Bridgestone Americas, a global leader in tires and sustainable mobility solutions, signed an exclusive partnership with Carbon Capture and Transformation (CCT) company LanzaTech NZ to address end-of-life tire waste. The two companies will co-develop the first dedicated end-of-life tire recycling process leveraging LanzaTech’s proprietary CCT technology, creating a pathway toward tire material circularity and the decarbonization of new tire production.
Canadian company Enerkem, a world leader in the production of low-carbon intensity biofuels and circular chemicals from waste materials, closed a new financing totaling $255 million. Repsol invests $170 million, of which $75 million is in Enerkem’s equity and $95 million in convertible debt. In doing so, Repsol joins existing shareholder Suncor Energy as a strategic shareholder to accelerate the adoption and deployment of Enerkem’s technology and to develop new projects in the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal). In addition, Monarch Alternative Capital, a new investor, is contributing $30 million to the round while Avenue Capital Group is reinvesting $30 million, both in convertible debt. Finally, there is $25 million reinvested in equity by some existing shareholders.
Avantium N.V., a leading technology company in renewable chemistry, signed a conditional offtake agreement with Sukano AG, a reputable expert in additive and colour masterbatches and compounds for polyester and specialty resins. The masterbatches are tailored to impart properties to plastics and as such are an effective way to diversify and expand polymer applications. With PEF from Avantium’s FDCA Flagship Plant, Sukano will develop masterbatches for PEF resins, facilitating fast adoption in many diversified markets and thus accelerating the growth of PEF.
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Renewables are the key to energy security, said the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group III report released last Monday. Countries that have adopted low carbon policies are already seeing a drop in emissions.
The Commission presented last week a package of European Green Deal proposals to make sustainable products the norm in the EU, boost circular business models and empower consumers for the green transition. As announced in the Circular Economy Action Plan, the Commission is proposing new rules to make almost all physical goods on the EU market more friendly to the environment, circular, and energy efficient throughout their whole lifecycle from the design phase through to daily use, repurposing and end-of-life.
Versalis and Novamont are strengthening their partnership to reinforce synergies in the ecological transition of green chemistry, leveraging what has been built so far to maximize spin-offs and seize new opportunities. The commitment to Matrìca – the joint venture set up in 2011 between Versalis and Novamont at Porto Torres specializing in manufacturing bioproducts from renewable sources – has been reconfirmed.
Clariant, a focused, sustainable and innovative specialty chemical company, joined the Renewable Carbon Initiative (RCI). The aim of the RCI is to support and accelerate the transition from the use of fossil carbon to the use of renewable carbon in the chemical industry. Switching to renewable carbon sources prevents additional fossil carbon entering the atmosphere and thus addresses a core problem of climate change.
ABB has been awarded a major contract by NatureWorks, the world’s leading manufacturer of polylactic acid (PLA), a low-carbon bioplastic made from renewable agricultural resources, to automate their new, greenfield plant in Thailand, converting sugar cane to the polylactic acid (PLA) biopolymer, Ingeo™.
Aquafil, the creator of the branded ECONYL® regenerated nylon and pioneer in the circular economy, and ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo) entered into a non-exclusive business alliance agreement to promote and expand the nylon circular business.
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