2
B ULK D ISTRIBUTOR
Shipper
March/April 2019
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P
roduction in the EU chemicals sector
posted a decline of 0.9 percent in 2018
compared with the previous year.
Cefic’s Chemical Trends Report for February 2019
noted that the results of 2018 were mainly
affected by the second half of the year, with
output declining in Q3-2018 and Q4-2018 by 1.3
percent and 4 percent, respectively, compared to
the same period of 2017. Base chemicals were
most affected compared to other sectors. Producer
prices were above the previous year’s level,
growing 3.7 percent in the EU chemicals sector in
2018. Q4-2018 reached the highest values since
Q3-2013.
Total sales (domestic and exports) were 3.7
percent above the previous year’s level. In Q3-
2018, total sales in the chemicals business reached
their highest level since Q4-2011. Sales during the
first 11 months of 2018 posted a value of €529.5
billion. Sales growth was mainly driven by higher
growth in producer prices.
Data analysis shows that domestic sales (inside
the EU28 area) grew 3.1 percent from January to
November 2018, reaching €379.6 billion.
Meanwhile, EU chemicals exports outside the
EU28 area reached the value of €149.9 billion
through November 2018, up from €142.6 billion
during the same period of last year. EU chemicals
exports to the USA were €29.6 billion from
January to November 2018, up from €26.5 billion
from January to November 2017. With 9.2
percent, China is still the third largest exporting
market for the EU chemicals sector, followed by
Africa, Middle East and Russia.
EU chemicals imports outside the EU28 area
reached €107.8 billion through November 2018,
rising by €9.2 billion. Extra-EU chemicals business
was 9.3 percent above the previous year’s level.
With 13.4 percent, China is the third largest
importing market for the EU chemicals sector, after
the USA and Rest of Europe. EU chemicals imports
їContinued from page 1
Global tank fleet grows 11%
An on-going trend is that the growth in the
demand for tank containers globally has enabled
smaller players to enter the market - usually
offering niche products or working in a regional
market.
Commenting on the results, ITCO president Reg
Lee noted: “This year’s ITCO Fleet Survey again
shows significant growth in the tank container
business during the past 12 months. The expansion
of the tank container industry underlines the fact
that this mode of transport is safe, reliable,
economic and sustainable.
“The world today is very concerned with the
pollution of our planet and the effect on global
warming,” Lee continued. “Plastic waste is
polluting our oceans or being incinerated to pollute
the air we breathe. Still more plastic material of all
kinds is being sent to landfill sites around the world
where it will take 100 years or more to bio-degrade
after being buried to become a problem for future
generations. At last governments around the
western world are showing their concern and are
banning plastic bags. The tank container industry
must show its concern for the planet, by
demanding that - if plastic bags are used to
transport bulk liquid products - the customers using
them should obtain a certificate from the carrier to
confirm where and how the bag will be disposed,
after this product has been discharged.”
www.itco.org
Data analysis shows that domestic sales (inside the EU28 area) grew
3.1 percent from January to November 2018
went up significantly from China (17.6 percent),
while imports from the USA fell, mainly in basic
inorganics and consumers chemicals.
The net trade surplus was €42.1 billion during
the first 11 months of 2018, down from €43.9
billion during the same period of 2017. As
expected, the largest EU chemicals surplus
occurred with rest of Europe. EU chemicals,
however, registered a trade deficit with India,
China, South Korea, and Japan.
Plastic risk
In another move, Cefic says the comprehensive
inventory of all plastic additives used to date in the
EU, published in February by the European
Chemicals Agency (ECHA), is an important step
towards better risk assessment of these substances
under REACH and CLP.
Cefic and its members worked alongside ECHA,
the plastics value chain represented by
PlasticsEurope and European Plastics Converters
(EuPC), academics and EU member state
Regulators in EU member states will be able to use the ECHA inventory
as a starting point to decide which plastic additives should be assessed
as a matter of priority
representatives, for two years to screen some
1,000 substances, to identify the substances that
are actually used as plastic additives in the EU and
validate data on their intrinsic properties.
The data provided by the industry helped ECHA
and a team of researchers develop a model to
calculate the release potential of each substance
into the environment.
Regulators in EU member states will be able to
use this inventory as a starting point to decide
which substances should be assessed as a matter
of priority. The information provided in this
inventory will need to be combined with the
hazard characteristics of each substance for a full
risk assessment.
Companies will be able to use the inventory to
refine further the data about uses and exposure
potential in their REACH registration dossiers.
Cefic and PlasticsEurope members will
communicate the inventory to their supply chain
to make sure the downstream industries have the
right information about the uses of each substance
and its properties.
ECHA committed to map all substances
registered under REACH in the >100 tonnes band
and their uses in order to identify those that
require further regulatory action and those that
have a lower risk profile and can therefore be
assigned a lower priority.
So far, 419 high volume (>100 tonnes/year)
substances have been identified as additives in
plastics in the context of this project. They cover a
group of functional additives and pigments.
Additives are used in plastics to impart the
essential properties needed to make them fit for
their specific purpose and ensure safe use by the
consumer throughout the article’s service life.
They include: plasticisers that ensure the
flexibility and durability of cables, flooring and roof
membranes; flame retardants that impart fire
safety properties to electronics and other
household items; anti-oxidants that ensure the
durability and stability of drinking water pipes and
other long-life articles; and other additives such as
pigments, heat stabilisers, etc.
The potential for release into the environment
means the potential for a chemical to be released
in air, water and soil during the use of that
chemical in an article. The inventory does not
provide actual (real life) or experimental data, only
the relative release potential.
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S
ABIC has signed a memorandum of
understanding (MoU) with UK-based
Plastic Energy Ltd, a pioneer in chemical
plastics recycling, for the supply of feedstock
to support SABIC’s petrochemical operations
in Europe.
SABIC and Plastic Energy intend to build a first
commercial plant in the Netherlands to refine and
upgrade a valuable feedstock, known as Tacoil, a
patented Plastic Energy product, which will be
produced from the recycling of low quality, mixed
plastic waste otherwise destined for incineration or
landfill. The plant, which is expected to enter
commercial production in 2021, is a significant
milestone for SABIC towards the company’s
commitment to establishing a circular economy
and, more broadly, its sustainability goals.
“Sustainability is a core value at SABIC and the
circular economy is a cornerstone of our strategy as
evidenced by this unique agreement,” said Frank
Kuijpers, general manager for corporate
sustainability at SABIC.
“SABIC is proud to be the first petrochemical
company to implement a project for the chemical
recycling of challenging plastic waste into
feedstock for steam crackers. This exciting project is
testament to our commitment to scale up
advanced chemical recycling processes of plastics
back to the original polymer.”
“We are delighted to be working with SABIC on
SABIC and Plastic Energy intend will build a commercial plant in the Netherlands to refine Tacoil, a patented
Plastic Energy product, which will be produced from the recycling of low quality, mixed plastic waste
this exciting project to support their petrochemical
operations in Europe,” added Carlos Monreal,
founder and CEO of Plastic Energy. “We have
already two industrial plants in Spain operating
24/7 and a technology team with more than 10
years of experience developing this patented
technology. Our advanced expertise will promote
this new opportunity to turn plastic back into
plastic as part of the circular economy.”
Plastic Energy has successfully commercialised a
patented thermochemical conversion technology to
convert a wide range of end-of-life, dirty and
contaminated plastics, hardly recyclable for
conventional processes, into usable feedstock.
Plastics are melted in an oxygen free environment
and then broken down into synthetic oils at which
point the oils need to be refined and upgraded as
feedstock for traditional petrochemical uses.