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Exciting news! I'm launching a separate newsletter, called Feedstockland, that will explore where chemicals and materials come from, why that's the case, and what we can do about it.

The first edition, which is being sent tomorrow morning, is about water vapor emissions, heat-driven energy-intensive processes, the oxidation ladder, and what all of that teaches us about decarbonization. Subscribe here so you don't miss it!

From the condenser:

· Using sustainable DME instead of LPG

· Alterra's pyrolysis tech deal

· POTD: golf balls

Blending waste-based dimethyl ether into LPG

Italy's Maire Technimont subsidiary, NextChem, and Netherlands-based Dimeta has announced plans to produce dimethyl ether (DME) from waste.

The context you need:

Demand for DME has boomed since the early 2000s—we've gone from producing just 200,000 tons per year to 10 million tons per year in two decades. This is largely because of demand for heating fuels in China, which went something like this: China had a mandate to convert coal into fuels and chemicals. That starts with the gasification of coal, and typically traverses through methanol. When capacities were inevitably overbuilt, and DME was found to be a suitable liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) blendstock, China started to dehydrate that excess methanol, which makes DME.

So, what's the deal here?

Gasification of hydrocarbons produces a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide (syngas!). You can do that with coal or you can do that with waste. Either way, you have the means to make methanol (100% of the world's methanol is made via syngas), and that means you can make DME. NextChem and Dimeta want to explore opportunities to make DME from waste so they can blend it into LPG.

Zooming out:

Dimeta is partly owned by SHV Energy, a gas distributor that specializes in LPG. Their main thing is loading LPG into cylinders and then distributing them to off-grid customers, and since LPG can be used for heating, cooking, power, and refrigeration, these cylinders find plenty of end-markets in developing nations. Whether or not those developing nations are willing to pay for partially sustainable LPG is another story.

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Alterra's tech is headed to the Gulf Coast

US-based chemical recycler, Alterra Energy, will be licensing its process technology to Freepoint Eco-Systems for a 192,000 ton per year plastic waste pyrolysis site on the US Gulf Coast.

A little history:

Back in 2009, William Ullom bought the rights to some patents from University of Wyoming, and formed Vadxx in hopes of commercializing a process to depolymerize plastic. The resulting company, rebranded as Alterra, operates a 20,000 ton per year plastic pyrolysis site in Akron, Ohio that does just that. Now Alterra wants to dominate the licensing scene: we've seen them sign agreements with Neste (who is a minority owner of Alterra) and Technip Energies to accelerate that plan.

So, what's the deal here?

Freepoint Eco-Systems is a recently-formed subsidiary of a commodities trading firm called Freepoint, who is getting into the plastic recycling game with this 90,000 ton per year plastic pyrolysis site in Ohio, and this TotalEnergies and Plastic Energy site in Texas. Signing this agreement with Alterra is very similar—it's just a new plant in a new location (although it's possible that it will be near the TotalEnergies and Plastic Energy site).

Bigger picture:

Prior to this announcement, the largest planned plastic pyrolysis site we've talked about was Dow and Mura's 120,000 ton per year site(s), so today's announcement is notable on that front. But the more interesting questions to ask are 1) why is a commodities trading firm looking to operate recycling plants, and 2) why did they choose Alterra's process and not, for example, Honeywell's process? Or Mura's process?

Some more headlines

• Sasol and Haldor Topsoe are working together on a joint SAF process

• Celanese completed its EVA capacity expansion in Edmonton

• Technip Energies was awarded a FEED contract to design an e-fuels plant

• LyondellBasell agreed to buy waste-plastic-based pyrolysis oil from Nexus Circular

• Honeywell's CO2 capture technology will be used at Exxon's Baytown site

Product of The Day

Today, we're breaking down golf balls.

Anyone who has bounced a golf ball on concrete has wondered what's going on inside these things. As seen in the photo, if you cut them open you'll find that they have layers (just like ogres!).

In today's day and age, the center of the ball is usually a hard core made of a butadiene rubber, surrounded by a crosslinked copolymer consisting of ethylene and a small amount of vinyl acid groups (called an ionomer), and coated by a polyurethane. Next time you think about golf try to remember that it's companies like Lanxess making the rubber, DuPont making the ionomer, and PPG making the coating (that's not a knock on ball manufacturing, just a nod to the molecule makers). If you're still interested give this C&EN article a read.

The reboiler

• Company History: Ever wondered where all of these big oil companies came from? Read about how Rockefeller's company gave birth to them all.

• Prominent Figure: Have you heard of Gore-Tex? Check out this article about the man who figured out expanded polytetrafluoroethylene.

• Book: Admittedly, Perry's Handbook isn't cheap… but nobody has ever regretted buying this thing.*

The bottoms

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