Page 194 - CW E-Magazine (10-10-2023)

Interview

PLASTICS WASTE MANAGEMENT

‘Our biggest place to have an impact is to transform

the cost and complexity of advanced recycling’

ABIC – one of the world’s largest These discussions are for sure hap-
petrochemical manufacturers – pening. I can think of several cases
Sis actively engaged in tackling where we’ve done closed loop projects,
the sustainability challenges facing for example, where we said we’re going
the petrochemicals industry, especially to manage the fl ow of a product – from
the issue of circularity and plastics production, use, application, end-of-life,
waste management. The company is and collection. We’re able to discuss
also pioneering a novel electrifi ca- with brands as to how they’re looking at
tion strategy for crackers that produce a product design, and how our materials
the fundamental olefi ns and aromatics can best suit the needs of that.
that underpin a mammoth petrochemi-
cal industry, as part of efforts to lower Can you touch upon chemical recycling
the carbon footprint of the industry and the challenges of scaling it up?
and set it on a more sustainable path of Dr. Bob Maughon
development. The company’s research product design to aid mechanical We’ll be completing our facility in
and investment in lightweight, circular recycling? the Netherlands end of this year. The
plastics are leading the automotive next step is to go to an order of magni-
industry’s conversion towards electrifi - Dr. Bob Maughon: Waste collection tude larger in terms of processing, treat-
cation by enhancing battery perfor- is a huge issue, with many challenges, ment and production. I think there’s a
mance and increasing the driving range but there’s an opportunity to work with signifi cant opportunity to scale the
of today’s electric vehicles. brands and retailers on product design, processing piece signifi cantly without
and simplify it. If every individual massive impact on capex.
Chemical Weekly caught up with brand is working towards its own in-
Dr. Bob Maughon during the inaugural dependent pathway, I think it’s adding The technologies for the conver-
World Chemical Forum in Houston last unnecessary complexity. There’s an sion of the plastics need advancements.
month to obtain a better understanding opportunity to simplify formats and That’s going to help us bring down
of the approaches SABIC and the standardize. This approach will ensure costs. I can scale a number of units
industry are taking to tackle what are we have waste streams that are pure to raise capacities, but ideally, what
arguably some of the biggest challenges and easier to mechanically recycle. I should be doing is moving to some-
facing the industry. thing that’s more continuous, and pro-
The move to mono-materials obvi- duces more of light products. We made
As Executive Vice President of ously simplifi es. But we also need to an investment in Synova for a partner-
Sustainability, Technology & Innova- think about how much design we put ship on advancing their technology.
tion, Dr. Maughon oversees around 20 into a package for performance. Does That’s an example of the kinds of tech-
research and development centres everything need to have the same nologies where you’re taking plastics
across the world and is well acquainted water- and oxygen-barrier properties, and making light olefi ns and aromatics
with how SABIC – and the broader for example? Do we need to think about that could use existing infrastructure to
industry – are adjusting processes to shelf-life differently? I think we’ve purify. That to me is where the opportu-
align with the global shift towards gotten to a point where the effi ciency, nity is. But it is not an easy challenge.
sustainable solutions. performance, and cost of plastic mate-
rials have allowed us to add signifi cant What kind of mass effi ciency are we
Excerpts from the interview: complexity into the product. looking at?

Chemical Weekly: Can you comment Do you think the industry has begun The challenge fi rst off is that you’re
on the need for standardisation of these kinds of discussions? using a signifi cant portion of the plas-

194 Chemical Weekly October 10, 2023

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