LyondellBasell, Neste team up for production of plastics from renewables

Helsinki, Finland-based Neste is engaged in the creation of sustainable solutions for transport, business, and consumer needs providing a wide range of renewable products that enable customers to reduce climate emissions.

LyondellBasell, one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world, offers products and solutions to packaging, ?enhancing food safety through lightweight and flexible packaging, protecting water purity through stronger and more versatile pipes, improving the safety, comfort and fuel efficiency of many of the cars and trucks on the road, and ensuring the safe and effective functionality in electronics and appliances.

The joint project uses Neste's renewable hydrocarbons derived from sustainable bio-based raw materials, such as waste and residue oils. The project successfully produced several thousand tonnes of bio-based plastics, which are approved for the production of food packaging.The products are being marketed under `Circulen’ and `Circulen Plus’, the new family of LyondellBasell circular economy product brands.

"LyondellBasell has an innovative spirit that spans decades, and an achievement like this showcases concrete actions we are taking in support of a circular economy," said Richard Roudeix, LyondellBasell’s senior vice president of olefins and polyolefins for Europe, Asia and international. "Through the use of renewable resources, we are contributing to the fight against climate change and helping our customers achieve their environmental targets."

"We are excited to enable the plastics industry to introduce more bio-based material into its offering. It is very satisfying to see Neste's renewable hydrocarbons performing perfectly in a commercial scale production of bio-based polymers, providing a drop-in replacement option to fossil materials," said Neste's ‘resident and CEO Peter Vanacker. "This pioneering collaboration with LyondellBasell marks a major milestone in the commercialisation of Neste's renewable polymers and chemicals business focusing on developing renewable and circular solutions for forward-looking sustainable brands."

This achievement is extraordinary in that it combined Neste's unique renewable feedstock and LyondellBasell's technical capabilities. 

LyondellBasell's cracker flexibility allows it to introduce a new renewable feedstock at its Wesseling, Germany site, which is converted directly into bio-based polyethylene and bio-based polypropylene. An independent third party tested the polymer products using carbon tracers and confirmed they contained over 30 per cent renewable content.

LyondellBasell sold some of the renewable products produced in the trial to multiple customers, including Cofresco, a company of the Melitta Group and with brands like Toppits and Albal, Europe's leading supplier of branded products in the field of household film. Cofresco plans to use the `Circulen Plus’ bio-based polyethylene to create sustainable food packaging materials.