Jindan to Use Sulzer Technology to Produce Bioplastics

Sulzer has recently signed an agreement with major lactic acid (LA) producer, Jindan New Biomaterials (Jindan), to enable the production of polylactic acid (PLA), a biobased plastic, said Process-worldwide.

Jindan will utilize Sulzer’s licensed PLA technology at its new manufacturing plant in Henan Province to produce up to 75’000 tonnes of PLA per year, mainly to be used for food packaging, molded goods and fibers production. Sulzer will also provide extensive service support to ensure a seamless start.

Jindan’s new bioplastic facility will produce PLA in a variety of grades to support the expanded use of bioplastics in several sectors in China, including the textile and package manufacturing industries. To enable the company’s transition towards more sustainable, circular practices, Sulzer Chemtech will design and supply its key proprietary PLA technology, while further providing extensive engineering and technical support and field services as the manufacturer commences operations.

Shi Congliang, President of Jindan New Biomaterial, added: “By investing in Sulzer’s PLA solutions, we are taking key, strategic steps to advance our competitiveness in the booming biopolymer industry and drive the use of greener plastics. Thanks to its comprehensive expertise in the PLA value chain and all the stages involved, Sulzer Chemtech is an extremely valuable partner. We look forward to installing the equipment and starting-up our enhanced operations.”

We remind, Sulzer advanced separation technology will enable end-of-life plastics recycling at Indaver’s first plastic depolymerization plant currently under construction in Antwerp, Belgium. The new Plastics2Chemicals (P2C) plant will drive polymer circularity by using Sulzer separation technology to reclaim and purify 30,000 tpy of plastic waste. The resulting pure chemical feedstock can then be reused in manufacturing.

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LG Chem recently announced that it has started construction of its fourth carbon nanotube (CNT) plant at its Daesan Complex, 80 kilometers southwest of Seoul. LG Chem’s CNT 4 Plant is slated for operation in 2025 and will contribute to doubling LG Chem’s annual CNT production capability to 6,100 tons, said Process-worldwide.

Prior to this, LG Chem’s 1,200-tons CNT 3 Plant in Yeosu was also recently put into full operation, enabling LG Chem to secure a total production of 2,900 tons/year, adding on to the existing 1,700 tons.

LG Chem continuously expanding its CNT production capacity to gain a strong competitive advantage in the global CNT market which is rapidly evolving around electric vehicle (EV) battery materials. LG Chem has been operating CNT plants since 2017, starting from 500-ton productions at its CNT Plant 1, and is building new plants every year since 2020 to meet growing demands.

Thanks to the company’s fluidized bed reactor technology, production lines at all four LG Chem’s CNT plants can produce up to 600 tons on a yearly basis, demonstrating the highest single-line capacity in the world.

“With the nation’s largest CNT production capacity, we will continue building a strong competitive advantage in the battery materials sector and actively explore new business opportunities by moving faster than our competitors,” said Noh Kug-lae, President of LG Chem’s Petrochemical Business.

We remind, the Seoul Metropolitan Government is partnering with domestic petrochemical companies to begin a pilot project for recycling plastic waste materials using thermal pyrolysis technology. GS Caltex Corp., HD Hyundai Oilbank Co., LG Chem Ltd. And SK Geocentric Co have signed the business agreement with the Seoul city government. Plastic waste will be collected by district offices and be shipped to the petrochemical companies who will then use the thermal pyrolysis process to produce thermal pyrolysis oil.

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Toray Industries has recently announced that its marketing & sales subsidiary, Toray Resins Europe (called TREU) has established a recycling process for glass-fiber-reinforced polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) resin waste from injection molding processes, said Process-worldwide.

TREU created its process by leveraging proprietary compounding technology in collaboration with tolling partner MKV Kunststoffgranulate, a compounding company based in Beselich, Germany, that specializes in recycling engineering & high-performance plastics. Such resin has 50 % recycled content and retains at least 90 % of the mechanical strength that injection grades from original materials deliver.

SKZ – Das Kunststoff-Zentrum, has calculated and verified that PPS made with this recycling process can deliver a carbon footprint that is around 45 % lower than that of original PPS. The calculation was conducted based on the international LCA standards ISO 14040, ISO 14044 and the standard ISO 14067 ‘Carbon footprint of products’. SKZ, also known as the German Plastics Center, is a leading plastics testing and research institution based in Wurzburg.

We remind, Toray Industries, Inc., announced that it has developed a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film that combines excellent applicability and adhesion for water-based and solvent-free coatings and can eliminate solvent-derived carbon-dioxide emissions. The company looks to produce the film at a domestic plant by end-March 2024 to help popularize eco-friendly film products for which decarbonization during manufacturing is desirable. These items include release, adhesive, printing, packaging, and automotive films.

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Austrian energy and chemicals company OMV is not planning to offload its stake in the petrochemicals subsidiary Borealis, reported Reuters, citing OMV CEO Alfred Stern.

Currently, OMV owns a 75% stake in Borealis while state-run Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) holds the remaining 25% stake. Adnoc also owns a 25% stake in OMV.

In 2022, Adnoc unveiled a growth strategy involving a substantial investment of USD150bn (Dh550.88bn) between 2023 and 2027. The plan encompassed the establishment of a new division with a focus on the energy sector, including chemicals.

The announcement triggered speculation regarding Adnoc’s potential acquisition of OMV’s stake in Borealis, which has operations in Belgium, Germany and France, among others.

Stern was quoted by Reuters on the sidelines of an energy conference in New York as saying: “We are not going to sell the Borealis stake.”

OMV is expected to fulfil its gas supply contracts in Austria despite a halt in supplies from Russia’s Gazprom, Stern said.

“There has been a massive rearrangement of supply chains,” he added.

OMV anticipates refining margins to average between USD10 and USD15 per barrel. The margins could reduce below that level, Stern noted.

“For the year [it] will be more toward the lower end, but we are looking if we are going to fall out the bottom end of this potentially,” Stern said.

Adnoc acquired a 24.9% stake in OMV from Mubadala Investment Company to raise its holding in European petrochemicals maker Borealis and petrochemicals company Borouge.

We remind, Borealis announces that it is using the occasion of the Plastics Recycling Show Europe (PRSE) in May to highlight a new monomaterial pouch containing over 95% PP and designed for recycling.

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The long-term agreement will form a part of Orsted’s Mockingbird Solar Center project in Lamar County, Texas, USA which is expected to produce clean energy to power roughly 80,000 homes, said Process-worldwide.

Covestro has signed a 90 megawatt (MW) virtual power purchase agreement (Vppa) with Orsted. This new 15-year agreement secures a portion of power from the Mockingbird Solar Center in Lamar County, Texas, marking Covestro’s first renewable energy agreement in the U.S. The Vppa is estimated to offset 70,000 tons of CO2 emissions annually and will reduce the scope 2 emissions from Covestro’s third largest production site, located in Baytown, Texas.

“This important new announcement builds upon Covestro’s existing agreement with Orsted and clearly signals our commitment to the use of renewable energy,” said Markus Steilemann, CEO of Covestro. “The inclusion of renewable energy to help power our facilities is a critical component to reducing our scope 2 emissions and becoming operationally climate neutral by 2035.”

We remind, Covestro, a leading manufacturer of high-quality polymer materials and their components, has signed a 90 megawatt (MW) virtual power purchase agreement (vPPA) with Orsted, a clean energy leader in the U.S. market, headquartered in Denmark.

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