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DECARBONISING AVIATION SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING
International Airlines Group inks 10-year e-SAF deal LG Chem and Reifenhäuser strengthen partnership

with Inﬁ nium to advance ﬂ exible mono-material packaging

International Airlines Group (IAG) – petitiveness of the European aviation South Korea’s LG Chem and PET-PE laminates, thus making the
one of the world’s largest airline industry. What the industry needs is German extrusion machine manufac- production of MDO-PE ﬁ lms more
groups – has announced a new Sus- additional policy support to attract turer Reifenhäuser have signed a MoU, proﬁ table. Technically, this is achieved
tainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) purchase funds to construct SAF plants and to further develop and market com- due to the different densities of PET
agreement with American e-SAF pro- reduce aviation’s reliance on fossil fuels.” petitive Machine Direction Oriented ﬁ lm and MDO-PE ﬁ lm by replacing the
ducer Inﬁ nium, which plans to supply (MDO)-polyethylene (PE) blown ﬁ lms standard 12 µm PET ﬁ lm with a 16-17
the UK market with power-to-liquid bered by feedstock limitations, and which The e-SAF will be produced at and ﬂ at ﬁ lms for recyclable packaging. µm MDO-PE ﬁ lm. With the reduction
e-SAF from late 2026. offers a higher degree of emissions reduc- Inﬁ nium’s Project Roadrunner facility, to 18 µm, the partners are already very
tion versus conventional jet fuel, besides located in the US in West Texas. The In May 2024, the companies had close to achieving this goal.
Produced from water, waste CO a relatively low land- and water-use foot- project is set to be the largest global pro- presented the “world’s ﬁ rst MDO-PE
2
and renewable energy, e-SAF is ex- print. It is also a “drop-in” replacement ducer of e-SAF once fully operational ﬁ lm only 18 micrometres (µm), which “The downgauging limit has not
pected to reduce lifecycle greenhouse for aviation fuel that requires no changes and has received funding commitments had been produced on an EVO Ultra yet been reached,” emphasised Mr.
gas emissions by approximately 90% to existing aircraft engine designs. from Brookﬁ eld Asset Management Stretch blown ﬁ lm line from Reifen- Christoph Lettowsky, Technical Sales
compared to today’s conventional jet and Breakthrough Energy Catalyst. Pro- häuser with specially developed PE Dr. Lee Choong Hoon, Vice President and Manager at Reifenhäuser Blown Film.
fuel. Under the terms of the ten-year Mr. Jonathon Counsell, IAG’s ject Roadrunner is Inﬁ nium’s second materials.” Head of NCC/PO business unit at LG Chem “Thanks to the patented position of
agreement, Inﬁ nium will supply IAG Group Sustainability Ofﬁ cer, said, “So eFuels project, being developed (Left), with Mr. Bernd Reifenhäuser, CEO, our MDO Ultra Stretch unit directly in
with e-SAF to support any of its ﬁ ve far, we’re on track to deliver our 10% after the Project Pathﬁ nder in Corpus Mr. Bernd Reifenhäuser, CEO of Reifenhäuser Group the line’s haul-off, the ﬁ lm is stretched
airlines – Aer Lingus, British Airways, 2030 SAF goal and agreements with Christi, Texas. As part of its sustaina- the Reifenhäuser Group, said, “The de- Further downgauging for competi- from the ﬁ rst heat. This makes the
Iberia, LEVEL and Vueling. Last year, innovators like Inﬁ nium, are key to bility roadmap, IAG is also investing mand for ﬂ exible mono-material pack- tiveness process particularly stable, which is
IAG airlines used approximately 12% reaching this target. Aviation as an in- in new aircraft and implementing fuel aging is growing rapidly. But MDO-PE With perfectly coordinated system otherwise often the limiting factor for
of the world’s supply of SAF. dustry is working hard to decarbonise efﬁ ciency initiatives, purchasing and ﬁ lms must be stable and economical technology and formulation, proces- material reduction. We therefore see
and policy should focus on solutions investing in SAF and advancing carbon to produce in order to make the leap sors will in future receive a tried and even more scope, which we will use in
This deal supports the scale-up of such as SAF, rather than only increas- removals to reduce emissions from its from a niche to a broad market. With tested, complete package for immediate combination with further recipe deve-
e-SAF, a new class of fuel not encum- ing costs which risk affecting the com- operations. LG Chem and Reifenhäuser, we have market access in the ﬁ eld of ﬂ exible lopments for even thinner ﬁ lms in the

BIOFUEL COLLABORATION found the perfect match of raw mate- mono-PE packaging, the companies said. future.” The 18 µm MDO PE ﬁ lm
without PFAS additives was produced
rial, extrusion technology and process
Corteva and BP mull low-carbon intensity SAF feed- know-how that will pave the way. For LG Chem and Reifenhäuser are stably and reproducibly over many
stock Joint Venture the ﬁ rst time, processors will be able to also working on further reducing mate- hours in test runs at the Reifenhäuser
produce recyclable MDO-PE ﬁ lms at rial consumption by downgauging technical centre and then printed and
competitive production costs in a stable towards the level of conventional processed into ﬁ nished pouches.
Corteva, the crop protection com- biofuel feedstocks for SAF production bp to help the European airline industry process that can be optimally further Clariant’s catalysts to power China’s ﬁ rst biomass-
pany spun out from DowDuPont, has by the mid-2030s. become more sustainable while giving processed.” to-green methanol project
announced a collaboration with UK’s farmers a new source of income,” said
BP on the companies’ shared intent to Corteva plans to contract with Corteva Chief Strategy Ofﬁ cer, Mr. Brook Dr. Lee Choong Hoon, Vice Presi- Swiss specialty chemical company, methanol in the ﬁ rst half of 2025 as
form a crop-based biofuel feedstock farmers in North and South America, Cunningham.“Together, we are well dent and Head of NCC/PO Business Clariant, has announced that its Mega- China’s ﬁ rst commercialised biomass
joint venture (jv). and Europe, to grow proprietary positioned to deliver value through Unit at LG Chem, added, “We are very Max branded catalyst was selected for gasiﬁ cation-to-green methanol plant.
Corteva mustard seed, sunﬂ ower and leveraging Corteva’s technology and pleased to have found an experienced a China’s biomass gasiﬁ cation-to-green
The jv would produce and deliver canola feedstocks well-suited for SAF grower relationships and BP’s reﬁ n- technology partner in Reifenhäuser to methanol project. Clariant said its MegaMax catalyst
crop-based biofuel feedstocks to help production. The jv would aim to intro- ing and trading capabilities,” added successfully combine sustainability and provides enhanced stability and tole-
meet the anticipated growth in demand duce new cropping systems to produce Ms. Emma Delaney, Executive Vice Presi- proﬁ tability. Our combined technology The plant will use a combination of rance to the ﬂ uctuation of the system
for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). oil that meets EU RED III criteria, and dent, customers & products, BP. The has achieved unprecedented records in farm waste and wind power to produce required for green methanol produc-
qualiﬁ es for US Low Carbon Intensity two companies anticipate ﬁ nalising downgauging MDO-PE ﬁ lm – and that up to 250-ktpa of green methanol in two tion. Thanks to the catalyst’s enhanced
As per the non-binding MoU, the policy incentives, while creating a new deﬁ nitive agreements in 2025 with the was just the beginning. We will continue phases by 2027. Construction of the selectivity, by-product formation is low,
jv would aim to progressively scale up revenue stream for farmers. “We are target operational date for the jv later this path together to accelerate the ﬁ rst plant phase began in March 2024 signiﬁ cantly improving the economics
volume, reaching delivery of 1-mtpa of excited at the prospect of partnering with in the year. recyclability for ﬂ exible packaging.” and is expected to start producing green of green methanol synthesis, it added.

170 Chemical Weekly December 10, 2024 Chemical Weekly December 10, 2024 171

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