TAGS: Biobased Solutions
Trinseo announces that its feedstocks plant in Terneuzen, The Netherlands received an International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC) for its mass balance processes used to validate its bio-based styrene as sustainable.
Sustainable Ingredients for Different Resins
Styrene is used to produce resins such as Polystyrene (PS), Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS), Styrene Acrylonitrile (SAN), Latex Binders, and Synthetic rubber, all which Trinseo manufactures. Trinseo’s ISCC designation at Terneuzen allows the company to track both bio and recycled feedstocks at the facility and provide customers with sustainability declarations as evidence of sustainable content claims.
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Trinseo’s ethylbenzene styrene monomer plant in Terneuzen received ISCC+ certification in December 2020 and already has produced its first batch of bio-styrene,” said Nina Karabash, global business director, Feedstocks. “
This is an important step for our business, as customers are constantly looking for ways to add renewable raw materials along the value chain to support sustainability goals.”
The Terneuzen plant joins three other Trinseo sites that produce sustainable materials in being certified – polystyrene at Tessenderlo, Belgium; polycarbonate at Stade, Germany; and synthetic rubber at Schkopau, Germany.
Reduced Fossil Fuel-based Feedstock Consumption
The percentage of bio content in Trinseo’s styrene can vary based on the composition of the feedstocks. For example, the first batch of bio-styrene produced had 75 percent bio-content and was made from 100 percent bio-benzene blended with ethylene coming from fossil-based naphtha. Trinseo uses second generation bio waste ensuring that the bio-source for the styrene does not compete with food chains.
Biomaterials allow manufacturers to reduce fossil fuel use either directly or through material reuse, thereby promoting a circular economy. The mass balance approach is a chain of custody method to track sustainably advantaged materials through complex value chains to measure sustainable content in finished goods.
For Trinseo, mass balance tracking is part of its effort to meet its 2030 Sustainability Goals. These goals include evolving to a materials portfolio of 40 percent sustainably advantaged materials by 2030.
Source: Trinseo