BEM Recycling Process to reduce wastage in plastic resin production

Tag : plastic component
In a bid to continue its aggressive focus on sustainable businesspractices, Albemarle Corporation plans to invest in a new processthat is expected to eliminate more than 80% of the process-relatedwaste at it's main organometallics plant, located in Pasadena,Texas, USA. The waste is associated with the production of BEM.BEM, or n-Butylethylmagnesium, is a magnesium alkyl catalystcomponent used in the manufacture of Ziegler-Natta catalysts thatare critical in making the plastic resins polyethylene andpolypropylene. The new process, which is expected to be operationalin Q1-09, will significantly reduce waste by recycling solvent fromthe process waste slurry and making it available for reuse, and byconverting the residual solids to a material suitable for onsitedisposal. Created by Albemarle process engineers at the company'sPasadena plant site, the new, proprietary BEM production methodalso eliminates hundreds of loading operations per year involvingthe waste, leading to a cleaner, safer manufacturing process andmanufacturing site.
In 2007, Albemarle invested in a similar new process in themanufacturing plant of its joint venture in Osaka,
Japan, Nippon Aluminum Alkyls, where the plant celebrated itsfirst-ever, zero-emissions year of operation. In 2005, Albemarlefinanced a new incinerator at its aluminum alkyls manufacturingplant in Feluy, Belgium.