VTT spins out Olefy to revolutionise circular plastic recycling

MRC) -- VTT is spinning out Olefy technology in October – a process that can affordably convert most of the world’s waste plastics back to usable virgin grade materials an infinite number of times, said Petpla.

VTT also announces eight patent applications for the process. VTT has announced its plan to spin out a new company – Olefy Technologies. Its patent-pending technology can extract over 70% virgin grade plastics and chemical raw materials components from plastic waste. The new process can be done in a single step, majorly reducing the cost of plastic recycling and making recycling a preferred option for massive amounts of landfill-bound plastic waste that current methods are unable to process.

Today, only 8–10% of global plastics gets recycled primarily through mechanical recycling. However, only a limited share of plastic waste can be mechanically recycled. Furthermore, the resulting recycled plastic cannot be used in food packaging and pharma applications. Most plastic waste ends up in landfills. The opportunity to get virgin quality plastic from previously unusable plastic waste means that with Olefy it is economically viable to recycle most of the world’s plastics with minimal sorting by consumers and businesses. “Plastic waste is one of the five major global problems that VTT has strategically set itself to solve,” says Antti Vasara, CEO of VTT. “Olefy is a quantum leap in recycling that will change the way the world views plastic by making it truly circular and guiding us even faster towards carbon neutrality."

A major advantage of the virgin quality materials produced from the Olefy process enables plastic to be recycled an infinite number of times. "One of the problems with current recycling methods is that the quality degrades every time plastic is recycled. After several rounds of mechanical recycling, the quality becomes too poor, and the plastic is no longer usable and goes to a landfill. With the Olefy recycling process, the quality of the plastic is equal to virgin grade, so it can be recycled indefinitely and materials no longer need to end up in landfills,” says Matti Nieminen, Head of Technology at Olefy. “In essence, Olefy will make it possible for plastic to be a true part of the circular economy."

We remind, European recycling group GreenGroup has acquired Lithuanian low-density polyethylene (LDPE) recycling company UAB Ecso. The financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed. Founded in 2009, UAB Ecso claims to be one of Lithuania’s leading polyethylene recyclers, with an annual film waste processing capacity of 20,000t.
mrchub.com

SK Chemicals will establish a joint venture with Guangdong-based Shuye Environmental Technology to build a factory for recycled plastic in China, said Koreajoongangdaily.

The two companies signed an agreement Monday to build a plant that produces recycled polyester (PET) and copolyester in Shanyto.

Park No-hyuk, general manager at SK Chemicals Shanghai, and Lin Shuguang, president at Guangdong Shuye Environmental Technology, participated in the agreement signing ceremony.

The site will be provided by Shuye, and the construction will likely start at the beginning of next year. The manufacturing is set to start at the end of 2024. The plant will have an annual capacity of 200,000 tons.

The amount of investment has not been disclosed, but SK Chemicals said it will hold 51 percent of the joint venture.

"The trend of removing plastics has been accelerating worldwide," said Kim Eung-soo, head of the copolyester business at SK Chemicals, in Monday's release. "We aim to expand our recycled plastic business by securing a foothold in the global market."

Last year, SK Chemicals acquired 10 percent of Shuye for 23 billion won (USD18 million).

The recycled plastic market is expected to account for 60 percent of the total plastic market in 2050, according to a report from McKinsey.

We remind, SK Geo Centric has signed an agreement with Weixing Chemical to form a joint venture that will construct a new ethylene acrylic acid (EAA) manufacturing facility in China to respond to Asian demand. The joint venture plans to invest around KRW 290-billion to build a 40,000-t/y EAA unit in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province. The plant is scheduled to be completed in the first half of 2025. SK Geo Centric will hold a 60% stake in the new joint venture, while Weixing Chemical will hold the remaining 40% interest.
mrchub.com

Siam Cement Group (SCG) will invest on a USD22.7m project to produce biaxially oriented polyethylene terephthalate (BOPET) in Vietnam, said the company.

AJ Plast (Vietnam) Co Ltd, a 45:55 joint venture between SCG subsidiary SCG Chemicals and Thailand-listed flexible packaging producer AJ Plast, will carry out the project, SCG said in a bourse filing on 22 August.

The BOPET project is expected to start commercial production in the first half of 2024, SCG said in a statement. The two companies have an ongoing Thai baht (Bt) 700m (USD19m) biaxially oriented polypropylene film (BOPP) project in Vietnam slated for commercialisation in the first half of 2023.

“The BOPP and BOPET projects reaffirm SCGC ongoing strategic investment and commitment in Vietnam, particularly value-added product designed to meet the growing consumer demand by providing raw material to serve the flexible packaging sector,” SCG said.

The Thai conglomerate is in the process of completing Vietnam’s first petrochemical complex in the southeastern Ba Ria-Vung Tao province. Called Long Son Petrochemical complex, the USD5.4bn project is now 96% complete, with full start-up expected by the second quarter of next year.

We remind, SCG Packaging has entered the packaging materials recycling business in the Netherlands, via the 100% acquisition of Peute Recycling BV for EUR78.2m. The purchase was done through SCGP Solutions (Singapore) Pte Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of SCGP, the Thai firm said in a statement on 18 July. Based in Dordrecht, Peute is the largest independent packaging materials recycling and trading company of paper and plastic in the Netherlands, SCG Packaging said.
mrchub.com

Terra Drone Corporation have completed a pilot project for the RFCC Cyclone & CO Boiler Internal Visual Inspection using drones for the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) Refining, a subsidiary of ADNOC that handles downstream processes, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The pilot project this time was carried out to prove that drones can be used for internal visual inspections at RFCC facilities, especially in reactors, cyclones, and boilers. This project was carried out at an oil & gas processing facility, precisely at Resid Fluid Catalytic Cracking (RFCC) in Al-Ruwais, Abu Dhabi, UAE.

In the process, four teams were provided to carry out 24-hour operations to accommodate the short time available due to the shutdown process. There are some parts that have never been visually inspected before because of the difficulty of accessing them.

By using drones, these parts can be easily reached thereby providing valuable information for facility owners. In addition, because the drone is versatile, it can complete a visual inspection in a very short time, saving facility owners a lot of time preparing for follow-up actions.

This work has never been done in any other area in the region before. Therefore, thorough planning & coordination with facility owners & inspection engineers were carried out prior to inspection activities. In addition, drone inspections were carried out while the facility is shut down. Therefore, careful scheduling is required to ensure inspections can be carried out on time.

To complete this work, our team used the Flyability Elios 2 for internal inspections & the DJI M300 RTK for external inspections (flare stack). The Flyability Elios 2 was chosen because it proved capable of extensive operation during scheduled operations.

As per MRC, TotalEnergies announced an expansion of its strategic alliance with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), which would examine new areas including the supply of diesel from the United Arab Emirates to France.
mrchub.com

A U.S. court upheld a tribunal's USD8.75 B award to U.S. oil producer ConocoPhillips over the expropriation of its Venezuelan oil assets, granting a default judgment in the case, said Reuters.

The decision gives the U.S. company new authority to collect on a 2019 award by a World Bank tribunal. The award includes interest that adds at least USD1 B to the amount owed to Conoco.

The World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes awarded Conoco USD8.75 billion over the 2007 expropriation of three of its oil projects in the country. Conoco had sought up to USD30 B for the takeover.

Venezuela's government rejected the court's decision in a statement issued by the president's office on Monday evening, saying the country would continue to take legal action to "preserve its patrimony." "This unfair decision has been forged by violating... Venezuela's right to defense," the statement said.

It added that the decision was in "complicity with Venezuelan extremists, including (opposition leader) Juan Guaido." Guaido didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Venezuela seized Conoco assets during late President Hugo Chavez's nationalizations of oil, electricity and steel industries.

The country was bound by the terms of the ICSID Convention and Conoco had properly notified the country of its lawsuit through the U.S. Department of State, U.S. District Court Judge Carl Nichols said in his decision. ConocoPhillips said it plans "to pursue all available legal avenues to obtain a full and fair recovery," but did not comment on planned actions.

Conoco previously has used legal seizures of Venezuelan oil assets to enforce its claims. Its share price rose less than 1% to USD105.24 on a day in which the broader market fell sharply.

Venezuela's main foreign asset is U.S.-based Citgo Petroleum, an oil refiner that split from its parent in 2019 and has been operating under legal protections from creditors issued by the U.S. Treasury Department.

We remind, ConocoPhillips submitted a plan to develop an oil discovery in the Norwegian North Sea for 10.5 B Norwegian crowns (USD1.10 B), the first of an expected rush of new petroleum projects to be launched in Norway this year. Known as Eldfisk North, the development is part of the wider Ekofisk area, where ConocoPhillips has pumped hydrocarbons for more than 50 years.

mrchub.com