Axens, IFPEN, and JEPLAN commence operations at the Rewind PET facility in Japan for PET chemical recycling

Axens, IFPEN and JEPLAN entered into a partnership in 2020 to develop and license an innovative recycling process, called Rewind PET, that can be used to recycle all types of waste Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), especially those difficult to recycle mechanically, said the company.

With the support of the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME), this collaboration has resulted in the construction, commissioning and recent start-up of their Rewind PET semi-industrial unit, which modifies and expands JEPLAN’s existing Kitakyushu Hibikinada Pilot (KHP) demonstration plant, in Kitakyushu-city, Japan. The production capacity of the Rewind PET semi-industrial unit keeps the same capacity of the KHP demonstration plant before modifications, at one thousand tons per annum (1 KTA).

Axens, IFPEN and JEPLAN announce the start-up operation of Rewind PET industrial unit in Japan for the chemical recycling of PET.

The aim of this unit is to show future industrial customers how the innovative PET recycling process, developed by the three partners, can be integrated into their own production and recycling facilities. This is a key step for the three partners in view of the commercialization (licensing) by Axens, which is intended to start by the end of 2023 once the process has been fully validated. The Rewind PET process will produce a high-quality, virgin-like, recycled PET, suitable for all PET applications including food contact packaging or textiles. An event was held at the semi-industrial unit on October 24th to celebrate its launch.

We remind, Axens has signed an agreement with KazMunayGas (KMG) to supply the process design package for its proprietary AlphaButol technology for producing high-purity 1-butene, which is required for producing PE. KMG has plans for a 1.2 million t/y PE plant in Atyrau, Kazakhstan. French technology and engineering group Axens has signed an agreement with KazMunayGas (KMG) to supply the process design package for its proprietary AlphaButol technology that produces high-purity 1-butene, which is required for producing PE. KMG plans to build a 1.2 million t/y PE plant in the Atyrau region of Kazakhstan – a timescale for the project has not been disclosed.

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Eastman Chemical Co. reported third-quarter earnings of $178 million, said the company.

On a per-share basis, the Kingsport, Tennessee-based company said it had profit of $1.49. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring gains, were $1.47 per share.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.45 per share.

The specialty chemicals maker posted revenue of $2.27 billion in the period, which also topped Street forecasts. Seven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $2.26 billion.

Eastman Chemical expects full-year earnings in the range of $6.30 to $6.50 per share.

We remind, global packaging specialist Klockner Pentaplast (kp) has achieved ISCC PLUS certification at three manufacturing sites in Europe and North America. This certification allows kp to use any chemically recycled raw material using mass balance allocation. This will directly support kp’s use of chemically recycled polymers, like Eastman’s Eastar™ Renew resin, powered by the company’s molecular recycling capabilities.

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Finland's Neste beat third-quarter core earnings forecasts and said SAF sales from its new Singapore facility would pick up from the second quarter of next year, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Renewable fuels are a cornerstone for the oil refiner and biofuel producer, which said a new line of its Singapore facility would start production in the first half of November after delays due to unexpected repairs. Sales of SAF from the Singapore facility would start showing up next year, Neste's Chief Executive Matti Lehmus said. "In practice, the assumption is that especially from the second quarter onwards," he told Reuters.

Neste expects the new line to reach about 75% capacity utilization by the end of this year. It will contribute to Neste's global goal of increasing its renewable fuels production capacity to 6.8 million metric tons by 2026, including 2.2 million tons of SAF, the company said.

In 2022, Neste produced 3.3 million tons of renewable fuels, including 158 tons of SAF at its Porvoo refinery in Finland. Airlines are banking on SAFs to help them reduce carbon emissions, but low production levels and high costs have put a question mark over how quickly they can be introduced.

Neste's comparable earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose to 1.05 billion euros ($1.11 billion) in July-September from 979 million euros in the same period last year, driven by its renewable products. That beat analysts' mean forecast of 930.5 million euros in a company poll.

Neste shares were up around 5% in afternoon trade. Its comparable sales margin for renewable products stood at $912 per ton, up from $732 a year earlier, "supported by a strong diesel price and successful global optimization," Lehmus said. Neste said the fourth-quarter margin was expected to remain strong, in a range of $800–900 per ton.

We remind, Neste has expanded its capability to supply renewable fuels to customers on the West Coast of the United States in cooperation with Vopak, a leading energy industry infrastructure provider. Neste commissioned terminal capacity at Vopak’s Los Angeles terminal in California for storing Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and Neste MY Renewable Diesel.

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Global monoethylene glycol (MEG) producer EQUATE has nominated its November 2023 MEG India Contract Price (ICP) at $468/tonne CFR (cost & freight) India Main Ports, said the company.

The November nomination was $35/tonne lower than October number.

We remind, EQUATE has nominated its October 2023 MEG India Contract Price (ICP) at $503/tonne CFR (cost & freight) India Main Ports, said the company. The October nomination was $29/tonne higher than the September number.
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Clariant, a sustainability-focused specialty chemical company, and Technical University of Munich (TUM) have renewed their long-term strategic alliance in the field of research and application of new catalyst systems, said the company.

The cooperation, named MuniCat (Munich Catalysis), has generated improved catalyst formulations and designs as well as innovative process technologies since 2010 and will continue to focus on upcoming challenges in the area of sustainable chemistry applying catalysis.

The MuniCat alliance combines the capabilities of both partners in terms of research, improvement, and application of existing, but also innovative, novel catalysts and processes. Joint research has already produced a number of solutions to manufacture chemical products in a more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly way.

“Over the years, the collaboration between Clariant and TUM has paved the way for many milestones not only in the field of R&D in catalysis but also in creating a more sustainable future for the chemical industry”, said Marvin Estenfelder, Head of R&D at Clariant. “The partnership has been very symbiotic, in that we have access to cutting edge research methods and technologies developed at the university while the young TUM researchers benefit from our long industry and applications expertise. We are therefore delighted to extend this fruitful partnership for another 10 years.”

Urgent challenges solved and new research fields and catalysts explored. As part of the cooperation, more than 30 projects focusing on the challenges of the industry to become more sustainable and efficient were completed so far. These projects resulted in strong intellectual properties for innovative catalyst formulations as well as their production and commercial application. More than 250 scientific articles on the technical progress have been published in papers with global reach.

We remind, Clariant, a sustainability-focused specialty chemical company, today announced that on Wednesday, 18 October 2023, Shell formally brought a claim for damages against four companies, including Clariant, with the court of Amsterdam. The reason for the claim is alleged damages amounting up to EUR 1 billion in relation to infringements of competition law on the ethylene purchasing market which was sanctioned by the European Commission in July 2020.

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