Plastics News - Show Daily - October 19, 2022 - 18

18 * Plastics News, October 19, 2022
SHOW DAILY
'Making the change real'
By Karen Laird
Sustainable Plastics
At K 2022, Saudi Basic Industries
Corp. is once again actively
championing innovation and
changes that advance the plastics
industry's journey towards sustainability.
Here,
Abdulrahman
Al-Fageeh, acting CEO and executive
vice president for petrochemicals,
talked with Sustainable Plastics
about sustainability.
Q: " Making the change real "
is the slogan chosen by Sabic for
this year's K show. Can you explain
what change this refers to?
Al-Fageeh: That theme was chosen
for Sabic's presence at the K
show this year as a reference to
how Sabic has introduced innovations
which make a real difference
to our industry,
allowing us to
offer sustainable
products to
our customers.
Businesses
play a crucial
role in developing
and implementing
solutions,
which
address the
environmental
challenges
we are facing
Al-Fageeh
today. We are demonstrating our
commitment to circular and sustainable
solutions by introducing
solutions to reduce plastic waste,
through our Trucircle portfolio
and services, as well as supporting
the shift to product electrifi cation,
with our Bluehero solutions.
Q: And is that change also happening
internally at Sabic? Can
you say something about your
efforts to reduce Scope 1, 2 and
3 carbon emissions?
Al-Fageeh: Sabic has declared
its commitment to the Paris
Agreement in reaching carbon
neutrality from operations under
our control by 2050, taking into
account the different regional and
national ambitions, commitments
and initiatives.
Sabic's vision of a Circular Carbon
Economy would be established
by creating a system where
all value chains of carbon-containing
products loop back on themselves;
carbon-containing gases
could either be captured before
escaping into the atmosphere and
converted into chemicals or materials
rather than being burned
as fuel. And we are putting that
in practice: For example, Sabic's
polycarbonate plant in Cartagena,
Spain, will be the world's fi rst largescale
chemical production site to
run entirely on renewable energy.
Sabic is working to deploy a
strategy of reduce, reuse, recycle
and remove to work toward this
system. A completely closed loop
will not happen overnight, but it
continues to be Sabic's vision,
and it's a vision that drives the
new products and initiatives at
the K 2022.
Q: At the last K show, Sabic introduced
an innovative portfolio
of sustainable products clustered
together in the Trucircle program.
How has that developed
in these past three years? Has it
been expanded since then?
Al-Fageeh: With Trucircle, we
are helping to provide manufacturers
with access to more sustainable
materials, and these include
mechanically recycled polymers,
certifi ed circular products, certifi
ed renewable products, products
designed for recyclability
and closed-loop initiatives.
We started introducing the
Trucircle solutions back in 2019,
primarily for in packaging applications
using materials from its PE
and PP product portfolio. Today
we are offering a full range of alternatives
including engineering thermoplastic
materials and chemicals.
This pioneering work has generated
attention from other
industries such as hygiene
and health care,
automotive, building
and construction, and
consumer goods, helping
our partners to increase
circularity and
reduce greenhouse gas
emissions.
SAUDI BASIC
INDUSTRIES
CORP.
Hall 6,
Booth D42
Also, in 2021, we added a new
recycled material made from
ocean-bound plastic, which was
recovered from ocean-feeding waterways
and inland areas within
a 50-kilometer (31-mile) radius
of the ocean. This ocean-bound
material is mechanically recycled
and converted into components
for new consumer goods and electronics
applications.
In that same year we also created
the fi rst certifi ed circular polymers,
produced through the advanced
recycling of recovered mixed and
used ocean-bound plastic, which
have since been introduced into
various customer applications.
Q: Is the production capacity
of the Trucircle products suffi -
cient to meet market demand?
If not, when do you expect to be
able to do so?
Al-Fageeh: In a signifi cant contribution
toward the development
of a circular economy for plastics,
Sabic and Plastic Energy are constructing
the fi rst commercial
unit to produce its fl agship certifi
ed circular polymers, part of
the Trucircle portfolio, which are
made from the upcycling of mixed
and used plastic. This is one of
our solutions to bring certifi ed
renewable material to the market.
As part of the project's market
foundation stage, Sabic has
worked together with Plastic Energy
and leading customers and
converters to produce and commercialize
certifi ed circular polymers
since early 2019.
The new unit will enable Sabic to
signifi cantly upscale the production
of certifi ed circular
polymers to provide
customers with greater
access to sustainable
materials, which have
been recycled, repurposed
and produced in
a way that can help protect
our planet's natural
resources whilst
acting as a drop-in solution. Nevertheless,
the quantity produced will
soon be only a fraction of our total
production capacity. Our ambition
is to increase the scale of the production
process.
Q: How far along are you with
the construction of this fi rst commercial
unit?
Al-Fageeh: Sabic and Plastic Energy
are now a year into the construction
of the plant, which will
be the world's fi rst commercial
unit that will convert end-of-life
plastics into recycled oils to create
virgin polymers. It is truly a pioneering
project and it is located
at our Geleen site in the Netherlands.
The unit is expected to become
fully operational in Q4 2022.
Once complete, the plant will
plastics,
receive
considered as diffi cult to recycle,
such as mixed, multilayer or
low-density plastics. The plant
will produce circular polymers
from up to 20,000 tonnes of used
plastic that would otherwise have
been destined for incineration.
Q: Let's talk about the Bluehero
strategic initiative. What is it
exactly? Why did you decide to
launch it now? Is it a long-term
program?
Al-Fageeh: Bluehero is our
range of materials, solutions, expertise
and programs designed to
help accelerate the world's energy
transition to electric power.
Work is underway to help the
automotive value chain move
closer toward net-zero emissions
and create better, safer and more
effi cient electric vehicles. In partnership
with automakers, their
parts suppliers, battery manufacturers
and others across the automotive
value chain, we've been
optimizing structural battery
components with unique fl ame-retardant
materials and solution development
expertise.
Longer term, we are exploring
looking beyond the automotive
industry to introduce Bluehero
solutions for energy storage,
charging
infrastructure, other
traditionally
modes of transport and industrial
and consumer equipment.
Q: What are the other highlights
we can see at your stand?
Al-Fageeh: We are excited to be
showcasing our circular economy
solutions for plastics and a clean air
economy through the transition to
product electrifi cation, especially
Trucircle and Bluehero, as we discussed.
In that context, of course, I
can mention our recent announcement
of Sabic's sponsorship of the
ABB Formula E, the motorsport
championship for electric cars,
which gives us a unique opportunity
to transfer our innovations from
Formula E into the broader automotive
and EV industries.
Of course, we are also showcasing
our latest innovations and sustainable
solutions across a range
of industries, including building
and construction, electrical
and electronics, transportation,
health and hygiene, consumer
goods and advanced packaging.
Q: High energy prices, supply
chain disruptions, infl ation and
war. This is today's reality. How
are these circumstances impacting
Sabic? Are you optimistic
about the future?
Al-Fageeh: While we pay close
attention to the markets, some
factors are unfortunately outside
of our control. However, we are
working closely with our customers
to reassure them and understand
their needs so we are best
prepared to serve them.
Stepping up the game
in stretch film production:
PowerCastXL with a brand
new triple turret winder
DAILY LIVE DEMONSTRATION
runs at 11.00 a.m. and 2.00 p.m.
Extrusion lines -
engineered to perform
Hall 17
Booth C42 & C39
Get Premium access
to the data that
drives decisions.
Scan below to
view and download
company data with
the Plastics News
Data Center.
www.sml.at
http://www.fki.com http://www.sml.at https://www.plasticsnews.com/businessdata
Plastics News - Show Daily - October 19, 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Plastics News - Show Daily - October 19, 2022
