Arkema doubles the capacity of its powder coating resins plant in India

Arkema doubles the capacity of its powder coating resins plant in India

Arkema announces the doubling of its polyester resins capacity in its Navi Mumbai facility in India, reinforcing the Group’s leadership position in the global powder coatings market and its commitment to developing very low-VOC technologies, said the company.

Arkema invested in the Navi Mumbai facility in early 2019 to expand geographic coverage of its high performance, more sustainable, low-VOC products, and to support its customers in their development. The site includes a modern manufacturing unit and a dedicated laboratory to provide application development and technical support in the region.

In order to support its customers’ growth in the area, in particular in mobility, household and industrial applications, including automotive, home appliances, furniture and sports infrastructure, Arkema is now doubling the capacity of its REAFREE powder polyester resins in its Navi Mumbai facility.

“India is a key growth market for both the powder coatings industry and for Arkema,” said Neil Tariq, Global Business Director for Coating Resins. “Arkema is the first international leader in powder coating resins to make significant investments in the area. Powder coating resins enable low waste, solvent-free and high durability solutions, which make this technology key to the sustainable development of our customers and partners."

We remind, Arkema is launching a new a range of bio-attributed acrylic monomers and specialty acrylic additives and resins using the mass balance approach. This follows the certification the company’s new range of acrylic materials received from the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification PLUS (ISCC+) framework.
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India may split planned mega refinery to various sites

India may split planned mega refinery to various sites

India is considering building several refineries instead of a single mega plant planned with Saudi Aramco and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), due to challenges in acquiring land, three sources familiar with the matter said, said Reuters.

Hurdles in land purchases are one of the key reasons for sluggish infrastructure development in Asia's third-largest economy. Aramco and ADNOC joined a consortium of Indian state-run firms in 2018 to set up a 1.2 MMbpd coastal refinery and petrochemical plant in western Maharashtra, seeking a reliable outlet for their oil.

Delays in acquiring a 15,000-acre land parcel have almost stalled the project, initially planned for 2025, and boosted costs by 36% to $60 billion, as per estimates made in 2019. "There is a proposal that instead of one we can actually have three, which is a matter of discussion between the companies involved," said one of the sources.

Attempts to acquire land failed due to issues including farmers' refusal to surrender their land, fearing the project could damage the Ratnagiri region famed for its Alphonso mangoes, cashew plantations, and fishing hamlets. Aramco and ADNOC own 25% each in the joint venture Ratnagiri Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd (RRPCL), a company named after the region where the refinery was initially planned.

State-run refiners Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp and Hindustan Petroleum hold the remaining stake in RRPCL. "The role of Maharashtra government is crucial in acquiring the land," the source said.

Maharashtra's industry minister did not respond to calls seeking comment. RRPCL chief executive M. K. Surana and ADNOC did not offer comments, while Aramco last week said: "We will respond at the earliest opportunity". Another source said ADNOC and Aramco were aware of the plan for several refineries.

"It is good to build the refinery at different sites if a huge chunk of land is not available as that will reduces investment risk," said a second source. "Also with multiple refineries you have the flexibility to modulate product slate in line with changing product demand pattern," this source said.

We remind, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) is accelerating operationalization of its board mandated low carbon growth strategy, by establishing a new Low Carbon Solutions and International Growth vertical that will focus on renewable energy, clean hydrogen and carbon capture and storage, as well as international expansion in gas, LNG and chemicals.

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Angarsk oil refinery says fire extinguished, fuel production continues

Angarsk oil refinery says fire extinguished, fuel production continues

A fire which broke out at Russia's Angarsk Petrochemical Company (APC) early on Thursday has been extinguished, emergency services in the Irkutsk region said, as per Reuters.

The fire affected 2,500 square metres of APC’s production facilities. Local authorities and the company said production remained unaffected.

The Investigation Committee of Irkutsk region started a criminal probe into the accident that killed two employees and wounded four.

Based in Irkutsk region, east Siberia, APC is controlled by Russia's major oil company Rosneft.

It has capacities to produce 75,000 tonnes/year of low density polyethylene (LDPE) as well as 10m tonnes/year of refinery capacities.

We remind, BP would like to confirm the current status of its business and interests in Russia, said the company.
On 27 February 2022, bp’s board decided that bp would exit its 19.75% shareholding in Rosneft and its other business in Russia. bp was the first international company to announce such an exit. That decision remains unchanged and bp has no intention of returning to business as usual in Russia.

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US PET recycling rate posted modest increase in 2021

US PET recycling rate posted modest increase in 2021

US PET recycling rate posted modest increase in 2021, said Recyclingtoday.

The U.S. recycling rate for postconsumer polyethylene terephthalate (PET) increased to 28.6% in 2021, up from 27.1% in 2020, while the North American rate (U.S., Canada and Mexico) increased to 36.8%, up from 34.2% in 2020, according to a report released by the National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR), Charlotte, North Carolina.

NAPCOR notes a number of first-time achievements in its 2021 PET Recycling Report, including the largest amount of postconsumer PET ever collected, with PET bottle collection in the U.S. exceeding 1.9 billion pounds. Additionally, thermoforms collected for recycling in the U.S. and Canada reached 142 million pounds, setting a new record.

“These rates mark two major milestones in the growth of PET awareness, appreciation, use and reuse,” says Laura Stewart, NAPCOR executive director. “The 2021 increase is a powerful indicator that pandemic-driven disruptions to recycling services are getting back on track. It is also important to point out that the North American rate is over the 30 percent recycling threshold suggested by the Ellen McArthur Foundation. This is viewed by many industry pundits as the postconsumer benchmark for proving that recycling works in practice and scale across multiple regions representing at least 400 million inhabitants.”

“The rebound in the amount of PET bottles collected in 2021 is encouraging,” says Tom Busard, NAPCOR chairman and chief polymers and recycling officer for Plastipak Packaging Inc., Plymouth, Michigan, and president of Clean Tech, Plastipak’s recycling affiliate. “PET recycling is working, but there is a need to see increased collection to meet both legislated and voluntary recycled content demands of the future.”

Supporting the conclusion that COVID-19 disruptions to PET recycling have been overcome, NAPCOR points to these findings in its report: The volume of PET collected via deposit redemption systems, or bottle bills, increased by 46 percent compared with 2020. For the second consecutive year, more rPET was used in the Food/Beverage and Nonfood/Beverage Bottle categories, surpassing demand in the rPET fiber market in the U.S. and Canada.
Food/Beverage alone took the largest share of rPET consumption.

The U.S. rPET textile fiber industry faced higher prices and more competition for clear rPET in 2021 but still achieved total rPET fiber production of more than 1 billion pounds by sourcing greater volumes of colored rPET flake (57 percent) and greater volumes of postindustrial rPET flake (11 percent) relative to 2019.

Evidence points to a movement toward thermoformed tray-to-tray circularity, with 11 million pounds of PET thermoforms having been used by thermoform converters to produce more of this type of packaging. Also, a record 142 million pounds of PET thermoforms were collected for recycling, 73 percent of which were processed by PET reclaimers in the U.S. and Canada.

We remind, ExxonMobil Corp., Irving, Texas, has announced plans to build its first large-scale postuse plastic advanced recycling facility in Baytown, Texas. The company says it expects to begin operations at the facility by the end of 2022.
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Dow packaging adhesives receive RecyClass approval in Europe

Dow packaging adhesives receive RecyClass approval in Europe

The approval makes way for packaging converters and brand owners to improve the recyclability of laminated flexible PE-based packaging, the company says.

A pair of Dow adhesive systems commonly used for a broad range of polyethylene (PE) film packaging applications have been approved as compatible with mechanical recycling, following what the company says is a rigorous scientific evaluation by the European nonprofit, cross-industry initiative RecyClass.

Dow says the approval covers its solvent-free Morfree L 75-300/CR88-300 and water-borne Robond L350/CR-3 lamination adhesives, which will add an adhesive component to its Revoloop technology platform.

According to Midland, Michigan-based Dow, which has European headquarters in Horgen, Switzerland, RecyClass assessments follow rigorous scientific protocols to present a comprehensive evaluation of the recyclability of plastic packaging. The assessments consider all criteria needed for a closed-loop value chain, looking at most used technologies of sorting and recycling infrastructures used in Europe to verify that packaging is compatible with recycling or can be effectively recycled.

Dow says its customers can benefit from this external validation as they apply these adhesives in their mono-material laminated packaging designs. The company adds that value chain partners already using these adhesive systems can now have an additional favorable data point when designing packaging for recyclability, and use of the adhesives requires no changes to existing production processes nor additional staff training or retooling of equipment.

Fabrizio di Gregorio, technical director at Brussels-based Plastics Recyclers Europe, says, “Innovation is key in furthering the circularity of plastics, but at the same time, it is essential to ensure that these new packaging technologies comply with existing recycling systems. This is exactly what the RecyClass recyclability approval awarded to Dow’s technologies proves. We are delighted to work with companies like Dow and strive to support companies in implementing recyclability principles into the core of their strategic decisions.”

Izzat Midani, Dow Packaging & Specialty Plastics EMEA marketing manager, says sustainability is front and center in the company’s innovation strategy and the main focus of the industry.

“I am very proud that two different technologies in our laminating adhesives portfolio have been approved for mechanical recycling by RecyClass,” Midani says. “This enables our customers and brand owners to reach a wider scope of applications and performance requirements while facilitating packaging recyclability, which will be crucial as they strive toward achieving ambitious sustainability targets.”

The approved adhesives will be added into Dow’s Revoloop platform, which is set up to help enable high-quality mechanical recycling through various product offerings in postconsumer recycled resins (PCR), and now also including adhesives, that are engineered to deliver exceptional performance for customers.

The company says this first European approval for the adhesive products follows last year’s critical guidance recognition in the U.S. for three product categories that meet the recyclability protocols of the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR), Washington. Robond adhesives, Opulux optical finishes and Surlyn ionomers were each recognized for solving packaging design challenges.

We remind, Dow announced the launch of V PLUS Perform™ next, an evolution of its legacy V PLUS Perform™ polyurethane technology for insulated metal panels. The offering brings together the high-performance energy efficiency and fire safety features of V PLUS Perform™, with low carbon and circular ingredients designed to customer specifications.

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