CHEMICAL MANAGEMENT
Globenewswire | May 23, 2023
LanzaTech Global, Inc. an innovative carbon capture and transformation company that converts waste carbon into materials such as sustainable fuels, fabrics, packaging, and other products that people use in their daily lives, and Plastipak Packaging, Inc. (“Plastipak”), a global leader in the design, manufacture, and recycling of plastic containers, announce they have successfully produced PPKNatura, the world’s first polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin made from captured carbon emissions. The resin is suitable for food, personal care, and pharmaceutical packaging, as well as other non-packaging applications.
PET is a polymer that is molded into plastic bottles and containers for packaging foods and beverages, personal care products, and many other consumer goods. PET resin comprises 30% monoethylene glycol (MEG) traditionally derived from petroleum. PPKNatura leverages CarbonSmart™ MEG from LanzaTech’s CCT process. It retains the technical properties of virgin fossil PET while carrying a lower carbon footprint. Thus, PPKNatura can be a used for traditional food and pharmaceutical grade packaging and other sensitive applications such as hot-fill, refillables, and applications where a low crystallinity is required. Non-packaging PET applications can also take advantage of this ground-breaking resin.
PPKNatura resin reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and its production process does not require land or food resources. In addition, packaging made out of this material can be fully recycled at the end of its life, keeping the carbon in a circular material cycle.
Leading Swiss retailer Migros and its subsidiary Mibelle Group were the first to use this PET in in-house brand packaging, including in creating PET bottles for smoothies and the containers of household cleaners that also contained LanzaTech ethanol as a key ingredient.
“LanzaTech’s commercial technology is designed to enable our partners in diverse industries to reduce their carbon footprint and overall environmental impact,” said Jennifer Holmgren, Chief Executive Officer of LanzaTech. “Our partnership with Plastipak is critical to demonstrating what is possible today. Today we are producing food- and pharmaceutical-grade packaging and are well on our way to creating a more sustainable future for all.”
LanzaTech’s CCT technology works like a brewery in which proprietary bacteria consume pollution and convert it into CarbonSmart chemicals. Those chemicals are then turned into products ranging from clothing and laundry detergent to sustainable aviation fuel. Using a variety of waste feedstocks, LanzaTech’s technology platform is creating a future where consumers are not dependent on virgin fossil inputs for everything in their daily lives.
“We are delighted to partner with LanzaTech to achieve early progress in our ambition to produce PET with lower environmental impacts. The use of CarbonSmart MEG is a first and important milestone in our journey toward this goal, and combined with use of renewable electricity in the production process, has contributed to significant progress in indicators such as carbon reduction and use of fossil resources. PPKNatura resin is one element of Plastipak’s ESG program, which among other initiatives, targets the extension of our product circularity with the intent of supporting customers in reducing their Scope 3 emissions. We look forward to a long and mutually beneficial partnership with LanzaTech as we work together to achieve our long-term goals,” said Pedro Martins, Executive Managing Director Europe of Plastipak.
About LanzaTech
Headquartered in Skokie, IL, LanzaTech Global, Inc. captures waste carbon and transforms it into materials such as sustainable fuels, fabrics, packaging, and other products. Using a variety of waste feedstocks, LanzaTech’s technology platform is contributing to a future where consumers are not dependent on virgin fossil feedstocks for everything in their daily lives. LanzaTech’s goal is to challenge and change the way the world uses carbon, enabling a new circular carbon economy where carbon is reused rather than wasted, skies and oceans are kept clean, and pollution becomes a thing of the past.
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CHEMICAL MANAGEMENT, PRODUCTS AND TECHNOLOGIES
Businesswire | April 10, 2023
Carbios a pioneer in the development and industrialization of biological technologies to reinvent the life cycle of plastics and textiles, is geared up for the global commercialization of its PET biorecycling technology. The successful ongoing operations in its demonstration unit in Clermont-Ferrand and the advanced engineering study for its first commercial plant define the engineering basis and operational guidelines for units to be operated under license agreements. From technology promotion with the Technical Information Summary to project development with a specific Process Design Package and Process Book, future Carbios licensees will be handed all necessary process documentation to reliably engineer, procure, construct and operate their PET biorecycling plants under stringent HSE1 standards and with high product quality.
PET producers and chemical companies are natural potential customers for a technology that allows a true circularity for PET with alternative feedstock to petro-sourced monomers, and that is fully compatible with existing polymerization plants. By providing value to all possible sources of PET feedstock including complex plastic packaging and textile waste, Carbios also aims to reach out to other players in the value chain such as waste management companies and public entities. Carbios’ technology also provides a solution to brand owners in order to meet growing regulatory requirements as well as their own ambitious sustainability objectives for the inclusion of r-PET in their products and packaging.
“As the leading company in the industrialization of biorecyling technology, Carbios is keen to bring its solution for plastic and textile circularity at scale to partners around the world,” commented Stéphane Ferreira, Chief Business Officer of Carbios. “Wherever there is plastic use, there is a need for eco-responsible recycling. At Carbios, we are ready to deploy our biorecycling technology and contribute concretely to the circular economy of plastic.”
The new industrial milestone complements the collaborations with brand owners within Carbios’ two consortiums, and the exclusive long-term partnership with Novozymes, the world leader in enzyme production, which ensures the supply of enzymes to the Carbios reference unit and future licensed plants.
“With the engineering documentation now made available, we have reached a new industrial milestone on schedule in the deployment of our PET biorecycling technology,” said Lionel Arras, Industrial Development Director of Carbios.
“Putting this documentation together is a significant achievement and I thank all our engineering teams from our demonstration and reference units for their hard work,” added Frédéric Alarcon, Licensing Manager of Carbios.
About Carbios
Established in 2011 by Truffle Capital, Carbios is a green chemistry company, developing biological and innovative processes. Through its unique approach of combining enzymes and plastics, Carbios aims to address new consumer expectations and the challenges of a broad ecological transition by taking up a major challenge of our time: plastic and textile pollution. Carbios deconstructs any type of PET into its basic components which can then be reused to produce new PET plastics with equivalent quality to virgin ones. This PET innovation, the first of its kind in the world, was recently recognized in a scientific paper published on the front cover of the prestigious journal Nature. Carbios successfully started up its demonstration plant in Clermont-Ferrand in 2021. It has now taken another key step towards the industrialization of its process with the construction of a first-of-a-kind unit in partnership with Indorama Ventures.
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PRODUCTS AND TECHNOLOGIES, MARKET OUTLOOK
PRNewswire | May 10, 2023
GC Ventures a subsidiary of PTT Global Chemical PLC is investing in the British company Interface Polymers Ltd. This investment opens new horizons for GC Group, enabling more efficient and sustainable plastic recycling.
Interface Polymer's Polarfin® additives enable compatibilization between polyethylene (PE) or polypropylene (PP) with different kinds of plastics such as PET, PA, EVOH and other plastics. This makes it possible to recycle the mixed plastics widely used in food packaging chains across the world, solving one of the biggest problems in the recycling process today.
The unique Polarfin® additive technology developed by Interface Polymers, added to PP and PE at very low rates, makes them more recyclable, easier to work with and enables strong surface adhesion to plastics, paints and general adhesives.
"Today, sustainability is key to business operations. We are committed to using innovative solutions to make our products environmentally friendly. Plastic is a crucial component in various daily life equipment. Applying the circular economy principle to the closed-loop plastic waste management, recycling, and upcycling is necessary. This includes studying new innovations and accessing up-to-date technologies to help improve the use of plastic to better meet people's needs." says Kamel Ramdani, Senior Vice President, Product Innovation and Innovation Management of GC.
Ross Baglin, CEO of Interface Polymers, said: "We are delighted to have GCV/allnex as investors and development partners respectively, and we look forward to making polymers the best environmental solution for so many human needs. We all know that we cannot go on consuming earth's resources and consigning the results to history. We need a materials revolution as well as an energy revolution: making things reparable, recyclable, perhaps even everlasting. Polymers are a unique material made from the earth's bounty and extraordinary human ingenuity. They are too good to waste. Polarfin® can help make polymers work for us, generation after generation".
In addition to the investment by GCV, the GC subsidiary company allnex has agreed to an extensive development partnership with Interface Polymers with the aim of using its technology to develop innovative resins to enable recyclable solutions for the packaging industry. "IPL technology and vision are opening a new future for plastics and packaging in a world where circularity has become central to all innovation efforts." says Benoit De Becker, Senior VP Strategic Innovation & Sustainability of allnex.
About allnex
allnex is a leading producer of industrial coating resins and additives for industrial, protective, automotive, architectural and special purpose coatings and inks. With manufacturing facilities and R&D centers located around the world, the allnex group offers access to a huge global network of innovation and provides responsive, local support to our customers, helping them to quickly bring advanced coating solutions to market. Formed in 2016 by the merger of two leading resin companies, we've recently further strengthened our business by becoming part of the major international player PTT Global Chemical.
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