrial products made of plastic are burnt or deposited after use because they either are not designed for recycling or because the available recycling technologies cannot handle the products. Several of the largest Danish companies prefer a change, and they would like recycling to increase by at least 20% before 2025.

Besides Topsoe, the project partners comprise Coloplast, Novo Nordisk, Danfoss, BASF, Grundfos and COOP. Danish Technological Institute has united the companies in a project called Circular Industrial Plastics.

“By joining forces, we expect to significantly increase knowledge and improve technologies for recycling of plastics. This project will address the issue of plastic waste that our society is struggling with by speeding up the transition to circular economy,” said Kim Gron Knudsen, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer at Topsoe.

As per MRC, Topsoe’s technologies are set to reduce its customers’ greenhouse gas emissions by 12 MMt in 2022 alone. These reductions will not be one-offs but ongoing for the years to come. The key driver is Topsoe’s renewable fuels solutions, producing low-carbon fuels from waste and biomass.
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The Board of Directors of Eastman Chemical Company has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.76 per share on the company’s common stock, said the company.

The dividend is payable Oct. 7, 2022, to stockholders of record as of Sept. 15, 2022.

As per MRC, Eastman announced a planned increase of its Therminol 66 heat transfer fluid manufacturing capacity in Anniston, USA. The plant expansion is expected to be complete in 2024. With the expansion of its capacity for Therminol 66, Eastman increases its production volume for this heat transfer fluid in the US by 50?%. The expansion of the company’s plant in Annistion, USA, is expected to be completed in 2024.

Founded in 1920, Eastman is a global specialty materials company that produces a broad range of products found in items people use every day. With the purpose of enhancing the quality of life in a material way, Eastman works with customers to deliver innovative products and solutions while maintaining a commitment to safety and sustainability. The company’s innovation-driven growth model takes advantage of world-class technology platforms, deep customer engagement, and differentiated application development to grow its leading positions in attractive end markets such as transportation, building and construction, and consumables. As a globally inclusive and diverse company, Eastman employs approximately 14,000 people around the world and serves customers in more than 100 countries. The company had 2021 revenue of approximately USD10.5 billion and is headquartered in Kingsport, Tennessee, USA.
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Saudi Kayan Petrochemical posted a second-quarter net profit of Saudi riyal (SR) 781m (USD208m), reversing a loss in the same period last year on the back of higher product prices and lower cost, said the company.

The company swung into a net profit for the period despite higher average cost of feedstock and reduced sales volumes and production due to a turnaround, the company said in a filing on the Saudi Exchange on 26 July.

We remind, Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Company has appointed Metab Zaid Al Shahrani as the company's CEO, effective 24 July 2022. Al Shahrani succeeded Omar Ali Al Ruhaily, who occupied another position in the manufacturing sector at Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), according to a press release. The new appointment was based on the recommendation of the remuneration and nominations committee.

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Japan's second-biggest oil refiner Idemitsu Kosan Co restarted the 150,000 bpd crude distillation unit (CDU) at its Hokkaido refinery in northern Japan on July 25 after maintenance, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The company said last month that it had begun a minor turnaround at the Hokkaido refinery in late May, without indicating whether the CDU had been shut as part of the work.

An RIM Intelligence report said the unit was shut on May 30.

As MRC wrote before, in early February, Idemitsu Kosan had no plan to give fresh financial aid to Vietnam's Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical (NSRP), which ha cut production to 80% of capacity due to a funding problem. Vietnam's largest refinery avoided a lengthy shutdown that month after a major shareholder secured short-term funding following a disagreement between shareholders about financing for crude, having earlier cut its run rate.

We remind that in October 2018, Idemitsu Kosan finalized a deal to buy out Showa Shell Sekiyu through a share swap in a deal worth about USD5.6 billion.
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Borealis suspends construction in Kallo after serious allegations against contractor and continues to support Belgian authorities in investigation, said the company.

Restart of work on mega project postponed to allow time for investigation and additional social compliance measures
In light of recent developments and media reports of alleged misconduct by its contractor IREM at the construction site for the new propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant in Kallo, Belgium, on July 27 Borealis decided to halt the construction of its Kallo PDH for three days and suspended the contract with IREM-Ponticelli, the contractor responsible for the piping and mechanical work for the construction of the new PDH project. As the thorough investigation and implementation of additional compliance measures is ongoing, Borealis decided on 1 August 2022 to extend the shutdown for its PDH construction site in Kallo until further notice. Project work will be resumed step by step.

For large construction projects, Borealis works together with specialized construction companies and pays market prices according to Western European standards. Contracts concluded with business partners and contractors contain safeguard clauses that oblige them to comply with all applicable laws, in particular social legislation.

In the specific case, the mega-project PDH in Kallo, Borealis commissioned the company IREM with work and included the protective clauses applicable to all business partners, in particular the Business Ethics Code of Conduct, in the agreement. At the end of June 2022, Belgian social inspectors came to the site and carried out standard interviews on a number of works on the PDH site. The team involved in this review fully cooperated and was not aware of allegations of human trafficking at any time.

It was only after the intervention of the Belgian authorities in mid-July that Borealis realized that there might have been social fraud on a large scale. The extent of the social fraud and the possibility of human trafficking was not evident earlier and only became clear later in particularly alarming press reports end of July 2022.

Borealis has a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to endangering the safety of its own and contractors' employees and strongly condemns any form of human rights abuse. As a result, Borealis immediately suspended the contract with IREM-Ponticelli on 27 July 2022 due to IREM's alleged breach of several terms of the contract and the ongoing investigation by the Social Inspectorate. Borealis is investigating this matter with the highest priority and is working closely with the Social Inspectorate to advance their investigation. At the same time, Borealis engaged an external law firm to analyse the case.

As per MRC, Borealis lifted the cracker products force majeure, declared on 23 June, on 9 July, following the successful restart of the cracker. A company spokesperson said the cracker was back in normal operations. Borealis (Vienna, Austria) has declared force majeure on all cracker products from its ethane-fed steam cracker at Stenungsund, Sweden, after encountering technical difficulties during a restart of the facility following a maintenance turnaround.
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