SCGC and Sirplaste Portugal Invest in Recycling Technology and New Machinery

SCG Chemicals (SCGC) and Sirplaste of Portugal have announced significant progress in advancing their circular economy business ventures in Europe, said Polymerupdate.

The companies have successfully invested in recycling technology and installed new machinery in Portugal as planned. As a result, their combined production capacity for high-quality recycled plastic resin has increased to 45,000 tons per year, UP FROM THE PREVIOUS 9,000 TONS, marking a 25% increase. This growth is particularly geared towards producing High-Quality Odorless HDPE PCR Resin, which is EuCertPlast-certified, in response to steadily growing market demand for environmentally friendly packaging in Europe. The expansion of SCGC's high-quality PCR business in Europe will enhance its market potential, maximize the utility of resources, and contribute to climate change mitigation.

Tanawong Areeratchakul, President of SCG Chemicals Public Company Limited or SCGC, elaborated on the progress in the circular economy ventures between SCGC and Sirplaste of Portugal and said: "Our circular economy business with Sirplaste is progressing as planned. The company has invested in recycling technology and successfully installed new machinery at the Sirplaste plant in Portugal, making it operational. This increases our High-Quality Odorless HDPE PCR Resin production capacity by 9,000 tons to meet the growing market demands for green packaging, particularly in the personal care and household sectors. This initiative resonates with global brand owners and consumers who prioritize environmental sustainability, particularly in European countries. Furthermore, we plan to boost our production capacity to meet the emerging mega-trends in environmentally friendly packaging. This aligns with SCGC's strategy to drive business growth and sustainability, adhering to ESG guidelines that focus on valuable resource utilization following the principles of the circular economy through Green Innovation. We are moving forward to expand our environmentally friendly plastic production under the SCGC GREEN POLYMERTM brand, targeting one million tons per year by 2030."

As per MRC, Siam Cement Group (SCG) will invest on a USD22.7m project to produce biaxially oriented polyethylene terephthalate (BOPET) in Vietnam. AJ Plast (Vietnam) Co Ltd, a 45:55 joint venture between SCG subsidiary SCG Chemicals and Thailand-listed flexible packaging producer AJ Plast, will carry out the project, SCG said in a bourse filing on 22 August.

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SK Innovation has become the first in the oil refining industry to complete a Life Cycle Assessment (hereafter, LCA) for its entire oil-petrochemical related products, said Skinnonews.

The company aims to strengthen its response to domestic and international clients who are increasingly focused on ESG evaluation standards, and plans to utilize the findings for process improvement data.

On September 1, SK Innovation announced that the company’s Institute of Environmental Science and Technology has successfully completed the industry’s first comprehensive LCA, which measures the environmental impact across all stages of a product’s life cycle. LCA quantifies a variety of environmental impacts, including greenhouse gas emissions of the entire production process, from resource input to the production of finished goods, in accordance with international standards. SK Innovation launched an LCA unit under its Institute of Environmental Science and Technology in January 2022 to review not only products and supply chains within the SK Innovation subsidiaries but also the environmental impacts of new businesses.

The subjects for the LCA were about 470 oil-petrochemical related products and semi-products (including gasoline, diesel, ethylene, para-xylene, etc.) produced by SK Innovation’s subsidiaries, including SK Energy, SK Enmove, SK Geo Centric, and SK Incheon Petrochem. Key environmental impact indicators, such as carbon emissions, acidification, resource consumption, and ozone depletion, were measured to evaluate the environmental loads. Moreover, the company also secured a company-wide environmental impact assessment database that includes these LCA results.

SK Innovation is expanding its LCA to its overseas business sites with plans to actively respond to clients’ demands for environmental information to support both current and future businesses in reviewing their environmental impact by using the assessment results. The company also aims to secure the capabilities to evaluate social impact in order to contribute to carbon reduction and the creation of an ESG ecosystem.

We remind, Technip Energies and Enerkem Inc. have signed a memorandum of understanding to enter into a Collaboration Agreement aimed at accelerating the deployment of Enerkem’s technology platform for biofuels and circular chemical products from non-recyclable waste materials.

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Teijin Ltd. (Toyko)has agreed to sell its entire stake in GH Craft Co., a subsidiary of Teijin’s composites business in Japan, to TIP Composite Co., Ltd., a manufacturer headquartered in Matsumoto City, Japan, said Chemengonline.

Teijin acquired GH Craft in July 2008 as part of its downstream strategy. GH Craft is involved in the design, prototyping and evaluation of composites materials, with focus on highly demanding applications in the aerospace, railway and automotive industries.

TIP composite manufactures and sells composite materials for a wide range of industries. TIP composite has already collaborated on selected projects with GH Craft. Now, by obtaining GH Craft’s knowledge and technology, TIP composite is expected to grow its business significantly. The share transfer is scheduled for September 7, 2023. The impact of this transaction on Teijin’s consolidated financial results for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024, is expected to be minor.

We remind, Teijin Frontier Co., Ltd., the Teijin Group’s fibers and products converting company, announced it has developed a new foreign material removal technology to eliminate polyurethane (PU) elastomer fiber from discarded polyester apparel. The technology features a new processing agent used during the pretreatment phase of the chemical recycling process, which helps improve the quality of the recycled polyester fiber that is derived from clothing containing PU elastomer fiber.

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Olin Corporation announced a mutual agreement that Scott Sutton will step down as President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman of the Board in the first half of 2024. Mr. Sutton will continue as Executive Chairman of the Board until his departure to facilitate a smooth transition, said the company.

Mr. Sutton has led a strategic transformation of Olin since taking the helm in 2020 which has delivered significant value for Olin's shareholders. He has embedded the Winning Model across Olin's businesses and built a strong leadership team for the future.

"It has been a privilege and an honor to lead Olin," said Sutton. "Olin has a great future ahead and the Board and I are working closely together to identify an excellent leader who will enable the next phase of growth for Olin building on our strong foundation."

William H. Weideman, Olin's Lead Director, noted, "On behalf of the Board and the Olin team, I extend our gratitude to Scott for his dedication, leadership and extraordinary contribution. We look forward to working with Scott and the leadership team to ensure a smooth transition."

We remind, Olin Corporation announced an agreement to acquire the assets of White Flyer Targets LLC, North America's preeminent leader in recreational trap, skeet, and sporting clay targets, and combine it with the Winchester Ammunition business. The acquisition includes White Flyer's five state of the art manufacturing facilities in Coal Township, PA; Dalton, GA; Webb City, MO; Knox, IN; and, San Bernardino, CA, US, and includes White Flyer's recently announced ECO FLYER target product line. The transaction is contingent on Olin's completion of confirmatory due diligence, definitive agreements, and final approval of both companies' Boards of Directors. The transaction is not expected to require any premerger filings and is expected to be completed in 4Q 2023. Olin would fund the transaction with cash on hand and anticipates that the transaction would be immediately accretive to Olin's shareholders.

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Technip Energies, a leading engineering and technology company for the energy transition, and Versalis, Eni's chemical company, have signed an agreement aimed at integrating Versalis' Hoop and Technip Energies' Pure.rOilTM and Pure.rGasTM purification technologies by developing a technological platform for the advanced chemical recycling of plastic waste, said the company

This project aims to create a theoretically endless plastic recycling loop, producing new virgin polymers suitable for all applications and that are identical to polymers that come from fossil raw materials.

Versalis will bring its Hoop® technology, a pyrolysis process that enables the recovery of mixed plastic waste with high performance in term of yield, recovery and flexibility in managing different types of feedstocks.

Technip Energies will bring its ethylene furnace and steam cracker design expertise, with more than 700 steam crackers worldwide operating under its own licence, along with the preparation and its proprietary purification technologies, Pure.rGasTM and Pure.rOilTM, which ensure safe, reliable and optimized integration with both existing and new crackers.

The integrated technologies by Versalis and T.EN will contribute to supporting a circular economy by reducing the overall carbon footprint of the polymer value chain.

Marco Villa, Chief Operating Officer of Technip Energies, stated: “We are pleased to join forces with Versalis to bring our combined technologies for plastic waste recycling to commercialization. This alliance will help strengthen Versalis' and T.EN’s leadership in the transformation of traditional basic chemicals and polymers into sustainable and decarbonized products and facilitate the transition to the circular economy.”

We remind, TotalEnergies, Baker Hughes, Technip Energies, Azimut and other investors have signed preliminary agreement to invest in Zhero Europe in order to develop large scale renewable energies projects in Europe and Africa spanning across renewable power generation, power interconnections and green molecules.

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