Report finds USD10 B in potential economic output from advanced technologies that recycle and recover plastics

MOSCOW (MRC) -- – A report released by the American Chemistry Council finds the potential economic impact of expanding advanced plastic recycling and recovery technologies in the United States to be nearly USD10 billion, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The report examines a burgeoning class of technologies that convert used plastics into a range of products and raw materials such as chemicals and chemical feedstocks for new plastics, lower carbon transportation fuels, and other petroleum-based commodities. By bringing used plastics back into the manufacturing system, these technologies are a key enabler in the drive toward a circular economy for plastics.

According to the report, “Economic Impact of Advanced Plastics Recycling and Recovery Facilities in the U.S.,” if widely adopted, these processes could result in nearly forty thousand direct and indirect U.S. jobs, as much as USD2.2 billion in annual payroll, and another USD9.9 billion in direct and indirect economic output.

"Advanced plastic recycling and recovery technologies have the potential to revolutionize the way we make, use, and reuse our plastic resources,” said Steve Russell, ACC’s vice president of plastics. “These technologies further demonstrate the untapped value of used plastics and have the potential to dramatically accelerate our transition to a circular economy."

"Expanding advanced plastic recycling and recovery facilities could create thousands of U.S. jobs, result in billions of dollars in economic output, and eliminate the landfilling of 6.5 million tons of post-use recoverable plastics each year,” said Priyanka Bakaya, founder and CEO of Renewlogy and chair of the Plastics-to-Fuel and Petrochemistry Alliance, which commissioned the study.

Several major plastics makers and energy companies have recently announced investments and/or agreements with advanced plastic recycling and recovery technology providers, which are helping to demonstrate and scale these processes.

Last May plastics makers in the United States, Canada and Europe committed to the goal of recycling or recovering all plastic packaging in these regions by 2040. Such technologies are expected to play a crucial role in meeting these goals.

"Plastic packaging and consumer products weigh less than alternatives, helping to reduce transportation fuel use, greenhouse gas emissions, and waste. Learning to treat used plastics as a resource has both economic and environmental benefits. Converting more of these materials to valuable products and raw materials will help keep plastic waste out of the environment and in productive use," Russell said.

Prepared by ACC’s Economics and Statistics Department, this report updates a similar analysis completed in 2014. The earlier analysis only examined the economic potential associated with converting used plastics into synthetic crude oil. Since then, these technologies have significantly expanded their range of outputs to meet demand for specific commodities.
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Sealed Air and Kuraray to invest in new production capacity in North America

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sealed Air Corporation is investing in capacity at its Simpsonville, S.C. facility to produce plant-based food packaging, said the company.

This facility will be the first in North America to produce materials made from Plantic plant-based resin and post-consumer plastic. Simpsonville is one of the world’s largest packaging plants with over 1,000 employees and 1.4 million square feet of operations. Packaging materials and systems for food and consumer products are currently manufactured at this location.

In June 2018, Sealed Air and Kuraray America, Inc. (Kuraray), a specialty materials company with headquarters in Japan, entered into an agreement to offer Plantic materials to package perishable foods such as poultry, beef and seafood in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Sealed Air’s planned capital investment of USD24 million is underway and production is scheduled to begin in the second quarter of 2020. To support this work, Kuraray is investing approximately USD15 million to install plant-based high barrier resin production and supporting capabilities in Houston, Texas. Kuraray’s resin plant is scheduled to be completed at the end of September 2019 and will begin operating in early 2020.

"This collaborative effort with Kuraray expands our ability to deliver innovative, sustainable food packaging solutions that leave our world, environment and communities better than we found them,” said Ted Doheny, Sealed Air President and CEO. “This investment also helps us reach our commitment to deliver 100% recyclable or reusable packaging offerings, and 50% average recycled content across all packaging solutions by 2025."

As upgrades to both facilities progress, Sealed Air, under the agreement with Kuraray, will continue to serve customers in North America by importing materials from Plantic Australia. The investment positions both companies for strategic growth in the Americas as demand for sustainable materials continues to increase.

“Kuraray continues to pioneer proprietary technology to develop new fields of business, grow globally and improve the environment,” stated Katsumasa Yamaguchi, General Manager of the Global EVAL Division. “We are looking forward to this collaborative investment with Sealed Air which allows us to produce and offer a high-performing plant-based packaging option to the food industry on a much larger scale."
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Fire destroyed 11 petrochemical storage tanks before extinguished - official

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A fire at a Mitsui & Co petrochemical storage site outside Houston, TX destroyed 11 massive storage tanks before it was extinguished early Wednesday, Intercontinental Terminals Co officials said, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The company, a subsidiary of Mitsui & Co, has not yet determined what caused the blaze, but officials said at a briefing Wednesday that investigations by local officials have begun.

The fire began on Sunday when a leaking tank containing volatile naphtha, a fuel used in the production of gasoline, ignited and flames quickly spread to other tanks, ITC said. By Tuesday morning, the fire had ignited 12 of 15 tanks.

The tanks each hold up to 80,000 barrels, or 3.3 million gallons, of volatile liquid fuels, making the fire difficult to extinguish. There were no employees or firefighters injured since the blaze began, an ITC spokesman said on Tuesday.

State and federal monitors said air quality was safe, but environmental groups disagreed and said they would conduct their own monitoring.
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China VAT cuts from April 1 set to boost commodities demand

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China's announcement Friday that April 1 will be the implementation date for value-added tax cuts aimed at stimulating manufacturing activity and lowering input costs for companies drew a positive response from commodities market players, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Beijing unveiled stimulus policies on March 5 including VAT cuts in manufacturing to 13% from 16%, and for transportation and construction sectors to 9% from 10%.In general market sources were optimistic after the announcement, saying it increased certainty around Beijing's stimulus measures, although some traders said the impact had already been factored into benchmark prices.

In addition, some noted that there could be a negative impact on prompt cargo sales and stockpiling this month.

"Overall, the widely expected stimulus programs announced by Premier Li will help improve the business environment and boost demand of oil products, particularly gasoline and diesel, and car sales in China," Kang Wu, head of S&P Global Analytics Asia, said.

The thermal coal market will benefit from a VAT cut of 3 percentage points to 13% as it will help lower costs for end-users like power plants, with China aiming to reduce electricity prices for industrial usage by 10%, traders said.

"Tax is included in our costs, so now seaborne coal traders will also be able to lower their offers to Chinese buyers after the reduction," a Singapore-based coal trader said.

VAT cuts for manufacturing could boost Chinese demand for steel and raw materials, although incremental demand growth for steel wouldn't show until the second half of 2019, according to executives at Chinese steel mills and Australian iron ore companies.

Manufacturing accounts for roughly 29% of Chinese GDP, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, and around 30% of the country's steel consumption.

Iron ore seaborne cargoes are expected to be more competitive in the short term, sources said. The new VAT will apply to iron ore cargoes arriving in China from April, and end-users are deferring some seaborne purchases to April arrival to cut costs.

"Considering current flat price levels, it means imported iron ore prices will go down by Yuan 20/wmt, or $2.6/dmt, in April," a procurement source in Hebei province said. "Mills with no urgent needs would prefer to wait until April for restocking."

"Seaborne shipments for March arrival would be more difficult to sell after this news," a Singapore-based trader said.

In other metals markets, traders said the tax cut would bring down domestic ferromolybdenum prices closer to international price levels.

Most petroleum products like crude oil, gasoline, gasoil, naphtha, jet fuel and fuel oil will see the VAT reduced to 13% from 16%. VAT for LPG and natural gas will be cut from 10% to 9%.

The VAT cut will also marginally lower fuel costs for retail customers, with gasoline prices dropping to around Yuan 7.8/liter from Yuan 8/liter, a refining source in southern China said.

In petrochemicals, while the VAT cuts could boost butadiene exports from China in the longer run, the immediate impact was muted.
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SABIC spotlights major milestone in trailblazing initiative with Airborne to digitize, automate large-scale composites manufacturing

MOSCOW (MRC) -- SABIC is celebrating a major milestone for its ground-breaking Digital Composites Manufacturing line. The company, in collaboration with Airborne and powered by Siemens and Kuka technologies, has successfully completed the pilot phase of the world’s first automated digital system for rapid, large-scale laminate manufacturing using SABIC’s continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composite tape, as per the company's press release.

Plans for the new system were originally announced at JEC World 2018 and today, SABIC and Airborne are beginning the transition to full-scale production, which is slated for the end of 2019. To preview this unique system, SABIC is presenting a 360-degree virtual reality experience called "Innovations of Scale" at its JEC World stand.

The new automated digital manufacturing system was built at Airborne’s facility in The Netherlands and is capable of producing four thermoplastic composite laminates every 60 seconds, totaling up to 1.5 million parts annually. Potential applications include cases and covers for consumer electronics, aircraft inserts, automotive components and sports goods.

"Composites offer amazing properties found in no other materials such as extreme strength and ultra-low weight for diverse applications, ranging from wind turbine blades to sporting goods," said Gino Francato, Global Business Leader, Advanced Composites, SABIC. "Until now, however, their adoption has been restricted because of time-consuming, inefficient and expensive processes. By focusing on new materials and manufacturing automation to overcome these hurdles, the industry will make tremendous strides; and it is precisely efforts such as our collaboration with Airborne that are helping to make the industrialization of composites a reality."

"The good thing about this collaboration is that we work closely together with SABIC, so the material development, automation technology development and the product development go hand in hand", said Arno van Mourik, Chief Executive Officer of Airborne. "With such a holistic approach we can create real breakthroughs in cost efficiency for mass volume applications."

Industrialization of laminate production using the new Digital Composite Manufacturing line will enable customers in diverse industries to mass-produce high performance thermoplastic composite parts, gaining advantages of faster speed, higher efficiency and lower costs. To allow JEC World visitors to experience first-hand the line’s automated conversion process, SABIC is leveraging virtual reality technology to put visitors inside the manufacturing facility. The immersive experience called "Innovations of Scale" features a 2-meter screen with touch capabilities and Dolby Surround Sound. Visitors to the stand can interact with the display by touching 10 different points on the screen - representing different features of the new automated digital manufacturing system - to learn more.

The Digital Composites Manufacturing line uses cutting-edge digital technologies, including robotics, to enable mass customization of flat laminates while reducing cycle times and cost. The highly sophisticated, fully digital system can run multiple laminate sizes simultaneously. Adaptive process controls allow settings to be modified almost immediately. Machine learning and artificial intelligence will be used to achieve continuous yield improvements over time, maximize quality and repurpose irregular parts to minimize scrap.

To support and enhance these capabilities, SABIC will offer customers a range of services including simulation-based part and laminate design assistance and guidance on hybrid molding processes in order to streamline the switch to composites. The company can customize its composite tapes and laminate products to meet customer requirements. Importantly, SABIC can leverage its wealth of experience in injection molding to help customers mitigate warpage, a common issue, by making modifications to part design, materials selection, and processing.

JEC World 2019 is running from March 12 to 14 in Paris, France. SABIC management and technical experts are available throughout the show to answer questions and share insights on the company’s portfolio of advanced composite materials and technical capabilities.

As MRC wrote before, in November 2017, plastics-maker Sabic introduced new materials for customers producing LED automotive lighting parts. LEXAN HF4010SR resin is one of the new offerings. This polycarbonate (PC) material can make it possible for customers to develop complex headlight bezels with enhanced aesthetics. Sabic also added new grades to its existing LEXAN XHT resin line, which can offer improved flow at high temperatures compared to other high-heat polycarbonate materials available today.

Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) ranks among the world's top petrochemical companies. The company is among the worldпїЅs market leaders in the production of polyethylene, polypropylene and other advanced thermoplastics, glycols, methanol and fertilizers.
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