The plastic business of chemical giants wants to be more environmentally friendly and more profitable

From mid-October, hotel prices in Düsseldorf, the capital of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, have doubl.

From October 16th to 23rd, the world's largest plastics and rubber exhibition, the German K exhibition, was held here, and more than 3,000 related companies from around the world came to participa.

The full name of the German K exhibition is the International Plastics and Rubber Fair in Dusseldorf, Germa.

Plastic is not a single substance, but a general term for various polymer compounds formed by polyaddition or polycondensation, including polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, polyurethane, polycarbonate,e.

These materials are widely used in the production of films, fibers, pipes, coatings, e.

Chemical giants are trying to create a more positive image by drawing a line between plastics and "environmental pollution" and "resource wast.

At the same time, these giants are also trying to sell more plastic products in more scenarios: from 5G communications to electric vehicles, to various fields of sportswe.

The plastics industry should be environmentally friendly

How to make plastic more environmentally friendly? This is an issue that cannot be avoided in this indust.

In this exhibition, many manufacturers made their own environmental protection attempts on sho.

Manufacturing a pair of traditional sports shoes often requires a variety of materials such as cotton, polyester, and fibe.

At the Covestro booth, a shoe made entirely of thermoplastic polyurethane elastomers (TPU) became the focus of the presentati.

According to the on-site staff, through the processing of different processes such as weaving and puffing of TPU, TPU presents completely different material characteristics in the upper, insole, and so.

Wanhua Chemical, a Chinese chemical company, released the world's first fully 3D printed shoe material solution in cooperation with sports brand PEAK at the exhibiti.

In the BASF exhibition area, the global chemical giant displayed its own plastic recycling and reuse projects, especially plastic products that are already polluted and difficult to reu.

The company uses various plastic products as raw materials, thermally cracks to produce oil, and uses this to produce plastic produc.

        BASF said that pilot projects at companies such as Jaguar Land Rover and Schneider have shown that plastic products converted from recycled chemical materials are also of high quality and high performan.

        Another chemical giant, Dow Chemical, put forward more ambitious environmental protection goals at the exhibiti.

According to its vision, by 2030, the company's plastic products sold for packaging applications will be 100% recyclable, degradable or biofertilize.

        In January of this year, more than 30 companies from the chemical, plastics, consumer goods and waste treatment industries jointly established the "End Plastic Waste Alliance", including BASF, Covestro, Dow Chemical and othe.

        The alliance aims to promote plastic waste management, promote plastic recycling products, and minimize the impact of plastic waste on the natural environme.

        In addition to the recycling of plastic materials, Covestro is also trying to use carbon dioxide as a raw material to produce rubber, and make it into products such as mattresses and sports shoes, so as to achieve greenhouse gas recycling and reduce the use of crude oil resourc.

        The process firstly cracks the collected carbon dioxide waste gas and becomes one of the raw materials for the production of polycarbona.

According to the on-site staff, carbon dioxide can currently replace up to 20% of crude oil materials, which is also an important exploration trend to realize the industrial carbon cyc.

        At the K exhibition in Germany, Markus Steilemann, CEO of Covestro, said that there is still a lot of room for development in the plastics industry to promote the development of a disposable economy to a circular economy and promote resource recycli.

        How to sell more plastic?

        In addition to environmental protection issues, a major problem that chemical giants have to face is: In recent years, the prosperity of the global chemical industry has declined significantly, and the industry's performance growth has been under great pressu.

        In the first half of this year, BASF’s profits fell sharp.

EBIT before special items was 8 billion euros, down 35% year-on-ye.

        Dow Chemical's first-half net sales were $11 billion, down 14 percent from estimated results for the same period last ye.

This was mainly due to lower polyethylene, siloxane and isocyanate prices, as well as a reduction in hydrocarbon by-produc.

        Wanhua Chemical's net profit in the first half of the year was almost halved, and the net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was 621 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 44

        In Covestro's two main business segments, polyurethanes and polycarbonates, both sales and profits fe.

Its first-half net profit fell 75% year-on-year to 368 million eur.

        Covestro CEO Shi Wenle told Jiemian News and other media that global trade frictions have brought uncertainty to economic growth prospects, and people also have doubts about new technologies during the transition from internal combustion engine vehicles to electric vehicl.

        As an important source of income for the plastics industry, the global automotive industry ended a nearly ten-year growth period in 2018, with sales declining for the first ti.

This spreads to related energy, plastics, steel, aluminum and other industri.

        In order to promote performance growth, in addition to the application and innovation of new materials and new technologies, chemical giants are preparing to replace more conventional materials with plasti.

Electronic products and equipment, 5G communications and electric vehicles have become the focus of the indust.

        Previously, SABIC launched an attempt to use polycarbonate material instead of window gla.

This material allows manufacturers to add more designs to the window, and the weight is lighter than traditional automotive gla.

        In July this year, Covestro successfully developed a casing material suitable for 5G base statio.

Due to the high requirements for tolerance to extreme conditions, the reduction of signal attenuation, and the adaptation to the unique frequency and wavelength characteristics of 5G, 5G has higher requirements for materia.

        At the K exhibition in Germany, Covestro also launched its concept electric vehicle interiors in cooperation with other manufacturers, including lighting, seats, operation screens, window glass, e.

, all of which have more plastic material applicatio.

        Covestro has also applied plastic materials to wheel and body anti-collision devices, further promoting the process of lightening and plasticizing electric vehicl.

        At the BASF booth, a concept RV built in cooperation with Germany's HYMER was display.

HYMER is a company specializing in the production of camperva.

        Based on the Mercedes-Benz sprinter, the concept RV is made of more than 20 high-performance materia.

On this car, BASF used 3D printing technology to manufacture more than one hundred interior and exterior trim par.