Neste produces bio-based PP and LDPE on a commercial scale for the first time
Neste, a renewable diesel producer in Helsinki, Finland, and LyondellBasell, a plastics, chemicals and refining company, have announced that Neste is producing bio-based polypropylene (PP) and bio-based low-density polyethylene (LDPE) in parallel on a commercial scale for the first time.
The joint project used Neste's renewable hydrocarbons extracted from bio-based raw materials such as animal fat from food industry waste, fish fat from fish processing waste, residues from vegetable oil processing, used cooking oil, Industrial corn oil and tall oil pitch. The project has successfully produced thousands of tonnes of bio-based plastic, approved for use in food packaging production and marketed under LyondellBasell's new range of circular economy products, Circulen and CirculenPlus.
According to Neste, the achievement is extraordinary because it combines Neste's unique renewable feedstock with LyondellBasell's technical capabilities. The flexibility of the LyondellBasell cracker has enabled it to introduce a new renewable feedstock at its Wesseling, Germany plant that can be 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 more than 30% renewable content.
LyondellBasell sold some of the renewable products produced in the trial to a number of customers, one of which is Cofresco, a European branded product supplier to the household film sector, Melitta Group, which plans to use CirculenPlus bio-based polyethylene to create sustainable food packaging Material
