INEOS launches “bio-attributed” ethylene oxide

INEOS Oxide has launched a new “bio-attributed” ethylene oxide (EO), based on certified bio-based sources which do not compete with food production. The INEOS product is the culmination of three years of work to develop a low carbon ethylene oxide product and reaffirms the company’s commitment to developing more sustainable ways to produce the materials we use and rely on every day.

INEOS Oxide is developing a suite of solutions to deliver carbon neutrality by 2050, of which this new product is one.

Both RSB (Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials) and ISCC+ (International Sustainability & Carbon Certification Plus) have certified that the new product is 100% renewable on a mass balance basis and delivers a greenhouse gas saving of 100% compared to conventionally produced EO.

Mass balance is an essential tool used to reduce the reliance on fossil fuel materials as feedstock across a wide range of industries. In practice, it allows the mixing of renewable and recycled materials with traditional feedstock to create a lower-carbon product. It is recognized as a necessary step in arriving at a fully circular economy.

Ethylene oxide is an important building block for a wide variety of derivative products, which are used in the production of detergents, thickeners, solvents, and plastics. EO is consumed internally by INEOS Oxide in the production of intermediates such as glycols, ethanolamines, glycol ethers and ethoxylates.

This allows INEOS customers to significantly reduce their carbon footprint and offer innovative solutions to serve their ever more demanding markets for sustainable solutions.

First sales of this bio-attributed ethylene oxide have already been made, the company said.