Alpla PET recycling joint venture successfully started up

After a construction time of nine months and investment of around 7.5 million euros, Austrian plastics manufacturer and recycler Alpla, together with its partners Ecohelp SRL (Romania) and United Polymer Trading AG (Switzerland), have started production at their joint recycling plant in Targu Mures, Romania, said Sustainableplastics.

The plant, located adjacent to the existing Ecohelp site in Targu Mures, has an annual capacity of around 18,000 tonnes of post-consumer-recycled PET (rPET) per year and aims to supply the southeast European market with food-grade rPET. The project has led to the creation of around 20 new jobs. The joint venture partners will host the official opening ceremony on 4 May 2023.

"The growing importance of local recycling processes calls for increased commitment in the region. Together with our partners, we combine strengths, increase the processing quality of the recycled PET material and ensure the long-term supply of the southeast European market,’ said Georg Lasser, Director Business Development, Procurement and Sales Recycling at Alpla.

With the first rPET extrusion line in operation, already, the potential for expansion is being explored, as the plant has space for a second extrusion line, which would double capacity.

The present joint venture was established in autumn 2021, with each partner bringing to the venture their own specific skill set. Alpla is contributing its many years of expertise as a global recycling specialist and packaging manufacturer to the partnership; in the case of United Polymer Trading (UPT), the endeavour is benefitting from that company’s extensive distribution network for plastics and recycled material. Locally-based Ecohelp supplies the input material in the form of recycled PET flakes from PET bottles from household waste. The food-grade rPET granulate obtained from this process then serves as the starting material for new preforms and bottles.

The facility fills a gap in the market for high-quality recycled material in Romania and neighbouring countries, according to Mihail Moloiu, General Manager at PET Recycling Team Targu Mures. In addition, the new recycling plant has created around 20 new jobs.

Alpla is investing 50 million euros a year until 2025 in the ongoing expansion of its recycling activities and promotion of complete recycling in as many parts of the world as possible. In total, the annual production capacity of Alpla’s recycling companies and collaborations around the world amounts to approximately 203,000 tonnes of rPET and 74,000 tonnes of rHDPE.

We remind, Alpla Group can look back on a successful financial year 2022 in spite of the crisis, said the company.
Sales of 5.1 billion euros exceeded the previous year’s figure by 27.5 per cent. In addition to the company’s growth strategy, the record turnover reflects the significantly higher costs for energy, materials, staff and transport. In 2023, the packaging and recycling specialist will focus on expanding its injection moulding capacities, investing in recycling, expanding its Pharma division and researching alternative materials.

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LG Chem swung to a net loss of Korean won (W) 6bn in the fourth quarter of 2022 from a net profit of W337bn in the same period a year earlier, partly weighed by the nationwide truckers' strike which started in late November, said the company.

Petrochemicals unit posted operating loss of W166bn in Q4 2022, compared with an operating profit of W686bn in the same period of 2021, weighed by reduced output from turnarounds, the truckers' strike and "reduced demand from the spread of COVID-19 in China", the company said in a statement on 31 January.

Full-year 2022 results worsened from the previous year due to poorer demand from the global economic slowdown and increased supply in northeast Asia.

Profitability of products such as ABS and PVC declined last year due to difficulties in hiking prices amid rising oil and feedstock prices.

Petrochemicals market is expected to gradually rebound in 2023 from China's reopening.

The company expects petrochemicals sales of W20.2trillion in 2023, down from the W21.7tr in 2022.

We remind, LG Chem Ltd announced on 20 Jan 2023 that it has completed its previously announced acquisition of AVEO Oncology, a commercial stage, oncology-focused biopharmaceutical company committed to delivering medicines that provide a better life for patients with cancer, in an all-cash transaction with an implied equity value of $571 M on a fully diluted basis. AVEO plans to accelerate the commercialization of new anti-cancer drugs developed by LG Chem Life Sciences. With strong capabilities in early stage of R&D and production process, LG Chem Life Sciences will be in a better position to pursue promising anti-cancer therapies and commercial processes for pre-clinical and early clinical trials, while AVEO, with its broad know-how in clinical development and sales in the US market, oversees clinical development and commercialization. While AVEO is now a wholly owned subsidiary of LG Chem Life Sciences Innovation Center Inc, AVEO will continue to operate under the AVEO Oncology name for a period of time.

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Enterprise Products Partners LP’s fourth-quarter profits rose around USD400m year on year on the back of stronger natural gas liquids pipelines and services earnings, said the company.

Gross gas processing and marketing operation margins rose 50% year on year during the quarter to USD459m on the back of still-elevated pricing.

Petrochemica and refined products gross operating margin was steady year on year at USD339m despite a USD99m year on year drop in propylene margins during the quarter to USD90m.

The company attributed the fall to lower average propylene sales margins and volumes and lower processing fees.

Propylene production volumes fell the equivalent of 16m bbl/day year on year during the quarter to 89m, driven in part by a 44-day maintenance period for its propane dehydrogenation 1 (PDH 1) unit during the period.

We remind, Enterprise Products Partners continues to grow and add future planning, the company confirmed during its 2022 Q4 earnings conference call. "During the quarter we purchased approximately 580 miles of existing pipeline and related assets that enables us to cost effectively optimise and expand our NGO and petrochemical pipeline system," Co-CEO Randy Fowler said. Enterprise has USD3.6bn of assets under construction that are scheduled to be completed and begin commercial operations in 2023.

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OQ, the Oman-based energy transition enabler that specializes in PP and PE grades for flexible and rigid packaging solutions, continues building on a long-lived trading partnership between its home country and India as the company greets familiar faces at the PlastIndia event in New Delhi this week, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Oman’s total trade with India almost doubled last year and was estimated at USD9.9 B in 2021- 2022 compared to USD5.4 B in 2020-2021.

OQ believes the trade opportunities will only further prosper as India's population, its demand for plastic products and countries’ collaborations continue to grow momentum. An advantageous prospect of a free trade agreement between the two countries is in the works, with discussions at an advanced stage. The Indian sub-continent is one of the fastest-growing regions for polymer demand with a CAGR of 6 per cent projected for the 2022-2030 period.

In addition, by mid-2023, India is expected to become the most populous country in the world – and with rising income levels being seen across the region, demand for plastic products is set to increase exponentially. Harnessing years of success and confidence in the face of challenges, OQ is primed for demand and ready to take action in support of their close partnership with India.

Speaking from OQ’s stand at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi, Dr Ali Al Lawati, VP for Global Sales at OQ. “With unique products manufactured at a world-class plant in Oman, OQ provides multiple industry solutions across several key market segments in India. From flexible and rigid packaging and infrastructure to agriculture and automotive industries, we are excited to empower our business relationship with India and add to what is already a unified and thriving imports partnership between our two nations.”

According to Oman’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Indian enterprises and establishments in the country account for an estimated investment of USD7.5 B across several key industries covering finance, aviation, iron/steel, cement, chemicals, automotive, fertilizers and more. India and Oman share a collective vision to promote economic well-being across their countries, building a collaborative network to transport goods throughout a global supply chain, and attracting highly skilled talent to join their journey towards greater domestic innovation in the polymer market.

We remind, Rohm and OQ Chemicals officially broke ground on their new world-scale methyl methacrylate (MMA) plant in Bay City, Texas. The plant will be the first to employ Rohm's LiMA ("Leading in Methacrylates") technology on a large industrial scale, which is its latest proprietary production technology. It will have a capacity of 250,000 tonnes/year once completed in early 2024, which will enable Rohm to serve increasing demand for MMA and support the reliability of its supply chain towards its customers globally.

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Linde will increase its green hydrogen production capacity in California with the deployment of several five-megawatt proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysers at existing plants, said Gasworld.

As a first move, the industrial gas giant today (31st Jan) said it will build, own and operate a new PEM electrolyser at its plant in Californian city of Ontario, to support growing demand from the mobility market.

Once operational in the second half of 2024, the electrolyser will see the plant produce enough green hydrogen to avoid up to 75,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions per year.

Marcos Cuevas, Vice-President of the US West Region at Linde, said he continues to see growing demand for green hydrogen as decarbonisation in the mobility sector becomes a reality and looks forward to helping California achieve its climate objectives.

Back in 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order to ban the sale of diesel or gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035.

Described at the time as “the most impactful step California could take to fight climate change,” the legislation has undoubtably boosted the sale of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and other zero-emission alternatives – and will continue to do so.

We remind, a Russian court has ordered nearly USD500 mln of assets belonging to German industrial gases company Linde to be frozen at the request of a Russian joint venture building a gas complex at the Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga, court filings showed. RusKhimAlyans, the joint venture which is 50% owned by Russia's Gazprom, asked the Court of Arbitration of St Petersburg and the Leningrad Region to freeze Linde assets worth USD488 mln as a preventative measure.

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