Sustainable nonwovens Compostable packaging Polymer Oil price Ban Plastic Chinese businesses 04-01-2022 - Arhive

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Sustainable nonwovens Compostable packaging Polymer Oil price Ban Plastic Chinese businesses

-Finnish partnership targets new opportunities for sustainable nonwovens

A new collaborative program aims to helping the Finnish nonwoven and textile industry become a forerunner in the field of innovative, sustainable nonwovens.

The Future of Nonwovens (FoN) project, which supports the ExpandFibre mission, includes the establishment of a Center of Excellence to enhance collaboration between partners within the nonwovens value chain. Those partners include raw material producers (Fortum, Metsä Spring, Infinited Fiber Company and UPM), a producer of biobased and sustainable bonding chemicals for airlaids and composites (CH-Polymers), a nonwoven fabric producer (Suominen), an airlaid machinery manufacturer (Anpap), and a measurement and automation system supplier for high quality nonwovens production (Valmet).

The particular tasks for the FoN project include develop airlaid material prototypes from novel fibres and binders; developing bio-based and thermoformable airlaid-reinforced composites; comparing airlaid webs with other nonwoven types and define property-space; developing spectroscopic methods for on-line characterization; and creating a roadmap for identifying business opportunities for sustainable nonwovens.

Suominen’s target, for example, is to increase sales of sustainable products by 50% by 2025, compared to the base year 2019, and to launch at least ten sustainable products per year. Sustainable nonwovens Compostable packaging Polymer Oil price Ban Plastic Chinese businesses

Suominen has two strong capabilities that, together with our advanced production technologies, support the innovations needed to reach our target; it has a long-standing history of sustainable nonwovens production and its R&D team has high levels of experience in sustainable fibres. In addition, Suominen has adopted ways of working that enable and encourage innovation; the New Fiber Center approach is one example of this. Suominen’s current sustainable product portfolio consists of products made of renewable, recycled, and/or plastic-free raw materials as well as compostable and dispersible nonwovens.

Finnish partnership targets new opportunities for sustainable nonwovens

-Israeli compostable packaging co TIPA raises $70m

TIPA has developed a wide range of patent-protected packaging solutions for applications such as fresh produce, fresh bakery, dry food and clothing.

Israeli flexible compostable packaging solutions company TIPA Corp. has announced the completion of a $70 million Series C financing round led by Millennium Food-Tech  and Meitav Dash Investments), which invested $30 million together. Other unnamed investors participated in the round. Since TIPA was founded in 2010, the company has raised $130 million, including the latest investment.

Plastic packaging is a growing worldwide problem, with plastic pollution weighing on the environment and the sea and harming the health of mankind and animals. It takes 300 years for a plastic bag to disintegrate, 500 years for a plastic bottle to disintegrate and 1,000 years for a plastic box to disintegrate.

Foreseeing the massive growth in the market-demand for compostable packaging, to replace hard-to-recycle plastics, a global market worth $103 billion annually, TIPA has developed a wide range of patent-protected packaging solutions for applications such as fresh produce, fresh bakery, dry food and clothing. Multiple brands and retailers in food and fashion industries have already adopted TIPA’s solutions including Waitrose, Woolworth, Riverford Organic Farmers, Pangaia, and Scotch & Soda. Sustainable nonwovens Compostable packaging Polymer Oil price Ban Plastic Chinese businesses

TIPA is also engaged in multiple strategic partnerships with industry leaders in its supply chain. It recently signed a partnership agreement with AMCOR, the world’s largest plastic packaging manufacturer (NYSE: AMCOR). The partnerships aim to provide compostable packaging solutions for the packaging market in Australia and New Zealand.

Sustainable nonwovens Compostable packaging Polymer Oil price Ban Plastic Chinese businesses

-Shurtan Gas Chemical to increase its polymer production capacity

The capacity of the Shurtan Gas Chemical Complex will triple, investments in the expansion project will amount to USD1.8 billion, Oilcapital reports.

Uzbekneftegaz has launched a project to expand the Shurtan gas chemical complex in the Kashkadarya region in the south of the country. “The capacities of the Shurtan gas chemical complex, the firstborn of our gas chemical region, will triple,” said President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev at the ceremony of laying the foundation stone for the expansion project.

The commissioning of additional capacities provides for the construction of polymer production units, as a result of which the production of polyethylene will increase from 125,000 tonnes to 280,000 tonnes, and the production of 100,000 tonnes of polypropylene will also begin. The expansion of capacities is planned due to the involvement of synthetic naphtha from the synthetic fuel plant. The cost of the new stage of modernization of the Shurtan Gas Chemical Complex is estimated at USD1.8 bn. Sustainable nonwovens Compostable packaging Polymer Oil price Ban Plastic Chinese businesses

Enter Engineering Pte Ltd, controlled by Gazprombank, signed an EPC contract to expand the capacity of the Shurtan Gas Chemical Complex. The commissioning of new facilities is expected in 2024.

The annual capacity of the Shurtan Gas Chemical Complex for processing raw gas, according to the company’s website, is up to 4 bn cubic meters, natural gas for consumers – up to 3.5 bn cubic meters, polyethylene granules – 125,000 tonnes, liquefied gas – more than 110,000 tonnes, gas condensate – 90,000 tonnes, granular sulfur – 1,000 tonnes.

Earlier it was reported that the Shurtan Gas Chemical Complex will invest USD1.8 bn in expanding the capacity for the production of PE and PP. The project provides for the creation of production up to 430,000 tonnes of polyethylene and up to 280,000 tonnes of polypropylene per year. Chevron Pilliphs Chemical and McDermott have been selected as licensors of the project.

Sustainable nonwovens Compostable packaging Polymer Oil price Ban Plastic Chinese businesses

Shurtan Gas Chemical to increase its polymer production capacity

-Coronavirus, oil price direction – impact on chemicals

The rampant spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant, a slowdown in the world’s largest chemical market China, continued supply chain disruption and elevated energy prices add risks to economic growth and demand for chemicals in 2022.

Global crude oil markets face the new coronavirus variant and increasing output, while geopolitics could take centre stage next year.

With coronavirus cases hitting record highs and hospitals again under severe pressure due to Omicron, governments around the world are imposing new waves of restrictions on the movement of people which are likely to stifle what was hoped would be a year of strong economic rebound in 2022.

Softer propylene will continue to exert downward pressure on US isopropanol (IPA) early in 2022, but the solvent is expected to see typical demand patterns next year, albeit with Omicron remaining a significant caveat.

With regards to US glycol ethers,  demand remains strong among end users, but the sudden rise of Omicron could test market fundamentals if cases continue to rapidly increase. Sustainable nonwovens Compostable packaging Polymer Oil price Ban Plastic Chinese businesses

The outlook for the Asian adipic acid (ADA) market is mixed in the first quarter of 2022 as producers in north China will be forced to cut operations in January and February, but slowing demand may mitigate the supply cuts.

Don’t miss the ICIS podcast as ICIS analyst Jady Ma and Sam Liang discuss the current state and outlook of China’s benzene market.

The European oxo-alcohols chain is largely quiet due to seasonal low demand, although Arkema and INEOS declared force majeures during December.

Listen in to this week’s podcast, as butyl acetate (butac) report editor Nick Cleeve examines the impact of these limitations with oxo-alcohols editor Nicole Simpson and acrylate esters editor Mat Jolin-Beech.

Sustainable nonwovens Compostable packaging Polymer Oil price Ban Plastic Chinese businesses

-France Bans Plastic Packaging For Fruit And Veg

A ban on the use of plastic to package a range of fruit and vegetables came into force in France on Saturday, to the dismay of the sector’s packaging industry.

Environmentalists have long campaigned against single-use plastics as pollution worsens globally while President Emmanuel Macron has backed the move defending a “pragmatic” approach.

The October decree covers for example the sale of under 1.5 kilos (3.3 lbs) of apples.

However, the full legislation will not be applied until 2026, allowing firms to adapt, including on the sale of red fruits considered fragile.

Six months has also been granted to use up existing plastic packaging stocks.

“We were never consulted,” complained Laurent Grandin, head of the fruit and vegetable sector’s Interfel association.

He told AFP the costs were “insurmountable” for small companies who would have to keep using plastic to protect exports, notably to Britain, a major client for apples.

Pomanjou produces up to 40,000 tonnes of apples annually in the Loire valley and has over the last three years introduced 100 percent cardboard packing.

However packing costs have as a result soared 20 to30 percent, said company representative Arnaud de Puineuf.

Big supermarket group Casino said it will now sell tomatoes in cardboard packaging and provide customers with paper or cellulose bags.

The packaging companies say the October 8 decree caught them by surprise, particularly the ban on recycled plastics.

“We have client firms … who will have to stop their fruit and vegetable packing activity, even though they have been working on alternatives using less plastic or recycled plastic for several years,” said a statement from the Elipso association that represents manufacturers.

Sustainable nonwovens Compostable packaging Polymer Oil price Ban Plastic Chinese businesses

Sustainable nonwovens Compostable packaging Polymer Oil price Ban Plastic Chinese businesses

-Chinese businesses to benefit from RCEP under new govt guideline

China will introduce a guideline to help businesses tap opportunities from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which is likely to expand trade and inject growth impetus into the regional and global economies. The country is expected to play an increasingly important role in both regional and global value chains, say analysts.

“The ministry will roll out a guideline for high-quality implementation of the agreement together with other departments, aiming to help enterprises and local governments to make better use of RCEP rules and seize opportunities from markets opening up wider,” Chinese commerce ministry spokesman Gao Feng told an online media briefing recently.

Such efforts will propel regional trade and investment growth and strengthen deep integration of industrial and supply chains among the agreement members. This will accelerate high-quality and in-depth regional economic integration, he was quoted as saying by state-controlled media reports.

A recent State Council executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang called for efforts to support enterprises to increase competitiveness in international markets, improve the quality of trade and investment, and push for industrial upgrades in light of the RCEP coming into force in 2022.

The State Council executive meeting urged enterprises to expand exports and imports and leverage RCEP provisions on tariff reductions and the rules of origin.

The meeting also called for better utilisation of the RCEP on opening-up commitments and rules, and strengthening regional cooperation on high-end and green industrial chains and manufacturing projects. The agreement should also shore up the opening-up of the services sector and take investment to a higher level.

Sustainable nonwovens Compostable packaging Polymer Oil price Ban Plastic Chinese businesses

Sustainable nonwovens Compostable packaging Polymer Oil price Ban Plastic Chinese businesses

Sustainable nonwovens Compostable packaging Polymer Oil price Ban Plastic Chinese businesses

CPL nylon6 PET Petrochemicals 03-01-2022