Ethylene-contract-price – Automotive-interiors 05-05-2022 - Arhive
Ethylene-contract-price – Automotive-interiors
-May contract price of ethylene in Europe decreased by EUR70 per ton
The contract price of ethylene in Europe for May shipments has been agreed at EUR1,595 per tonne, DOWN EUR70 per tonne from the previous month, ICIS said.
The contract price was approved on the terms of FD NWE (with delivery to North-West Europe).
This contract price has been expressly confirmed by two producers and two consumers of the material, which is the minimum sufficient configuration necessary to approve the contract price of ethylene.
Raw material prices decreased compared to the peak values observed in March, which increased the profitability of the production of cracking plants. Utility costs also fell slightly, but last week natural gas prices rose again after news that Russia had cut off gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria.
Earlier it was reported that the contract price of ethylene in Europe for April deliveries was agreed at the level of EUR1,665 per ton, which is EUR230 per ton higher than the level of the previous month. Ethylene-contract-price – Automotive-interiors
Ethylene is the main raw material for the production of polyethylene (PE).
-Flexible Packaging That Uses 35% Less Plastic?
A new masterbatch adds air pockets to polyethylene films. The lighter-weight material actually performs better structurally and improves the potential for recycling.
Flexible packaging is already lightweight, especially compared to rigid containers. But product manufacturers continue to look for ways to reduce their use of plastic in packaging.
The new VO+ masterbatch from VOID Technologies offers another option to minimize your plastic footprint. VOID Technologies’ CEO James Gibson explains how this is possible in this Packaging Digest exclusive.
Give us a short explanation of what VO+ technology is all about.
Gibson: VO+ is about accelerating the transition to more sustainable plastics and flexible packaging. It’s an extensively patented cavitation/voiding technology that engineers nano- and micro-scale voids — air pockets — in plastics to reduce density and material use, enhance performance, and improve recyclability. VO+ is effective in thermoplastics including polyolefins and polyesters and in a range of product forms including film, sheet, fiber, and filament.
And in case you were wondering, we named our company after the voided structure that VO+ creates in polymers. Ethylene-contract-price – Automotive-interiors
Today, VO+ technology is most developed in Machine Direction Orientation (MDO) polyethylene (PE) film. By combining the benefits of MDO with VO+ technology, we address the conflict between material reduction, performance, and recyclability. In that sense, VO+ is a breakthrough that presents a unique proposition for packaging manufacturers and consumer goods companies. It reduces polymer density while improving mechanical properties like puncture and toughness, which in turn allows for films to be down gauged, which offers even more material reduction.
Additionally, when the VO+ voided structure is created, light is diffracted by the film creating high levels of opacity without the need for pigments like TiO2 (titanium dioxide). This is an important benefit because it means that VO+ films can be recycled with clear plastics waste streams without causing color contamination.
-In Asia, no agreement was reached on the May contract prices of paraxylene
Negotiators to agree on May’s contract prices for paraxylene in Asia have failed to reach an agreement for the current month, market sources told ICIS.
According to them, the approval of the monthly contract price for the material is achieved when it is agreed by at least two suppliers and two buyers.
This is the fifth month in a row this year that the contract price of paraxylene remains uncoordinated. Ethylene-contract-price – Automotive-interiors
Price offers in Asia for May are in the range of USD980-1,020 per ton, CFR Asia, against counter-bids at USD1,220 per ton, CFR Asia, and above.
Paraxylene is one of the main raw materials for the production of polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
-Faurecia and recycling firm Veolia to collaborate on automotive interiors
Faurecia will work with the French company Veolia to produce recycled plastics for automotive interiors.
Faurecia and the French recycling company Veolia have signed a cooperation and research partnership with an aim to use on average 30 percent of recycled plastics in car interiors by 2025, the companies said.
The collaboration, under which recycled plastics will be used in instrument panels, door panels and center consoles in cars across Europe, will reduce Faurecia’s carbon footprint, helping it advance its CO2 neutrality plan, and expand Veolia’s product range to vehicle interiors. Ethylene-contract-price – Automotive-interiors
“The use of recycled plastics is one of the key challenges for the ecological transformation of the automotive industry,” the companies said in a statement on Tuesday. “Today, automotive interiors are mostly made of virgin material.”
Automakers are seeking to increase the recycled and sustainable content of their vehicles to meet corporate sustainability goals, and to match the environmental promise of electric cars.
Volkswagen is touting recycled materials used in the new ID Buzz electric van, including floor coverings, some seat covers and the headliner. BMW and Mercedes-Benz are also among automakers seeking to use more recycled materials in cars such as the Mercedes EQ full-electric lineup and the BMW iVision Circular concept vehicle.
Renault Group is in the process of converting its Flins assembly plant near Paris into a center for refurbishment and recycling.
Expanding plastics recycling
Veolia, which has recently closed the acquisition of its competitor Suez, will start the production of secondary raw materials at its existing recycling sites in France from 2023. The company has activities in waste, water and energy management, and had 2021 revenue of 28 billion euros ($29.4 billion). Ethylene-contract-price – Automotive-interiors
“Veolia is growing its plastic recycling capacities with continuous investment in the industrialization and expansion of our existing recycling sites in France and globally, with the objective to reach 1 billion euro turnover by 2025,” the company’s chief operating officer Estelle Brachlianoff said in the statement.
-Shell eyeing expansion of its alpha olefins capabilities in Geismar
A few years after completing a USD717 MM expansion of its alpha olefins production facility in Geismar, Shell Chemical LP is eyeing another USD1.4 billion project at the site to continue ramping up production, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.
Shell Chemical on Wednesday won approval from the state Board of Commerce and Industry for an Industrial Tax Exemption Program break for the USD1.4-B project, which the company says will create a “world scale” linear alpha olefin plant at the Geismar facility. Linear alpha olefins are used to make detergents, waxes, plastics and premium lubricants. Ethylene-contract-price – Automotive-interiors
The Geismar expansion will be the sixth time Shell Chemical has deployed its “proprietary technology” at one of its sites to produce linear alpha olefins, according to the company’s application for the ITEP incentive.
Shell Chemical’s ITEP application says project work will include building reactors, heat exchangers and compressors, as well as boilers and turbines to generate steam and electricity. Shell will also build storage tanks, a 12,000-square-foot warehouse for equipment and materials, and a 14,000-square-foot building that will house a cafeteria and safety meeting space.
Shell Chemical will receive a roughly USD17 MM property tax break for the first year of the linear alpha olefins project while paying nearly USD4.3 MM in taxes.
As MRC wrote before, Shell faces writedowns on USD400 MM in Russian downstream assets, it said, having announced USD3 B worth of other projects previously. The oil major announced on Feb. 28 that it would quit its ventures in Russia with Gazprom and related entities including the flagship Sakhalin 2 LNG plant and the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project.
-Lanxess opened new engineering plastics plant in Germany
Lanxess officially opened a new EUR50m facility for engineering plastics at its site in Krefeld-Uerdingen, said the company.
The compounding plant will provide Durethan ployamide and Pocan polybutylene terephthalate, for use in the automotive and electronic industries, Lanxess said in a statement. Capacity details were not disclosed. The company added that it received support for the project from the North Rhine-Westphalia state government, but it did not provide details.
The state’s minister president, Hendrik Wust, who attended the opening, said the government has kept working to ensure continued energy supply for the state’s many chemical production sites amid uncertainty from the Ukraine war. “The effects of the Russian war on Ukraine on local companies must be cushioned, a production standstill due to a natural gas shortage or a permanent supply stop would have far-reaching consequences, especially for the energy-intensive chemical industry,” Wust said. Ethylene-contract-price – Automotive-interiors
He added that Germany needed to reduce its dependence on Russian gas as quickly as possible and needed to support companies in the “upcoming transformation processes”. Krefeld-Uerdingen, where LANXESS employs 1,900 people, is the company’s second-largest production site globally.
As per MRC, Lanxess said it was suspending its business activities in Russia due to the war in Ukraine. Thus, the company had “suspended business activities with Russian customers as far as contractually possible until further notice” and had suspended all investments in Russia. Its sales in Russia and Ukraine made up less than 1% of its global sales, it said.
Ethylene-contract-price – Automotive-interiors