Borouge: Continuing the growth journey with next phase expansion
As part of Borouge’s growth ambitions to more than double its current annual capacity of 4.5 million tonnes by 2030, Borouge is building the world’s largest mixed-feed cracker in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi. The cracker will have a 1.8 million tonne ethylene output and a 3.3 million tonne overall capacity comprising olefins and aromatics from varied feedstocks including ethane, butane and naptha coming from ADNOC’s refinery and gas processing facilities.
The construction of Borouge’s fifth polypropylene (PP) unit, with an annual nameplate capacity of 480,000 tonnes, is on track to come on stream in 2021. This new PP unit will bring the company’s total annual polyolefins production capacity to 5 million tonnes when completed.
Borouge will also significantly increase production of pre-compounded black polyethylene for pressure pipe applications within 2020. This move aims to address the rising demand for pre-compounded piping materials from China and other emerging economies as they continue to invest in their utilities infrastructure.
Borouge continues to work on delivering new mono-material solutions that unlock value for customers. It recently introduced a new grade of bimodal HDPE called FB5600, based on the Borstar® technology platform. FB5600 helps the packaging industry advance its sustainability and circular economy commitments. Its high stiffness enables down-gauging of films which drives cost reduction and a lower environmental footprint, while its strength and barrier properties helps to reduce food waste. FB5600 has proven to be a key component of PE/PE laminates, enabling recyclability.
“Borouge is committed to providing creative plastics solutions that offer significant advantage for businesses and help address global challenges. We are increasing our efforts to bring about a plastics circular economy by working with our value chain partners across Asia Pacific and the Middle East to develop and introduce new disruptive packaging designs for re-use and recyclability, promote after-use plastics collection and recycling, and achieve zero loss of plastics to the environment,” said Wim Roels, CEO of Borouge Pte Ltd.
NOVA Chemicals: Accelerating Solutions for a Circular Plastics Economy
NOVA Chemicals is committed to being the leader in innovation that enables its customers to deliver plastic products that make everyday life healthier, easier and safer. At K 2019, the company is unveiling three new products and technologies that support that mission by helping converters and brand owners advance the development of a circular plastics economy:
- Bonfire Film Development Platform version 4.0 - The newest version of the BONFIRE platform includes three new modules and an improved user interface. The Bonfire platform uses predictive modelling and other virtual tools to enable film and packaging manufacturers to speed development of downgauged and recyclable multi-layer film structures for high-performance food packaging and other flexible film applications.
- Recycle-Ready Resins - NOVA Chemicals is offering a new suite of octene and butene polyethylene (PE) resins designed to retain their physical, processability and optical properties after mechanical recycling. These resins are also ideally suited to be used as virgin content in applications that incorporate a high percentage of recyclate.
- VPs412 Sealant Resin - VPs412 is the newest addition to NOVA Chemicals’ family of high-performance sealant resins. A robust, caulkable, fast-sealing resin, VPs412 resin delivers an unbeatable combination of optics, toughness and processability benefits; delivering seal integrity that helps extend shelf life and reduce food waste.
“I’m proud to be part of an organization that is helping to shape a world where products vital to our health and happiness are even better tomorrow than they are today,” said John Thayer, senior vice president, polyethylene, NOVA Chemicals.
“Today, that means developing more sustainable polyethylene solutions that reduce food waste, have a smaller environmental footprint and allow us to capture the value in post-use plastics. These new offerings are all significant advancements that help move us toward a circular plastics economy.”
