SABIC collaborates with Kraton for certified renewable butadiene to produce certified renewable styrenic block copolymers

SITTARD, THE NETHERLANDS, March 14, 2022 - SABIC, a global leader in the chemical industry, has announced a new collaboration with Kraton, a leading global sustainable producer of specialty polymers and high-value biobased products derived from pine wood pulping co-products, to deliver certified renewable butadiene from its TRUCIRCLE^™ portfolio for use in Kraton’s certified renewable styrenic block copolymers (SBC). This effort forms part of SABIC’s 2025 strategy, which includes a Sustainability Development Goal roadmap spanning the organization’s entire value chain and addressing 10 goals to help drive meaningful sustainable change.

SABIC’s certified renewable butadiene is derived from animal-free and palm oil-free ‘second generation’ renewable feedstock, such as tall oil, a by-product from the wood pulping process in the paper industry. This feedstock is not in direct competition with human food and animal feed production sources. According to the cradle-to-gate lifecycle analysis, from sourcing the raw feedstock to producing the polymers, each kilogram of the company’s bio-based butadiene reduces CO₂ emissions by an average of 4 kilograms compared to fossil-based virgin alternatives. Additionally, each ton of the butadiene also cuts fossil depletion by up to 80 percent.

Mohammed Al-Zahrani, Vice President, Chemical at SABIC adds, “Sustainability in SABIC is embedded across our organization and goes hand in hand with our commitment to helping our customers and their customers meet their own sustainability targets. Developing more sustainable solutions requires partnerships across the value chain. Our collaboration with Kraton for renewable butadiene as feedstock for Kraton’s polymers is another example of working together towards our common goals and confirms the wide interest from the chemicals industry in developing sustainable solutions for the future. After SABIC’s earlier successes in developing certified renewable and circular ethylene, propylene, and benzene, we are delighted to add certified renewable butadiene to our TRUCIRCLE portfolio.”

SABIC’s certified renewable butadiene will be used in Kraton’s newly launched ISCC PLUS certified renewable CirKular+™ ReNew Series to expand Kraton's existing suite of solutions designed to advance the circular economy. With up to 70% certified renewable content, the ReNew Series offers customers the opportunity to use the mass balance approach and adopt ISCC PLUS certification to produce renewable products. Kraton successfully produced CirKular+ ReNew Series Hydrogenated Styrenic Block Copolymers (HSBC) at the Berre plant earlier this year using SABIC’s renewable butadiene.

"Kraton’s ambition is to enable the bioeconomy and play a role in advancing the circular economy. Value chain collaboration is instrumental in achieving progress towards a circular economy. Kraton is excited to collaborate with SABIC in using certified renewable butadiene enables us to develop and produce styrenic block copolymers with up to 70% of certified renewable raw material content," said Holger Jung, Kraton Senior Vice President, and Polymer Segment President. "This is an exciting innovation for our customers as it can help reduce the carbon footprint of fossil-based HSBC made in our Berre plant by up to 65 percent.”

International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) PLUS certification is a globally-recognized system that provides traceability of recycled and renewable-based materials across a complex supply chain, by following predefined and transparent rules.

SABIC’s TRUCIRCLE portfolio spans a range of products and services, including design for recyclability, mechanically recycled products, certified circular products from feedstock recycling of used plastic, certified renewable products from bio-based feedstock and closed-loop initiatives to recycle plastic back into high quality applications and help prevent valuable used plastics from becoming waste.

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