ExxonMobil Corp. is headed to NPE2024 with new materials, including certified-circular resins.
Officials with Houston-based ExxonMobil said it will demonstrate solutions at NPE for the primary packaging, industrial packaging, hygiene, medical and agricultural sectors. They added these solutions were created by working with customers, original equipment machinery makers and brand owners.
ExxonMobil's certified-circular polymers leverage the firm's Exxtend-brand technology for advanced recycling. These materials also incorporate ExxonMobil's performance polymers, which officials said can help boost performance while enabling sustainability benefits.
Examples include:
• Packaging designed for recyclability, including monomaterial polyethylene lamination films, lap seal/fin seal pouches and PE-rich barrier packaging films including vacuum sealed and thermoformed structures.
• Ways to incorporate recycled content with ExxonMobil performance polymers, which can help to maintain or boost performance. Items on display at NPE will include collation shrink films and heavy-duty sacks.
• Applications that can do more with less, including downgauged greenhouse films, pond liners, laminated films and heavy-duty sacks for agricultural and industrial products.
• Value-added rotational molding rigid packaging solutions.
ExxonMobil (W206AB) has continued to add resin capacity in North America. In September 2023, the firm added more than 1.5 billion pounds of specialty materials production in Baytown, Texas.
Officials said the $2 billion expansion is "part of ExxonMobil's long-term growth plans to deliver higher-value products" from its U.S. Gulf Coast refining and chemical facilities. They added that the firm "achieved excellent safety performance by leveraging our expertise to plan and execute large projects while providing meaningful investment in the U.S. Gulf Coast."
A new performance polymers line in Baytown has annual production capacity of almost 900 million pounds of Vistamaxx-brand and Exact-brand specialty elastomers. Applications include automotive parts, construction materials and packaging applications.
A new linear alpha olefins unit will have almost 800 million pounds of annual production capacity for Elevexx-brand LAOs. The unit marks ExxonMobil's entry into the market. LAOs are used in plastic packaging, engine and industrial oils, and other applications.
Officials said the firm maintained its investment in the project through the pandemic and related economic downturn. They added that the units started up safely according to planned schedule. During construction, the project supported more than 3,500 jobs. The project also will create 200 full-time jobs.
Its Baytown facility is one of the largest integrated refining and petrochemical complexes in the world. The complex is located on approximately 3,400 acres along the Houston Ship Channel, about 25 miles east of Houston.
In 2021, ExxonMobil announced Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emission reduction plans for 2030 for operated assets, compared with 2016 levels. The plans are to achieve 20-30 percent reduction in corporatewide greenhouse gas intensity, as well as 60-70 percent reduction in corporatewide flaring intensity.
ExxonMobil Chemical is a major supplier of PE, polypropylene and specialty resins. The business is a unit of global energy giant ExxonMobil Corp.
ExxonMobil Corp. W206AB