Page 22 - Plastics News February 2020

CompAny news

Reliance Industries to expanding BASF introduces blockchain

Dahej Manufacturing Division pilot project in Canada

eliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is planning to expand ASF launches pilot platform reciChain in the province
RDahej Manufacturing Division (DMD), which produces Bof British Columbia (BC), Canada, as a response to
a variety of petrochemical and downstream products, one of the most pressing environmental challenges –
at a cost of Rs 5,100 crore, according to an application plastic waste. The pilot project will introduce a more
submitted by RIL to the environment ministry. “Dahej sustainable alternative to the linear economic model,
reducing plastic waste, maximizing its value and
enhancing resource efficiency. According to a report
produced by Deloitte for Environment and Climate
Change Canada, Canada disposed of nearly 3.3 million
tons of plastic waste in 2016. Of these plastics, less
than 11 per cent were recycled, meaning the rest were
landfilled or lost to the environment. If the present
trend continues, the report estimates that Canadians will
dispose of $11.1 billion worth of plastic materials each
year by 2030. “There is a clear global challenge around
the economics of recycling plastic. Much of the collection
and sorting activities are challenged by manual processes
and material contamination. Additionally, traceability is
petrochemical manufacturing facility is proposing to a concern as new commitments start to emerge from
set up the new plants and facilities, which includes brand owners and retailers,” said Marcelo Lu, President,
manufacturing of Ethylene Dichloride (EDC), CHDM, PET-G, BASF Canada. “With reciChain, our goal is to revitalize
establishing New incinerator in VCM unit, separation of the value of plastics and significantly improve circularity
hydrogen as a product in CA plant and CO2 recovery unit in the supply chain.”
in EO-EG unit. These plants will be located within the The platform combines the power of blockchain with a
existing RIL DMD spread over 700 hectares,” the company digital badge and loop count technology that enables
said. EDC is used a raw material for manufacturing Vinyl the secured sharing of data among market participants,
Chloride Monomer (VCM), which is used in making polyvinyl while improving the sorting, tracing and monitoring of
chloride (PVC). PVC is among the most widely produced plastics throughout the value chain. The result is a more
synthetic plastic polymers, and is used in a variety of competitive circular supply chain rather than a linear
applications in the building, construction, health care, one, extending the lifecycle of plastics. Additionally,
electronics, automobile and other sectors. According due to the increased transparency reciChain brings, the
to the company, the proposed EDC plant will meet the platform can provide better assurance to brand owners
raw material requirement of an initial plant which will of the validity of the certificates they purchase from
produce 500 Kilo Tonnes per Annum (KTA) of VCM/PVC. recyclers and converters. Initially piloted by BASF in
The DMD site is already making 360KTA of VCM/PVC and Brazil, the inspiration for reciChain came from a need
has approvals to build a new VCM/PVC plant of 1200 KTA in that market to deal with social inequality issues as
capacity. According to the application, DMD will produce well as regulatory concerns around the issuance of
200,000 million tonne per annum of PET-G post expansion recycling certificates. Given its ability to tokenize the
of the facility. PET-G or Polyethylene Terephthalate (with recycling value of plastics, the platform enables a fairer
a glycol modification) is among the most common polymers distribution of value added along the supply chain, even
used currently. It is used to make water bottles, food to cooperatives, which traditionally generate lower
packets and other common plastic items.The company returns compared to other businesses. Moreover, the
will also produce 50,000 MTPA of Cyclohexanedimethanol improved transparency from the material flow in the
(CHDM), a key raw material used for producing PET-G as platform provides better compliance with recycling
well as various other polymers. documentation.

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