Decarbonization & Energy Transition
Cities worldwide are under stress with population growth, aging infrastructure, flooding, droughts, pollution and sinking land. Orbia provides resilient and sustainable urban infrastructure solutions to address systemic risks, along with low-carbon and circular products that contribute to resiliency and decarbonization globally.
In addition to our solutions, Orbia is a partner of the Resilient Cities Network. Through our businesses Wavin, Netafim and Dura-Line, we are developing innovative solutions for transportation infrastructure, water supply, urban food systems, and connectivity that can enhance urban quality of life.
Our contributions to the SDGs:
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How Orbia is making a difference:
Alternative Energy
Advancing low-carbon mobility
Orbia announced a joint venture with Solvay to build the largest polyvinylidene flouride (PVDF) facility in North America.
Orbia’s Fluor & Energy Materials business Koura and Polymer Solutions business Vestolit will supply key materials and expertise to close a significant supply gap while promoting regional production and security of a material that optimizes battery energy storage efficiency. Additionally, a $100 million grant was awarded from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to build the first U.S. manufacturing plant for lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF6) on the grounds of Koura’s existing production site in St. Gabriel, Louisiana. This plant will produce enough LiPF6 to support domestic production of more than one million full electric vehicles annually.
Resource Efficiency
Vinyl in Motion
Vinyl in Motion is a program created by our Polymer Solutions (Vestolit) business to promote the collection of discarded PVC products that can be transformed into useful products. Vinyl in Motion is allowing us to advance our post-consumer and post-industrial PVC circularity activities in Latin America by partnering with customers, final consumers, and relevant players of local PVC value chains. Some examples of recycled materials are IV bags collected from hospitals, which are transformed by Polymer Solutions (Alphagary) into “Infinitude”, a reborn compound that can then be used to manufacture hoses, wire jackets, car mats and shoe soles. The program also serves as recycled content input for Orbia's Building & Infrastructure business to develop a new portfolio of products with recycled content.
Water management with recycled and bio-based materials
Building & Infrastructure's current portfolio already offers rainwater harvesting units and road gullies made from 100% recycled materials, and Recycore PVC pipes are produced with at least 40% recycled plastics, with zero compromise on performance. After introducing bio-circular PVC in 2022, the bio-circular portfolio has been expanded to bio-circular PE-RT for underfloor heating and bio-circular PE for drinking water pipe systems.
Full-scale circularity program
Netafim launched a full-scale circularity program in Mexico to tackle plastic waste in agriculture. By opening Mexico’s largest agricultural plastics recycling facility in Culiacan, which will be able to initially process of over 3,000 tons of plastic per year. This facility is now certified by SCS Global Services as the only precision irrigation company with a certified plastics recycling facility and certified recycled content in the country. This has allowed the launch of the Netafim ReGen™ AgVantage Certification Program, creating a new standard for Orbia Netafim's grower partners.
ECO compounds
Orbia Polymer Solutions (Alphagary)'s ECO compounds used up to 50% recovered PVC resin and plasticizers from wastewater, reducing the burden on wastewater treatment. These compounds have multiple applications, including footwear applications.
Bio-based TPE compounds
The new EVOPRENE® ECO 1000 series is formulated with 25% bio-based raw materials, reducing reliance on traditional fossil-based raw materials. Comparing it against a compound formulated with traditional fossil-based raw materials, Alphagary found consistent mechanical properties, good heat resistance, and consistent flow characteristics and surface finish compared with traditionally formulated compounds.
Circularity-enabling stabilizers
VINASTAB® stabilizers bring PVC to life for a variety of applications, including healthcare masks and tubing, irrigation systems, electric vehicle charging systems, rainwater harvesting and flood protection products, as well as purpose-designed formulations that support the use of recycled PVC. This series was designed in collaboration with Wavin, to help bring more stability and consistency to the extrusion process of Wavin’s Recycore products that use recycled PVC.
Circularity in Connectivity Solutions
MicroDucts are typically made from virgin High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) but there is naturally some fallout from the manufacturing process. Orbia's Connectivity Solutions Business Dura-Line has introduced ECO products composed of up to 100% reground internal scrap. These offerings are being verified by a third-party to comply with customers’ expectations.
Low Carbon Solutions
Future-fit PVC
To create a future that’s fit for the next generation, we need a future-fit next generation of PVC. In 2021, Vestolit marked a milestone with the incorporation of bio-based (by balance mass approach) ethylene in vinyl chloride production. The feedstocks’ origin is rapeseed oil and used cooking oil. Both feedstocks integrate principles of circularity and do not compete with food production. This form of ethylene enables a 60-90% reduction in the carbon footprint of PVC compared to conventional fossil-fuel-based PVC.
Climate-friendly refrigerants
Koura has created a new class of refrigerant that achieves both high performance and significantly lower global warming potential (GWP) than current materials. For example, within the portfolio, is Klea® 473A, for use in ultra-low temperature refrigeration applications such as bio-medical storage, has a GWP of 1,830. This is 85% lower than a comparable refrigerant, R-23, which has a GWP of 14,800. And, Klea® 456A, which presents an alternative to R-134a for automotive air conditioning systems, has a GWP 46% lower when compared to R-134a.
Greening propellants
Koura supplies over 70% of the fluorine-based medical propellants used in the metered dose inhalers (MDIs) that ensure millions of asthma patients worldwide can breathe easily. In 2019, Koura introduced Zephex® 152a, a new propellant that delivers more than 90% reduction in global warming potential (GWP) for pressurized MDIs, as compared to current offerings. In 2022, we opened a new production facility for this propellant, marking a key milestone to allow pharmaceutical companies to meet 2025/2026 commercial product timeframes. Now, in collaboration with Kindeva Drug Delivery, we will convert their existing MDIs products with Zephex® 152a.
Caustic Soda Blue
Vestolit’s PVC production plant in Marl, Germany, produces chlorine through an energy-intensive process of electrolysis. A byproduct of the electrolysis process is caustic soda, a highly versatile substance commonly used in water treatment, to raise the pH of water by absorbing water and carbon dioxide, resulting in clean water. Vestolit is sourcing renewable electricity to support the production of low-carbon caustic soda.
Energy Efficiency
Indoor climate solutions for low-carbon living
Sentio Indoor Climate Control system delivers heating and cooling via underfloor pipes, avoiding the need for air conditioning or other heating installations. Residents can control apartment temperatures using an app, saving up to 21% of energy by using zone control, up to 20% by using underfloor heating instead of radiators and up to 34% in cooling versus air conditioning.
Energy-efficient heating alternative
Calefa units provide central heating and hot water to single and multifamily homes while reducing building CO2 emissions. Wavin’s Calefa units are designed to operate at lower temperatures, considering elements like outside weather compensation and standby heat loss, also, they produce instant hot tap water.