Austria's Borealis aims to reduce carbon footprint through use of biopolymers

Borealis said it aims to build a circular economy by closing the loop and decouple from fossil fuels with its latest drop-in biopolymer product.

"For PP and PE produced with waste and residue based renewable stock from Borealis, the partial carbon footprint of PP is reduced by 2.1kg carbon dioxide equivalent per kg polymer, from 1.6kg to -0.5kg carbon dioxide equivalent; while that of PE is reduced by 1.9kg carbon dioxide equivalent per kg polymer, from 1.4 to -0.5kg carbon dioxide equivalent." said Stephan Roest, strategic business platform leader, circular economy solutions of Borealis on its lifecycle analysis at the European Bioplastic Conference Nov. 30.

To put it into context, Borealis said when replacing 1 mt of conventional PP with its bio-PP, the carbon saving is comparable to CO2 emissions of three passengers' return flights from London to Beijing, or charging 2,100 smartphones for a year.

Borealis also advocated for a mass balance model of which it has already obtained the ISCC plus certification. A mass balance model is to replace an identical volume of fossil feedstock by replacing it with sustainable feedstock, usually produced from bio-based waste and residue.

Apart from Borealis, Natureworks had also given its critique on the current practice of LCA for the bioplastics industry in the conference. One of Natureworks' concerns on the LCA methodology is that the current practice of carbon storage has overlooked the benefit of taking CO2 out of the atmosphere for bio-based products when it is stored into the product and not contributing to climate change anymore.

As the environmental concerns around plastic pollution become ever more intense, many petrochemicals companies have sought to expand their portfolio of productions beyond fossil-fuel-derived virgin polymers to include bio-based and recycled alternatives. This has been in a bid to reduce emissions and environmental footprint and to create more circular economies.

S&P Global Platts estimated that certified bio-polymer production capacity has reached about 10,919 kt at present in Europe.