Day: 6 February 2023

Circular plastic – Hydrogen – PET

-Petrochemicals – Bright chips – MEG

Circular plastic - Hydrogen - PET

Crude Oil Prices Trend

-Toyota Calls On Science To Tell EV-Only Extremists That They’re Wrong

The Japanese carmaker got its share of criticism lately and now it’s fighting back.

Toyota is known mostly for its hybrid-powered vehicles, with the Prius first coming into mind, but with all the other manufacturers racing towards an EV-only future, the Japanese brand seems to be lagging in terms of a wider-scale adoption on the electric-only front.

In fact, it’s reportedly one of the reasons why its CEO, Akio Toyoda, who’s the grandson of the firm’s founder, will be stepping down in April. But even as Toyota moves to develop its first dedicated EV platform, it still won’t make the shift to an all-electric lineup and now it’s using science to tell EV-only extremists that they’re wrong.

With some solid facts and figures at hand, the carmaker’s Chief Scientist Gill Pratt says that the best approach for a sustainable future is a multipronged one, blending EVs with hybrids and other green technologies, and not a full-on commitment to battery-powered cars only.Circular plastic – Hydrogen – PET

Circular plastic - Hydrogen - PET

-PET, a circular plastic system? New study says not yet

Report says chemical recycling for PET could substantially boost circularity

While the strong recycling performance of clear PET beverage bottles in some European countries has given PET/polyester a reputation as a ‘circular plastic system’, a new synthesis study from system change company Systemiq begs to differ.

According to this report, with today’s limited recycling capabilities, only about one quarter of this material is being successfully recycled. Implementing chemical recycling technologies at scale alongside existing mechanical recycling approaches could set the stage for both positive environmental benefits and transformative success for the wider PET/polyester industry, the authors write. Circular plastic – Hydrogen – PET

Circular plastic - Hydrogen - PET

-Air Liquide and TotalEnergies join forces to develop a network of over 100 hydrogen stations for heavy duty vehicles in Europe

Air Liquide and TotalEnergies announce their decision to create an equally owned joint venture to develop a network of hydrogen stations, geared towards heavy duty vehicles on major European road corridors. This initiative will help facilitate access to hydrogen, enabling the development of its use for goods transportation and further strengthening the hydrogen sector. Circular plastic – Hydrogen – PET

The partners aim to deploy more than 100 hydrogen stations on major European roads – in France, Benelux and Germany – in the coming years.

These stations, under the TotalEnergies brand, will be located on major strategic corridors.

This agreement will lead to the creation of a major player in hydrogen refueling solutions and contribute to the decarbonization of road transportation in Europe. The two companies will combine their know-how and expertise in infrastructure, hydrogen distribution and mobility:

Air Liquide will contribute with its expertise in technologies and its mastery of the entire hydrogen value chain; Circular plastic – Hydrogen – PET
TotalEnergies will bring its expertise in the operation and management of stations networks and the distribution of energies to BtoB customers.

Air Liquide and TotalEnergies join forces to develop a network of over 100 hydrogen stations for heavy duty vehicles in Europe

-December contract price of TPA in Europe decreased by EUR177 per ton

The contract price of purified terephthalic acid (TPA) in Europe for December 2022 has dropped significantly, ICIS reports.

Thus, the December contract price of TPA is reduced by EUR177 per ton to EUR924-958 per ton, FD NWE (Northwest Europe).

The price agreement occurred along with the delay in the settlement of December prices of paraxylene raw materials. Circular plastic – Hydrogen – PET

Earlier it was reported that the December contract price of paraxylene in Europe decreased by EUR195 per ton compared with November. One single concluded agreement was reported at EUR1,035 per tonne, FD NWE (Northwest Europe) compared to EUR1,230 per tonne in the previous month.

This is the largest decline in the price of paraxylene since March 2020, when restrictive measures began in Europe to contain COVID-19.

According to the ScanPlast survey, the estimated consumption of PET in December 2022 increased by 24% compared to last year. In the reporting month, the estimated consumption of PET amounted to 86.15 thousand tons. In total, by the end of 2022, the total estimated consumption in Russia increased by 2% and amounted to 844.84 thousand tons of PET (830.43 thousand tons in 2021). Circular plastic – Hydrogen – PET

December contract price of TPA in Europe decreased by EUR177 per ton

-Repsol invests €26 m in new Reciclex line

Repsol has announced it making a €26 million investment in the installation of a new production line at its Puertollano Industrial Complex in Spain.

With a production capacity of 25,000 tons of recycled plastic annually, the new line will serve to significantly expand the current volume – 16,000 tons – of the company’s Reciclex polyolefins produced at the site. The new unit is scheduled to come into operation at the end of 2024. Circular plastic – Hydrogen – PET

Repsol’s Reciclex range of resins consists of high and low-density polyethylene (HDPE and LDPE) with a mechanically recycled plastic content of 10% and 80%.

These are used to produce rigid and flexible packaging for non-food use, such as cleaning product containers or product packaging bags.

This investment is in line with recent European and Spanish regulations, which are aimed at achieving a recycled content target of 30% for plastic packaging by 2030.

Repsol said that the company would also be starting up a new polyurethane foam recovery plant in Puertollano this year; the first in Spain and on the Iberian Peninsula.

To ensure a reliable and constant production at the site, Repsol has entered into various alliances with recyclers to secure a consistent volume and supply of recycled products. In this way, customers will be assured of being provided with recycled materials of consistent quality. Circular plastic – Hydrogen – PET

The circular economy is an ongoing focus for Repsol.

The company has a stated commitment to recycle the equivalent of 20% of its polyolefin production by 2030, and to reach a production of 100,000 tons per year.

It has further acquired stakes in Acteco, an integrated waste management and recovery company, and in Enerkem, a leading technology company in waste gasification, thus expanding the scope of its activities in the sustainable space.

In addition, an integrated model of decarbonisation technologies based on improving efficiency, increasing low-emissions power generation capacity, producing low-carbon fuels, and developing new customer solutions is being introduced aiming to reduce the industry’s carbon footprint. Circular plastic – Hydrogen – PET

Repsol invests €26 m in new Reciclex line

-Complementary chemical and mechanical recycling technologies environmentally beneficial for PET and polyester industries, says SYSTEMIQ

A new synthesis study by SYSTEMIQ has suggested that the scaling up of chemical recycling to work in tandem with mechanical recycling technologies will lead to ‘very high’ recycling rates and lower carbon emissions for PET and polyester packaging solutions.

It aims to evaluate whether such solutions would reduce dependence on fossil-fuel-based feedstocks, increase resource efficiency, and lower greenhouse gas emissions, and is apparently the first in a series aiming to explore the possibilities for circular systems involving PET and polyester.

Complementary chemical and mechanical recycling technologies environmentally beneficial for PET and polyester industries, says SYSTEMIQ

Circular plastic – Hydrogen – PET

Petrochemicals – Bright chips – MEG 06-02-2023

Petrochemicals – Bright chips – MEG

Petrochemicals - Bright chips - MEG

Polyestertime
ITEM	30/01/2023	06/02/2023	+/-
Bottle grade PET chips domestic market	7,475 yuan/ton	7,150 yuan/ton	-325
Bottle grade PET chips export market	1,010 $/ton	980 $/ton	-30
Filament grade Semidull chips domestic market	6,740 yuan/ton	6,600 yuan/ton	-140
Filament grade Bright chips domestic market	6,840 yuan/ton	6,700 yuan/ton	-140
Pure Terephthalic Acid PTA domestic market	5,770 yuan/ton	5,580 yuan/ton	-190
Pure Terephthalic Acid PTA export market	810 $/ton	800 $/ton	-10
Monoethyleneglycol MEG domestic market	4,350 yuan/ton	4,125 yuan/ton	-225
Monoethyleneglycol MEG export market	540 $/ton	518 $/ton	-22
Paraxylene PX FOB Taiwan market	1,076 $/ton	1,043 $/ton	-33
Paraxylene PX FOB Korea market	1,053 $/ton	1,020 $/ton	-33
Paraxylene PX FOB EU market	1,266 $/ton	1,232 $/ton	-34
Polyester filament POY 150D/48F domestic market	7,600 yuan/ton	7,730 yuan/ton	+130
Recycled Polyester filament POY domestic market	7,350 yuan/ton	7,350 yuan/ton	–
Polyester filament DTY 150D/48 F domestic market	8,850 yuan/ton	8,880 yuan/ton	+30
Polyester filament FDY 68D24F Petrochemicals – Bright chips – MEG	8,850 yuan/ton	8,900 yuan/ton	+50
Polyester filament FDY 150D/96F domestic market	8,350 yuan/ton	8,380 yuan/ton	+30
Polyester staple fiber 1.4D 38mm domestic market	7,580 yuan/ton	7,350 yuan/ton	-230
Caprolactam CPL domestic market	12,900 yuan/ton	12,900 yuan/ton	–
Caprolactam CPL overseas market	1,700 $/ton	1,700 $/ton	–
Nylon6 chips overseas market	1,870 $/ton	1,930 $/ton	+60
Nylon6 chips conventional spinning domestic market	13,700 yuan/ton	13,550 yuan/ton	-150
Nylon6 chips high speed spinning domestic market	13,250 yuan/ton	14,300 yuan/ton	+1,050
Nylon 6.6 chips domestic market	21,000 yuan/ton	21,000 yuan/ton	–
Nylon6 Filament POY 86D/24F domestic market	15,550 yuan/ton	16,200 yuan/ton	+650
Nylon6 Filament DTY 70D/24F domestic market	17,800 yuan/ton	18,400 yuan/ton-	+600
Nylon6 Filament FDY 70D/24F	16,450 yuan/ton	17,200 yuan/ton	+750
Spandex 20D domestic market	40,000 yuan/ton	41,000 yuan/ton	+1,000
Spandex 30D domestic market	37,500 yuan/ton	38,000 yuan/ton	+500
Spandex 40D domestic market	34,500 yuan/ton	35,000 yuan/ton	+500
Adipic Acid domestic market	11,000 yuan/ton	10,800 yuan/ton	-200
Benzene domestic market Petrochemicals – Bright chips – MEG	7,130 yuan/ton	6,760 yuan/ton	-370
Benzene overseas market	991 $/ton	930 $/ton	-61
Ethylene South East market	840 $/ton	880 $/ton	+40
Ethylene NWE market	825 $/ton	1,013 $/ton	+188
Acrylonitrile ACN domestic market	10,200 yuan/ton	11,000 yuan/ton	+800
Acrylonitrile ACN overseas market	1,500 $/ton	1,500 $/tn	–
Acrylic staple fiber ASF domestic market	16,600 yuan/ton	16,600 yuan/ton	–
Viscose Staple Fiber VSF domestic market	13,000 yuan/ton	13,100 yuan/ton	+100
PP Powder domestic market	8,050 yuan/ton	8,050 yuan/ton	–
Naphtha overseas market	712 $/ton	701 $/ton	-11
Phenol domestic market	7,940 yuan/ton	7,940 yuan/ton	–

Petrochemicals – Bright chips – MEG

Toyota criticizes all-electric-car 06-02-2023

More.. Toyota criticizes all-electric-car

Toyota criticizes all-electric-car

-Toyota Calls On Science To Tell EV-Only Extremists That They’re Wrong

The Japanese carmaker got its share of criticism lately and now it’s fighting back.

Automotive News writes that this pitch was first made at the World Economic Forum in Davos and more recently, Pratt repeated the message from Tokyo, in a bid to offer some context to Toyota’s long-term strategy. Toyota criticizes all-electric-car

“Time will show that our point of view is actually the correct one,” Pratt said in Tokyo. “One way or the other, there will be a diversity of powertrains used throughout the world.”

This statement comes as several car brands pledged to go full-electric at some point in the future, with Honda, Acura, Cadillac, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, and more saying they’ll do the best they can to become carbon neutral in this century.

By contrast, Toyota wants to sell around 5.5 million internal combustion-engined and plug-in hybrid cars per year from 2030, as well as 3.5 million EVs, including 1 million Lexus-branded cars. Toyota criticizes all-electric-car

So Toyota isn’t anti-EV, but it believes in a diversified approach and it’s predicting a global shortage of lithium, which is the most important material used in today’s lithium-ion batteries found in pure EVs, hybrids, and plug-in hybrids.

Gill Pratt and his team concluded that to lower carbon emissions as much as possible, it makes more sense to spread the limited supply of lithium among as many cars as possible, electrifying as many cars as possible.

He hypothesized a fleet of 100 internal combustion engine cars with average emissions of 250 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer traveled. Now, assuming a limited supply of lithium, there’s only enough of it to make 100 kilowatt-hours of batteries. Toyota’s Chief Scientist says that if it were used for a single, big battery, the average emissions of the whole fleet would drop by just 1.5 g/km. Toyota criticizes all-electric-car

But if the small amount of lithium were spread among smaller, 1.1-kWh batteries, it would be possible to make 90 hybrid cars, which would still leave 10 traditional combustion cars, but the average emissions of the theoretical fleet would drop to a much lower 205 g/km.

It’s a counterintuitive idea, that a big fleet of hybrids would make a bigger positive impact on emissions than a smaller fleet of EVs, and Toyota says this nuance is lost in the talks about adopting EVs on a global scale. Pratt also criticized rival car companies’ ambitions, calling them “happy talk” and saying that their forward-looking statements usually have an asterisk that says “if conditions permit”. Toyota criticizes all-electric-car

“What has to change is that we have to mature a little bit, and we have to stop doing wishful thinking,” he said. “A real discussion is that these are the constraints in the development of resources in the world, both material resources and charging infrastructure and renewable power… If that is true, how do we reduce the total amount of carbon dioxide that will accumulate? That is a mature discussion, not a kind of dream discussion.”

According to Automotive News, Gill Pratt was inspired to dig deeper into the battery question by his own family’s experience with a Tesla Model X, which has over 300 miles of range, but the car is typically driven less than 30 miles a day, which means 90 percent of the battery is “dead weight”. Toyota criticizes all-electric-car

Air Liquide TotalEnergies Hydrogen 06-02-2023

Air Liquide TotalEnergies Hydrogen

-Air Liquide and TotalEnergies join forces to develop a network of over 100 hydrogen stations for heavy duty vehicles in Europe

The partners aim to deploy more than 100 hydrogen stations on major European roads – in France, Benelux and Germany – in the coming years. These stations, under the TotalEnergies brand, will be located on major strategic corridors.

Air Liquide will contribute with its expertise in technologies and its mastery of the entire hydrogen value chain;
TotalEnergies will bring its expertise in the operation and management of stations networks and the distribution of energies to BtoB customers.

The joint venture, which will be jointly managed by Air Liquide and TotalEnergies, will invest, build and operate these stations, as well as procure hydrogen from the market and dispense it to its transport customers.

Matthieu Giard, Vice President and Executive Committee Member of the Air Liquide Group, supervising the Hydrogen activities, underlines:

“Hydrogen offers clear benefits for heavy duty mobility. To promote its widespread use, it is imperative to accelerate the development of refueling infrastructures and to offer vehicle manufacturers and transport operators a sufficiently dense network of stations. It is precisely the ambition of this joint venture, which will benefit from the complementary expertise of Air Liquide and TotalEnergies. As a leader for over 60 years and with unique know-how and technologies, Air Liquide is a major player to accelerate and scale up the development of hydrogen, a key element for the emergence of a low-carbon society.” Air Liquide TotalEnergies Hydrogen

Thierry Pflimlin, President Marketing & Services de TotalEnergies, says:

“Following the recent signature of a partnership for the production of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen on our Grandpuits Zero Crude Platform, we are pleased to once again join forces with Air Liquide and continue our common efforts to decarbonize mobility. As pioneers in hydrogen mobility, we are convinced of the necessity to start building now a heavy-duty network that will benefit our customers. This new partnership with Air Liquide will enable us to continue our development across the entire hydrogen value chain.”

The two partners plan to establish their joint venture in 2023, subject to the finalization of the appropriate contractual documentation and to the receipt of the necessary regulatory approvals. Air Liquide TotalEnergies Hydrogen

Air Liquide and TotalEnergies join forces to develop a network of over 100 hydrogen stations for heavy goods vehicles in Europe

Download the documentPDF (254.77 KB)

Air Liquide TotalEnergies Hydrogen

Chemical and mechanical recycling 06-02-2023

Chemical and mechanical recycling

-Complementary chemical and mechanical recycling technologies environmentally beneficial for PET and polyester industries, says SYSTEMIQ

With only a quarter of Europe’s PET plastics and polyester textiles currently being successfully recycled, according to SYSTEMIQ, the study examines the outcomes of using depolymerisation alongside mechanical recycling and reuse for PET and polyester packaging and textile solutions. It aims to evaluate whether such solutions would reduce dependence on fossil-fuel-based feedstocks, increase resource efficiency, and lower greenhouse gas emissions, and is apparently the first in a series aiming to explore the possibilities for circular systems involving PET and polyester.

The results state that the current PET/polyester system functioning in Europe is not a circular solution and largely depends on virgin production using fossil-fuel-based feedstocks. Chemical and mechanical recycling

Chemical recycling for PET and polyester can reportedly increase circularity when it complements mechanical recycling and the upcycling of hard-to-recycle plastic waste into high-quality recycled PET and polyester; furthermore, this outcome can potentially optimise environmental and socioeconomic benefits, SYSTEMIQ claims.

“Mechanical recycling of PET plastic bottles is a great success story in some parts of Europe,” said Ben Dixon, partner and head of Materials and Circular Economy. “Despite this fact, the study shows that we are still dealing with high volumes of waste from PET packaging and polyester textiles across our continent. Chemical and mechanical recycling

Research suggests that PET/polyester may be particularly well-suited to complementary solutions, with chemical recycling playing a significant role alongside mechanical recycling and reuse.”

Professor Kim Ragaert, Full Professor, Chair of Circular Plastics at Maastricht University, continued: “Bottle PET has long been king of mechanical recycling, due to its unique combination of advantages. However, PET trays and polyester fibre are more complicated and of different qualities, and the conventional bottle segment is increasingly used in non-food applications like cosmetics.

“We must therefore seriously consider how to complement the mechanical recycling of PET with other technologies to avoid large volumes of precious polymer cascading out of the system via a “last stop” recycling into non-recovered textiles or incineration. This report gives us a much-needed overview of the tools available to us.”

“This study underscores the importance of innovation and collaboration in the recycling space,” added Sandeep Bangaru, vice president of Circular Economy Platforms at Eastman Chemical Company. Chemical and mechanical recycling

“We believe mechanical recycling should be used, when possible, but to keep more raw materials in the loop, chemical recycling is a necessary complement.

It’s going to take leaders throughout the value chain—including policymakers, NGOs, mechanical and chemical recyclers—to work together to address this global challenge.”

“The world is facing a plastic waste crisis with far too little plastic waste being recycled, either from lack of collection or because it simply cannot be recycled by traditional methods,” concluded Jacco De Haas, chief commercial officer at Interzero. “The combination of mechanical and chemical recycling is a critical step closer toward a world without waste.”

The study is said to refer to over 80 published reports, research, and advice from industry experts, and is expected to provide useful insight as changes in European and North American legislation are expected to increase demand for recycled PET and polyester. The next addition is anticipated to come in the coming months.

A previous report by SYSTEMIQ warned that agreed climate goals, circularity policies, and the European Green Deal would not be met by existing efforts to adapt the European plastic system. It pushed for innovation, investment, and policy support across the value chain, rather than relying entirely on recycling to achieve full circularity and reduce carbon emissions. Chemical and mechanical recycling

Furthermore, a recent study has concluded that, while mechanical recycling has the lowest environmental impact of the closed-loop recycling technologies examined, it generates a lower quality of recyclate. Dissolution, enzymatic hydrolysis, and methanolysis reportedly improved standard recyclate quality by between 2% and 7%.

Nevertheless, the global chemical recycling industry should be careful not to become economically dependent on a continual plastic waste stream, according to AMI in its own report.

Chemical and mechanical recycling

PET circular plastic system 06-02-2023

PET circular plastic system

-PET, a circular plastic system? New study says not yet

Report says chemical recycling for PET could substantially boost circularity

Using a combination of plastic recycling approaches, not only could very high recycling rates be achieved but the carbon emissions from the PET packaging and textiles system would also be reduced. The study, entitled Circularity of PET/polyester packaging and textiles in Europe, is the first in a two-part series exploring circularity pathways for PET/polyester. Financed by Eastman and Interzero, an independent steering group comprised of experts from the public sector, academia, civil society, and industry provided strategic guidance. Drawing on insights from 80+ published reports, research, and advice from industry experts, it assesses the current state of PET/polyester packaging and textile circularity in Europe. PET circular plastic system

Among others, it looks at evidence for a positive role of PET/polyester recycling via depolymerisation alongside mechanical recycling and reuse.

As Sandeep Bangaru, VP of Circular Economy Platforms at Eastman Chemical Company, said: “We believe mechanical recycling should be used, when possible, but to keep more raw materials in the loop, chemical recycling is a necessary complement.”

“The world is facing a plastic waste crisis with far too little plastic waste being recycled…. The combination of mechanical and chemical recycling is a critical step closer toward a world without waste,” added Jacco De Haas, CCO at Interzero.

Among the findings of the study, there were three key highlights that emerged, namely:

The PET/polyester system in Europe is mostly not circular today, with 75% of the material ending up in landfill or incineration.
It is also largely dependent on virgin production using fossil-fuel based feedstocks. PET circular plastic system
Chemical recycling technologies are emerging for PET/polyester at industrial scale. They offer the potential to increase circularity by complementing mechanical recycling and upcycling hard-to-recycle plastic waste into high quality recycled PET/polyester.
The complementary application of mechanical, chemical recycling and reuse in the PET/polyester system has potential to optimise environmental and socioeconomic benefits.

The study also identified a major gap in the knowledge needed to design such a new system based on complementarity. A system model and scenario assessment tool are lacking. This model will therefore be the subject of the next phase of this project, and will help to determine whether this system vision is realistic, achievable, and beneficial in terms of economic and environmental outcomes.

It will also examine whether it would create an opportunity to reduce plastic waste, reduce dependence on fossil-fuel-based feedstocks, increase resource efficiency, and lower greenhouse gas emissions. PET circular plastic system

Outputs and insights from the model will be delivered in a second White Paper to be released in 2023, in which the future potential for complementarity of mechanical and chemical recycling of PET/polyester in Europe under different scenarios will be explored and material flows and environmental impacts of each scenario quantified.

Mechanical recycling of PET plastic bottles is a great success story in some parts of Europe, Ben Dixon, partner and head of Materials and Circular Economy at Systemiq, pointed out. But: “Research suggests that PET/polyester may be particularly well-suited to complementary solutions, with chemical recycling playing a significant role alongside mechanical recycling and reuse.” PET circular plastic system

Professor Kim Ragaert, full professor – Chair of Circular Plastics at Maastricht University, agreed, noting that ‘bottle PET has long been king of mechanical recycling, due to its unique combination of advantages’. “However, PET trays and polyester fibre are more complicated and of different qualities, and the conventional bottle segment is increasingly used in non-food applications like cosmetics. We must therefore seriously consider how to complement the mechanical recycling of PET with other technologies to avoid large volumes of precious polymer cascading out of the system via a “last stop” recycling into non-recovered textiles or incineration. This report gives us a much-needed overview of the tools available to us.”

PET circular plastic system