RCS Group increases R-PET pellet output

German waste-disposal and recycling company RCS has increased its capacity of recycled polyethylene terephthalate (R-PET) food-grade pellets (FGP) with the addition of a second EREMA bottle-to-bottle unit, said the company.

The second unit will bring the company’s FGP capacity up to 70,000 tonne/year according to a release from the company, based in Werne, Germany.

The pellets produced via this second unit have both European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for use in food-contact applications such as beverage bottles.

Alexander Rimmer, managing director said of the company’s decision to invest in a second unit: “The demand for R-PET is increasing, the quality of the pellets has exceeded our expectations and the entire process from planning to installation and commissioning has been faultless".

We remind, RCS Group was awarded a sustainability certificate from the Fraunhofer Institute, because the recycling of PET bottles saves more than 100,000 t of CO2 equivalents, 45,000 t of fossil resources and 733,000 MWh of energy every year.

RCS, Werne, Germany, specializes in recycling management, providing companies with commercial waste disposal, raw material recycling and plastics recycling. A key area of focus at RCS is recycling polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles to produce plastic flakes for a variety of applications and high-quality regranulate for the food sector.
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in a response to a petition circulated by a not-for-profit group, has ruled that not all discarded polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic presents “a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the environment” when handled properly, said Recyclingtoday.

The petition, created by the Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity, asked the EPA to rule all PVC scrap as hazardous because of its presence in incinerators, in “poorly lined landfills” and in marine environments.

In its 13-page response to the petition, the EPA writes, “The petition does not provide sufficient evidence to suggest that listing discarded PVC as a hazardous waste would have a meaningful impact, if any, on reducing exposure to phthalates, including phthalates used as plasticizers in some PVC products."

In the background section of its response, EPA writes, “PVC may contain plasticizers, with the concentration of plasticizers varying widely based on the desired properties of the final material.” Among those plasticizers are several types of phthalates.

EPA Acting Assistant Administrator Barry N. Breen writes, in part, that existing aspects of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and other laws and rules already regulate how to handle end-of-life PVC. Breen’s response says landfill management is already covered under RCRA, incineration aspects are covered under the Clean Air Act and marine litter is prohibited via general anti-dumping rules.

The EPA also offers an argument that its resources as an agency are best directed at other efforts that may have higher priority. “Based on the information presented in the petition, the resources that the EPA would have to allocate to list PVC as a hazardous waste are unwarranted and would preclude the EPA from pursuing more pressing rulemakings, implementation and reviews with respect to currently identified hazards under RCRA. Listing hazardous wastes is a resource-intensive process,” the agency writes.

We remind, Olin Corp. (Clayton, Mo.) and Mitsui & Co., Ltd. (Tokyo) announced that the Blue Water Alliance JV, LLP has received all necessary regulatory approvals and it is beginning operations. Announced in March 2022, Blue Water Alliance (BWA) is a joint venture of Olin and Mitsui. BWA brings together Mitsui’s industry-leading global logistics, long-established supplier and customer relationships, and breadth of product portfolio with Olin’s scale, North American export capability, extensive global terminal network, and production flexibility across the electrochemical unit (ECU) portfolio.

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U.S. crews extinguished a fire on Tuesday at Phillips 66's 149,000-barrel-per-day joint-venture refinery in Borger, Texas, and six people were treated for injuries, Reuters said.

Local media reported earlier that the fire had occurred in the storage tank farm at the Borger complex, shutting a state highway near the refinery. All workers at the refinery were accounted for, and the cause of the incident is being investigated, a company spokesperson said.

The company said the fire began at 10:15 am CST, and six individuals were transported to area hospitals for medical attention. “All appropriate regulatory notifications were made, and Phillips 66 is working closely with state and local officials on the response,” the company said in a statement.

According to the company’s website, the Borger Refinery, located in the Texas panhandle about 50 miles northeast of Amarillo, is owned by a joint venture between Phillips 66 and Cenovus Energy and is operated by Phillips 66.

The refinery processes primarily medium sour crude oil and natural gas liquids (NGLs) delivered through pipelines from West Texas, the Texas Panhandle and Canada. Borger has a gross NGL fractionation capacity of 22,500 bbl/day. Borger has two fluid catalytic cracking units, alkylation, delayed coking, hydrodesulphurisation and naphtha reforming.

We remind, QatarEnergy and Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC announced they will proceed on construction of a USD6 B integrated polymers complex in Ras Laffan Industrial City, Qatar. An agreement marking the positive final investment decision for the project was signed by His Excellency Mr. Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the President and CEO of QatarEnergy, and by Bruce Chinn, President and CEO of Chevron Phillips Chemical, at a ceremony in Doha. The companies created a joint venture, Ras Laffan Petrochemicals, in which QatarEnergy owns a 70% equity share and Chevron Phillips Chemical owns 30%.

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BASF has released preliminary figures for the full year 2022. Expected sales of EUR87,327 million and expected income from operations (EBIT) before special items of EUR6,878 million are in line with the ranges forecast by BASF and at the level of average analyst estimates for 2022, said the company.

The BASF Group’s EBIT amounted to an expected EUR6,548 million in 2022, below the figure for the prior year (2021: EUR7,677 million) and below analyst consensus for 2022 (Vara: EUR6,836 million). This includes non-cash-effective impairments on a plant in the Chemicals segment.

Net income of BASF Group is expected to amount to –EUR1,376 million in 2022. This is considerably below the prior-year figure (2021: EUR5,523 million) and the average analyst estimates for 2022 (Vara: EUR4,768 million). Net income contains non-cash-effective impairments on the shareholding in Wintershall Dea AG in the amount of about EUR7.3 billion, of which EUR5.4 billion in Q4 2022. These impairments result in particular from the deconsolidation of the Russian exploration and production activities of Wintershall Dea due to the extensive loss of actual influence and economic expropriation. Wintershall Dea intends to fully exit Russia in an orderly manner complying with all applicable legal obligations. Accordingly, the Russian participations of Wintershall Dea have been re-evaluated and write-downs on the European gas transportation business have been made, including a complete write-down on the participation in Nord Stream AG.

Sales rose by 11 percent in 2022 to an expected EUR87,327 million (2021: EUR78,598 million) and were thus in line with the EUR86 billion to EUR89 billion range forecast by BASF. The average analyst estimates for sales 2022 of the BASF Group were EUR87,950 million according to Vara. The increase in sales was mainly driven by higher prices and positive currency effects. Volumes reduced sales.

EBIT before special items amounted to an expected EUR6,878 million, a decrease of €890 million compared with the prior year (2021: EUR7,768 million) and in line with the EUR6.8 billion to EUR7.2 billion range forecast by BASF. On average analysts had expected EBIT before special items of EUR6,949 million in 2022 according to Vara.

The average analyst estimates for EBIT before special items of the segments were exceeded in 2022 by Agricultural Solutions and Surface Technologies. EBIT before special items of Materials and Industrial Solutions almost matched average analyst estimates. EBIT before special items fell short of average analyst estimates in the Nutrition & Care and Chemicals segments. In Other, EBIT before special items was better than expected by analysts on average.

We remind, BASF has broken ground on the third and final phase of the methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) expansion project at its Verbund site in Geismar, Louisiana, announced in July 2022. The company will increase production capacity to approximately 600,000 metric tons per year by the middle of the decade to support the ongoing growth of its North American MDI customers.

BASF is a leading supplier, manufacturer, and innovation partner of plastic additives. Its comprehensive and innovative product portfolio includes additives that provide ease in processing, and heat and light resistance to a variety of polymers and applications including molded articles, films, fibers, sheets, and extruded profiles.
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PureCycle Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: PCT) and the Port of Antwerp-Bruges today announced that PureCycle intends to build its first polypropylene (PP) recycling facility in Europe in the port's fast-growing NextGen District located in Belgium, said the company.

The new plant is expected to have an annual capacity of 59,000 metric tons (130 million pounds), with opportunities to expand operations in the future since the 14-hectare plot can support up to four processing lines with an anticipated total capacity of approximately 240,000 metric tons (500 million pounds) per year (in total for all four processing lines). PureCycle is currently engaged in feedstock sourcing and financial planning with the intent to secure a final project timeline by mid-2023. Construction of the plant is expected to begin upon completion of the permitting process, which is currently anticipated in 2024.

NextGen District is a global hub for businesses seeking to advance the circular economy. The district is located at the Port of Antwerp-Bruges, Europe's second largest seaport. PureCycle was recently awarded a concessionaire contract during NextGen's competitive bid selection process.

PureCycle is already in active negotiations with potential feedstock and offtake partners and expects to commence commercial operations at its new European facility when construction of the first processing line is completed. The new polypropylene purification plant will not only supply the European market with PureCycle's UPR resin but is also expected to create 65-70 new jobs for local residents during the initial phase of the project. This project represents one of the largest investments announced in the NextGen District to date. Various funding options are currently being considered, including traditional financing sources as well as grants/subsidies for circular projects that are uniquely available in the EU.

With the company's flagship recycling plant in Ironton, Ohio expected to start pellet production in Q1 of 2023; a second plant in Augusta, Georgia under initial construction; and its first PP recycling plant in Asia currently on track to open in 2025, PureCycle is expanding globally and actively scaling its production capabilities.

We remind, SK geo centric (SKGC), a South Korean-based global leader in polypropylene (PP) production, and PureCycle Technologies, Inc. signed a joint venture agreement to operate the first Polypropylene recycling plant in Asia. SKGC will make a joint investment with PureCycle to build a plastic recycling plant in Ulsan, South Korea with an annual capacity of up to 60,000 tons. The plant, which is currently expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2025, will turn contaminated plastic feedstock into ultra-pure recycled ("UPR") resin that can be infinitely reused and recycled.

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