Page 16 - Plastics News August 2020

Microsoft pledges to become zero waste by 2030 Sinopec-SK Wuhan Petchem plans refinery
overhaul towards end of 2020
S multinational technology company Microsoft has
Upledged to become waste free across its direct inopec-SK Wuhan Petrochemical Co, a subsidiary of
operations, products and packaging by 2030. The Sstate oil and gas group Sinopec Corp, plans to shut
company will also eliminate all its SUP packaging down its 170,000 barrels per day (bpd) refinery in late
across operation by 2025. The zero-waste goal is part October for about 50 days of maintenance, three
of the company's broad environmental sustainability industry sources said. According to a Reuters
initiative launched earlier this year. As part of this Separately, the Wuhan-based company is due to switch
commitment, the company is eliminating single-use off an 800,000 tonne a year ethylene plant from
plastics including plastic film, primary product around mid-October for a regular overhaul for a
packaging and IT asset packaging in data centres from
its packaging by 2025. The company produces
approximately 300 million metric tonnes of plastic.
Additionally, Microsoft will reduce nearly the same
amount of waste it generated. Wastes such as solid,
compost, electronics, construction and demolition,
and hazardous will be reused, repurposed or recycled.
To implement this, the company will initially develop
Microsoft Circular Centres on its new major data centre
campuses or regions. These will help reuse and

similar duration,. The ethylene facility is a joint
venture between Sinopec and South Korea's SK
Innovation. A Beijing-based Sinopec press official said
the company does not comment on operational
matters. Starting up new unit at Wuhan refinery early
this year Sinopec had commissioned the first
commercial-scale revamp of a hydrogen fluoride (HF)-
based alkylation unit at its 161,000-b/d refinery in
Wuhan City, Hubei Province. It was also learnt that the
7,500-b/d unit, based on composite ionic liquid (IL)
alkylation technology and commissioned on Jan. 21,
2020, was operating at reduced capacity due to
decreased fuel demand as a result of the COVID-19
pandemic. Refiners in the Asia-Pacific region are
repurpose servers and hardware in its data centres. It increasingly turning to Ionikylation alkylation
will also invest $30m in Closed Loop Partners' funds. In technology—which uses a proprietary composite IL
a statement, Microsoft president Brad Smith said: “By catalyst that eliminates reliance on more dangerous,
2030, we will divert at least 90% of the solid waste corrosive, and hazardous chemicals such as HF and
headed to landfills and incineration from our campuses
sulfuric acid—as they seek to expand alkylation
and data centres, manufacture 100% recyclable capacity to safely produce low-sulfur, higher-octane
Surface devices, use 100% recyclable packaging (in alkylate that complies with more stringent clean-fuel
Organization for Economic Cooperation and
standards such as China 6-quality specifications
Development, OECD, countries), and achieve, at a (equivalent to Euro 6-quality standards). Apart from
minimum, 75% diversion of construction and
this earlier Sinopec had successfully installed the
demolition waste for all projects. “This work builds on world's first and largest slurry-bed residue
our ongoing waste reduction efforts that started in hydrogenation reactor of 3,000 tonnage in 15 hours on
2008 which resulted in the zero waste certifications of
June 10 in Zhoushan, China, setting China's new record
our Puget Sound Campus and our data centres in of highest integral hoisting weight by a single
Boydton, Virginia and Dublin, Ireland.” equipment.

August 2020 14 Plastics News