Covestro and Neste partner to produce renewable polycarbonates
Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF.
Covestro
and Neste are starting a strategic
cooperation in Europe to promote the use of sustainable raw materials in plastics
production. Covestro will be supplied with material from renewable sources to
replace a significant portion of the fossil raw materials used to date in the
manufacture of polycarbonates. This type of a high-performance plastic is used,
for example, in car headlamps, LED lights and electronic and medical devices.
Press release (Neste): “Neste and Covestro join forces –
renewable raw materials for plastics production”, 27/5/2020.
Related posts:
- “LyondellBasell and Neste announce
commercial-scale production of biobased PP and LDPE”, 20/6/2019.
- “Borealis to produce polypropylene using
Neste’s renewable propane”, 17/10/2019.
Figure 1. Headlamp cover made from transparent
polycarbonate (taken from the press release, courtesy of Covestro)
Over the short term, the collaboration aims to
replace several thousand tons of fossil raw materials in the production of
polycarbonates with raw materials produced with Neste’s renewable hydrocarbons
(based on waste and residue oils and fats). Thanks to being a drop-in
replacement to commonly-used fossil feedstock in the polymers production, Neste’s
product is suitable for existing production infrastructures and enables
customers like Covestro to generate more sustainable products with consistently
high quality using their existing processes.
With Covestro, the positive impact provided by
Neste’s renewable hydrocarbons is expanded beyond the field of polyolefins (see
related posts to know more about Neste activities on the biobased polyolefins
field), showing the product’s value and compatibility with more complex value
chains. In the future, both companies intend to expand the scope of their
partnership, also with regard to other types of polymers. At the same time,
they are inviting other stakeholders along the value chains to cooperate.
