Neste partners with Japanese companies to produce PET resin for bottles

Espoo, Finland-based oil refining and marketing company Neste Oyj has partnered with Japanese companies Suntory, Eneos and Mitsubishi Corp. to enable the production of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin made with its renewable Neste RE product on a commercial scale.

According to the company, Neste RE is its feedstock for polymer production, made with 100 percent bio-based raw materials such as waste and residues from cooking oil, for example, to replace fossil feedstock in the value chain. Suntory, a beverage company, will utilize the renewable PET resin to produce bottles for its products in 2024.

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Under the partnership, Neste says Eneos will use bio-intermediates based on Neste RE to produce bio-PX (Bio-Paraxylene) at its Mizushima Refinery in Okayama, Japan. The bio-PX will then be converted to PTA (purified terephthalic acid) and, subsequently, to PET resin for Suntory to use to manufacture its PET bottles. Neste adds that Mitsubishi Corp. will be coordinating the collaboration between the partners.

“In order to tackle the imminent climate crisis and its consequences, companies are required to take responsibility now,” says Lilyana Budyanto, head of sustainable partnerships APAC at Neste’s renewable polymers and chemicals business unit. “Through partnering along the value chain, Neste can contribute to reducing the polymers and chemicals industry’s dependence on fossil resources as well as to the manufacturing of products that have a lower carbon footprint.”

Neste says a mass balancing approach will be applied to allocate the bio-based materials to the PET bottles.