NOVA Chemicals sets bold ESG aspirations to lead the plastics circular economy

NOVA Chemicals Corporation announced sector-leading ESG ambitions to drive the circular economy for plastics, in line with its vision to become the leading sustainable polyethylene producer in North America, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

By 2030, the company aims to: set new industry standards for driving the transition to the plastics circular economy and solidifying the market for recycled polyethylene, with 30 per cent of its polyethylene salesi from recycled content; Be at the forefront of decarbonization by reducing its Scope 1 and 2 absolute CO2 emissions by 30 per centii; and Become a Top 30 company in Canada.

Outlined in NOVA 2030: Our Roadmap to Sustainability Leadership, NOVA Chemicals has also shared its aspiration to reach net-zero Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2050.

To achieve these aspirations, NOVA Chemicals anticipates investing between $2-4 B by 2030 to expand its sustainable product offerings, decarbonize assets, and build a state-of-the-art mechanical recycling business while exploring new advanced recycling technologies to create high-quality, high-performance recyclable and low carbon plastics.

Building on its proprietary, Advanced SCLAIRTECHTM technology (AST), NOVA Chemicals will explore expanding its product portfolio to include the development of innovative, advanced materials. These new product offerings, which will include the company’s first ASTUTE polyolefin plastomers line, will better serve existing customers and provide more options for sustainability-focused end markets such as electric vehicles and renewables.

NOVA Chemicals has already begun growing its portfolio of recycled and recyclable polyethylene resins through its recently announced launch of SYNDIGO recycled polyethylene, a new portfolio of products made from circular polymers to encourage both waste and emissions reductions.

We remind, NOVA Chemicals announced a virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) with Shell Energy for renewable power, marking the first of many opportunities to increase low carbon, renewable energy in its power portfolio.

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KBR has launched a new ethylene and propylene process technology, utilising 100% hydrogen-fuelled burners, “for zero emissions from the ethylene cracking furnaces,” said the US energy and chemicals engineer company.

The new SCOREKlean technology would play a major role to decarbonise the petrochemical industry, given that furnaces are the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions in the industry, KBR said.

"We are excited to launch SCOREKlean, especially at a time when the petrochemical industry is going through a growth phase and also prioritising decarbonisation," said Doug Kelly, KBR president, Technology.

We remind, KBR announced that BP Exploration (Shah Deniz) Limited has awarded an optimization stage engineering services contract to SOCAR-KBR (SKLLC) for the Shah Deniz compression project in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea.

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Grupa Azoty Polyolefins said on Wednesday that it has selected exclusive Europe distributors for the polypropylene (PP) that will be produced by a USD1.8bn world-scale propane dehydrogenation (PDH) and PP plant that it plans to launch in Police, northwestern Poland, said the company.

The plant was “99% complete”, the company also said, reiterating a statement it first made on 15 February. The PP, marketed under the name Gryfilen, will be distributed in Poland by Grupa Azoty Compounding, while the other Europe distributors would be Ter Hell Plastic (Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland), Nexeo Plastic Europa (Italy, France, Spain and Portugal), Biesterfield Plastic (UK and Ireland) and Imlitex Industry UAB (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Ukraine), Grupa Azoty Polyolefins said.

The company, a special purpose vehicle of largest Polish chemicals producer Grupa Azoty, added that it was in the process of selecting distributors for various other European markets including Germany. Gryfilen plastics would be characterised by a very low content of volatile substances and would also not contain phthalates or bisphenol A (BPA), the Azoty unit also noted.

The Azoty installation will boast a PDH facility with a capacity of 400,000 tonnes/year of polymer-grade propylene and a PP facility with a 400,000 tonne/year capacity.

Poland is presently a PP importer but after the implementation of the project it should become an exporter, according to Grupa Azoty.

We remind, the scheduled startup of Grupa Azoty’s (Tarnow, Poland) flagship Polimery Police propane dehydrogenation (PDH) and polypropylene (PP) project at Police, Poland, has been delayed to the first quarter of 2023 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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BASF begins production of its first bio-based polyol, Sovermol, in Mangalore, India, said the company.

This product serves the fast-growing demand of eco-friendly products for applications in new energy vehicles (NEV), windmills, flooring and protective industrial coatings in Asia Pacific. Utilizing the existing facilities at BASF's Mangalore site, the Sovermol production facility is now operational after comprehensive planning and construction.

Sourced from renewable materials, Sovermol contains zero volatile organic compounds (VOC). Sovermol products are used to produce sustainable coatings and adhesives for various industries, enabling customers to reduce their carbon footprint and to save resources.

The BASF site in Mangalore has been in operation since 1996. Spread across more than 200 hectares, it is BASF's largest production facility in South Asia and produces polymer dispersions, fine chemical catalysts and coatings for paper, agriculture and automotive industries.

We remind, BASF has broken ground on a new production complex at its Verbund site in Zhanjiang, China, that includes plants for glacial acrylic acid (GAA), butyl acrylate (BA) and 2-ethylhexyl acrylate (2-EHA). Planned to come on stream by 2025, the complex will have an annual production capacity of approximately 400,000 metric tons of BA and 100,000 metric tons of 2-EHA.

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Air Liquide will invest around EUR60m to electrify two of its air separation units (ASUs) in Tianjin, China, the industrial gases major said.

The investment follows the renewal of a long-term supply contract with Tianjian Bohua Yongli Chemical Industry (YLC) in a bid to cut carbon emissions from the site. The ASUs will provide oxygen and other gases to the Bohua-group subsidiary so that production can be run on electrical power instead of steam.

This will result in a 370,000 tonne/year reduction in CO2 emissions with the units having capacity of 4,000 tonnes/day of oxygen, scheduled to come online by mid-2024. Other companies operating in the Tianjin industrial basin will also be supplied with gases from the electrified ASUs.

Work on the units will be carried out by Air Liquide Engineering & Construction without any disruption to supply. In addition, the two firms will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Tianjin Binhai District for the implementation of Carbon Capture, Use, and Storage (CCUS) solutions.

The project also includes the possible supply of low carbon energy units through Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) that are currently under discussion, which would allow further emission reductions in the future.

Air Liquide has operated in the Tianjin basin for more than 20 years, supplying both local and international chemical companies operating in the region.

The French major owns and operates four production sites and a large pipeline system connecting the Lingang, Dagang, and Nangang industrial parks.

We remind, Air Liquide is building an oxygen production unit onsite for European glass packaging producer Verallia to reduce CO2 emissions and energy consumption. A new oxygen production unit will be built and operated by Air Liquide onsite at Verallia’s plant in Pescia, Italy to melt glass via oxy-combustion instead of injecting air into the furnace, increasing efficiency. The new oxygen unit will also be equipped with a unique cryogenic process and will be 10% ore energy efficient than the previous generation.

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