Polymers Petrochemicals Sorting Packaging 25-05-2019 - Arhive
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) prices in Europe continue to soften amiddisappointing offtake but, if customers have been surviving off stocks, better demand thanks to warmer weather could send them back to their domestic suppliers for more.
– Room for a summer price boost
– Asian imports become attractive again
– Macroeconomics a concern for decision makers
Bottlers and preformers have been gradually reducing stock in a market where prices are slipping globally, so are reluctant to buy spot.
“The only positive is that when companies expect falling prices, the pipeline empties. If a prolonged heatwave happens, we may see a panic…,” a source said.
Warm weather encourages the sale of bottled water in particular, and a long stretch could bring the market back in line with more normal conditions, stability at the very least. Polymers Petrochemicals Sorting Packaging
-Construction Begins on $260M Plastics to Fuel Plant
Last month, Brightmark closed a $260-million financing package for the construction of the plant, which includes $185 million in Indiana green bonds, which were underwritten by Goldman Sachs & Co.
Brightmark Energy of San Francisco has commenced construction on what it terms as the nation’s first commercial-scale plastics to fuel facility here.
The company says the Ashley facility will be the first of its kind to take mixed waste single-use plastics and convert them into usable products at commercial scale. The facility will convert approximately 100,000 tons of plastics into more than 18 million gallons a year of ultra-low sulfur diesel and naphtha blend stocks and nearly six million gallons a year of commercial grade wax each year.
-Linear economic model no longer viable – European Commission DG
The linear economic model that has dominated industry and petrochemicals production up to this point is no longer viable, with an inevitable shift to a circular economy likely to drive a transformation in the chemicals industry, the European Commission’s director general for the environment said on Thursday.
Picture source: Photo by Luis Eduardo Noriega A/EPA-EFE/REX/ShutterstockThe move towards a closed loop of production and recycling, driven by political and consumer pressure, is likely to reinvent the chemicals sector, and is the only way for businesses to survive, according to EU environmental director general Daniel Calleja.
“The present linear model is no longer viable, we cannot consume resources for an unlimited period when resources are finite,” he said, speaking on the sidelines of the Helsinki Chemicals Forum. Polymers Petrochemicals Sorting Packaging
-Biodegradable chemical from waste food to produce electricity
Waste food can be used to produce biodegradable chemical.
Engineers at the University of Waterloo have developed a technology that can help extract the biodegradable chemical from waste food that can be refined as a source of energy.
According to the study published in the ‘Bioresource Technology’, the chemical could also be used to replace petroleum-based chemicals in a host of products including drugs and plastic packaging. Polymers Petrochemicals Sorting Packaging
-Sabic’s depolymerization technology said to ‘extend useful life’ of PET bottles
Proprietary technology from Sabic (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) that chemically upcycles consumer-discarded rPET—primarily single-use water bottles—into higher-value polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) will support the circular economy and help reduce plastic waste, as well as encourage the use of recycled resins, according to Sabic. The higher-value PBT materials have enhanced properties and are suitable for more durable applications, according to the company.
Sabic introduced the LNP Elcrin iQ portfolio of PBT compounded resins based on upcycled iQ last week. The technology overcomes some of the limitations of mechanical recycling by using chemical processes to depolymerize PET bottles and other PET waste into their precursor chemicals, purify them and use them to create new PBT resin.
-Carvico and Jersey Lomellina launch new ‘green’ fabrics
Carvico and Jersey Lomellina, leading Italy based manufacturers of high-tech warp knit and circular knitted fabrics for swimwear, sportswear, underwear and outerwear, have launched their latest eco-sustainable fabrics collections at Performance Days, which took place in Munich, this month.
“Extremely versatile and hyper-resistant, stretch, soft, breathable and with a green soul, Carvico and Jersey Lomellina sustainable fabrics are our response to a pressing and urgent demand from the market: protecting our planet,” the companies report.
-Biodegradation of Plastic Waste
Two years ago, in 2017, it was estimated that 348 million tons (Mt.) of plastic was produced, 90% of which was from fossil fuels. Now, in 2019, it is likely that these numbers are higher.
Plastic has been in the news a lot lately, owing to its widespread blight on the natural world; a world which scientists now believe has no place left that is free from this human-made material, since plastics have been found in the most remote places from the apparently-pristine Antarctic ice, to the deepest depths of the oceans.
Packaging is one of the largest sectors which demands this staggering production of plastics, with almost 40% of plastics produced being made purely for packaging purposes.
-Indorama combines filaments businesses to form new unit
Indorama Ventures Ltd (IVL) is combining its global industrial filaments businesses to form the Indorama Mobility Group in order to offer “essential solutions” to customers, the company announced 16 May. Polymers Petrochemicals Sorting Packaging
-New Samsonite suitcase range made from recycled plastic waste
LyondellBasell, Suez, and Samsonite have announced the “Green Grey’ edition of S’Cure ECO, a new suitcase collection made from recycled plastic waste.
LyondellBasell and Suez, through the recycling joint venture Quality Circular Polymers, converted post-consumer plastic such as packaging into a high-quality polypropylene.
-LANXESS offers economic alternatives to polyamide 66
Specialty chemicals company LANXESS will once again have its own stand at the “Fuse Box Meets Dryer – Plastics in E&E applications” conference of the Süddeutsche Kunststoffzentrum.
Marc Marbach, head of the E&E sales segment in the LANXESS High Performance Materials business unit, said: “In terms of topics, this year we are concentrating on cost-effective alternatives to polyamide 66 compounds, the application of our structural materials in the battery, powertrain and charging infrastructure of electric vehicles, and our growing range of halogen-free, flame retardant polyamides and PBT.” Polymers Petrochemicals Sorting Packaging
-China’s Curious Absence From a BRICS Business Conference
The Eurasian Society’s conference in Washington, D.C. featured presentations from all the BRICS member states – except China.
The Eurasia Society sponsored the “Doing Business with the BRICS” Conference in Washington, D.C. on May 15 at Africa House, the African Union’s Representational Mission to the United States. Diplomatic representatives of four of the five BRICS nations, including key stakeholders and partners in the economic development of developing countries, including the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank, and a variety of legal, business, and risk management specialists, all had places at the speakers’ table.
