This fall, Ikea and the Finnish oil company Neste will start commercial-scale production of polypropylene and polyethylene made from renewable feedstocks for use in Ikea goods. Neste will supply the inputs, which include vegetable oil and waste cooking oil.
The two firms first partnered in 2016 with the goal of producing common plastics with renewable raw materials rather than fossil fuels. Ikea has vowed to change all of the plastic used in its iconic household goods to biobased or recycled materials by 2030.
Neste makes primarily renewable diesel from waste oil but in recent years has been working to make plastics from a leftover fraction of the renewable oil.
To do so, Neste will send several thousand tons of plant-based crude oil to an unnamed plastics processor, which will make batches of plastic containing partially biobased content. Ikea has targeted 20% biobased content for certain product lines including plastic storage boxes. As the amount of available feedstock increases, the firm says, more products will follow.
Bottom of Form
While some products, such as Coca-Cola’s green-capped soda bottles, are made with cane sugar-derived polyethylene terephthalate, the Ikea project will be the first to produce renewable polypropylene.
“Together with Neste, we are ensuring that there is an opportunity to scale up the production of this material,” says Erik Ljungblad, Ikea’s manager of plastic products.
By: Melody M. Bomgardner
Source: Chemical & Engineering News
Neste Corporation’s Board of Directors has appointed Heikki Malinen, M.Sc. (Econ.), MBA (Harvard) as the President and CEO of Neste as of 2 November 2024, at the latest. Malinen joins Neste from Outokumpu Corporation where he has held the position of President and CEO since 2020.
Petrochemicals company Sasol has announced that CFO and executive director Hanré Rossouw will step down from his position, effective October 31. Sasol has started the process to appoint a successor. Rossouw will still oversee the publication of Sasol’s reports for the financial year ending June 30, to allow for a structured handover period.
Chemours announced its CFO Jonathan Lock has resigned from all positions within the company, according to an SEC 8-K filing on April 23. The resignation comes in the aftermath of the company announcing that Lock, former CEO Mark Newman, and principal accounting officer Camela Wisel, had been placed on administrative leave.
