Michigan-based multinational chemical company, Dow Chemical, has announced the implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) in its polyurethanes business thanks to a partnership with Microsoft.

The context:

Polyurethanes are the foams that are found in car seats, tennis grips, furniture, and basically everywhere. But not all polyurethanes are equal—for example, some customers may prefer foams that are more rigid instead of flexible. New customers might want Dow to come up with a unique foam just for them. This often means many iterations of trial and error to develop the ideal solution.

Which is where the AI comes in:

According to Dow, Microsoft Azure Machine Learning will be used to develop a "predictive intelligence capability". That predictive intelligence will combine "Dow’s materials science, reaction kinetics and rheology with AI to predict trends and formulation properties and simulate customer processes through historical data, predictive math models, and automated work processes".

Read the press release here.

International petrochemical company, LyondellBasell, and China's Liaoning Bora Enterprise Group (Bora) have announced the start-up of their new joint venture polyolefin complex in northeastern China.

What are they making there?

The new complex is the largest of its kind in China. It includes a 1.1 million ton per year flexible naphtha / LPG cracker, an 800,000 ton per year polyethylene (PE) unit, and a 600,000 ton per year polypropylene (PP) unit. The process technologies used at this site are the same as were mentioned last week.

Why do we need the new plant?

According to the chairman of the board of the joint venture, "The complex will supply polyolefin products for various industries in China, including packaging, transportation, building and construction, and healthcare and hygiene.".

Read the press release here.

German chemical giant, BASF, has announced the signing of an agreement to buy 4,000 tons of pyrolysis oil derived from waste tires per year from a tire recycling company.

What does this tire recycling company do?

Waste tires are just one portion of the plastic waste issue. The pyrolysis of scrap tires offers a way to transform waste tires into useful products. The well-known pyrolysis process becomes more economical as the tire oil can be used to produce high-value chemical products instead of something like a lower value like heat.

So what is BASF doing?

BASF will be feeding the pyrolysis oil into its integrated site in Ludwigshafen, Germany. According to BASF, "The share of recycled raw material is allocated to certain products manufactured in the Verbund by using a third-party audited mass balance approach.". This will allow BASF to sell the same products but with the "Ccycled" suffix to indicate its slightly greener nature.

Read the press release here.