Vynova launches bio-attributed PVC in Europe using renewable ethylene from SABIC

New York — European chlor-alkali and vinyls producer Vynova said Thursday it is launching bio-attributed PVC production at two of its PVC plants, Beek in the Netherlands and Mazingarbe in France, using renewable ethylene supplied by SABIC's Geleen cracker unit in Netherlands.

"The new PVC portfolio is manufactured using renewable ethylene which is produced from certified second-generation biomass feedstock which does not compete with the food chain. This approach reduces the use of fossil feedstock conventionally used in the PVC production process, resulting in a CO2 emission reduction of more than 90%," Vynova said in a statement.

The company said product quality and material specifications meet the same stringent performance criteria as Vynova's conventionally produced PVC grades and that customers will be able to process the new PVC resins with their existing equipment.

"We are responding to increasing customer demand to take another step towards a more circular PVC value chain. Working together with our customers, our bio-attributed vinyls range will enable customers to innovate and support their sustainability goals without any compromise on quality or performance," said Jonathan Stewart, Vynova's vice president for PVC business management.

A source familiar with the company operations said Thursday that renewable ethylene's cost is around double that of the conventional ethylene, leading to a higher cost for the new PVC range.

Vynova's bio-attributed PVC portfolio is available for both rigid and flexible applications and includes a wide range of K-values.

The Beek plant can produce around 250,000 mt/year of S-PVC, with the Mazingarbe plant in France able to produce around 280,000 mt/year.

Last year, Inovyn launched the world's first commercially available bio-attributed PVC, using a similar approach with 100% renewable ethylene derived from bio-mass supplied to its Rheinberg PVC plant near Colonge in Germany.