A Wide Pool of Initiatives
An overview of the 2023 Sustainability Meeting
With the aim of presenting the latest initiatives to promote the green and circular economy, the Latin American Petrochemical and Chemical Association (APLA) organized its 3rd Sustainability meeting in September 2023 in Santiago. The event covered themes including regional regulations for plastics recycling, investment projects in green methanol and green hydrogen, and the importance of Latin American industry for global food security.
The first panel on sustainable development by brand owners focused on recent regulations in Chile, most notably the recent law on producers’ extended responsibility (REP is the Spanish acronym), which demands that producers manage and finance waste management schemes; but also the single-use plastics law (PUSU), that will require plastic bottles to contain at least 15% recycled plastic from 2025, a percentage that will increase in subsequent years.
In this context, Evelyn Peña, operations manager rPET at food and beverages company CCU, presented the company’s US$35 million investment project for a recycling plant in Renca that is expected to be operational in Q3 2024 and will have capacity to transform 19,000 t/y into the recycled resin rPET. Peña explained that increasing plastic collection will be essential to filling up the plant capacity, since Chile currently only recycles 10% of all plastic used.
Magdalena Balcells, general manager of Chilean plastics association Asipla, noted that there are huge differences among countries in the region. While Chile and Colombia share a similar context, she referred to Mexico’s federal system as an obstacle to coordinate country-wide initiatives, and pointed out that some countries in Latin America do not even have a formal waste management system at all.
Sergio Barrientos, general manager of Chile’s chemical association Asiquim, warned that the issue of new taxes should be approached carefully, because the cost is often passed on to final users, and also they can disrupt value chains. He mentioned an example: If cement producers left the country based on CO2 taxes, then the country would have no option but to import cement from other jurisdictions, so the country would be effectively importing the CO2 it was trying to eliminate.
On the subject of food security and the importance of fertilizers, the theme was raised about the opportunity to invest in new fertilizer capacity in the region. Valeria Caliva, in charge of corporate communications at Profertil, explained that the company meets 50% of Argentina’s demand for granulated urea, and emphasized that the role of fertilizers goes beyond improving actual yields per hectare, as they also prepare the soil for future crops. Now, the company is trying to improve its technology to eliminate scope 2 emissions with the use of wind energy, and also to reduce the amount of gas and water used per tonne of urea produced.
Other companies presenting at the event included YPF, Methanex and Unigel. Natalia Garabato, project manager at YPF, showcased the company’s three sustainability axes (energy efficiency, low-carbon operations and sustainable energy sources), as well as more specific programs including the reuse of ferrous waste and catalysts, a project to utilize used kitchen oil as feedstock for green diesel, and a plastics chemical recycling program using pyrolysis. Garabato explained that the regulatory framework for chemical recycling is widely insufficient or inexistent, considering that this technology has only been implemented for the last five years.
Alejandro Larrive, managing director for Methanex in Chile, outlined the company’s vision to lead the transition towards low-carbon methanol. This includes three aspects: reduce emissions in conventional methanol production; move towards new ways of methanol production with lower emissions, for instance applying CO2 capture and storage, or using renewable natural gas; and finally, promoting and growing new markets for these greener but, inevitably, more costly products. Larrive explained that, by 2027, there will be over 100 ships worldwide with dual fuel technology to use methanol, yet there will not be enough production capacity of green methanol available.
Finally, Marina Mattar, corporate affairs director at Unigel, presented the Brazilian firm’s investment project in green hydrogen and green ammonia, a project divided into several phases that should see a total investment of US$1.5 billion. The first step, expected to be completed in 2024, has a capex of US$120 million for a capacity of 10,000 t/y of green hydrogen and 60,000 t/y of green ammonia.