r-PET Recycling Polymer Technologies 25-10-2021 - Arhive
r-PET Recycling Polymer Technologies
Crude Oil Prices Trend
-Decision on resuming US Texas PET construction expected in coming months
Alpek and its partners in a joint venture expect to make a decision on resuming construction at their polyethylene terephthalate (PET) project in Texas in the next two to three months, the Mexican polyester producer said during its Q3 earnings call.
Alpek is developing the project, in Corpus Christi, with Indorama Ventures and Far Eastern New Century. All three hold equal stakes in the joint venture, called Corpus Christi Polymers (CCP).
The project will produce PET and feedstock purified terephthalic acid (PTA).
The partners are all quite eager to move ahead with the project, Alpek said.
-International trade fair for material and energy – Closed-loop at Ecomondo Italy
ProFood will illustrate in Rimini some projects for the closed-circuit recycling of PET and expanded polystyrene trays.
Profood V-petProFood, a group of food packaging manufacturers within Unionplast, will be present at Ecomondo (Rimini, 26-29 October 2021) with some closed-circuit packaging recycling projects, under the banner of the slogan “Circular economy: packaging is serious “.
The first, V-PET – From tray to tray, concerns the production of trays for fruit and vegetables in PET using the same material recycled from trays as raw material, with the involvement of the entire supply chain: Conai, Corepla, sorters, recyclers, producers of trays and large retailers. By the end of this year, the industrial validation will be completed and commercial testing will begin at the points of sale of a well-known large-scale retail brand. r-PET Recycling Polymer Technologies
Remaining in this area, in April the results of the Recircola project were presented, carried out by the University of Bologna with the involvement of a pool of companies from Emilia Romagna. The study demonstrated the technical, economic and social sustainability of a business model based on the use of a single-material PET packaging, on traceability through RFID and on the incentive return, by consumers, for a subsequent recycling of same trays in closed-loop.
coopbox rXPS The second project that will be illustrated by ProFood in Rimini is r-XPS – Tray to Tray, for the development of the first extruded polystyrene foam tray produced with up to 50% post-consumer recycled material, placed in the internal layer not contact with food (read article).
The functional barrier applied to the new tray was subjected to a validation process that involved all project participants: ProFood, Versalis and Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging (IVV).
-Global supply chains are overloaded, not disrupted
The first step toward understanding “the great supply chain disruption of 2021” is to recognize that the phrase itself is not quite accurate. Supply chains are not disrupted so much as overloaded, and the effects are more national than global.
This understanding has implications not only for US consumers, but also for the US Federal Reserve. It means that inflation is transitory and is unlikely to spread to the rest of the developed world. So the Fed and other banks should not raise interest rates in the near future — and consumers need not worry that products such as Chinese-made toys will always be so expensive. r-PET Recycling Polymer Technologies
To be sure, there have been some specific COVID-19-related supply chain disruptions that have led to narrow inflation. However, for the most part, inflation is being driven by rising energy and transportation costs.
Container shipping rates, for instance, were more than five times higher last month than they were in September last year. Making matters worse, overall congestion rates, especially at US ports, were as high as 80 percent, meaning there were four times as many ships waiting for a berth as were docked at any one time.
That congestion is primarily a product of dramatically higher volume. US retail sales soared in March and today stand roughly 20 percent higher than they were in December 2019.
-US intel warns China could dominate advanced technologies
U.S. officials issued new warnings Friday about China’s ambitions in artificial intelligence and a range of advanced technologies that could eventually give Beijing a decisive military edge and possible dominance over health care and other essential sectors in America.
The warnings include a renewed effort to inform business executives, academics and local and state government officials about the risks of accepting Chinese investment or expertise in key industries, officials at the National Counterintelligence and Security Center said. While the center does not intend to tell officials to reject Chinese investment, it will encourage efforts to control intellectual property and implement security measures.
National security agencies under President Joe Biden’s administration are making an aggressive public push against China, which some officials have called the greatest strategic threat to the United States. The Biden administration has simultaneously tried to ease some tensions with Beijing dating to the Trump administration and seek common ground on trade and climate change.
-GESL and ADNAS deploy CertainT platform for rPET production in India
Leaders in polymerase chain reaction (PCR) -based DNA production and nucleic acid-based technology are Ganesha Ecosphere Ltd. (GESL), India’s largest producer of recycled polyester (rPET) fibers, and the first rPET at the GESL facility. Pilot production.
With three production facilities in North India, GESL has more than 300 customers, more than 250 suppliers and more than 500 product variations. The company manufactures a wide range of solid and hollow conjugated white, black and dope dye colors suitable for yarn spinning, non-woven and fiber filling applications.
Under the terms of the agreement, Ganesha will deploy the CertainT platform, a traceability system for Applied DNA, tag the initial pilot production of rPET at Ganesha’s facility in India, and confirm sample testing at Applied DNA laboratories in India and the United States. Will be carried out. The two companies provide brands and textile manufacturers with reliable solutions to support rPET’s sustainability goals and ensure raw material reliability at all stages of the textile value chain.
Applied DNA Sciences, Inc. (ADNAS). Leaders in polymerase chain reaction (PCR) -based DNA production and nucleic acid-based technology are Ganesha Ecosphere Ltd. (GESL), India’s largest producer of recycled polyester (rPET) fibers, and the first rPET at the GESL facility. Pilot production. r-PET Recycling Polymer Technologies
-Chemical recyclers exploring other feedstocks
Increased use of partially sorted 90% mixed polyolefin bales by the mechanical recycling sector is pushing pyrolysis-based chemical recyclers towards other feedstocks to avoid competing with the mechanical recycling chain.
Pyrolysis-based chemical recyclers are increasingly investigating the use of PVC-screened reject bales, which currently predominantly serve the refuse-derived fuel (RDF) market, to avoid direct competition with the mechanical recycling sector.
Although there is an absence of comparable life cycle assessments (LCAs) that can show the environmental impact of chemical recycling compared with mechanical recycling, virgin production and alternatives, it is broadly agreed that mechanical recycling has a lower environmental impact than chemical recycling.
Because of this, many chemical recyclers aim to avoid material that can be efficiently used in mechanical recycling to ensure that the processes are complimentary.
In 2021, mechanical recyclers have been increasingly using mixed polyolefin bales – typically with a minimum 90% polyolefin content – because of a shortage of sorted monomaterial polyolefin bales,. These are the same mixed-plastic waste bales that chemical recyclers have, until now, predominantly been sourcing.
-Axion Polymers: Demand for quality recycled polymer at record levels
Demand for quality recycled polymers is at record levels due to increased demand from a wide variety of industry and manufacturing sectors, according to Manchester-based plastics recycler Axion Polymers.
Speaking after exhibiting at the 2021 Interplas Show, Mark Keenan, Business Development Manager, said: “There is a real shortage in the market for quality recycled material that we are seeing day in, day out. We get asked for supply more than ever before. There was significant interest from visitors considering switching to recycled material and people were particularly interested in our secure infeed supply given the current material supply shortages.” r-PET Recycling Polymer Technologies
Axion Polymers showcased its range of locally sourced and produced Axpoly recycled PP and ABS polymers grades at the show, which Mark says was ‘a great success, a very positive experience for us as a business and for the industry as a whole’.
With the automotive and electronic industries making commitments to future use of recycled material, Axion Polymers believes this will only increase demand for sustainable solutions for all types of manufacturers.
Amid reported shortages of virgin material supply, Axion Polymers’ grades from its advanced re-processing plants offer a reliable, alternative recycled content as good as virgin in performance. Axion produces its range of high-quality Axpoly PP and ABS engineering grades to ISO 9001 quality standards.
-BASF Announces Price Increase on Caprolactam & Polyamide 6
BASF Announces Price Increase on Caprolactam & Polyamide 6
Effective November 1, or as contracts allow, BASF will increase prices for caprolactam and polyamide 6 (PA6) polymer by $0.05 per pound, and polyamide copolymer by $0.15 per pound in North America. r-PET Recycling Polymer Technologies
Both are key ingredients in nylon carpet fiber.
BASF Corporation, headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, is the North American affiliate of BASF SE, Ludwigshafen, Germany.
The panelists say recycled-content mandates might increase pricing for bottle bales and rPET given the low recycling rate associated with the material.
Panelists during the 2021 Paper & Plastics Recycling Conference Webinar Series expressed concern about what recycled-content mandates might mean for the economics of recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) given the low recycling rate associated with the material. r-PET Recycling Polymer Technologies
John Cook, director of sustainability at Niagara Bottling, headquartered in Ontario, California, said rPET pricing traditionally has been linked with virgin PET pricing, though recycled-content mandates are leading to a decoupling of the two materials.
California and Washington have recycled-content mandates, with the first phase of California’s mandate, requiring 15 percent recycled content in plastic beverage containers, going into effect in 2022. By 2030, the mandate will increase to 30 percent recycled content. Beverage bottles sold in Washington will need to include 15 percent recycled content by Jan. 1, 2023, increasing to 50 percent by Jan. 1, 2031.
He noted that mandates outside the U.S. also have driven the decoupling of rPET and virgin PET pricing. “We may see PET bales leaving the U.S. because of that,” Cook said, referring to mandates outside of this country.
r-PET Recycling Polymer Technologies