Borealis and ITC Packaging develop series of sustainable rigid packaging formats suitable for food contact

Borealis and ITC Packaging, a leading European manufacturer of thin wall packaging for food-contact applications, have jointly developed a series of new and more sustainable rigid packaging formats that are suitable for food contact, said the company.

The partners used resins from the and portfolios to upgrade a number of iconic food packaging formats found on European supermarket shelves, primarily in the ice cream and ready-to-eat segments. These more sustainable formats containing chemically recycled polypropylene (rPP) and renewable-based PP were launched in record time in the course of 2022. The successful launches underscore the efficiency of value chain collaboration in the spirit of , the Borealis platform created to accelerate action on plastics circularity.

Brand owners and converters are keen to find ways to reduce their carbon footprint by enhancing the sustainability of their packaging. At the same time, ensuring the safety of food-contact packaging is crucial. Grades in the Borcycle C portfolio guarantee the high purity and safety required for food-contact applications because they are gained through the chemical recycling process, which turns plastic waste which is difficult to recycle back into virgin-grade materials. Grades in the Bornewables portfolio are composed of renewably-sourced feedstocks derived from residue and vegetable waste streams.

Because both Borcycle C and Bornewables grades are composed of ISCC PLUS-certified (International Sustainability & Carbon Certification) sustainable feedstock produced in accordance with the mass balance method, using them enables manufacturers and brand owners to reduce the CO2 footprint of their packaging formats. As these grades are virgin-grade resins offering the same high purity and performance as polyolefins made using fossil fuel-based feedstocks, they offer the added bonus of not requiring grade revalidation, because they can be used as drop-in solutions.

“As packaging pioneers, ITC has always been at the forefront of innovation. Our long-term strategic partnership with Borealis has enabled us to consolidate our position as sustainability trailblazers in the European rigid packaging industry,” says Jose Luis Olmedo, ITC Packaging Managing Director. “Our ultimate aim is to maintain high food safety standards while implementing an added-value circular economy model that meets market demands. This is what strengthens our relationships to both our customers and value chain partners.”

“Working together with ITC in the spirit of EverMinds has allowed us to identify and implement the ideal technologies and material solutions for making rigid PP packaging food-contact compliant yet more circular,” says Peter Voortmans, Borealis Global Commercial Director Consumer Products. “Building on the success story with Bornewables and Borcycle C, Borealis and ITC are now exploring the use of mechanically recycled compounds from the portfolio to further reduce the carbon footprint of ITC’s non-food packaging. This is how we advance value chain collaboration to close the loop on plastics circularity and at the same time underline how we manage to re-invent essentials for sustainable living.”

We remind, Borealis and Trexel, a leading expert in foaming injection and blow moulded parts, announce that they have co-developed a new plastic bottle based on a grade from the Bornewables portfolio of polyolefins made using renewable feedstocks derived 100% from waste and residue streams.
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LyondellBasell announced the ethylene cracker at its integrated olefins and polyolefins production site in Berre, France will not restart until early 2023, said the company.

The chemical company's French ethylene cracker was damaged by a fire on August 2. While repairs should be completed by November, the combination of persistently high energy costs, compressing margins and falling demand for products in the region contributed to the decision to delay the restart.

We remind, LyondellBasell announced that Polski Koncern Naftowy ORLEN S.A. (PKN ORLEN) will be using the LyondellBasell Lupotech T high-pressure polyethylene technology. The Lupotech T process technology will be used for a 250 kiloton per year (KTA) low density polyethylene (LDPE) line. The new line will be located at their existing complex in Plock, Poland.

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As part of the joint initiative “Together for Sustainability” (TfS), 37 companies from the chemical industry, including BASF, have agreed on a global guideline for calculating product carbon footprints (PCFs). Product carbon footprints are an important information for steering emissions in the value chain, said the company.

The new TfS Guideline for Product Carbon Footprint provides specific calculation instructions for emissions from “cradle-to-gate” for chemicals. It harmonizes PCF calculation approaches across the industry and is applicable to the vast majority of chemical products. In the future, this will allow companies in several industries using chemicals and the wider market to directly compare and assess the climate impact of products.

“We at BASF are proud to contribute to this guideline through our pioneering work in PCF calculation and methodology over the past years,” said Dr. Christoph Jakel, Vice President Corporate Sustainability at BASF. “This industry-wide agreement among leading global chemical and process industry manufacturers as members of TfS brings us a big step closer to achieving unrestricted comparability of product carbon footprints and, therefore, a level playing field within the chemical industry.”

With the aim of fostering standardization, BASF has been openly sharing its PCF calculation methodology with suppliers, customers and peers. This methodology is in line with the relevant ISO standards (ISO 14040, ISO 14044, ISO 14067) and the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Product Standard, while being more prescriptive and specific for the chemical industry. Furthermore, with the clear intent to enable the industry to perform carbon accounting at scale and support PCF data transparency, BASF has been making its digital solution for product carbon footprint calculation available into the market by licensing it to software houses.

“Such groundwork has brought things to the next level. We now have an even more wide-reaching and comprehensive guideline to assess the PCFs of chemical materials in a consistent fashion that has been jointly developed and officially endorsed by many global leaders in the chemical industry,” said Prof. Dr. Peter Saling, Director of Sustainability Methods at BASF and Chair for the guideline development at TfS.

As part of its commitment to methodological standardization, BASF intends to further contribute to the success of the TfS initiative and will fully align its own PCF calculation methodology with the announced TfS sectoral standard. At the same time, BASF’s pioneering digital solution for automated PCF calculation, which has been introduced into the market via an ecosystem of partnerships, will accommodate the TfS calculation rules.

Together for Sustainability (TfS) is a global, procurement-driven initiative created by chemical companies with the goal of assessing, auditing and improving the sustainability practices within their global supply chains. The program is based on the UN Global Compact and Responsible Care® principles and has grown into a global organization with regional representation in Asia, North and South America.

We remind, BASF, SABIC and Linde have started construction of the world’s first demonstration plant for large-scale electrically heated steam cracker furnaces. By using electricity from renewable sources instead of natural gas, the new technology has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions of one of the most energy-intensive production processes in the chemical industry by at least 90% compared to technologies commonly used today.
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Technip Energies and MetGen Oy, announce a collaboration for the industrialization of METNIN technology for the valorization of lignin. Lignin is a high-volume waste stream of biorefineries that is currently burned, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

METNIN is an enzymatic process technology that enables the fractionation of lignin from lignocellulosic feedstocks to produce various renewable bio-products. Technip Energies and MetGen have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly bring a standardized solution for lignin refining to the global market.

Bhaskar Patel, SVP Sustainable Fuels, Chemicals & Circularity of Technip Energies, commented: “We are pleased to work with MetGen to commercialize METNIN technology which is a game changer for the future operators of biorefineries. The technology transforms a high-volume waste stream into valuable end-products. The technology unlocks lignocellulosic biomass valorization in biorefineries, and enables lignin to be a source of a sustainable and renewable products.”

Alex Michine, CEO at MetGen Oy commented: “We are proud to work shoulder to shoulder to solve biorefinery bottlenecks and finally enable lignin as sustainable and renewable alternative to petrochemicals and oil-based materials”

As per MRC, Technip Energies announced the purchase of Biosuccinium technology from DSM, adding a technology solution to its growing Sustainable Chemicals portfolio. This technology synergizes with recently developed proprietary bio-polymer technologies and provides a commercially referenced production of bio-based succinic acid (bio-SAc) that serves as feedstock for the production of polybutylene succinate (PBS).
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BASF and GS Engineering and Construction (GS E&C) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on a strategic partnership to jointly develop modular solutions for Carbon Capture facilities, said the company.

The partners want to develop individual package solutions from standardized elements for customers from all industries in order to remove CO2 from exhaust gases and process it so that it can be further utilized or stored.

Combining BASF’s advanced OASE blue CO2 capture process technology and GS E&C’s specialized engineering capabilities, a modular carbon capture package can be delivered very quickly to customers with optimized capital expenditures (CAPEX) and operating expenses (OPEX). This will efficiently shorten the implementation steps of Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) projects from conceptualization to actual operation.

BASF’s OASE blue process technology will contribute to both sustainability and cost savings for CO2 capture from flue gas, while GS E&C will support carbon neutrality of CO2 emitters by providing a one-stop solution from specialized engineering services, carbon capture, project financing to storage and utilization.

Evelyn Shen, Vice President, Business Management Amines, Acetylenics & Carbonyl Derivatives Asia Pacific, Intermediates Asia Pacific, BASF, said, “CCUS is one of the key options with high technology readiness to accelerate the reduction of global CO2 emissions. The joint efforts between BASF and GS E&C are a testament to our commitment towards this."

Yoon Hong Huh, President, GS E&C’s new business division, said, “We hope to have a deep, bilateral relationship and growing partnership in green energy. This alliance will work as a gateway to make us to be a global leader for carbon capture solutions. Today’s agreement signals a decisive milestone towards meeting our climate action ambitions."

“The essence of OASE technology is that it can be highly customized to meet the intended outcome of each and every application. In this case, we’re thrilled to work with a forward-looking partner with a vision to serve certain viable segments of the CCUS market,” added Lawrence Loe, Director, OASE Gas Treating Excellence, Intermediates Asia Pacific, BASF.

“One of the biggest challenges the renewable energy sector faces is to reduce the uncertainty related to safety, quality, cost and schedule which can seriously affect economic options for the project. GS E&C’s extensive modular experiences can provide an effective solution to mitigate the risks,” concluded John Kwangho Jung, Modular Division Lead, GS E&C.

The OASE products are one of BASF’s accelerator products, which make a substantial sustainability contribution in the value chain.

We remind, BASF, SABIC and Linde have started construction of the world’s first demonstration plant for large-scale electrically heated steam cracker furnaces. By using electricity from renewable sources instead of natural gas, the new technology has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions of one of the most energy-intensive production processes in the chemical industry by at least 90% compared to technologies commonly used today.
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