Polymers PET Petrochemicals recycling 03-01-2019 - Arhive
-China – Polyethylene Terephthalate
PET and its chain continue to decrease.
PET Bottle grade export 970/1,010 $/ton – PET Bottle grade domestic market 7,600/7,700 yuan/ton – PET Filament grade SD domestic market 7,550/7,650 yuan/ton – PET Filament grade BR domestic market 7,550/7,650 yuan/ton
PTA Taiwan 790/815 $/ton – PTA domestic market 5,950/6,050 yuan/ton – MEG $ 615/630 $/ton – MEG domestic market 5,050/5,150 yuan/ton – PX Korea 9,00/920 $/ton
POY 150D/48F domestic market 8,050/8,150 yuan/ton – DTY 150D/48F domestic market 9,900/10,000 yuan/ton – PSF domestic market 8,600/8,750 yuan/ton
Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made
Plastics have outgrown most man-made materials and have long been under environmental scrutiny. However, robust global information, particularly about their end-of-life fate, is lacking.
By identifying and synthesizing dispersed data on production, use, and end-of-life management of polymer resins, synthetic fibers, and additives, we present the first global analysis of all mass-produced plastics ever manufactured.
We estimate that 8300 million metric tons (Mt) as of virgin plastics have been produced to date.
As of 2015, approximately 6300 Mt of plastic waste had been generated, around 9% of which had been recycled, 12% was incinerated, and 79% was accumulated in landfills or the natural environment.
If current production and waste management trends continue, roughly 12,000 Mt of plastic waste will be in landfills or in the natural environment by 2050.
Crude Oil Prices Trend
Curves ahead for PET, PS, engineering resins
The twists and turns of markets for PET, engineering resins and polystyrene recently were mapped out by industry analysts with IHS Markit.
Analysts Tison Keel, Brendan Dooley and Javier Ortiz tackled those topics Nov. 1 at the Global Plastics Summit 2018 in Chicago. Keel said that the global PET market continues to be oversupplied.
“Everyone needs water, but fewer want sugar,” he said of the move away from carbonated soft drinks, the largest market for PET bottle resin. “Growth is steady, but operating rates are low and people keep adding capacity.”
Keel pegged global PET resin growth at 4 percent in 2018, but he added that North America and Europe are “deselecting” PET. “Growth rates are expected to slow,” he said. “It’s a structural issue, not only in China. There’s too much capacity everywhere.”
In North America, PET makers Alpek and Indorama now account for almost 75 percent of total capacity. And in spite of that region also being oversupplied, a joint venture composed of Alpek, Indorama and Far East New Century Corp may complete a massive unfinished PET plant in Corpus Christi, Texas, in the near future.
M&G Group began work on that plant in 2015 before stopping construction and filing bankruptcy in 2017. Cost overruns on the Corpus Christi plant played a role in the Italian firm’s bankruptcy.
It might be another tumultuous year for polyester in North America, according to analysts Wood Mackenzie, but 2019 is also set to be a ‘breakthrough year’ for chemical recycling, claims a UK-based firm that is pioneering such technology.
ReNew ELP plans to start construction in Teeside early this year of its first plastics recycling plant, which will convert 20,000 tonnes per year of plastics waste into recycled petrochemicals and oils for the chemical sector.
The company is urging the UK government to support this emerging sector.
VOTE: Which sustainability issue will have its ‘plastics moment’ in 2019?
New years are always a time of reflection, introspection and planning – for sustainability professionals and the general public alike. With this in mind, edie has explored the environmental and social issues which could have their own “plastics moment” in 2019.
Have your say on what the ‘hot topics’ in the UK’s sustainability sphere could be in 2019
Have your say on what the ‘hot topics’ in the UK’s sustainability sphere could be in 2019
More than a year after Blue Planet 2 kick-started a wave of plastics actions from consumers, policymakers and corporates, the war on plastic is undeniably still high on the sustainability agenda.
2018 saw a huge increase in awareness of – and action to combat – the 12 million tonnes of plastics added to the world’s oceans each year, with WRAP founding the UK Plastics Pact in April and 276 companies joining the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy in October.
Packaging challenges could leave bottled water companies all wet
A growing number of bottled water manufacturers are searching for recycled and alternative packaging as consumers try to avoid disposable, single-use plastic — and governments and businesses start banning it, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Last year, Evian committed to moving from making 30% of its bottles from recycled plastic to making all of them that way by 2025.
Evian’s parent company, Danone, is hoping to boost market share by responding to consumer pressure to phase out single-use plastic.
“Market Scenario of the Report:
The global Oxo biodegradable Plastic Packaging Market report analyses various tendencies, obstructions, and challenges faced by the key competitors of Oxo biodegradable Plastic Packaging market. The report has been prepared analyzing major outcomes and consequences of the market.
Despite several large-scale manufacturers openly protesting the use of oxo-biodegradable plastics for packaging, small-scale manufacturers continue to market their oxo-biodegradable packaging products as an environment-friendly packaging solution that has appealed to a significant percentage of consumers who are conscious regarding environment health. Oxo-biodegradable films are viewed and marketed by many companies as a crucial solution for packaging waste. Opportunities are thus presented for the expansion of the global oxo-biodegradable plastic packaging market to leverage the ongoing growth spurt. This is more prominent in the Middle East, as well as Asian countries, such as India and China.
The Bangkok-based firm is acquiring an Athens, Ala., PET recycling facility from Custom Polymers PET LLC.
That location recycles PET pellets and flake with two lines that have a combined capacity of 34,100 tons per year.
Custom Polymers PET LLC is an affiliate company of Custom Polymers Inc. of Charlotte, N.C., which was listed as the eighth largest plastic recycler in North America in the most recent Plastics News ranking.
There’s more than fish in the sea
“There’s more plastics in the ocean than fish,” the headlines on my social media feeds scream on a daily basis, and with depressing certainty. As a regular user of social media it is hard not to be swamped by the daily horror stories, links to mainstream media reports, brief two-minute videos and clever memes warnings about the evil plastics menace that is killing the planet.
Is there – or will there be – really more plastics in the ocean than fish? Is this on a per unit or per kilo basis? Where’s the data? It doesn’t seem to matter; there is no doubt that there is a huge amount of plastics polluting our oceans, so wouldn’t it make a great meme? At the risk of being labelled a ‘heretical denier’ (or worse) I took a sceptical deep dive into some of the more recent headlines.
McVitie’s owner calls for plastic recycling New Year’s resolution
pladis UK&I, the owner of McVitie’s, Jacob’s and go ahead! is urging Britain’s snack-lovers to make a new year’s resolution to recycle through the company’s partnership with TerraCycle.
With 99.2% of households buying biscuits each year, a nation-wide effort to recycle all biscuit packaging would save almost 2.7 billion packs every year from ending up in landfill sites, without costing consumers a penny.
Although flexible plastic wrappers are not collected by local council services, pladis’ partnership with recycling experts TerraCycle enables consumers to effortlessly recycle the wrappers from their favourite treats.
Why lower gas prices are both good and bad for the US economy
Cheap gas provides a powerful boost to drivers filling up their tanks, but the 2014-2016 oil crash showed that plunging energy prices can have negative consequences for the modern American economy.
Hundreds of thousands of oil workers lost their jobs several years ago as crude crashed to $26 a barrel. Dozens of energy companies went bankrupt.
Business spending plummeted. And energy stocks tumbled, contributing to mayhem on Wall Street.
JP Morgan: If OPEC doesn’t maintain its cuts, oil could stay lower for longer
If the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) does not follow through with its commitment to reduce oil production throughout this year, Brent crude prices could struggle to find support, J.P. Morgan’s head of Asia Pacific oil and gas, Scott Darling, said.
In an early December meeting, OPEC and non-OPEC countries agreed to take about 1.2 million barrels a day off the oil market — initially for six months — starting January.
If that commitment does not extend throughout the year, Brent prices could hover around the investment bank’s “low oil price scenario,” which is around $55 per barrel for 2019, according to Darling.
PP resin market improving, but challenges remain
The North American polypropylene resin market should see some improvement this year, but tight supplies likely will remain into 2019 and beyond, according to market analyst Joel Morales.
“Demand has been better, but supply has been worse than expected,” Morales said Nov. 1 at Global Plastics Summit 2018 in Chicago. “But polypropylene producers have managed to be profitable in most regions of the world.”
