Petrochemical major Sibur has developed and launched a new product family under the brand name Vivilen. The products comprising the Vivilen portfolio are partly based on recycled materials, according to the company in a statement issued today. Currently, the brand consists of grades of polypropylene and polyethylene, but in the future, the line will be expanded to include PET and other products.
The name of the new product family - Vivo is the Latin for ‘I live’ - is a direct reference to Sibur’s circular economy ambitions and focus on the relevance of secondary polymers to these.
As the company stated, the brand aims to 'breathe new life' into polymers, with products that combine both high-quality primary feedstock and recycled products and grades suitable for blow moulding, injection moulding and the production of heat shrink film.
Applications will range from plastic containers for household chemicals and housekeeping needs, cosmetics and other goods packaging to FMCG products (for example, clothes hangers). The Vivilen products currently being introduced feature some 25% recycled content, depending on type.
“Vivilen is unique for the Russian market as it follows the environmental trend and satisfies the growing demand for the use of recycled materials coming from processing companies and end consumers,” said Sergey Komyshan, Management Board member and executive director at Sibur.
The new polymer grades were developed by Sibur’s R&D Polylab facility and tested by processing companies. Sibur has already started to supply new solutions on an industrial scale and is going to ramp up its output going forward into 2H 2021.
“Through Vivilen, our partners embracing innovation will not just get granules with new properties, but a full-fledged platform to respond to the public demand for green solutions and achieve their own sustainable development goals,” said Komyshan. “The platform encompasses joint R&D, materials for end consumers that describe the advantages of these solutions, and feedstock quality guaranteed by Sibur.”
Sibur is Russia’s largest integrated petrochemical company and one of the fastest-growing global petrochemical players with more than 23,000 employees, including 5,000 employed by NIPIGAS, an engineering centre for gas-processing technology in Krasnodar.
In 2020, Sibur’s revenue amounted to USD 7.2 billion, and EBITDA to USD 2.5 billion. Over the past 10 years, Sibur has implemented a number of large-scale investment projects worth around RUB 1 trillion (around USD 13.85 billion)