Asahi Kasei Plastics Singapore Pte Ltd (APS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Asahi Kasei Corporation, a diversified Japanese multinational company, has announced that it has been granted the widely recognized International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC PLUS) for its polyphenylene ether (PPE) as a sustainable product on September 19, 2022.
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Polyphenylene ether (PPE) is an engineering plastic that is blended with other resins such as polystyrene (PS) and polyamide to form modified PPE (m-PPE).
Asahi Kasei’s “XYRON m-PPE” is widely used in automotive parts, consumer electronics, and industrial products, and according to the company, XYRON features several “excellent characteristics which are expected to drive further demand growth, especially in the field of the environment and energy.”
Versatile product
For example, leveraging its excellent electrical insulation and other electrical characteristics, XYRON is used in parts for photovoltaic (PV) power generation systems which operate at high voltage.
These excellent properties also allow products to be made smaller, which contributes to resource conservation. XYRON is also used in components of batteries for electric vehicles (EVs), which are rapidly becoming widespread.
Its low specific gravity and flame-retardancy allow batteries to be made lighter, which contributes to increased range and lower carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
As awareness of the global environment and the importance of sustainability increases, Asahi Kasei has worked to further raise the environmental contribution of XYRON m-PPE by using recycled raw materials and biomass raw materials.
Under these circumstances, Asahi Kasei and APS sought to reduce CO2 emissions across the supply chain for XYRON m-PPE, and in September 2022, APS became the first PPE manufacturer in Asia to be granted ISCC PLUS certification.
The certification enables APS to produce and sell PPE using sustainable raw materials assigned by the mass-balance method. The production start is planned for January 2023.
Circular m-PPE
In addition, Asahi Kasei is developing recycled grades of XYRON m-PPE which are made using recycled material, and working together with customers to establish a recycling scheme.
PPE is a material suitable for recycling as its chemical structure has excellent hydrolysis resistance, which suppresses the deterioration of physical properties.
Asahi Kasei also developed and patented technology to extend the service life of XYRON m-PPE, which further suppresses the deterioration of physical properties due to recycling.
