-Wood pellet producers face a difficult challenge in balancing fiber supply and wood pellet demand.
While sawmills have become more efficient and innovative over time, a vast amount of residue is still generated. Wood pellet producers must find the delicate balance of buying the volume required to meet production needs, and buying what a supplier
In 2019, wood pellet producers in the U.S. consumed over 18 million tons of wood fiber, nearly 80% of which was the byproduct of upstream sawmilling and wood product manufacturing. Since 2012, wood fiber demand from pellet producers has steadily risen along with global demand for wood pellets.Petrochemicals CircularEconomy Lignin
In 2019 alone, wood pellet producers spent nearly $500 million on residual wood fiber, greatly expanding the overall value of harvested wood while providing an offtake option for wood product manufacturers that, 20 years ago, simply was not there. Since 2016, the first year the U.S. Energy Information Administration began tracking wood pellet production and fiber procurement, wood pellet manufacturers have spent $1.6 billion purchasing over 50 million tons of residuals.
-Brexit: GB government presents law revising agreements. EU convenes extraordinary session
The President of the EU Commission Von der Leyen: “Pacta sunt servanda”. EU Council President Michel: “Unacceptable law violation”
09 September 2020The vice-president of the European commission, Maros Sefcovic, in a phone call with the British minister Michael Gove expressed “strong concerns” on the state of negotiations on Brexit, and called an extraordinary session of the EU-GB commission on the implementation of the agreement of divorce, for London to “answer and process”.
This was announced by Sefcovic himself, explaining that speaking with Gove he sought “reassurance on full compliance with the withdrawal agreement” by London.
-INEOS expands Recyl-IN range of products
INEOS Olefins & Polymers have partnered with waste management company Saica Natur in a supply agreement for recycled LDPE and LLDPE. The long-term agreement will help INEOS to serve the growing demand for increased levels of recycled product in sustainable, virgin quality flexible packaging.
Through this partnership, INEOS Olefins & Polymers has been able to develop high-performance polyethylene Recycl-IN resins to meet the needs of converters, brand owners and retailers, to use more than 60% recycled plastics in very demanding applications such as stretch and lamination films typically used in flexible pouches for detergent and personal care products.Petrochemicals CircularEconomy Lignin
Recently, thoughtful disagreements between scientists concerning environmental issues including the use of renewable materials have enhanced universal awareness of the use of biodegradable materials. Petrochemicals CircularEconomy Lignin
Polylactic acid (PLA) is one of the most promising biodegradable materials for commercially replacing nondegradable materials such as polyethylene terephthalate and polystyrene.
The main advantages of PLA production over the conventional plastic materials is PLA can be produced from renewable resources such as corn or other carbohydrate sources.
Besides, PLA provides adequate energy saving by consuming CO2 during production.
Thus, we aim to highlight recent research involving the investigation of properties of PLA, its applications and the four types of potential PLA degradation mechanisms.
In the first part of the article, a brief discussion of the problems surrounding use of conventional plastic is provided and examples of biodegradable polymers currently used are provided.
Next, properties of PLA, and (Poly[L‐lactide]), (Poly[D‐lactide]) (PDLA) and (Poly[DL‐lactide]) and application of PLA in various industries such as in packaging, transportation, agriculture and the biomedical, textile and electronic industry are described.
Behaviors of PLA subjected to hydrolytic, photodegradative, microbial and enzymatic degradation mechanisms are discussed in detail in the latter portion of the article.
-Aliplast launches turnkey closed-loop for plastics
European PE film and PET sheet producer Aliplast has developed a circular system that allows for the introduction of plastics materials in the recycling cycle, reducing costs and impact on the environment. Petrochemicals CircularEconomy Lignin
Called closed-loop, the system can be leveraged by companies in industries such as packaging (for food and beverage) and ceramics.
Designed for the treatment of special waste – waste produced by companies – the system is a vertical process for the recovery and recycling of plastics. The waste is collected in the customer’s production centre before being transported to one of Aliplast’s processing centres across Italy, France, Spain and Poland.
-Axens, IFPEN and JEPLAN join forces
Axens, IFPEN and JEPLAN have recently signed a joint development and commercialisation agreement in order to develop, demonstrate and commercialise an innovative PET monomer recycling process for all types of waste PET-based materials, including bottles, films, trays or textile (polyester).Petrochemicals CircularEconomy Lignin
This new process, called ‘RewindTM PET’ is involving an optimised – glycolysis based – PET depolymerisation combined with specific purification steps aiming at removing all organic and inorganic compounds present in waste PET. The product is a purified BHET (Bis(2-HydroxyEthyl) Terephthalate) monomer, ready to be used in a PET plant and produce again any type of PET, from fibres to food grade resins.
The partners can demonstrate a strong track-record in the field: JEPLAN has operated the first ever industrial PET bottles chemical recycling plant, called Pet Refine Technology (PRT: 22 kTA), in Japan. In 2018 JEPLAN also started-up a demonstration plant, called Kitakyushu Hibikinada Plant (KHP) in Japan, aiming at textile to textile recycling. While in the past 6 years, IFPEN and Axens have developed a process able to recycle and upgrade coloured and opaque PET bottles into clear food grade PET.
-NE Asia polyester yarn gains on rising feedstock cost, better demand
Polyester yarn prices in northeast Asia are rising on the back of higher feedstock cost and better offtake amid seasonally strong demand.
Spot discussions for polyester partially oriented yarn (POY) 150 denier (D) were at $0.83-0.88/kg FOB (free on board) NE (northeast) Asia, up from $0.80-0.86/kg FOB NE Asia in the week ended 1 September.Petrochemicals CircularEconomy Lignin
Prices have been gradually rising since late July, according to ICIS data.
“We raised the offers to cover our margins as you know feedstock MEG [monoethylene glycol] is rising sharply recently,” a major polyester producer said.
Feedstock MEG have risen to their highest in nearly six months on the back of tight supply due to output cuts and firmer crude futures.