Asahi Kasei Corp. (Tokyo, Japan) announced that, Tongsuh Petrochemical Corp., Ltd. (TSPC), a wholly owned subsidiary in South Korea, acquired ISCC PLUS certification for its acrylonitrile (AN) as a sustainable product, and production of AN using biomass-derived propylene is scheduled to begin in February 2022.
AN is used as a raw material to make ABS resin, acrylamide, acrylic fiber, and various other chemical products. Recent demand growth has been particularly robust in the applications of carbon fiber as a material to reduce the weight of wind turbine blades, etc., and nitrile rubber for medical gloves whose use is expanding due to heightened awareness for hygiene.
In order to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, measures to reduce CO2 emissions throughout the product chain of fossil fuel-derivatives are gaining momentum, and AN customers are increasingly seeking to manufacture products using AN with low CO2 emissions in order to contribute to GHG reduction. Under these circumstances, Asahi Kasei and TSPC sought to reduce CO2 emissions across the AN supply chain, and in October 2021, TSPC became the first AN manufacturer in Asia to acquire ISCC PLUS certification. The certification system enables TSPC to produce and sell AN using biomass raw material allocated by the mass-balance method2. TSPC is scheduled to begin producing AN using biomass propylene in February 2022.