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Search results for: “plastic recycling”

  • Battery recycling: the economics?

    Battery recycling: the economics?

    This data-file models the economics of recycling spent lithium ion batteries, taking in waste cells, and recovering materials such as cobalt, nickel, manganese, copper, aluminium, lithium and steel. It currently looks challenging to generate acceptable IRRs without charging a disposal fee in the range of $1,700-2,000/ton. This could change through more automated processes.

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  • Thermo-Plastic Composite: The Future of Risers?

    Thermo-Plastic Composite: The Future of Risers?

    We estimate thermo-plastic composite riser costs line-by-line. Savings should reach 45%. The file also includes a complete history of TCP installations to-date, as this technology’s adoption continues.

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  • Shale water costs: transport, treatment and disposal?

    Shale water costs: transport, treatment and disposal?

    Shale water costs might average $0.3/bbl for filtering and recycling, $0.4/bbl to procure new water, $1/bbl for disposal and $3/bbl for full treatment back to agricultural/cooling-quality water. There is variability in water properties and throughout shale basins. This data-file aggregates disclosures into shale water costs.

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  • Landfill costs: by country and over time?

    Landfill costs: by country and over time?

    This data-file tabulates the most likely costs of placing waste-material (e.g., plastic) into landfill, country by country, and over time. Landfill taxes have risen at an 8% CAGR on average, clearly reduce landfilling rates, and promote recycling. This short note spells out our top five conclusions on landfill taxes by country and over time.

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  • Global commodity trade: by product by region?

    Global commodity trade: by product by region?

    Commodities comprise over $6trn of of the world’s $33trn pa in global trade, or around 20%, alongside $10trn in services, $2trn of electronic goods, $1trn in cars, $1trn in mechanical capital goods. This data-file breaks down global commodity imports and exports, by country and by region.

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  • Newlight AirCarbon: bioplastics breakthrough?

    Newlight AirCarbon: bioplastics breakthrough?

    Newlight is converting (bio-)methane and air into polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), a type of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), a biodegradable bioplastic which it markets as AirCarbon. The product is ‘carbon negative’, biodegradable, strong, ‘never soggy’, dishwasher safe. Our AirCarbon technology review found some good underlying innovations, but was unable to de-risk cost and capex aspirations.

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  • Polyester: production process?

    Polyester: production process?

    Polyester is the most produced textile fiber on planet Earth. Of the world’s 8GTpa of oil and gas production, 80MTpa, or 1% ends up as PET, via eleven chemical processing stages that span naphtha-reforming, BTX separation into paraxylene, oxidation to PTA, plus ethane cracking, ethylene oxide and ethylene glycol. This data file covers the polyester…

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  • Global oil demand: breakdown by product by country?

    Global oil demand: breakdown by product by country?

    This data-file breaks down global oil demand, country-by-country, product-by-product, month-by-month, across 2017-2024. Global oil demand ran at 103 Mbpd in 2024, for +1.0 Mbpd of growth, according to our databases. For perspective, global oil demand rose at +1.2Mbpd per year in the 30-years from 1989->2019, so not much evidence, on face value, that “peak oil…

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  • Turn the Plastics into Roads?

    Turn the Plastics into Roads?

    An opportunity is emerging to absorb mixed plastic waste, displacing bitumen from road asphalts. We find strong economics, with net margins of $200/ton of plastic, deflating the materials costs of roads by c4%. The challenge is scaling the opportunity beyond 20MTpa, as unrecycled waste plastics surpass 320MTpa. Leading companies include Dow (US, public) and MacRebur…

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  • Battery cathode active materials and manufacturing?

    Battery cathode active materials and manufacturing?

    Lithium ion batteries famously have cathodes containing lithium, nickel, manganese, cobalt, aluminium and/or iron phosphate. But how are these cathode active materials manufactured? This data-file gathers specific details from technical papers and patents by leading companies such as BASF, LG, CATL, Panasonic, Solvay and Arkema.

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