Extrusion International 5-2021

16 Extrusion International 5/2021 INDUSTRY NEWS „ BASF has focused the sustainable solutions of its plastic ad- ditives’ portfolio under the new global brand VALERAS™. VALERAS bundles the company’s longtime experience, innova- tive solutions, and regulatory support with the aim to increase the sustainability of plastics along the entire polymer value chain. Later this year, the portfolio will expand to include the company’s additive packages for mechanically recycled plastics and their applications. “The trend towards sustainability has been accelerating, driven by consumer demand and more stringent legislation. Our cus- tomers are facing increasing pressure regarding sustainable innovations and challenges of plastics recyclability,” says Dr. Thomas Kloster, President, Performance Chemicals, BASF. Plastic Additives’ Offerings with a High Sustainability Value “With VALERAS, we create new value for plastics by supporting our customersontheir sustainability journeywithnovel solutions and services. VALERAS shows our broader ambition: to establish a platform that covers all our additive solutions that contribute to the sustainability goals of our customers.” VALERAS includes BASF’s existing plastic additives that bring a signi fi cant sustainability value to plastic applications by improv- ing durability, saving energy, reducing emissions, and promot- ing biodiversity. BASF Plastic Additives www.plasticadditives.basf.com „ Borealis announces that it has entered into amulti-dimension- al partnership with Renasci N.V., a provider of innovative recy- cling solutions and creator of the novel Smart Chain Processing (SCP) concept. The partnership is another key enabler for Borea- lis to realise its ambitions to bring circular base chemicals and polyole fi ns tomarket, and to deliver on its promise to bring 350 kilotons of recycled polyole fi ns into circulation by 2025. The SCP concept developed by Renasci is a proprietary method of maximising material recovery in order to achieve zero waste. It is unique because it enables the processing of multiple waste streams using different recycling technologies – all under one roof. At the newly-built Renasci SCP facility in Oostende, Bel- gium, mixed waste – plastics, metals, and biomass – is automati- cally selected and sortedmultiple times. After sorting, plastic waste is fi rst mechanically recycled, and then in a second step any remaining material is chemically recy- cled into circular pyrolysis oil and lighter product fractions, which are used to fuel the process. Other types of sorted waste such as metals and organic refuse are further processed using other technologies. In the end, only Minority Stake Acquired Borealis AG www.borealisgroup.com 5% of the original waste remains, and even this residual mate- rial is not land fi lled, but used as fi ller in construction materials. Because of this extremely ef fi cientway of processing, the overall CO 2 footprint of thesewaste streams is greatly reduced – yet an- other advantage of the circular SCP concept. Borealis circular cascademodel sits at the heart of its ambition to achieve a truly circular economy, by combining carefully chosen technologies in a complementary and cascading way to achieve full circularity. In this way, Borealis aims to give plastic products multiple lifetimes in the most sustainable way possible. Starting with optimising product design, fi rst for eco-ef fi ciency, then for re-use and fi nally for recycling. Once a product has reached its end of life, we must close the plastics loop: fi rst with mechani- cal recycling to make products with the highest possible value, quality and lowest carbon footprint; then utilising chemical recycling, as a complement to mechanical recycling, to further valorise residual streams which would otherwise go to incin- eration, or even worse to land fi lls. The valorised material from mechanical and chemical recycling is then processedwith Borea- lis Borcycle™ recycling technology consisting of Borcycle M for mechanical recycling and Borcycle C for chemical recycling, pro- vidinghighquality solutions formore sophisticatedapplications, such as food packaging and healthcare. The SCP concept is aligned toBorealis’ ambition to close the loop on plastic waste as encapsulated in its circular cascade model. Having acquired a 10%minority stake in the company, Borealis will collaborate closely with Renasci to evolve and scale up the unique SCP technology. This includes the development of fu- ture facilities which would source their feedstock entirely from household waste. The two companies also plan to identify and act on other promising investment opportunities in the circular economy sphere. In addition to the recently announced agree- ment to source the projected 20 kt circular pyrolysis oil annually, Borealis is also planning to purchase mechanically recycled ma- terial fromRenasci’s Oostende facility. Infographic – Borealis’ circular cascade model (© Borealis) Renasci’s SCP concept is in line with Borealis’ circular cascade model Base chemicals from direct carbon capture Renewable feedstock The circular cascade Polyole fi n producer Base chemical producer Waste collecting and sorting Converter End product Use Reuse Design for Eco-Ef fi ciency Design for Recycling Reuse Mechanical Recycling Chemical Recycling