MOSCOW (MRC) -- Borealis and Bionerga announce the joint commissioning of Biostoom, a new waste-to-energy plant constructed and operated by Bionerga in Beringen, Belgium, said the company.
The long-term agreement between Borealis and Bionerga, a Belgium-based specialist in recovering energy from waste, has enabled Borealis to move closer to its goal of sourcing 50% of its total electricity consumption from renewable sources for operations in its major business areas by the year 2030. The new Biostoom Beringen facility is allowing Borealis to reduce the amount of natural gas used in operations by supplying steam and electricity recovered from processing of non-recyclable waste collected from nearby communities. The first electricity delivery took place in August, and the first steam was delivered in October 2020.
The new waste-to-energy plant processes non-recyclable wastes to generate steam and electricity, allowing Borealis to reduce the amount of natural gas used in operations at Beringen. "The Biostoom Beringen project is the perfect example of re-inventing for more sustainable living: if materials are not recyclable, recovering energy is the best alternative for waste that would otherwise be landfilled," said Martijn van Koten, Borealis executive vice president, Base Chemicals & Operations in a statement on Tuesday. “The fact that this project is sourcing non-recyclable waste from adjacent communities further strengthens the sustainability aspect," he added.
Details about project costs or capacities were not disclosed.
As MRC informed earlier, the light-feed 625,000-metric tons/year Borealis steam cracker at Stenungsund, Sweden, is remained shut as of early December after a fire broke out at the plant in May. And there are no update on this cracker's restart. The cracker has been under force majeure for over half a year after the blaze at the plant on 10 May, which was subsequently brought under control the following day.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing PE and PP.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,760,950 tonnes in the first ten months of 2020, up by 3% year on year. Only high density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 978,870 tonnes in January-October 2020 (calculated using the formula: production minus exports plus imports minus producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively of PP random copolymer increased.
MRC