Intertek's Third Party Testing Confirms OCTAL's DPET™ Sheet Has Lower Carbon Footprint Compared to Alternative Plastics

Intertek's Third Party Testing ConfirmsnOCTAL's DPET™ Sheet Has Lower Carbon Footprint Compared to Alternative Plastics

Mohammed Razeem

Sustainability - OCTAL


When OCTAL entered the packaging industry it was with a truly revolutionary product that differentiated us in many ways. Among many imperatives we established for ourselves was a commitment to supporting our customers meet the increasing demand for verifiably sustainable products and to thereby reduce their own environmental impact. We achieved this by producing a high performance packaging material with the lowest available carbon footprint.

In doing so, OCTAL designed and currently operates a "unique-to-the-world" manufacturing facility. Our "Direct" PET sheet technology (DPET™) has succeeded in consistently providing the industry with a material offering a lower carbon footprint compared to plastic alternatives.

OCTAL's Conservation of Energy, Reduction of Source Material, and Strategic Location, Combine To Lower Carbon Footprint



Advanced Technology Reduces Energy Consumption



Conventional PET manufacturing, which depends on as many as five reactors and requires separate processes for resin and sheet production, is energy intensive. When building our process, OCTAL committed to reducing its overall energy use. We accomplished that by implementing the latest 2R reactor system to efficiently produce quality PET resin from only two reactors. In doing so OCTAL's resin-making and DPET™ manufacturing processes require substantially less energy in comparison to conventional processing. DPET™'s lower carbon footprint is a direct result of OCTAL's patented melt- to-sheet technology. Compared to traditional plants, OCTAL's DPET™ sheet uses 67% less grid electricity per kg of sheet.



Maintaining Consistent Quality Reduces Source Material Consumption



Through proprietary software programs and process control technology, OCTAL maximizes roll-to-roll uniformity in every batch for DPET™ and achieves a caliper variation of 1%. This is a significant achievement given that industry standards vary around 5% (based on caliper control of 4-5%+ 8% flow of material). Customers can therefore reduce costs by ordering thinner gauge sheet while knowing exactly how much packaging they can manufacture from the material they buy.



Improved Material Flow During Forming Permits Further Down Gauging

DPET™'s unique process results in 3% to 8% more resin in deep corners and fine features, accomplished through its excellent flow characteristics in the mold. This allows designers the flexibility to achieve a better package designs that retain their shape in even the deepest and most intricate applications. More material in critical spots means one-for-one down gauging can be realized
without blowouts or holes in the container walls.



Strategic Location Is Essential To Reducing The Footprint Of Transportation



OCTAL is positioned only a few hundred meters from the Port of Salalah, a world-class transshipment hub catering to the world's leading shipping lanes. OCTAL has set itself up to operate in such a way that it can service the supply needs of its global manufacturing customers with plants around the world from the highly efficient production location in Salalah. This is not only a competitive advantage with cost saving opportunities for customers ---- it is a streamlining of shipping requirements which contributes to a reduction of the carbon footprint via optimization of transportation.

Third Party Testing Provides Proof Of Lower Carbon Footprint of DPET™

In early 2011, Intertek Expert Services, an internationally-recognized, independent testing service, generated a carbon footprint of OCTAL DPET™ sheet and compared the results to other leading alternative plastics. The study considered all emissions related to the production of resin and DPET™ at the OCTAL Salalah facility in Oman, and established a carbon footprint characterizing the delivery of OCTAL resin and DPET™ sheet to the United States.

In its evaluations, Intertek employed as its standard the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG): the most widely used international accounting tool for government and business leaders to understand, quantify, and manage greenhouse gas emissions. The GHG protocol classifies according to direct and indirect emissions. The direct emissions are those, which are directly emitted by the organizations that are reporting under the GHG protocol. The indirect emissions are those emissions, which are emitted by organizations from which the reporting organization purchases goods, energy and services. Accordingly, all companies under analysis are categorized as to their ability to comply with three sets of criteria called "scopes."



Intertek's initial comparisons yielded these results:





Carbon Footprint Of DPET™ Sheet Versus APET Sheet Based On Delivery To The U.S.





Scope 1*


Scope 2*


Scope 3*




DPET Savings

vs APET*


69%


67%


2.1%






*Scope 1 - Emissions from sources that are owned or controlled by the company.

*Scope 2 - Emissions from the generation of purchased electricity by the company.

*Scope 3 - Indirect emissions generated by the supply chain.



These results underscore, with respect to Scope 2, a greater required use of grid electricity during extrusion and drying for conventional APET sheet. OCTAL's Scope 2 savings per kg of sheet is 67%.



Following the above analysis, Intertek then focused on comparative carbon footprints as relates to the processing of sheet material.



Carbon Footprint Of DPET™ Sheet Versus APET Sheet When Thermoformed



DPET™ uniformity enables significant down gauging when compared to non-downgauged APET. Intertek factored this potential into the lifecycle analysis of DPET™ and APET. The comparative carbon footprints results were:



DPET™---3.357 kg CO2 (e)/886 grams of thermoformed product



APET---4.622 kg CO2 (e)/1000 grams of thermoformed product



Therefore, substituting DPET™ for APET can generate a 27% saving in the carbon footprint of a thermoformed product providing an identical function.



Put into another perspective: by using DPET™ versus APET, could save 1.265 tons of CO2 per 1000 grams of thermoformed product! --- the equivalent of the total emissions generated by driving an average passenger vehicle over a distance of 5291 kilometres (3288 miles). That's farther than travelling from New York to Houston and back again!



Carbon Footprint Of DPET™ Sheet Versus Alternative Plastics



Intertek then compared DPET™ versus alternative plastics with a variety of density values. The following results were reported:



Percentage of Carbon Footprint comparison DPET ™ vs Alternative



27% lower carbon footprint than conventional APET



33% lower carbon footprint than



conventional PLA



38% lower carbon footprint than



conventional HIPS



38% lower carbon footprint than



conventional PS



13% lower carbon footprint than



conventional PVC



13% lower carbon footprint than



conventional PP



21% lower carbon footprint compared to



'non-Zero' rPET at 50%



Equal carbon footprint compared to 'Zero'



rPET at 50%





Ongoing Stewardship



OCTAL will continue to introduce environmentally friendly production methods and demonstrate responsible stewardship of natural resources. Reducing energy consumption and waste is an integral component of our proprietary technology, not an afterthought or added benefit. As a result, OCTAL's DPET™ branded PET sheet boasts the smallest carbon footprint of any comparable PET sheet available in the industry. Users of OCTAL products can be confident they are reducing their environmental impact by taking advantage of this best-in-class technology to supply their needs.



For additional details of the testing procedures and results please contact

MRazeem@octal.com

www.octal.com

About OCTAL Petrochemicals: OCTAL Petrochemicals, a subsidiary of OCTAL Holding and Co. SAOC (www.octal.com), was established in 2006 and is rapidly becoming the world’s largest producer of PET Sheet and the Middle East’s largest producer of PET Resin. With state-of-the-art manufacturing based in the Salalah Free Zone, Oman, OCTAL has sales and customer support facilities in the United States, Europe and Asia.

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This release was published on openPR.