🏭 Teslas Still Need Tires

Good morning. This is now the second edition with the new formatting—nobody sent any hate emails so that's good. Here's a survey for you to share you opinion quickly.

From the condenser:

· Carbios' PVDC + PET recycling

· Origin's carbon black agreement

· MOTD: cumene

Carbios can recycle Solvay's plastic

Belgian chemical company, Solvay, and enzymatic recycler, Carbios, demonstrated that multi-layer polyethylene terephthalate (PET) films coated with polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC) are compatible with Carbios' PET recycling process.

The context you need:

Before any of this makes sense we need to think about why anyone cares about PVDC-coated PET films. PVDC's initial claim to fame was its use in film-form as Saran Wrap, but now we admire the polymer for its superior barrier properties. Those barrier properties make it super useful for protecting food from water and oxygen. The problem, which Solvay openly recognizes, is that mixed plastic waste is a pain to recycle. Basically, coating PET film with PVDC upgrades the product value, but makes downgrades its circularity.

So, what's the deal?

Last fall Solvay told us that they had made some progress in demonstrating the recyclability of PVDC. The announcement sounded like Solvay was decently confident that it could blend recovered PVDC with new PVDC without making the product worse. Today's news sheds light on a potential recycling process—Carbios' enzyme-based PET depolymerization technology.

Bigger picture:

We talked about Carbios' tech pretty recently. Carbios is saying that they can accept PET coated with PVDC, still depolymerize the PET, and leave PVDC intact. All Solvay needs to do now is buy that PVDC from Carbios, blend it with their existing production, and market this mildly renewable grade of PVDC.

Origin struck a carbon black deal

Sustainable chemical start-up, Origin Materials, and Japanese chemical company, Mitsubishi Chemical, have announced plans to jointly develop carbon black analogs using Origin's hydrothermal carbon (HTC).

Setting the scene:

Origin's core technology is a process that converts cellulosic biomass into various bio-based (and carbon negative) molecules. The crown jewel seems to be chloromethyl furfural (CMF) because that stuff can be used to make all sorts of things (like PET, PEF, and various other polyesters, polyurethanes, and polyamides), but the process also makes HTC, furfural, and levulinic acid.

Carbon black and HTC?

HTC is sort of mysterious at this point, but Origin claims that it's "a carbon-rich, highly structured and flexible raw material" that can be converted into carbon black (and other things). Carbon black is typically a by-product of the refining industry and its mostly used as a reinforcing filler in tires (tires make up 70% of the $26 billion carbon black market).

Zooming out:

The plan is for Mitsubishi to convert HTC into "high-performance analogs of specialty carbon black materials" and then figure out whether a big tire maker can actually use it. The key thing to remember here is that Teslas Still Need Tires (TSNT). Electrifying vehicles is great and all, but emissions from energy are only half of the problem.

Some more headlines:

• Sasol and Uniper are thinking about building a SAF plant in Sweden

• Saint-Gobain just bought a ceramics manufacturer called Monofrax

• Lummus and Braskem finalized terms for their ethanol-based ethylene partnership

• Shell is considering a $1.4B linear alpha olefins expansion in Louisiana

• CP Chem broke ground on a new hydrodesulfurization unit in Belgium

Molecule of The Day:

Today's MOTD is the one you've been dreaming about…cumene.

Cumene was just a component of aviation fuel during WWII (crude oil is about 1% wt cumene) before it got its big break in the early 1950s. Shortly after WWII, Hercules Powder figured out how the molecule can be used to produce phenol, making it an attractive molecule for petroleum companies to produce.

As it was done back then, most of the cumene produced today is done by the Friedel–Crafts alkylation of benzene with propylene. That process spits out some 16 million tons per year of cumene. Nearly all of it, about 98%, is used to make phenol and acetone and the rest is used in high-octane aviation fuel or as a paint thinner.

Some of the main companies pumping out all the cumene are BASF, Dow Chemical, Tata Chemicals, Ineos, and ExxonMobil.

In case you're interested:

• Course: Want a complete overview of the major petrochemicals and how we make them? This will cover all the bases.*

• Article: North Carolina’s old lithium mines are being revived by vehicle electrification.

• Safety Moment: Watch this USCSB video to learn about the 2015 ExxonMobil Refinery Explosion in Torrance, CA and what can be done to prevent similar events in the future.

• 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: