Global packaging firm Alpla Group is taking its Austrian-style training program to skilled workers in India and Poland

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Alpla aready has done similar training in Mexico and China. The Austrian model is now being rolled out for 250 apprentices around the world, including its home country of Austria and Germany, said Sustainableplastics.

The dual training program is a long tradition in Europe, the company said in a news release. "The aim is to be one step ahead in covering the rising demand for skilled workers in these regions," Alpla officials said.

India's first training program is currently under development in Hyderabad. Two Indian officials will oversee their practical training at the plant while a local polytechnic school will oversee the classroom side of things.

In Poland, the training is set for the Warsaw area of Ostrow Mazowiecka with six trainees. "The dual training model is very attractive for young people in Poland," said Julian Fassler, who is responsible for rolling out Alpla's dual training globally.

At the end of the training, the apprentices take an exam in front of Austrian representatives. A certificate of equivalence can be applied for in Austria as the vocational and practical knowledge acquired is in line with the basics of the Austrian job profile.

As MRC informed earlier, Alpla, the Austrian packaging solutions specialist, and FROMM (Switzerland) have agreed on a collaboration in relation to PET recycling. Both companies operate recycling plants for PET bottles, thus ensuring the necessary supply of materials for their own production facilities.

As per MRC's ScanPlast report, the estimated consumption of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in Russia increased in January 2020 by 9% year on year. Totally, Russia recycled 55,390 tonnes of PET chips in January (excluding shipments of Russian material to the countries of the Customs Union). PET chips production in Russian in January 2020 totalled 43,200 tonnes.
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Portugese Galp sees further pandemic damage, third-quarter recovery still uncertain

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Portugal’s Galp Energia said the collapse in demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic was set to further impact its performance in the second quarter as it slashed its planned investment for this year by about half, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Galp, which reported a 72% slump in first-quarter net profit to 29 million euros (USD31 million) from a year earlier, said that although a recovery in the third quarter of 2020 remained uncertain, it was “prepared to adapt quickly if that is to happen sooner and stronger than expected”.

Galp shares fell 3% to 9.13 euros in early trading.

The company said recovery relied on a number of factors, including government policies, the impact of the pandemic on the wider economy and supply and demand for oil.

In a statement, Galp said it had slashed its short-term annual net capital expenditure to between 500 million and 700 million euros, from previous guidance of 1 billion to 1.2 billion euros, and said it would make a final dividend payment of 0.38 euros per share by the end of June.

During the first three months of the year, the sale of oil products to clients fell around 13% due to government-imposed lockdowns which confined people to their homes in both Portugal and Spain.

Galp said one of its priorities was to ensure a “timely response to unprecedented conditions” including by preparing lockdown exit strategies and adapting its operations.

On April 10, it suspended output at the smaller of its two refineries, in Matosinhos near Porto, and said last week it would shut down the Sines refinery in the south of the country for a month from May 4 after a drastic drop in demand left it out of storage space.

The Sines stoppage would bring all its domestic operations - making up 20% of refining capacity on the Iberian peninsula - to a halt.

Although the pandemic will leave scars, Galp said it would continue to invest in renewable energy and new businesses.

It said it would complete the previously announced deal to buy solar power projects from Spain’s ACS for 2.2 billion euros in the second quarter, and expected to announce new partnerships.

Earlier this year, Galp said it would kick off its green business by installing renewable energy capacity of 10 gigawatts in the next decade, enough to power millions of homes.

As MRC reported before, earlier this year BP set one of the oil sector's most ambitious targets for curbing emissions, although some environmental campaigners accused it of greenwash and said it had not given enough detail on how it would achieve its targets.

We remind that , in September 2019, six world's major petrochemical companies in Flanders, Belgium, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and the Netherlands (Trilateral Region) announced the creation of a consortium to jointly investigate how naphtha or gas steam crackers could be operated using renewable electricity instead of fossil fuels. The Cracker of the Future consortium, which includes BASF, Borealis, BP, LyondellBasell, SABIC and Total, aims to produce base chemicals while also significantly reducing carbon emissions. The companies agreed to invest in R&D and knowledge sharing as they assess the possibility of transitioning their base chemical production to renewable electricity.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 383,760 tonnes in the first two month of 2020, up by 14% year on year. High density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments increased due to the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 192,760 tonnes in January-February 2020, down by 6% year on year. Homopolymer PP accounted for the main decrease in imports.
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rPET for bottles is a responsible and sustainable choice

MOSCOW (MRC) -- While beverage producers may still hold reservations about using recycled PET, according to KHS, a supplier of filling and packaging systems based in Dortmund, Germany, sees increasing bottle-to-bottle recycling rates as one sustainable solution to the challenges facing the industry, said Sustainableplastics.

The degradation occurring the mechanical recycling of polypropylene, polyethylene or polystyrene is irreversible. However, this is not the case for recycled PET. In fact, PET is currently the only recycled plastic approved as a food-contact material.

In Germany alone, about 93% of this material is recovered and reused. Nonetheless, in the past safety standards and quality issues were important factors inhibiting the wide-scale adoption of the use of recycled PET in bottles. Hence, following collection, many were – and still are - reprocessed into films and fibre, depriving the bottle-to-bottle recycling loop of a major source of raw material.

Now, however, the years of exploring technologies, trials and testing have borne fruit: as the company argues, from a technical standpoint there is ‘nothing preventing the global use of high percentages of recycled PET’ for bottle production.

As a result, more and more beverage producers and brands are venturing in the direction of bottles made of 100% recyclate. Where this is not yet the case, various voluntary commitments have been announced: Poland Spring, one of the biggest water brands in the USA, and Evian aim to use only recycled PET in their bottles by 2025. The other brands by Danone Waters, Pepsi and Coca-Cola plan to introduce a worldwide quota of 50% by that same year.
Their ultimate goal is for consumers to recognise the slight greying that can occur when PET bottles are recycled several times over as a hallmark of quality for sustainable packaging.

At KHS, rPET has long been a focus. The Group has been studying its use since 2012, and has a dedicated Bottles and Shapes service programme that analyses the performance of rPET on the stretch blow moulders and filling and packaging lines engineered by the Dortmund systems supplier.

“We run tests to qualify recycled PET so that we can tell our customers in advance which impact the material will have on the blow moulder and bottle quality,” said Arne Wiese, product manager for Bottles & Shapes at KHS Corpoplast.

KHS also works closely with preform manufacturers, consulting with ‘all of the major plastics processors in Europe on this topic’, said Wiese, in addition to liaising with various engineering companies on preform manufacture. Thanks to this close cooperation, data from the injection molding process can be used just in time to adapt the stretch blow moulding process. This makes bottle production faster and more efficient and improves the quality of the finished containers.

An additional challenge is the colour differences that occur from batch to batch of recyclate. “Darker material absorbs heat better. The lower heating capacity requires less energy. This makes production more efficient yet means that adaptations must be made to the blow moulding program on the stretch blow moulder,” explained Wiese.

The intrinsic viscosity of the material is another issue. "The longer the recyclate is boiled under vacuum, the longer the polymer chains become. This means that the intrinsic viscosity increases and the quality improves. However, this results in additional costs which not everyone is prepared to invest," Wiese added.

“Here, we have to come up with ways of redistributing the material from uncritical areas – the bottle base in the case of still water – to more critical zones.” Experience shows that manufacturers of premium brands – whose containers have thicker walls – have less cause for adjustment than discounters, where all of the lightweighting options have often been exhausted."

In collaboration with inspection technology manufacturer Agr International, KHS has now developed the Unit Mold Control, a digital, automated control system which regulates the blow stations on KHS’s InnoPET Blomax stretch blow moulders individually.

Through continuous wall thickness inspection, it helps to control material distribution more precisely, reduces variations in the wall thickness by up to 30% and lessens any fluctuations in quality - especially relevant when using recyclate - during stretch blow moulding.

According to Bottles & Shapes expert Arne Wiese there are no convincing arguments against the use of recycled PET in beverage bottles. The only relevant difference he sees between virgin PET and recycled material is the slightly darker colour. This is a question of sorting, however – and only really visible in water bottles. In his view: “As far as the mechanics are concerned, there is nothing to stop companies converting to rPET, providing ideal conditions for the creation of a functioning circular economy."

As per MRC's ScanPlast report, the estimated consumption of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in Russia increased in January 2020 by 9% year on year. Totally, Russia recycled 55,390 tonnes of PET chips in January (excluding shipments of Russian material to the countries of the Customs Union). PET chips production in Russian in January 2020 totalled 43,200 tonnes.
MRC

India considers COVID-19 import tax on chemicals

MOSCOW (MRC) -- India to consider imposing a 15% “Covid-19” import tax on chemicals to help protect its domestic industry from major exporting nations in East and SE Asia, as per Kemicalinfo.

The domestic industry has been badly affected by a major demand slump as a result of nationwide coronavirus lockdown.

The new tax, which would be in effect from 1st May 2020 to 31 March 2021, is being proposed by a government sub-committee under the Chemicals and Fertilizers Ministry.

Industry body Chemexcil (Basic Chemicals, Cosmetics & Dyes Export Promotion Council), which is requesting feedback on the plan from the Ministry said that the move is an effort “to protect the domestic producers against any surge in imports caused by the pandemic.”

“The current situation presents a real threat of an extended period of price depression on account of aggressive exports from China and other countries, which will force several producers to suspend operations and ultimately close down,” it said.

The proposed tax will be added in addition to current import duties.

The committee is also proposing that all duties and taxes on exports be refunded for domestic manufacturers.

With possible exemptions for ethylene, paraxylene (PX), ethylene dichloride (EDC) and vinyl chloride monomer (VCM), the recommendation covers all other chemicals and petrochemicals imported by India.

India is a major chemicals importer, including polymers, monomers and solvents. If introduced, the new tax would impact domestic importers and distributors.

EDC and VCM are the main feedstocks for the production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

According to MRC's DataScope report, exports of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) from Russia totalled 45,600 tonnes in the first three months of 2020, down by 4% year on year. Imports increased, but still remained at a low level.
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COVID-19 - News digest as of 28.04.2020

1. KNPC says oil refinery project halted over coronavirus case

MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Kuwait National Petroleum Co. (KNPC) said work on a project linked to the Al-Ahmadi oil refinery was halted because a worker was diagnosed with the new coronavirus, said Reuters. The worker, an Indian national, was employed by a contractor, KNPC said on Twitter, without giving details about the project.


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