Best available and emerging technologies for PVC production, processing and disposal

A Sevenster Fourth Andean Conference on PVC Sustainability Bogota, Colombia, September 28, 2010

Contents of the presentation

● Best available and emerging technologies for PVC – – Production and processing End of life ● Additives – – Status of core additives Developments ● New PVC carbon footprinting & sustainability tool ● (Optional background slides) Eco-profiles, LCA and EPD

BAT in PVC manufacturing and processing THREE PILLARS

●

Voluntary commitments

●

Good Practices

Responsible manufacturing Health Environment Safety

Some voluntary commitments

● Australia – – Industry Product Stewardship commitment launched in October 2002 Some of the commitments ● ● ● ● Residual VCM in finished resin < 1 ppm: ACHIEVED VCM emissions not greater than 50g/tonne PVC: ACHIEVED Phase out of cadmium stabilisers by 2003: ACHIEVED Phase out of lead stabilisers by 2010: ON TRACK ● Europe (next slide) ● ● South America – Brazilian pipes and fittings producers committed to replace lead stabilisers by calcium/zinc USA – Industry initiatives to phase out lead

Voluntary commitments in Europe

● ECVM industry Charters – Voluntary commitments to reduce environmental impact of manufacturing activities – – – ● ● ● Target setting for emission limits, essentially EDC and VCM

Apply Best Available Techniques (associated BAT documents)

Reviews by an independent third party VCM and S-PVC (1994), E-PVC (1998) 3 rd verification of VCM/S-PVC Charter and 2 nd currently in progress More information on www.pvc.org

verification of E-PVC Charter ● Vinyl 2010 – Refer to presentation by Helmuth Leitner, but as reminder: ● Phase out of cadmium ● Progressive phase out of lead, complete by 2015 ● ● ● Phase out of Bisphenol A in polymerisation Risk assessments on all phthalates Development of recycling

Good Practices

● ECVM Annual Health, Safety and Environment Conference – 30 - 40 participants, typically production managerial staff. All companies represented – – One and a half day Review of accidents, incidents and near misses (“True confessions”) – Exchange of information on HSE issues related to manufacturing ● US companies also meet regularly to discuss safety in manufacturing

Emerging technologies for PVC production

● Incremental improvements of the established processes – For example recovery of process water ● Environmental impact of current acetylene process worse than ethylene process – Could it become sustainable?

● Raw materials can be obtained from renewable resources – Ethylene from bio-based ethanol (Brazil) or from methanol synthesized from waste (“Methanol to Olefin” processes) – Chlorine obtained from sea salt with electricity from renewable sources

BAT for end of life treatment of PVC

● Landfilling to be avoided wherever possible – Unsustainable “solution”, waste of space and resources ● Recycling to be favoured, because it’s best for saving resources and energy but – Collection of sufficiently homogeneous waste streams is an (essentially economic) issue – It can be hampered by standards, regulations (e.g. REACH) and public acceptance ● Energy recovery is an option, but PVC has disadvantages compared to e.g. polyolefins – Constraints on incinerator design/operations to keep corrosion manageable; it is feasible up to a chlorine content of 5-6% – Generation of neutriaisation residues ● Cooperation of the value chain is essential for success

Global Warming potential reduction through recycling

● ● ● ● Recent study by PE International The figure depicts the results in terms of Global Warming Potential

The diagram clearly demonstrates that incineration carries much higher burdens (3-4kg CO2-eq.) than mechanical recycling

“System expansion” refers to the inclusion of new production of PVC with additives (which are different for cable and rigid PVC)

Emerging technologies for end-of-life PVC

● Mechanical recycling – – Vinyloop/Texyloop (See Vinyl 2010 presentation) Progress in sorting and separation technologies, allowing to recycle more “difficult PVC waste”: For example Autovinyle in France http://www.autovinyle.com/en_index.html

● Feedstock recycling – Lots of laboratory studies on gasification and pyrolysis, but very few commercially demonstrated processes – High investments ● Energy recovery from waste on PVC production sites – Energy and sometimes HCl recovery ● Recovery of incineration residues – Neutrec (developed by Solvay) – Halosep (developed by Watech/RGS90/Stena with the support of Vinyl 2010)

Autovinyle process

Manufacturing products from PVC recyclate

for dismantled parts

ELV Collection of PVC parts Densification and micronisation



Pévéchouc ® Calendering or injection

The Neutrec ® process (Solvay)

● The Flue Gas Cleaning Residues collected in the bag filter are mixed with hydraulic binders, then placed in an aqueous solution with certain additives ● The suspension is filtered ● The insoluble part contains in particular most of the heavy metals. They are solidified into inert matter ● The brine is further purified and reused in the manufacture of sodium carbonate ● See www.neutrec.com

The Halosep ® process

● Recovers 98-99 % of the chlorine from incineration flue gas waste residues in the form of salts ● Applicable to Semi-Dry and Wet incineration processes ● Reduces by 50 properties –75 % the amount of neutralisation waste to be disposed to landfills and improves its leaching ● The treated waste complies with the leaching limit criteria for heavy metals for non-hazardous waste ● The main product is a salt brine free from dioxins, furans and heavy metals ● Cadmium, zinc and lead can be extracted in various amounts

Additives

●

Status of core additives

– – Plasticisers Stabilisers ●

Developments in plasticisers

Plasticisers – three main groups: Products LOW

molecular weight phthalates SVHC *

HIGH

molecular weight phthalates non-SVHC Other plasticisers • • DEHP BBP • • DBP DIBP • • • DINP DIDP DPHP • • DIUP DTDP • • Adipates Benzoates • Citrates • • DINCH Others There are ~ 100 plasticisers on the market but Phthalates represent ~ 90% of the WE plasticiser market 15

Plasticisers are mostly used in Flexible PVC products

LOW

molecular weight phthalates

HIGH

molecular weight phthalates Other plasticisers • Medical (DEHP) • General purpose PVC applications (DEHP) • Adhesives (DIBP) • Cosmetics (DBP/DIBP) • PVC Wire & cable • PVC Flooring & wall covering • PVC Film & sheet • PVC Synthetic leather • PVC Coated fabrics • Automotive •Toys •Food contact •Sealants •Medical •Niche applications 16

Worldwide Plasticiser Consumption

Other Other Other DEHP DEHP Other Other DINP/DIDP DINP/DIDP DEHP DEHP DEHP represents 50% of the phthalates used Worldwide 1) 2) … …but only 17% of the phthalates used in Europe Notes : Other Plasticisers include Adipates, Trimelliatates, Benzoates, DINCH & Citrates 2) Other Phthalates include Linears, DPHP, DIUP, DTDP, DOTP, DIBP, DBP Source: 2007 Chemical Economics Handbook – SRI Consulting 17

Evolution of Plasticiser Consumption in Europe

80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% DINP/DIDP/DPHP DEHP Ongoing substitution of classified LMW by non-classified HMW plasticisers 2001 2002 2003 share of DINP/DIDP/DPHP in total plast.

2004 2005 2006 share of DEHP in total plasticisers 2007 2008 2009 share of non-phth in total plasticisers Source: ECPI 2010 Source: ECPI, 2008 18

Stabilisers

● Cadmium – – – Not used on EU market anymore (Vinyl 2010) 100 ppm limit likely to become mandatory for ALL applications Recycling issue: Hope for a 1000 ppm limit for cadmium originating from recycling, in rigid building applications excluding drinking water pipes ● Tin – Regulatory restrictions for di-butyltin in EU as from 2012 – Industry has anticipated ● Lead – – Phase out ahead of Vinyl 2010 schedule Will be also an issue in recycling ● Lead replaced by calcium/zinc – calcium/organic stabilisers

Alternatives to phthalates

● Some commercial non-phthalate options for general purpose use in PVC – Epoxidised Oils (e.g. epoxidised soybean oil): Long term compatibility problems and processability issues – Citrates: Currently limited availability and higher costs. Performance lacking in permanence – – – – Polyesters: Poor processability, higher costs

Terephthalates Cyclohexanoate diesters: DINCH ® Polyol esters: Danisco’s Grindsted ® Soft-N-Safe

● Comparison with phthalates (presentation by D. Naert (ExxonMobil Chemical) on behalf of ECPI at the “PVC Formulation 2009” conference on 16 – 18 March 2009 – Phthalates like DEHP,DINP,DIDP have proven track records of meeting GP plasticiser performance – – Main difference between phthalates: level of permanency and processability Base set for a “General Purpose phthalate” with a maximum index of 10 for each of the 5 key parameters

Terephthalates

Cyclohexanoate diesters (DINCH

®)

Polyol esters: Danisco Grindsted

® Soft-N-Safe

PVC sustainability tool

● Developed by Adisa Azapagic, Haruna Gujba, Anthony Morgan and Heinz Stichnothe – School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science, The University of Manchester ● ● Enables calculations of carbon footprint of different PVC products and processes on a life cycle basis – Cradle to gate – Cradle to grave Calculates other environmental impacts ● Calculates value added along supply chains ● Includes case studies and a range of databases

New tool to assess PVC sustainability

● Questions explored within the PVC sustainability tool – – – – – What is the carbon intensity of a PVC supply chain/process/product?

Where are the ‘hot spots’?

What are the low-carbon options for reducing the carbon intensity? What would be the cost? And value added?

How would other environmental impacts change?

● Main features of the tool – Tailored for the PVC industry/supply chains – – – – Free of charge Simple to use Integrated case studies Includes data bases – ● ● ● Materials Energy Transport ● Packaging ● Waste management Enables ‘what if’ scenario analysis

Built-in case studies and examples

Top-level view of the tool

Data shown for illustration only

Identifying carbon ‘hot spots’

Data shown for illustration only

Other environmental impacts

●

Acidification

●

Eutrophication

●

Ozone depletion

●

Photochemical smog

●

Human toxicity

Data shown for illustration only

Background slides (optional)

● LCAs remain the basis for scientific assessments of environmental impacts ● High quality data available for plastic resins in general, and PVC in particular

Eco-profiles

● Cradle-to-gate Life Cycle Inventories ● Benefits – – Essential basis for LCA studies of products Possibility of environmental benchmarking ● Encouraging environmental improvements in manufacturing ● Plastics

Europe

eco-profiles – – – Average representing the majority of European production Publicly available at http://lca.plasticseurope.org

Included in the International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) ● Eco-profiles of PVC resin – – 92 % coverage of Western European industry Collected and calculated in 2005 by IFEU ● Eco-profiles of PVC conversion processes published in 2010 – Pipes and profiles extrusion, sheet calendering and coating, injection molding

Results of eco-profiles of PVC resin

EPD of PVC resin

● Environmental Product Declarations are so called ‘ Type III environmental declarations’ – Quantified environmental data for a product using predetermined parameters, based on ISO 14040 series – The environmental data may be supplemented by other quantitative and qualitative environmental information ● The PVC EPD were the first to be published under a new EPD programme launched by Plastics

Europe

– Defined “Product Category Rules”, i.e. “Set of specific rules, requirements, and guidelines for developing Type III environmental declarations for one or more product categories” – Essentially based on the eco-profiles http://lca.plasticseurope.org

EPD results for 1 kg of PVC

●

represents the European PVC resin producing companies and is a division of PlasticsEurope. Its membership includes the 13 European PVC resin producers which together account for 100 % of EU 27 production. ECVM is also a leading partner of Vinyl 2010 - the organisation implementing the Voluntary Commitment of the PVC Industry - together with ESPA - representing the stabiliser producers, ECPI - representing the plasticiser producers and EuPC - representing the PVC converters.