Established in 1998, Borouge is a petrochemical company providing innovative and differentiated polyolefin solutions for the healthcare, energy, advanced packaging, infrastructure, mobility, and agriculture industries across markets in the Middle-East, Asia-Pacific, and Africa. A joint venture between Borealis, which has a 36% stake, and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) with a 54% share, the company has had a 10-fold increase in production capacity since 2001 to reach five million tonnes per year in 2022.
Borouge says it pursues a zero-waste circular economy with innovative solutions that promote design for recyclability. It has an established network in India with converters, customers, machine equipment owners, and industry value chain players, built on drivers such as consumer consumption growth and key government investments.
Eddie Wang, senior vice president – Asia South at Borouge told Packaging South Asia at PlastIndia 2023, “Our presence in India is as old as our company. Because of the proximity of the UAE to India, we are very agile and robust in international import supplies.”
Agriculture, infrastructure & energy solutions in India
The company has built 800 green houses in Jaipur, Rajasthan, each occupying an area of 2,000-4,000 square meters, with a total area of 3 million square meters in Baseri village. The initiative is aimed at increasing crop yield and quality, improving food safety, and reducing water wastage. In addition, rainwater harvesting is employed to retain the moisture content of the soil.
The company has a host of energy and infrastructure solutions in India. Its Jal Jeevan Mission foresees a supply of 55 liters of clean water per person per day to every rural household through household tap connections by 2024. The project mainly uses HDPE pipes in the distribution network, with Borouge PE100 black being used in large quantities. The PE100 black is used for thick-walled and large-diameter pipes. A part of Borouge’s high-density polyethylene (HDPE) pressure pipe portfolio, it has low sag properties that enable a uniformly distributed wall thickness compared to conventional PE100 materials, delivering tangible material savings for pipe producers, the company explained.
A presentation by Eddie Wang on 3 February at Borogue’s stand at PlastIndia talked about cross-country gas and irrigation pipelines. The Urja Ganga Gas Pipeline project connects eastern India to the national gas grid. Said to be the largest cross-country gas pipeline in India, it uses 2,655 km of steel pipes with 900 mm in diameter. The pipes, coated with Borouge’s 3LPE material, were used to connect the region to new LNG terminals and city gas distribution (CDG) projects.
Sauni, a cross-country irrigation pipeline, on the other hand, aims to fill 115 major dams by diverting floodwaters from the Sardar Sarovar Dam across the Narmada River to drought-prone areas. The Sauni project has used over 2,000 km of 2-3 meter diameter steel pipelines with Borouge’s 3LPE coating. With this project, Borogue has helped in making drought-prone areas to be well-irrigated.
Another energy solution is providing reliable power for Navi Mumbai’s new international airport. For this project, Borouge has provided materials to produce 58.7 km of 220kV high-voltage cables, said to be the backbone of the new airport’s electrical infrastructure.
Accelerating circularity
Borouge has a presence in 12 recycling partnerships in seven countries. It has a comprehensive portfolio, including rHDPE, rLLDPE, rLDPE and rPP – used in bottles and caps, collation shrink sleeves, industrial packaging, lamination, and courier bag packaging.
The packaging portfolio of Borouge is geared to take action for accelerating circularity. “We take the circular economy as a core part of company strategy moving forward,” said Wang.
The company aims to achieve this through three different angles:
- Value- chain collaboration to introduce closed-loop solutions incorporating post-consumer recycled content into everyday applications. This angle aims to explore how to turn plastic waste into recyclates so that it can be used by the consumer or the industry, said Wang. “We aim to limit leakage of plastic waste into the environment,” he added.
- Innovating and designing for recyclability with fully recyclable mono-material solutions. “In order to achieve the circular functionality of the packaging, we have to use multiple layers of the products. Mono-material design is able to achieve the functionality needed by the packaging industry,” Wang shared.
- Project STOP: Borouge, being a strategic partner of project STOP, aims to develop frontline action groups to develop circular and sustainable waste management models in Asia. Wang said, “We spend a lot of energy with the younger generation, teaching them how to better use plastic. One of our anchor projects, the advocacy program worked with local governments to establish a circular economy on a small scale so it can be used as an example to educate the general public.”
Borouge showcased products and packaging manufactured using its Anteo and Borstar polyethylene grades, Anteo FK1826 bimodal terpolymer linear low-density polyethylene, RH668MO polypropylene random copolymer, BorSafe HE3490-ELS-H, Borstar HE3477-RT polyethylene, and the Borstar FB1200, a bimodal polyethylene at the PlastIndia exhibition held from 1 – 5 February 2023 at New Delhi’s Pragati Maidan.
“Borouge’s participation in PlastIndia allowed us to showcase our latest products and gave us the opportunity to reconnect with our customers in person to ensure we are helping them respond to the dynamic market needs. The polyolefin market in India has expanded rapidly over the past two decades and we are proud our differentiated solutions not only contributed to industry developments in India but also had a positive impact on society. This is why we are confident and well-positioned in supporting our Indian customers while advancing our efforts in innovation, circularity, and sustainability for a better tomorrow,” concluded Wang.
