Page 19 - Packaging News Magazine Jan-Feb 21

January-February 2021 | www.packagingnews.com.au
| COVER STORY 19
the pyrolysis process, and is operat- ing at a site in Italy. This advanced recycling is achieved through the company’s own MoReTec technology. It will enable the recycling of multi- layer and hybrid plastics at scale, addressing one of the key issues in plastic recycling, through dealing with these hard-to-recycle products.
The company is also producing a new range of renewable-based poly- mers that it has developed with Neste, which it says are an industry first, with parallel production of bio-based polypropylene and bio- based polyethylene.
Neste is the world's largest pro- ducer of renewable diesel from waste and residues, and with LyondellBasell one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies on the planet, the synergies are clear.
The joint project used Neste's renewable hydrocarbons derived from sustainable bio-based raw mate- rials, such as waste and residue oils.
The project successfully produced several thousand tonnes of bio-based plastics, which are now approved for the production of food packaging and are being marketed under the brand name Circulen, the new family of LyondellBasell circular economy product brands.
This achievement combined Neste's renewable feedstock and LyondellBasell's technical capabili- ties. LyondellBasell's flexibility allowed it to introduce a new renew- able feedstock at its German site, which was converted directly into bio-based polyethylene and bio- based polypropylene.
An independent third party tested the polymer products using carbon
Leveraging off the global sustainability initiatives, LyondellBasell Australia can supply the polymers based upon renewable feedstock.”
tracers, and confirmed they con- tained more than 30 per cent renew- able content.
LyondellBasell sold some of the renewable-based products produced in the trial to multiple customers, one of which is Cofresco, a company of the Melitta Group, and with brands like Toppits and Albal, Europe's lead- ing supplier of branded products in the field of household film. Cofresco plans to use the Circulen bio-based polyethylene to create sustainable food packaging materials.
NEXT-LEVEL POLYMERS
LyondellBasell has also increased the number and availability of its mechanical recycling product grades, which are developed by Quality Circular Polymer (QCP), its 50/50 joint venture with SUEZ. The project works with brand owners to improve design for recycling and product recyclability.
To achieve these next-level poly- mers, the recycling process requires a careful selection of polypropylene
ABOVE: The diagram shows the projects LyondellBasell is working on, including mechanical recycling, advanced recycling and alternative feedstocks.
OPPOSITE: Circulen bio-based polyethylene can be used to create sustainable food packaging materials.
and polyethylene materials from the waste stream, further treatment, and colour sorting.
QCP is capable of converting con- sumer waste into 35,000 tons of recy- cled polypropylene (r-PP) and recy- cled high-density polyethylene (r-HDPE) annually, with an objective of 50,000 tonnes by 2021.
In addition to these major projects of its own, LyondellBasell is working with, and supporting, multiple organisations and associations around the world to advance the recycling infrastructure, and cru- cially, to develop end markets for recycled product.
“Leveraging off the global sustain- ability initiatives, LyondellBasell Australia can supply the polymers based upon renewable feedstock and is actively working with waste man- agement companies and other stake- holders to develop Australian advanced recycling and mechanical recycling solutions,” says Robert Moran, business manager at LyondellBasell Australia. ■