Kraton and SABIC to collaborate in production of styrenic block copolymers

Houston, TX – Kraton Corporation to collaborate with SABIC, a globally diversified chemicals company, to produce ISCC PLUS Certified renewable Styrenic Block Copolymers (SBC) at Kraton’s manufacturing facility in Berre, France.

The newly launched ISCC PLUS Certified renewable CirKular+™ ReNew Series expands 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 from the company’s TRUCIRCLE™ portfolio of circular solutions.

SABIC’s certified renewable butadiene is derived from animal-free and palm oil-free second-generation renewable feedstock, such as tall oil co-product from the wood pulping process in the paper industry, which is not in direct competition with human food and animal feed production sources.

According to the cradle-to-gate lifecycle assessment, from sourcing, the raw feedstock to producing the monomer, each kilogram of the company’s certified renewable butadiene reduces CO2 emissions by an average of 4 kg compared to fossil-based virgin alternatives. Additionally, each ton of this butadiene also cuts fossil depletion by up to 80 percent.

“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. It 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”.

Launched in 2020, the CirKular+ product line enables high-performance, innovative solutions for the circular economy and plastics upcycling using a holistic approach to product lifecycle. These products help customers shift to renewable materials, improve product performance, lower carbon footprint, and allow the uptake of recycled plastics.

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 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 broad 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 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 renewables 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.

International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) PLUS certification is a globally recognized system that provides traceability of recycled and renewable-based materials across the supply chain and verifies that companies meet social and environmental standards.