TotalEnergies increases its production of high-performance recycled polymers for automotive

TotalEnergies announces the construction of a new production line of high-performance recycled polypropylene for automotive in its polymer plant in Carling, France, said the company.

Since 2016, the Carling – Saint-Avold petrochemical platform is producing value-added compounds primarily intended for the automotive industry. The startup of a new line dedicated to hybrid compounds will consolidate the platform’s position of a leading polymers site in Europe.

With commissioning scheduled for 2024, the flexible line will produce 15,000 tons per year of polypropylene compounds containing up to 100% recycled plastic materials. Part of TotalEnergies’ recently launched RE:clic portfolio, and more precisely the RE:use polymers range obtained through a mechanical recycling process, these low-carbon materials meet the highest quality standards and technical requirements for automotive.

Recycling both post-consumer wastes and end-of-life automotive parts, the line will contribute to address the challenge of the circular economy in Europe.

"After the doubling of capacity at Synova, a subsidiary of TotalEnergies and the French leader in the production of recycled polypropylene, this investment further strengthens the Company’s leading position in high value-added recycled polymers. This new line will allow us to meet the growing demand from the automotive market for more efficient and sustainable polymers, in line with our ambition of producing 30% circular polymers by 2030,” said Nathalie Brunelle, Senior Vice President, Polymers at TotalEnergies.

We remind, Air Liquide and TotalEnergies plan to produce low-carbon hydrogen at the Grandpuits site in France, the pair said on Tuesday, as France looks to increase its sources of renewable energy. Under a long-term contract committing TotalEnergies to purchase the hydrogen produced for the needs of its platform, Air Liquide will invest over EUR130 million in the construction and operation of a new unit producing hydrogen.
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Operations are resuming at BP's large Rotterdam refinery, a spokesperson confirmed on Saturday, said Reuters.

The refinery has been idle for a week amid a dispute with workers over pay. A spokesperson for unions said earlier on Saturday that workers are planning to restart some operations on Monday.

"We are happy to report that operations at the BP Rotterdam refinery resumed today," the BP spokesperson said in an e-mailed statement.

"We are still in dialogue with the unions to reach an agreement."

We remind, BP refinery in Rotterdam processes about 400,000 barrels of oil annually and is an important supplier of diesel to Northern Europe. BP's final offer in talks over a new collective labor agreement under discussion since April had been for a 5% wage increase and one-off bonus of 4,000 euros (USD4,000).

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Covestro has started up the production of naphthylen-diisocyanate (NDI) at its newly built facility in Map Ta Phut, Thailand, said the company.

The NDI production will support the manufacture of Vulkollan-branded polyurethane elastomers, which are billed as “one of the most powerful elastomers in the market,” by the German manufacturer, said Covestro in a 24 Nov statement.

Covestro broke ground on the Map Ta Phut plant in late 2020 with a “mid double-digit million euro” investment, with the aim to expand its elastomers business in the region.

“We believe in the growth of the cast elastomers market and want to meet the increasing demand,” said Sucheta Govil, chief commercial officer at Covestro.

“With this new production plant, we achieve a significant improvement of our global infrastructure and strengthen our presence for high-performance elastomers in the Asia-Pacific region," she added.

The expansion, she said, will aim to support industries with high-end performance requirements. According to Covestro, the Volkollan elastomer combines “highest mechanical load-bearing characteristics with highest dynamic load-bearing capacity” as an “ultra-high-performance elastomer”.

"The start up of our Map Ta Phut plant is the latest step of several investments in our elastomers business to support the Vulkollan brand," said Thomas Braig, head of the business entity elastomers.

"We firmly believe in the strong potential of this historic and well-known brand and are prepared, with this investment, for its future growth and the development of its customers."

The facility in Thailand now employs 25 people.

The elastomers produced from the raw material are suitable for applications including in forklift wheels, roller coaster wheels as well as couplings and seals for the engineering industry.

We remind, Covestro AG (Leverkusen, Germany) broke ground in Antwerp, Belgium for a new world-scale production facility for the manufacture of aniline. With the Covestro breaks ground in Antwerp for new aniline plant.

Covestro is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of high-quality polymer materials and their components. With its innovative products, processes and methods, the company helps enhance sustainability and the quality of life in many areas. Covestro supplies customers around the world in key industries such as mobility, building and living, as well as the electrical and electronics sector. In addition, polymers from Covestro are also used in sectors such as sports and leisure, cosmetics and health, as well as in the chemical industry itself.

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Synthetic rubber and chemicals manufacturer Kumho Petrochemical has advanced its plans to produce rubber using recycled styrene monomers (RSM) recovered from plastics waste, said European-rubber-journal .

The South Korean company has now signed a memorandum of understanding with Technip Energies to license a pyrolysis process enabled by US recycling technology company Agilyx.

Technip Energies is the exclusive licensor for the Agilyx technology for the production of the recycled monomer via the pyrolysis of waste polystyrene.

In a 23 Nov announcement, Agilyx said Kumho Petrochemical will use the RSM in the production of solution styrene-butadiene rubber (SSBR), a key component for the manufacture of tires.

The MoU follows an earlier agreement between Agilyx and Kumho Petrochemical in August last year to study the development and construction of a chemical recycling project in South Korea.

According to Agilyx, Kumho Petrochemical’s stated goal is to commercialise RSM-content products at the beginning in 2026.

Technip Energies' remit is to provide support in all project areas, including around the transfer of a technology license to Kumho Petrochemical.

We remind, Kumho Petrochemical has announced a major investment initiative which will see the South Korean group pumping KRW6,000 billion (EUR5.5 billion) into existing and new businesses over the next five years. As part of the initiative, Kumho will invest KRW3,300 billion in its ‘core business areas’, which includes nitrile butadiene latex (NB latex) production and styrene solution butadiene rubber (SSBR) manufacturing.

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The South African chemicals company hopes to refinance its debt and fund wider commercial activities by raising USD 750 million from the bonds market, a deal on which it was supported by a US law firm.
South African chemicals company Sasol has launched a USD 750 million bond offering, said Iclg.

The Johannesburg-headquartered company said the bonds, due to mature in 2027, would be used for “general corporate purposes including, but not limited to, the refinancing of debt”. The bonds were issued on 8 November by Sasol’s subsidiary Sasol Financing USA, and are expected to be made available for trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange 30 days after the closing date. They will be convertible into shares in Sasol or cash.

Co-ordinator for the offering was BofA Securities, while the book-runners were Citigroup, JP Morgan and BofA Securities. Co-lead managers were Mizuho, MUFG and SMBC Nikko.

Sasol was represented on the offering by a mostly London-based team from New York-headquartered law firm Shearman & Sterling, led by partners Trevor Ingram and James Duncan, with support from Washington, DC, tax partner Kristen Garry and an associate in New York.

As per MRC, Sasol Chemicals will lease land adjacent to its plant to Hamburger Energiewerke, Hamburg’s municipal utility, which plans to build the facility by the end of 2024. When fully operational in 2025, the plant will supply at least 70,000 megawatt hours of steam to Sasol each year, enabling the company to reduce its CO2 emissions from the plant by approximately 13,000 metric tons annually. In addition to green steam, the plant will produce more than 90,000 megawatt hours of sustainable electricity annually.

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