Solvay has plans to increase production capacity of its Solef polyvinylidene fluoride at the Changshu site in China. The move is in line with the company’s G.R.O.W. strategy and production at the plant is expected to come on-stream by 2022.

With an aim to contribute to the circular economy, Eastman will be making use of its carbon renewal technology to recycle old carpets and create new materials from them. The company has also collaborated with Circular Polymers to secure feedstock for the technology.

In Europe, Trinseo aims to offer 30 % recycled content for polystyrene packaging by 2025. To achieve this objective, the company intends to set up a huge facility for large-scale polystyrene recycling.

Neste has collaborated with Ravago in order to develop chemical recycling of plastic waste on an industrial scale. With this move, the companies aim to accelerate circularity of materials and improve resource-efficiency in the petrochemical industry.

Eastman’s unique Carbon Renewal Technology makes use of waste plastic to produce new polyester-based polymers. The company plans to use up to 50 million pounds of waste plastic in its carbon renewal technology operations in 2020.

Honeywell’s C3 Oleflex technology which converts propane to propylene will be used by Zibo Qixiang Tengda Chemical Co. (QTXD) in order to meet the growing demand of plastic in China.

Total’s Synova aims to produce 40,000 tonnes of recycled polypropylene per year by 2021 to meet the growing demands for high-performance recycled materials from the automobile sector. The move is in line with the company’s ambition of becoming a responsible energy major.

Ceyhan Polipropilen Uretim intends to utilise Honeywell’s C3 Oleflex technology for producing 457,000 metric tonnes per year of polymer-grade propylene for its new petrochemicals complex in Ceyhan. The new facility is expected to reduce polypropylene imports by 25 % and offset approximately 13 billion dollars in imported petrochemicals in Turkey.

The strong growth of the lithium-ion battery market for electric vehicles has led Arkema to expand its production capacities for high-performance polymer PVDF by 50 % at its Changshu plant in China.

Neste opens a new office in Düsseldorf, Germany, to serve as the global hub for its Renewable Polymers and Chemicals business unit.