Finnish forest industry company, UPM, has announced that its state of the art biochemicals facility in Germany has begun construction.

A little history:

Way back in the day, before oil made everything easier, it wasn't uncommon to distill wood into charcoal, gas, and a liquid distillate. That liquid distillate gave us crude tar (which we could use to make turpentine or creosote) and pyroligneous acid. Wood-based chemicals and products have had a hard time competing with oil, but people are demanding sustainability, and today's chemists are a bit more capable.

So what is UPM doing?

The company is breaking into the chemical industry by taking regionally sourced beechwood and converting it into bio-based mono-ethylene glycol (MEG) and mono-propylene glycol (MPG). That MEG will be used for "the production of textiles, plastics, PET, packaging, and industrial coolants" and MPG for "composites, pharma, or cosmetics products". The new $650 million biorefinery will start production sometime in 2022.

Read the press release here.

Canadian plastics and chemical company, NOVA Chemicals, has announced the sale of its expandable styrenics business to a subsidiary of Alpek.

What are they selling?

NOVA's expandable styrenics business manufactures spherical beads made of expandable polystyrene (or an expandable blend of polystyrene and polyethylene called ARCEL). People typically refer to the molded product as styrofoam, but styrofoam is just a trademarked brand that Dow Chemical manufactures.

So why are they divesting the business?

According to NOVA, the sale is an important step in its "plan to focus on its olefin and polyethylene business, which includes additional investments to advance a global circular economy for plastic.". Alpek is the leader in expandable styrenics in the Americas, so they hope to incorporate the business to even "better serve customers throughout the Americas," and of course, "create value for [its] shareholders.".

Read the press release here.

Hungarian oil and gas company, MOL Group, has announced that a new rubber-bitumen from recycled tire waste plant has started up successfully.

Not a rubber-bitumen expert?

Bitumen is the liquid binder that holds asphalt together. It's a black viscous mixture of hydrocarbons that is a by-product of petroleum distillation. But rubber-bitumen blends in some waste scrap tire crumbs so that the final product ends up being 15% rubber.

Bigger picture:

The world has a bit of a waste utilization problem. MOL's rubber-bitumen kills two birds with one stone—it not only makes use of waste tires, but it actually makes for a better product. Rubber-bitumen has been shown to have a longer lifespan, lower maintenance costs, and better adhesion to aggregates than conventional bitumen. Since initial production began 8 years ago, nearly 100 miles of road have been built or refurbished using its rubber-bitumen.

Read more here on Recycling Magazine.