Expansions: PetroChina to use LyondellBasell tech for PE plant; Repsol doubles production of recycled polyolefins

Chemical firm LyondellBasell Industries says its PE technology has again been licensed by PetroChina Jilin Petrochemical Company at its facility located in Jilin, China. This new license will include LyondellBasell’s high-pressure Lupotech process technology, which will be used for a 100-kilotonne/year autoclave and a 300-kilotonne/year tubular line by PetroChina. Additionally, a 400-kilotonne/year Hostalen Advanced Cascade Process (ACP) line will be built for the production of HDPE.

The Lupotech process is said to offer high reliability and effective process of heat integration, enabling it to provide ongoing energy efficiency. LyondellBasell has licensed more than 15,000 kilotonnes/year of high-pressure LDPE technology in over 80 lines around the world.

Meanwhile, the Hostalen ACP process is used in the pressure pipe, film and blow moulding process as it provides high performance, multi-modal HDPE resins with stiffness/toughness balance, impact resistance and high stress cracking resistance.

The PetroChina HDPE plants will commence operations using Avant Z 501 and Avant Z509-1 catalysts to produce a comprehensive range of multi-modal HDPE products.

In other news, Spain’s Repsol will install a new recycled plastics production line (Repsol Reciclex range) with a capacity to manufacture 25,000 tonnes/year at its Puertollano Industrial Complex, making this centre a benchmark for the circular economy in the Iberian Peninsula. The new unit, which will come into operation at the end of 2024, will almost double the current capacity (16,000 tonnes/year) and entail an investment of EUR26 million.

The products to be manufactured will be transformed into rigid and flexible packaging for non-food use, such as cleaning product containers or product packaging bags. Specifically, it will process high and low-density polyethylene (HDPE and LDPE) with a recycled plastic content of 10% and 80%.

In this way, Repsol says it will be able to manufacture HDPE with recycled content also in its Puertollano complex, reinforcing its commercial commitment to offering new circular solutions.

This investment is in line with recent European and Spanish regulations, which aim to achieve the 30% recycled content target for plastic packaging by 2030.

The Puertollano Industrial Complex thus advances in its transformation process, becoming a reference centre in the recycling and recovery of plastic materials to respond in a sustainable way to the new demands of society by generating high-added-value products with a lower carbon footprint.

In addition to the new production line for polyolefins with recycled plastic content, Repsol will start up in Puertollano, the first polyurethane foam recovery plant this year in Spain and the Iberian Peninsula.

The installation of these new units is complemented by Repsol's strategy of alliances with recyclers to ensure the volume and consistency of the supply of recycled products to offer its customers recycled material of consistent quality.

In addition to the investments in the Puertollano complex, the company's commitment to the circular economy has materialized with Repsol's entry as a shareholder in Acteco, an integrated waste management and recovery company, and in Enerkem, a leading technology company in waste gasification.

In this way, Repsol says it provides its customers with different technologies, including product eco-design as well as mechanical and chemical recycling, to make the plastics and polyurethane foam sector more sustainable.

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