Chemicals Biotechnology CircularEconomy 02-03-2021 - Arhive
Chemicals Biotechnology CircularEconomy
Crude Oil Prices Trend
DSM has announced an increase in the prices of polyamide 6 and 66 based compounds in Europe, the Middle East and Africa starting from 1 March 2021.
The price increase has been set at 150 euros per ton for Akulon PA6 resins and at 200 euros tonnes for the Akulon PA66 grades, a decision motivated by the increase in the price of raw materials.
The Dutch chemical group confirms its commitment to implement cost containment measures, but believes the increases are necessary to support long-term profitability in the supply of engineering plastics.
-Técnicas Reunidas: New PTA plant for SASA to be built in Turkey
Técnicas Reunidas officially signed with SASA POLYESTER the contract for the execution of a new petrochemical project for the production of PTA in Adana, Turkey. The new plant will have a capacity of 1.5 million tonnes per year. The project was announced at the end of 2020. Chemicals Biotechnology CircularEconomy
Total project investment was estimated by the client at 935 M$. This amount includes the value of the contract of Técnicas Reunidas. The scope of the contract includes engineering, procurement and construction supervision and management. The contract has already been launched and will be executed under a fast track scheme.
The project has a high compromise regarding environmental and social compliance, compiled in the ESIA Report (Environmental and Social Impact Assessment) approved in November 2020, that Técnicas Reunidas will observe during the project development.
-Coal-based MEG regains profits on price hike
MEG futures EG2105 contract broke 5,900yuan/mt and spot price stood around 6,400yuan/mt, leaving spot/futures spread at quite high level. With the rapid increase in MEG price, coal-based MEG cash flow also improved.
After the China market returned from Chinese New Year holidays on February 18, coal chemical producers were active to run at high rate. Coal-based MEG cash flow improved despite rising coal prices. For a 200kt/year unit, the cash flow would reach around 1,700-1,750yuan/mt recently. (The cost here includes freight rate and discount, excludes depreciation and financial expenses.)
Inner Mongolia Tongliao GEM Chemical shut its 300kt/year coal-based MEG unit on February 26 for around one week maintenance. Xinhang Energy has restarted its 100kt/year line of its 400kt/year coal-based unit days earlier than original plan. Operating rate of coal-based MEG units was around 64.9% on Feb 25, up 6.1% from the pre-holiday level of 58.8%. Chemicals Biotechnology CircularEconomy
-Fabricating the Future with a New Environment Friendly Method of Polymerization
The current use of metal catalysts to develop polymers leads to suboptimal quality polymers that contain metallic impurities and involves a reaction process that is not environment friendly. Recent research by scientists from Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan, has been in this vein, adding a new twist to a polymerization technique that has been around and successful since the 1980s: living cationic polymerization, where the polymer chain growth does not have the ability to terminate until the monomer is consumed. Chemicals Biotechnology CircularEconomy
The scientists have, for the first time, demonstrated metal free organocatalysis for this reaction at room temperature for vinyl and styrene polymers, two of the most common polymers used in plastics. Their method is not only more efficient than current metal-based methods, but also environment friendly. Their findings are published in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Polymer Chemistry.
In their study, they first tested the applicability of non-ionic and multidentate (or several electron-pair accepting) halogen bonding organocatalysts, specifically two iodine-carrying polyfluoro-substituted oligoarenes, to the living cationic polymerization of isobutyl vinyl ether.
-ITMA 2023 stand space application opens March 3
The organisers of textile and garment technology exhibition, ITMA have announced that stand space application for ITMA 2023 will open on March 3, 2021. The exhibition will be held at Fiera Milano Rho, Milan, from June 8-14, 2023. According to show owner Cematex, and organiser ITMA Services, many enquiries have been received from participants since last year. Chemicals Biotechnology CircularEconomy
“The pandemic has changed the world in many unprecedented ways. We are now moving into a new world where the digital space has become more commonplace. At the same time, it has underscored the importance of face-to-face meetings, which all of us will appreciate more than ever once it becomes possible again,” Charles Beauduin, chairman of ITMA Services, said in a press release.
-PET Bottle Recycling Campaign Spreads, Spurring Trend of ESG Management
The amount of single-use plastic waste is increasing at a remarkable pace as the outbreak of the coronavirus has led to exponential growth in food deliveries and online shopping. Chemicals Biotechnology CircularEconomy
The more plastics are used, the more important it is to dispose of them separately.
In particular, the separate disposal of transparent PET bottles, a recyclable item with high added value, is attracting attention.
The Ministry of Environment announced that the launch of a campaign to promote the separate disposal of transparent PET bottles at all of the nation’s multi-family unit dwellings, including apartments, from December 25, 2020.
Transparent PET bottles can be recycled into various items, including clothes, bags and cosmetics bottles. Transparent PET bottles disposed of separately could lead to the generation of 100,000 tons of high-quality raw material per year.
-Don’t Believe the U.S. Energy Independence Hype
Simply producing more than you consume might qualify as self-sufficiency, but not true independence. Chemicals Biotechnology CircularEconomy
The U.S. is energy independent, right? Well, that’s what some politicians would have you believe, but it’s not really true in any meaningful sense of the word “independent.”
In its broadest sense, energy independence can be taken to mean that the country produces more energy than the country consumes. That is the basis on which politicians make the claim, but it conceals a whole host of mutual dependencies with foreign states that cannot be ignored. I would argue that the situation is more accurately described as self-sufficiency rather than true independence.
In 2019, the U.S. produced more primary energy (principally oil, natural gas, coal, biofuels and some electricity) than it consumed. It was the first time the country had done so since the 1950s, and it’s on that fact that claims of energy independence hang.
-Insights into the circularity potential of polystyrene – mechanical recycling
highly attended online event with a total of 877 registrants together with Styrenics Circular Solutions (SCS), the value chain initiative to increase the circularity of styrenic polymers. The event gave insights into the circularity capacity of polystyrene, and the great strides forwards that have been made both in the areas of food contact mechanical recycling and depolymerisation and their favourable environmental footprint. Chemicals Biotechnology CircularEconomy
Today, we take a look back at some key takeaways of the event, explore recent developments in closed loop food contact mechanical recycling of polystyrene and take a sneak peek on what to expect in 2021.
Jens Kathmann, Secretary-General at SCS, highlights the fact that polystyrene has everything it takes for a truly circular food contact material. Big steps forward have been made when it comes to achieving this via mechanical recycling.
-PRECISION SORTING THANKS TO THE WESTERIA AIRLIFT
Westeria’s AirLift is notably precise as far as sorting fractions made up of components that differ in specific weight present in waste streams.
Regulations governing plastics products are requiring the use of larger proportions of recycled materials. Germany’s Packaging Act specifies a material recycling rate of 58.5% for plastics packaging, a rate which is set to rise to 63% from 2022.
These regulations disregard economic factors such as the oversupply of plastic scrap and the reduced prices for virgin plastics.
This means the requirements on the quality and purity of the input for recycling are increasing. Chemicals Biotechnology CircularEconomy
If greater quantities of recycled material are to be obtained from post-consumer waste, greater attention has to be paid to the processing step upstream of recycling, particularly sorting.
-Mondelez unveils strategy to collect 40 million tons of wastes
Mondelez Philippines joined hands with The Plastic Flamingo (The Plaf), a global social enterprise that seeks to reduce oceanic waste and marine pollutants, in the retrieval of plastic wastes to transform them into useful pieces that will benefit people and communities. Chemicals Biotechnology CircularEconomy
The collaboration involves the collection of an initial 40 million tons of plastic wastes that will be cut-up into pieces and molded to form “eco-logs” or “eco-bricks”.
While the company strives to carve noteworthy innovations in making production processes responsive to the environment, it also took the tall task of co-creating a circular plastics economy, which is also the main agenda of The Plam.
“We have this new initiative with The Plastic Flamingo that started last year, where we had an agreement to collect just 1 metric ton of post-consumer plastic wastes. But we eventually decided to expand this in 2021 to 40 metric tons,” said Mondelez Philippines country manager for corporate and government affairs Joseph Fabul.
“You see, the company is committed to make a substantial investment in collection, segregation, and recycling of wastes. And part of that substantial investment will go to plan for this project,” said Fabul.
Chemicals Biotechnology CircularEconomy