For years, the industry has been working on recycling CO2 as a raw material. Is there a breakthrough now? In its new technology and trend report ‘Carbon Dioxide (CO2) as Chemical Feedstock for Polymers - Technologies, Polymers, Developers and Producers’, the Nova Institute talks about an installed production capacity of 850 kt/a. The authors examine which technologies are available and who the main players are.

The upgrade of Ingevity’s facility in DeRidder, Louisiana, USA is expected to increase the company’s global polyol production capacity by 40 %. Also, the move is being undertaken in the backdrop of the rising global demand for the firm’s Capa suite of caprolactone technologies.

Located in Izmir, Turkey, the first phase of the new zinc borate facility is expected to produce an annual capacity of 3,000 tons. On completion of the second phase, the project will additionally produce 6,000 tons of zinc borate annually.

Arkema has plans to make fresh investments at its Changshu site in China in order to increase its Kynar fluoropolymer capacities by 35 %. The move is being undertaken in the backdrop of growing demand from the lithium-ion battery business and significant opportunities in the water filtration, construction coatings, and semiconductor industries.

Ajax Equipment has supplied two large stainless steel vertical screw blenders to a major chemical producer in South Korea for producing polymer powder. Each blender is capable of handling batches of up to 8T of polymer powder and additives.

Nova has completely revised and introduced an extended third version of its nova’s technology and trend report ‘Carbon Dioxide (CO2) as Chemical Feedstock for Polymers – Technologies, Polymers, Developers and Producers’. The report states that CO2 is used as chemical feedstock for polymers and nearly 1 million tons production capacity has already been installed.

The year 2020 was a promising year for bio-based polymers: Sold out PLA in 2019 has led to the installation of increased capacities, PE and PP made from bio-based naphtha are breaking ground and future expansion for bio-based polyamides as well as for PBAT, PHAs and casein polymers is on the horizon. A lower production is only observed for bio-based PET.

The manufacturer of high-tech polymer materials, Covestro, is planning a new production facility for polyurethane dispersions (PUDs) at their Integrated Site in Shanghai, China (CISS). The company wants to address the rising demand for environmentally compatible coatings and adhesives in the Asia-Pacific region. A further line for polyester resins, from which PUDs are produced, is also to be built there.

Borealis announces the appointment of Maria Ciliberti to the position of Vice President Marketing and New Business Development, Polyolefins, effective 11 July 2016. Ciliberti joins Borealis directly from Celanese Europe in Amsterdam, where she had served as Vice President Sales - Europe, Middle East and Africa for one year after having held the position at Celanese in Germany since 2012.

Under a 50:50 joint venture with Plastic Energy, Sabic will start construction of the first commercial unit to produce its flagship certified circular polymers. The new facility is expected to significantly upscale Sabic’s production of certified circular polymers and will become operational in the second half of 2022.