馃彮 Mono-PP pasta packaging

SABIC's mono-PP plastic, New Iridium and Braskem's agreement, and toothpaste.

April 17, 2023

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From the condenser:

路 SABIC's pasta packaging solution

路 New Iridium and Braskem's agreement

路 POTD: toothpaste

PLASTIC RECYCLING

SABIC's sustainable pasta packaging solution

Saudi Arabian chemical giant, SABIC, announced the launch of Garofalo's new and more sustainable pasta packaging.

Some context:

While it might look like your plastic packaging is just one material, it's often a composite material, where individual polymers become layers in some multi-layer sandwich. We do this because individual polymers have different functional benefits (highly flexible, transparent, non-permeable), and combining them lets us pick and choose complimentary functionality (like pairing polyethylene with nylon to make a flexible and impermeable plastic film). But they're hard to separate after they're combined鈥攚hich is problematic for plastic recycling.

The details:

GT Polifilm and Polivouga used two of SABIC's polypropylenes (biaxially oriented PP and some other PP) to make some 100% PP packaging that meets Garofalo's standards. And, in addition to enabling more easily recycled packaging, SABIC is producing some of that PP with molecularly recycled plastic waste.

Zooming out:

The tricky thing to keep in mind here is that "using molecularly recycled plastic waste" doesn't mean that waste material will actually end up in the pasta packaging itself. All it really means is that for every ton of plastic waste SABIC consumes, they can make sustainability claims in a mass-balanced fashion. But while it's interesting to see that marketing in action, you should really be keeping an eye on SABIC's interest in mono-polymer packaging.

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PHOTOCATALYSIS

New Iridium and Braskem's agreement

Brazilian chemical company, Braskem, and photocatalyst startup, New Iridium, have agreed to work together on a proof of concept for New Iridium's technology.

Some context:

Since the chemical industry was born, the vast majority of reactions that are done at scale are driven by heat. Ultimately, this heat is what gets electrons ready for rearrangement, which is an issue because the production of heat usually goes hand in hand with CO2 emissions. New Iridium wants to side-step the industrial heat problem for cases where photocatalysis could reduce the amount of electrons that heat needs to excite鈥攖he idea being that light absorption also excites electrons, and light can be produced with renewable energy.

The plan:

New Iridium and Braskem are planning to explore cases where New Iridium's photocatalysts could be used to utilize CO2. This is the sort of agreement that starts with some preliminary studies and potentially becomes plans to build a pilot scale site. But for now the two companies will just "establish the groundwork during 2023 for new investments".

Bigger picture:

CO2 utilization hasn't been part of New Iridium's core pitch so far. The startup has wisely touted many possible reactions on its website (such as birch reductions, ring-opening polymerizations, and dehalogenation). We'll have to wait and see which end up panning out.

    Some more headlines

    • Evonik is going to make more polyether block amide (PEBA)

    • UPM Raflatac is trying to makes sure their bottle labels come off easily

    • A very large chlor-alkali plant will be built in Indonesia

    • Technip Energies will provide the tech for a new PDO and PTT plant in China

    • The ACC's survey says that supply chain disruptions are still causing issues

    Molecule of The Day

    Today, we're breaking down toothpaste.

    Okay, everyone has used toothpaste (or at least hopefully that's the case), so everyone should at least have an idea about what's in these tubes. Something to do with flourine... right?

    You can think of toothpaste as a blend mostly consisting of abrasives (such as sodium bicarbonate and calcium carbonate), humectants (like propylene glycol), water, a surfactant (usually sodium lauryl sulfate), and then all the goodies like flavors, colors, and a tiny amount of calcium fluoride. The abrasives rub the gunk off your teeth, the humectants keep the paste moist, and the surfactants to create bubbles to evenly distribute everything.

    The reboiler

    • Safety Moment: Watch this video to get a crash course of how Pressure Safety Valves work, their main components, and their applications.

    • Podcast: Check out this episode featuring Dr. Frank Slejko on water treatment in various industries, incumbent technologies, and innovations.

    • Book: Maybe you've never heard of the Scientific Design company, but if you're in the industry, this one is worth a read.*

    The bottoms

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