Insights from ADI Chemical Market Resources

Waste plastic pyrolysis at an inflection point

There is a significant supply/demand gap for pyrolysis oil that can be used by petrochemical majors to fulfill their sustainability goals and many petrochemical majors are scrambling to establish tie-ups with pyrolysis oil producers to ensure high-quality supply of pyrolysis oil. Learn more here >>>

Key Chemical Industry Drivers

GDP growth across major economies has recovered and some economic indicators are showing signs of modest recovery
Global GDP growth contracted by 4.2% in 2020
Auto sales have dropped across major economies and Purchasing Manager’s Index has plateaued in February across most economies except in the United States and Europe where it witnessed growth

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Petrochemical plants in Texas are gradually returning to normalcy after the winter storm
Daily operations were affected at most of the U.S. Gulf Coast petrochemical plants when the region was hit with sub-zero temperatures. Numerous force majeures and closures were declared and operators are gradually restarting plants. Many plants are operating at very low utilization rates to check for leaks in miles of pipes that were exposed to the cold for more than three days. Some of the plants that have announced restarts are:

Dow Chemical at Freeport and Seadrift, TX
Formosa Plastics at Point Comfort, TX
Westlake Chemical at Calvert City, KY and Lake Charles, LA
Eastman Chemical at Longview, TX
LyondellBasell at Channelview and La Porte, TX and Lake Charles, LA
CP Chem at Cedar Bayou and Port Arthur, TX
Lotte Chemical at Lake Charles, LA
Nan Ya Plastics at Point Comfort, TX
Braskem at Freeport and La Porte, TX

The disruption has caused prices of U.S. ethylene, polypropylene, and PVC to rise to an all-time high and we expect the market to take at least a couple months until the plants start operating at normal utilization rates before the market stabilizes.

Saudi Arabia approves a new petrochemical complex
Advanced Petrochemical Co gets approval for a new petrochemical complex at Jubail. The complex will include capacities of 1.15 million tpy of ethylene, 850,000 tpy of propylene, and 400,000 tpy of aromatics and fuels, and their derivatives. It is expected to come online by Q4 2025. The company is also building a new 843,000 tpy propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit and an 800,000 tpy polypropylene (PP) plant, scheduled to start-up in 2024.

SK Global Chemical plans to build an adhesive plant in China
SK Global Chemical has partnered with Chinese chemicals company, Zhejiang Satellite Petrochemical, to build an ethylene acrylic acid (EAA) plant in Lianyungang, China. EEA is an adhesive copolymer widely used in packaging materials such as aluminum foil. The plant will have a capacity of 40,000 tpy of EEA and is estimated to require an investment of $175.8 million.

Petroleum Association of Japan (PAJ) is targeting net-zero CO₂ emissions by 2050
PAJ, an association of refiners and petroleum distributors in Japan, aims to invest in research and development of several technologies by 2025, perform their demonstration trials by 2030, and commercialize them by 2050. These technologies may include innovations for low-cost carbon-free hydrogen and e-fuels, engine efficiency, bio-fuels, plastics recycling, and carbon capture and storage (CCS). Based on actual timelines of realization and commercialization of these technologies, these will help the group reach their net-zero CO₂ emissions goals by 2050.

Synova partners with Technip Energies to commercialize plastic waste recycling technology
Synova has developed a thermochemical recycling technology that converts dirty mixed plastic waste to olefins and co-products using Technip Energies’ steam cracking technology. The technology was originally invented by the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) and developed by Synova and Technip Energies for commercialization.

Austrian industry has successfully increased recycled content in HDPE bottles to 60%
A joint project by Austrian industrial companies including Henkel, the Reclay Group, and recycling company Hackl, has been able to increase recycled content in HDPE bottles to 60% and the first detergent containers with the material will be produced by summer of this year. The norm in comparable projects for HDPE bottles is 25%. However, in order for Austria to comply with stringent European Union (EU) recycling targets and commercially develop the new HDPE bottles, they will have to ensure sufficient availability of high-quality waste by optimizing their collection, sorting, and cleaning efforts.

Repsol plans to build a polyurethane chemical recycling plant at its Puertollano Industrial Complex in Spain
Repsol plans to build Spain’s first chemical polyurethane foam recycling plant at its Puertollano Industrial Complex, expected to be operational by end of 2022. The plant required an investment of €12 million and will be capable of processing over 2,000 tons of waste plastic per year. Repsol plans to use recycled polyurethane foam to produce circular polyols that are one of the raw materials to produce polyurethane foam, thus targeting complete circularity in its operations. Repsol has already announced investments totaling €700 million in decarbonizing and circular economy projects to be carried out through 2025 at the complex alone.

LG Chem partners with Innerbottle on recycled cosmetic plastic containers
Innerbottle is a South Korean start-up that offers sustainable eco-friendly packaging solutions. The company will produce cosmetic containers using LG Chem’s eco-friendly plastic materials instead of the conventional, hard-to-recycle, composite materials generally used. Used containers will then be collected for recycling via a distribution network and logistics collection system that can precisely track the path from production to collection.

Multi-Client Reports from ADI Chemical Market Resources

ADI Chemical Market Resources offers 50+ reports and studies on a broad range of polymers, plastics, and chemicals. Browse our rich library and contact us at +1 (281) 506-8234 or info@adi-cmr.com for an existing or custom report.

Global EPR and EPDM

Global tie layer resins

Global linear alpha olefins (LAOs)

Global high melt strength PP

Polypropylene fibers global

China ethylene and polyethylene

Global m-POPs and m-POEs

Global vinyl acetate derivatives

Global POEs and POPs

Global PE catalysts market

Global styrene block copolymers

Global polyolefin foams

Global polyolefin catalysts

Global HDPE and MDPE

Global polyacetals (POMs)

Global MMAs and PMMAs

Global SBS and SEBS

Global POs in automotive

Global elastomeric POs

Polypropylene films global

Global high EVA copolymers

Global high-press. LDPE and EVAs

Acid copolymers and ionomers

Global high-pressure LDPE

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