BEWI completes acquisition of EPS producer Jackon

Expandable polystyrene (EPS) producer BEWI has finalised its acquisition of EPS and extruded polystyrene (XPS) producer Jackon on 19 October 2022, said Buildersmerchantsnews.

Jackon will be consolidated into BEWI’s accounts from 1 November 2022, added the source. "We have been looking forward to this day for a long time and we cannot wait to get started with the integration of our two companies. Finally, we can welcome the Jackon employees to our organisation. We see a great potential in combining our two companies, creating strong synergies across our value chain," said CEO of BEWI, Christian Bekken.

BEWI originally announced the plans in October 2021 to acquire all shares in Jackon, and following this, offers were accepted by all shareholders in H1 2022. The acquisition was previously expected to conclude by the end of Q3 2022, following the completion of divestments.

EPS is a rigid form of polystyrene (PS) used in insulation foams for the construction industry as well as for packaging.

We remind, BEWI ASA has acquired 51% of Volker Gruppe, is a trader of compacted and recycled material. It operates two facilities in the UK and Scotland, where they compact material, and leases compactors to customers.
Volker Gruppe is one of the largest suppliers of EPS waste to BEWI Circular, with an annual collection of approximately 6,000 tonnes of EPS, in addition to several other types of waste streams, including LDPE, HDPE, WEEE, OCC and Paper. The company trades and processes around 25,000 tonnes of plastics and paper per year globally.

BEWI is an international provider of packaging, components, and insulation solutions. The company’s commitment to sustainability is integrated throughout the value chain, from production of raw materials and end goods, to recycling of used products. With a vision to protect people and goods for a better every day, BEWI is leading the change towards a circular economy. BEWI ASA is listed at the Oslo Bors under ticker BEWI.
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DuPont has terminated its USD5.2bn deal from November 2021 to acquire Rogers Corp as the companies have been unable to obtain timely clearance from all the required regulators, said the company.

DuPont is paying Rogers a termination fee of USD162.5m, it said in a brief statement late on Tuesday. The companies had not been able to obtain approval from regulators in China, officials said previously.

The Rogers acquisition would have expanded DuPont’s position in advanced materials for several high-growth markets, including electric vehicles (EVs), advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), 5G telecommunications and clean energy.

In related news, DuPont confirmed completion of the sale of its Mobility & Materials (M&M) segment for USD11bn to Celanese.

The company is expected to provide information about the use of proceeds from the M&M sale during its Q3 earnings call on 8 November.

We remind, Celanese has completed the USD11bn acquisition of DuPont’s Mobility & Materials (M&M) business. With the acquisition, announced in February 2022, Celanese obtains a broad portfolio of engineered thermoplastics and elastomers, brands and intellectual property, global production assets, and a “world-class organisation”, it said.
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OMV and Wood, a global leader in consulting and engineering solutions in energy and materials markets, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enter into a mutually exclusive collaboration agreement for the commercial licensing of OMV’s proprietary ReOil technology, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The two companies aim to agree on a binding cooperation by mid-2023. ReOil is a patented chemical recycling technology developed by OMV, which converts end-of-life plastic waste into pyrolysis oil, a valuable resource. These end-of-life plastics are not suitable to be mechanically recycled and would otherwise be landfilled or sent to waste incineration. The ReOil process operates under moderate pressure and normal refinery operating temperatures. The pyrolysis oil is then primarily used again to produce high-quality, sustainable plastics. OMV was one of the first companies to develop a chemical recycling technology for used plastics more than a decade ago.

A ReOil pilot plant has been operating in the OMV refinery in Schwechat, Austria, since 2018 and has been processing end-of-life plastics for more than 17,000 hours to date. In December 2021, OMV took the final investment decision to build a 16,000 t/year ReOil demo plant at the OMV site in Schwechat, which aims to start operation in 2023.

The demo plant, like the existing pilot plant, will have International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC PLUS) ensuring traceability along the supply chain and verification that the value chain meets environmental and social standards. The demo plant will comply to the highest industrial safety standards and will be fully integrated within the petrochemical site at the Schwechat refinery, enabling OMV to guarantee the best use of resources and maximum efficiency.

By the end of 2026, OMV plans to further scale-up ReOil into a fully industrial-scale chemical recycling plant with a processing capacity of 200,000 t/year at the Schwechat refinery. The highly efficient and fully scalable technology displaces conventional feedstock for plastic production and can generate substantial greenhouse gas emission savings compared to plastic incineration, as concluded in a life cycle assessment conducted by Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft in 2022.

OMV and Wood intend to bring the ReOil technology to the market together and explore the potential to integrate some of Wood’s other complementary technologies. The companies will do so by establishing a joint ‘technology and engineering delivery team’, which will support clients through the whole process of adopting and successfully implementing the technology at their sites – ReOil licenses will be provided with full asset life cycle support.

As per MRC, OMV Petrom, the largest integrated energy company in South-Eastern Europe, invests approximately EUR 130 million in the next 3 years to build a new unit of aromatic products at Petrobrazi refinery. The unit will function at modern BAT (Best Available Technology) operating standards with low environmental impact. The processing capacity of the new unit is about 1,500 tons/day of reformed gasoline.
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Shell has acquired Singapore-registered waste oil recycling firm EcoOils via wholly-owned subsidiary Shell Eastern Petroleum for an undisclosed fee, said Reuters.

This acquisition is part of Shell’s ambition to increase production of sustainable low carbon fuels for transport, including sustainable aviation fuel, it said in a statement. The deal includes all of EcoOils' Malaysian subsidiaries and 90% of its Indonesian subsidiary, Shell said.

EcoOils' operations include five plants with a current production capacity of 65,000 tonnes/year of spent bleaching earth oil. EcoOils uses its technology to recycle the waste material and produce spent bleaching earth oil, an advanced biofuels feedstock that can then be used to produce sustainable low carbon fuels.

By 2030, Shell aims to have at least 10% of its global aviation fuel sales as sustainable aviation fuel. Sustainable aviation fuel currently accounts for around 0.1% of global aviation fuel.

We remind, Zeon Corp. has signed an MoU with Shell Eastern Petroleum (Pte) Ltd for the supply of bio-based butadiene to be used in the production solution styrene butadiene rubber (SSBR). The agreement, signed by subsidary Zeon Chemicals Singapore, is part of the group’s carbon-neutrality ambitions and its shift to sustainable raw materials.

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Dow has named Karen Carter, current chief human resources officer and chief inclusion officer, as president of packaging and specialty plastics (P&SP), its largest segment, said the company.

She succeeds Diego Donoso, who will retire in the first quarter of 2023. The transition will begin immediately, Dow said.

"Karen's leadership has meaningfully impacted the way we address both workplace skills and competencies, to enable the transformation of our culture and develop the next generation of Dow leaders," said Jim Fitterling, Dow chairman and CEO. "This is a pivotal time for Dow's P&SP franchise. We are accelerating our commitment to address plastic waste and meet customers' increasing demands for more sustainable and circular products."

P&SP, anchored by Dow's integrated polyolefins business, had 2021 sales of $28.1 billion, 51% of Dow's total. Before her current role, Carter was commercial vice president for P&SP and has held roles in Dow’s building and construction, polyethylene, and engineering thermoplastics businesses.

Donoso was named president of P&SP in 2012. He had previously served as president of Dow Japan and Korea and held commercial leadership roles for Dow's resins and plastics business in Latin America and Europe over 30 years with the company. "Diego has truly left his mark on Dow," said Fitterling. "Through his leadership of the P&SP segment over these past 10 years the business has exceeded customers' expectations. Beyond that – Diego has been a trusted advisor, mentor, and champion to many people across Dow."

We remind, Dow, the world's leading materials science company, and Mura Technology, the global pioneer of an advanced plastic recycling solution, announce the next step in their ongoing collaboration to help solve the global plastics waste issue and advance circularity. Mura plans to construct a new facility at Dow's Bohlen site in Germany – the latest in a series of planned facilities across the U.S. and Europe to rapidly scale advanced recycling of plastics – and the first expected to be based at a Dow site. This project is targeted for a final investment decision by the end of 2023.

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