Driving Progress

In the quest for a more sustainable future, the fuel and petrochemical industries are leading the charge with innovative approaches and strategic investments. Our focus includes advancing lower-carbon fuels and feedstocks to minimize carbon intensity and enabling the circular economy for plastics to enhance recycling and reduce waste. By pushing the boundaries of technology and exploring new solutions, we are committed to overcoming today’s challenges and driving progress that will support a cleaner, more sustainable world for generations to come.

Climate Change

The U.S. fuel and petrochemical sectors are committed to reducing global emissions through a multi-faceted strategy that combines investment in technological advancements with strengthening of operational practices.

Investments

Lowering emissions is a high-investment activity, and AFPM members have stepped up with multibillion-dollar commitments to lower their emissions profiles.

ExxonMobil is planning to spend $20 billion in lower-emissions investments from 2022 through 2027, with approximately 50% of these investments aimed at reducing emissions from operated assets.176
Chevron had a planned spend of over $600 million from 2021 through 2028, with $8 billion toward building lower-carbon businesses and $2 billion toward reducing GHG intensity at its own operations.177 In 2024, Chevron plans to spend over $600 million on GHG abatement projects as a part of the roughly $2 billion earmarked for such projects from 2021 through 2028. These projects are expected to result in approximately four million metric tons of emissions reductions annually when completed.178
Marathon Petroleum’s 2024 capital outlook projects that approximately 40% of its growth capital will be directed toward carbon reduction projects and renewables.179
Arkema has embarked on an ambitious climate plan designed to reduce its Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 48.5% by 2030 from 2019.180

LyondellBasell estimates that capital spending to support its sustainability goals, which include its climate and circularity ambitions, will represent roughly 20% of its total capital expenditures in the next two years, with about $400 million expected to be spent in 2024.181

Operations

GHG Emissions Reductions

AFPM members have significantly reduced GHG emissions from their operations through a combination of advanced technologies and improved processes.

Marathon Petroleum received the Environmental Protection Agency ENERGY STAR program’s highest honor, the Partner of the Year – Sustained Excellence Award, for the fifth consecutive year. The award reflects Marathon’s continuous improvement in organization-wide energy savings and environmental performance, including a decrease in GHG intensity for the ninth year in a row.182
Chevron Phillips Chemical’s Old Ocean facility reduced the energy consumption per pound of polyethylene product by 9.4% from the previous year — which represents a reduction of 677,000 MMBTU and 35,000 metric tons of CO₂e — by optimizing steam and fuel consumption in operations and equipment.183
Ecolab completed energy improvement projects such as implementing smart lighting and electric equipment controls, optimizing boiler systems and improving insulation that resulted in reducing energy consumption by almost 5.7 million BTUs and reducing emissions by almost 700 metric tons of CO₂e.184
Energy Transfer optimizes its operations to increase energy efficiency and reduce emissions through such measures as operating pipelines at consistent flow rates, adding a drag reducing agent to crude oil to reduce pipeline fluid friction and enforcing power limits on some stations to circumvent unnecessary spikes in the flow rate.185

Chevron Phillips Chemical’s Marginal Abatement Cost Curve (MACC) process incorporates ideation and research to develop site-specific strategies to reduce emissions and maximize energy efficiencies. CPChem teams have put forth over 800 MACC concepts and ideas; those projects flagged for further development hold the potential to abate up to 270,000 metric tons of CO₂ equivalent emissions (CO₂e).186
Dow completed construction of a new methylene diphenyl diisocyanate distillation and pre-polymers facility at its Freeport, Texas manufacturing site that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) emissions by over 45% compared to previous technologies while supporting a 30% increase in supply.187
LyondellBasell’s Value Enhancement Program seeks to reduce emissions and costs by saving energy and improving logistics, procurement and customer service. In 2023, LyondellBasell’s VEP projects resulted in annual savings of almost 240,000 tons of CO₂e and nearly four million gigajoules.188
One year ago, Arkema announced a significant reduction in the carbon footprint of its bio-based Rilsan® polyamide 11 reaching less than 2 kg CO₂e/kg(1). The Group now announces a further reduction to 1.3 kg CO₂e/kg(1) by using more renewable electricity sources and by making several additional energy efficiency improvements in its production sites. The new value applies to global production of Rilsan® polyamide 11 beginning in January 2025.189

Renewable Power

U.S. fuel and petrochemical manufacturers are leveraging renewable energy to reduce their GHG emissions.

Phillips 66 has a solar project located at its Rodeo Renewable Energy Complex planned for completion in 2025. The project will supply 30 megawatts (MW), the equivalent of a 90% reduction in grid-supplied power. Phillips 66 also has solar projects underway at its Wood River Refinery and Hartford Terminal in Illinois.190
Flint Hills Resources announced it will build its second company-owned solar installation at its Corpus Christi West refinery. The 27-MW solar installation will include approximately 56,700 panels in what is believed to be the first solar project in Texas to provide onsite, self-generated electricity directly to a refinery. The company also began full operation of its 45 MW solar system at its Pine Bend, MN refinery in early 2024, currently the largest of kind providing direct input to an operating refinery.191
As of the end of 2023, Dow sourced more than half of its purchased electricity from renewables — more than 1,000 MWs — exceeding its 2025 target of 750 MWs.192
LyondellBasell increased its renewable electricity volumes largely through power purchase agreements, which represent almost 90% of its 2030 target to obtain at least half of its global electricity from renewable sources.193

In June 2024, INEOS Olefins & Polymers USA and NextEra Energy Resources LLC broke ground on the INEOS Hickerson Solar site, a 310-MW solar project in Bosque County, Texas that is expected to produce 730,000 MWh of clean energy annually to supply all 14 of INEOS O&P USA’s facilities. The project is expected to be completed in 2025.194
Roughly 30% of ONEOK’s current electrical supply is sourced from renewables. ONEOK has also installed solar-powered equipment at several of its facilities.195
Eastman is planning to build an onsite solar farm at its molecular recycling facility in Longview, Texas. The site will use a new technology, thermal batteries, to transform the renewable energy into heat in excess of 1,000 degrees Celsius, which will enable Eastman to recycle hard-to-recycle polyester waste with 90% fewer GHG emissions than traditional production methods.196
Energy Transfer uses SoLoNOx solar turbines and Dry LowNOx turbines, which are proprietary emissions-reduction technologies for the gas turbines used to increase pipeline gas pressure and generate electricity for critical functions. About 75% of Energy Transfer’s gas turbines have been equipped with SoLoNOx, which reduces carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide and unburned hydrocarbon emissions by 32%.197

CCUS

Carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) holds tremendous potential for reducing emissions and our members are playing a critical role in scaling this technology. Scaling efforts range from producing critical components to incorporating CCUS into their operations.

Chevron is the operator of and has a 50% ownership interest in the Bayou Bend CCS joint venture. Bayou Bend is a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project covering nearly 140,000 acres of geological formation both onshore and offshore along the Texas Gulf Coast.198
As a leader in the carbon capture space, ExxonMobil is investing in research to develop more efficient carbon capture, developing new designs for offshore and pipeline-based CO2 transfer, and working with leading universities to improve modeling for geologic storage and long-term monitoring of CO2.199
BASF is the first company to produce metal-organic frameworks, which have a high capacity for storing CO2 and are used in carbon capture and storage projects, on a production scale of several hundred tons per year.200

Delek’s refinery in Big Spring, Texas has been chosen by the U.S. Department of Energy for a carbon capture pilot project. The carbon capture technology will be incorporated into the refinery’s fluid catalytic cracking unit and is expected to capture approximately 145,000 metric tons of CO2 annually, while also reducing pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and particulate matter.201
Marathon Petroleum is collaborating with Blue Planet Systems Corporation to advance its Blue Planet’s patented Geomimetic® technology, which uses mineralization to store CO2 in synthetic limestone aggregate used in concrete and other building products.202
ONEOK partnered with the Energy and Environmental Research Center to conduct a feasibility study for large-scale CO2 sequestration in North Dakota. ONEOK is also working with the Kansas Geological Survey to undertake a feasibility study for CO2 sequestration around its midstream assets in Kansas. The project was partially funded by the DOE and benefitted from contributions from several of the DOE’s National Laboratories.203

Hydrogen

AFPM members are leveraging the power of hydrogen to address climate change, both through its production and as a fuel alternative.

Chevron has a majority interest in ACES Delta, LLC, a joint venture developing the Advanced Clean Energy Storage Project (ACES I) in Delta, Utah. Currently under construction, ACES I is designed to produce hydrogen, converted from renewable energy, and store it in two salt caverns. The hydrogen will be dispatched to the anchor customer for use in specialized turbines to generate power when needed. ACES I is expected to start up in 2025.204
Marathon Petroleum invested in Sapphire Technologies, which develops and manufactures energy recovery systems for hydrogen and natural gas applications. These systems are designed to convert wasted energy from pressure reduction processes into electric power without interrupting operations, thereby helping to improve productivity and reduce carbon emissions.205
LyondellBasell is working to replace fossil fuels with hydrogen at its olefin plants as a way to reduce GHG emissions, seeking to direct the hydrogen that is a natural byproduct of the thermal cracking process to be reused for energy in its own operations.206
Phillips 66 is working on a project to produce and supply green hydrogen to its Ferndale, Washington refinery to reduce the carbon intensity of its fuels and is also collaborating with Uniper to supply green hydrogen to its Humber refinery, where it would be used to replace refinery fuel gas to further reduce GHG emissions.207
Chevron Phillips Chemical’s Golden Triangle Polymers joint venture in Orange, Texas will recycle the high hydrogen fuel byproduct to the ethylene furnaces to reduce emissions and the use of natural gas.208
LyondellBasell is partnering with Chevron and Air Liquide to consider and potentially build a hydrogen and ammonia production facility along the Gulf Coast that would produce hydrogen from a combination of methane and low-carbon electricity sources. The project is a part of the HyVelocity hub, which has been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to begin award negotiations for the eventual development of the HyVelocity Gulf Coast Hydrogen Hub.209

PBF is working with Enbridge, Air Liquide and a number of other organizations to advance the Mid-Atlantic Clean Hydrogen Hub. The hub has been chosen by the DOE to undertake a process that could result in a $750 million award to help jumpstart the production of green and pink hydrogen in the area.210
ExxonMobil has tapped Air Liquide to construct and operate four modular air separation units as a part of ExxonMobil’s Baytown, Texas hydrogen production project. The facility, the world’s largest lower-carbon hydrogen production site, is expected to come online in 2028.211

Pipeline Companies Reduce Methane Emissions

Pipeline companies are investing in high-tech monitoring solutions, new equipment and updated processes to reduce their methane emissions profiles.

Phillips 66 uses light detection and ranging (LiDAR), which utilizes eye-safe laser beams of specific wavelengths sent from a small aircraft, reflected from atmospheric molecules and collected by an airborne sensor to measure methane emissions. The plume imagery is then mapped onto satellite imagery and aerial photographs to guide ground crews directly to where repairs are needed.212
Marathon Petroleum’s MPLX is pilot testing continuous fenceline monitoring for methane; conducts routine monitoring of its compressor using optical gas imaging; and participated in a West Virginia University study of storage tank emissions — all as part of extensive efforts to reach its goal of reducing methane emissions to 75% below 2016 levels by 2030.213
Cheniere employs zero-emission compressed air pneumatic controllers on valves and other equipment to eliminate methane emissions in its pipeline operations. Cheniere also uses cutting-edge compressor engines that limit nitrogen oxide emissions to drive pipeline compressions.214
Energy Transfer uses a direct injection system to implement pipeline blowdown procedures for maintenance and testing; direct injections reduce pipeline pressure, preventing the release of methane into the atmosphere.215
Boardwalk Pipeline has reduced its methane emissions by 72% since 2019 through leak detection efforts, investments in lower-emissions technologies and improved processes.216
ONEOK reduced absolute methane emissions from their Scope 1 operations by 36% since 2019 while continuing to grow its operational by leveraging methane detection technology, eliminating methane emission sources in their operations and implementing methane best management practices. For instance, ONEOK utilizes LiDAR technology, usually attached to helicopters or drones to perform aerial methane leak-detection surveys; Optical Gas Imaging infrared camera to monitor for potential fugitive emissions from equipment; and Satellite monitoring and hyperspectral imaging for methane detection, storm damage assessments, critical, infrastructure monitoring and vegetation management.217

Products

AFPM members are committed to producing products with lower emissions, thereby reducing their carbon footprint. They achieve this by incorporating renewable and low-carbon energy sources into their operations, optimizing energy efficiency and continuously improving their environmental practices.

Renewable Fuels

Renewable fuels are fuels that are produced from renewable resources and can be naturally replenished.

Marathon Petroleum delivered roughly 2.6 billion gallons of renewable fuels in 2023, which avoided nearly 13 million metric tons of CO2 transportation emissions.218
Ketjen’s ReNewFine catalysts have facilitated the production of 25 billion liters of renewable diesel since 2007. The renewable fuels produced are a drop-in solution to replace fossil fuels and can reduce CO2 emissions up to 90%. Since 2023, Ketjen’s ReNewFine™ catalyst offering is commercially available for renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production via hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO) co-processing and 100% processing units.219
Chevron and Bunge made the final investment decision to build an oilseed processing plant next to their existing processing facility located in Destrehan, Louisiana. The plant will have the ability to process soybeans as well as softseeds such as winter canola and CoverCress.220

Renewable Diesel

Renewable diesel is a biofuel made from renewable resources such as vegetable oils, animals fats and other biomass and is created through a hydrogenation process.

In 2024, Phillips 66 completed the transition of its refinery in Rodeo, California into one of the world’s largest renewable fuels facilities. The Rodeo Renewable Energy Complex began producing roughly 30,000 barrels per day of renewable fuels in March 2024 and is expected to increase capacity to 50,000 barrels per day. The fuels produced will have up to 80% fewer lifecycle carbon emissions than conventional diesel.221
Chevron’s Geismar, Louisiana renewable diesel project is expected to come online in 2024, increasing Chevron’s renewable fuels nameplate capacity by roughly 30%.222 The fuel produced will reduce CO2 emissions by up to 2.8 million metric tons annually, the equivalent of the GHG emissions from an average passenger vehicle travelling 7.1 billion miles.223
Valero’s joint venture with Darling Ingredients, Diamond Green Diesel, is the world’s second largest renewable fuels facility, producing 1.2 billion gallons per year of renewable diesel from recycled animal fats, used cooking oil and inedible corn oil.224

Sustainable Aviation Fuel

Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is a biofuel created to power aircraft with lower carbon footprint compared to conventional jet fuel.

In October 2024, Valero reported that its large-scale SAF project at its renewable diesel plant in Texas, was mechanically complete ahead of schedule and under budget, and it was in the process of starting up. The SAF project provides optionality to upgrade approximately 50% of the plant’s annual 470 million-gallon renewable diesel production capacity to SPK or neat SAF.225
ExxonMobil is conducting co-processing trials using a proprietary technology to produce lower-emissions fuels such as SAF, with a goal of co-processing 100,000 barrels a day of lower-emissions fuels. Co-processing both biofeed and conventional feedstocks together enables faster, lower-cost fuels compared to the construction of new facilities.226
Honeywell is combining its ethanol to jet fuel technology with GranBio’s cellulosic ethanol AVAP technology to create carbon neutral SAF from biomass residues at GranBio’s U.S. demonstration site.227
Par Pacific is developing the state of Hawaii’s largest renewable fuels production facility at its Kapolei refinery. The project is expected to start up during the second half of 2025 and will process renewable feedstocks to produce approximately 61 million gallons of renewable fuels annually. The unit will be able to produce sustainable aviation fuel — a key step towards decarbonizing Hawaii’s significant air travel market.228

Renewable Natural Gas

Renewable natural gas (RNG), is a type of biogas that matches the quality of fossil natural gas. It is produced from organic waste materials such as wastewater, food waste and agricultural waste.

Chevron and Brightmark LLC have formed a joint venture, Brightmark RNG Holdings LLC, to fund the construction of infrastructure and commercial operation of dairy biomethane projects in several states. Chevron purchases renewable natural gas (RNG) from these projects and markets the RNG volumes for use in vehicles operating on compressed natural gas (CNG). Chevron has acquired ownership of 56 CNG stations nationwide through its purchase of Beyond6, LLC to provide an outlet for this RNG.229
CountryMark has invested in RNG via a landfill gas offtake project, capturing methane that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere.230
Enbridge purchased seven operating landfill gas-to-RNG facilities in Texas and Arkansas. The operations, worth $1.2 billion, makes Enbridge a North American midstream leader by volume in the RNG market.231
Valero co-processes RNG from municipal solid waste at a hydrogen plant at one of its refineries, resulting in nearly 2 trillion BTUs of RNG in 2023 — double the amount processed the year before.232

Production capacity of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in the United States could increase from around 2,000 barrels per day (b/d) to nearly 30,000 b/d in 2024 if all announced capacity additions come on line.233 Developers expect Phillips 66’s Rodeo Renewed project to produce up to about 10,000 b/d of SAF, and they expect Diamond Green Diesel’s Port Arthur SAF project to produce about 15,000 b/d of neat SAF by the end of the year.

Plastic Waste

To address the pressing issue of plastic waste, advancing a circular economy for plastics is crucial. AFPM members are at the forefront of these efforts, working to close the loop on plastic waste through a range of strategies including the scaling up of advanced recycling technologies, refining waste collection and sorting systems, and partnering with other industries to enhance the use of recycled content in plastic products.

Advanced Recycling

AFPM members are driving the increase in advanced recycling capacity through substantial investments in infrastructure of these next-generation recycling technologies. Advanced recycling, which promises to significantly increase our recycling capabilities, works by breaking down plastic waste into its original monomer, or “building blocks,” after which it can be used to make new materials.

ExxonMobil is planning a second advanced recycling unit at its Baytown facility. The unit is expected to come online in 2025 and will play an important role in ExxonMobil reaching its goal of 1 billion pounds of global plastic waste processing capacity by 2027.234
Eastman’s second advanced recycling project in the U.S. has been chosen by the DOE to receive up to $375 million to accelerate the production of low carbon-intensity recycled PET. Eastman will use the award to help construct the new facility in Longview, Texas, which will have the ability to recycle approximately 110,000 metric tons of hard-to-recycle plastic waste.235
LyondellBasell is creating integrated hubs in Houston and Cologne to bring together advanced plastic sorting, mechanical recycling and advanced recycling assets to create scale, reduce cost and better capture value from plastic waste.236
BASF is using its pyrolysis-based advanced recycling, which it calls ChemCycling, to process pyrolysis oil derived from mixed polyolefin plastic waste. By 2030, BASF pledged to double its sales of circular products, known as Loop Solutions, from $5.25 billion in 2023 to $10.5 billion, while increasing the volumes of renewable and recycled feedstocks.237
Dow is collaborating with Proctor & Gamble on a joint development agreement to create a new advanced recycling technology using dissolution to recycle a variety of plastics, with an emphasis on polyethylene and targeting post-household plastic waste. Proctor & Gamble expects to use the resulting polymer in its packaging, helping to pave a path to circularity.238

Waste Infrastructure

To fully realize the benefits of recycling, significant improvements in plastic waste collection, sorting and tracking are required. Our members are leading efforts to optimize these critical processes.

ExxonMobil and LyondellBasell, through their Cyclyx joint venture with Agilyx, have developed plastic collection programs at sites and schools throughout Houston, resulting in more than 440,000 pounds of plastic waste being collected. These two companies are investing $135 million into the Cyclyx Circularity Center, a cutting-edge facility that will use proprietary technologies to analyze and sort plastics. The facility, which will have the ability to provide 300 million pounds of plastic feedstocks each year, is expected to come online in mid-2025.239
Eastman supports plastic take-back programs and collection efforts, including The Recycling Partnership’s PET Recycling Coalition, which provides grants to fund research, knowledge-sharing and infrastructure to help capture for PET waste for recycling.240
As a part of its role in the Houston Recycling Collaboration, LyondellBasell gave a $100,000 grant to Houston Independent School District to establish a new recycling program. The pilot program took place at 20 Houston schools, where they collected cardboard, paper, and a variety of plastics — including hard-to-recycle plastics — for recycling.241
BASF’s subsidiary trinamiX has created a handheld device that uses near-infrared spectroscopy to identify kinds of plastics. The small size, lower price point and intuitive usage enable groups such as community recycling centers, nonprofits and small businesses to better sort plastic waste.242

In 2024, Reworld recycled and reused 1 million tons of material and diverted over 20 million tons of material from landfills, avoiding 41 million tons of GHGs. Through their ReDirect360 and ReKiln services, they recovered 10 million MWh equivalents of energy from waste in the form of electricity, steam export and Alternative Engineered Fuel products. The energy they recover, inclusive of 8 billion pounds of steam export, is enough to power 1 million homes. Reworld recycled half a million tons of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, enough to build 6 Golden Gate bridges and 2.4 billion cans, and recycled or reused 280M gallons of customer wastewaters, enough to fill 425 olympic-sized pools. Their Refinery Services Group repurposed 53,707 tons of hazardous tank residual waste from cleaning operations into 8.9 million gallons of Waste Derived Fuel for use as a heat source in US cement kilns. This effort alone displaced 30,076 tons of coal, provided a net carbon offset of 128,897 tons and prevented 26,854 tons of residual waste ash from being landfilled. Their 2911/ OBSM facility exempted 27,315 tons from hazardous waste designation & recycled 70,127 bbls of oil which was sold back into the circular economy to bring fresh power and value to the industry.243

Recycling Infrastructure Projects Around the Globe

Plastic makers and the plastics value chain are making significant investments around the globe to create a more circular future.

Research and Development

Through ongoing research and development, the refining and petrochemical industries continue to pioneer innovative solutions to tackle plastic pollution and climate change. AFPM members are achieving this through collaboration and product design.

Collaborations

Collaboration is at the heart of innovation in the fuel and petrochemical industries, helping us tackle some of the world’s most pressing challenges. AFPM members are leveraging collaboration to drive sustainability through pioneering, engineering and technological advancements.

Cheniere co-founded and sponsors the Energy Emissions Modeling and Data Lab, a multidisciplinary research and education initiative led by the University of Texas at Austin, Colorado State University and the Colorado School of Mines that is developing data-based strategies and actions for emissions reductions.245
Chevron Technology Ventures’ future energy funds, the most recent of which launched in 2024, have committed nearly $1 billion in funds available to invest in companies advancing low-carbon technologies.246
In 2024, BASF celebrated a decade of successful collaboration with the University of California, Berkeley’s California Research Alliance. The Alliance, which expanded to 11 California universities, led to 117 research projects that resulted in 94 peer-reviewed papers and 47 patent applications. More than 80 faculty members and 170 postdocs or graduate students have worked with BASF through this Alliance.247
ExxonMobil works with more than 80 universities worldwide, four energy centers, and several U.S. national laboratories. These collaborations have resulted in increased knowledge in key areas critical to the energy transition, including optimization techniques to understand CO2 storage; electrification of processes; lower-emission fuels; fugitive methane emissions detection and modeling; and energy systems models.248
More than 89% of Dow’s R&D innovation initiatives are aligned with its sustainability focus areas of the circular economy, climate protection and safer materials.249
Emerson Automation Solutions has become a Terrawatt Partner at Greentown Labs, which is the largest climate-tech incubator in North America. Greentown Labs brings together companies, startups, investors, policymakers and others with a focus on scaling climate solutions. As part of this alliance, Emerson’s automation portfolio is made available to Greentown members to help them scale and commercialize their innovations.250

Honeywell is collaborating with the DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory on a year-long project to support the commercialization of cartridge-based hydrogen fuel storage solutions for uncrewed aerial vehicles.251
ExxonMobil is a part of a DOE-funded national working group charged with developing a network of hydrogen fueling stations for long-haul trucking. ExxonMobil is collaborating with partners including the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee to create the design for stations along U.S. Interstate 10 from Houston to Los Angeles, as well as the “Texas Triangle” between San Antonio, Dallas and Houston.252
Chevron Phillips Chemical has made five significant outside investments to help reduce plastic waste and support innovative projects worldwide: The Alliance to End Plastic Waste, Closed Loop Partners’ Circular Plastics Fund, Circulate Capital’s Ocean Fund I, Infinity Recycling, and Circulate Capital’s Ocean Fund Latin America and Caribbean.253
Valero continues to support Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in the development of a solid CO2 separation membrane to remove CO2 from the exhaust gas of internal combustion engine vehicles, with the objective of providing an affordable solution to lowering GHG emissions. To date, SwRI has improved upon the initial concept and demonstrated performance enhancements through design and optimization efforts. Plans are in place for prototype scaling and testing, and we have filed patent applications for several novel technologies. If successful on a commercial scale, cars built with this technology could compete with EVs as a low-cost solution for reducing tailpipe emissions. In addition, even greater benefits to life cycle GHG emissions reductions are possible if low-carbon fuels are used in combination with the onboard capture system.254

Renewable Plastic Feedstocks

AFPM members are producing renewable plastic feedstocks to mitigate the environmental impact of plastic waste and move towards a more sustainable future.

Dow reached a supply agreement with New Energy Blue to produce bio-based ethylene from corn stalks and leaves, Dow’s first agreement in North America to produce plastics from agricultural residues. As a part of the deal, Dow will support a new facility in Iowa that will process the agricultural residue to create second-generation ethanol and clean lignan, with nearly half of the ethanol being used to create a bio-based, lower-carbon ethylene feedstock that will be used in packaging, footwear and transportation.255
Eastman and Sealed Air created a compostable tray made from Eastman Aventa Renew, which is produced from sustainably sourced wood pulp and acetyl sourced from recycled materials. The tray is designed as a drop-in replacement for polystyrene foam trays in protein packaging and is already performing in several market applications.256
Chevron Phillips Chemical is collaborating with biotechnology company Danimer Scientific to evaluate and develop high-volume biodegradable plastics using Danimer’s Rinnovo® P3HP biopolymers.257
LyondellBasell partnered with Neste, Pactiv Evergreen, Berry Global and Dart Container to create cold beverage cups that contribute to the circular economy by using LyondellBasell’s CirculenRenew polymers, which are sourced from renewable-based raw materials such as used cooking oil. The new cups, which are designed for use by fast food companies, are made of a combination of bio-based and circular materials supplied by LyondellBasell and others.258

Ergon’s Crafco acquired a soy-based durability enhancer for concrete called PoreShield, which was created through a collaboration between the Indiana Department of Transportation, Purdue University and the Indiana Soybean Alliance. PoreShield protects new and existing concrete infrastructure including highways, bridges, buildings, walkways and pipes.259
BASF is expanding its portfolio of certified compostable biopolymers to include a biomass-balanced (BMB) ecoflex®, a polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT) that is frequently used in the compounding of biopolymers. For the new ecoflex F Blend C1200 BMB, the fossil raw materials that are usually used in the production process are replaced with renewable feedstock at the beginning of the value chain. The renewable feedstock comes from waste and residual biomass and is attributed to the ecoflex grade via a mass balance approach which is certified according to REDcert and ISCC PLUS. The biomass-balanced ecoflex not only contributes to reducing the use of fossil resources, but it also offers a 60% lower Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) than the standard ecoflex F Blend C1200.260

Enabling the EV Market

Narratives that pit the refining and petrochemical industries against electric vehicles (EVs) ignore the symbiotic relationship of these industries. If you review the history of EVs — you will see that refining and petrochemical companies have been foundational to the EV market all along and will continue to be far into the future.

Let’s start at the beginning with the lithium-ion battery. In the 1970s, Dr. M. Stanley Whittingham rose to the forefront of battery innovation through the research he did while working for ExxonMobil. Dr. Whittingham’s research provided the basis for modern lithium-ion batteries and paved the way for the first commercial lithium-ion battery. This battery was the foundation of the batteries that now power laptops, cellphones and most EVs.261

ExxonMobil has developed new technology to produce feedstock for next-generation graphite for EV battery anode material. This technology modifies the molecular structure of carbon-rich, low-value feeds from the company’s refining processes to create next-generation graphite that can deliver superior battery performance.262

ExxonMobil’s role in the EV battery supply chain continues to evolve. The company announced plans to extract lithium-rich brine from deep underground and then convert it into battery grade materials. ExxonMobil aims to become a leading supplier of lithium for EV batteries.263

AFPM member companies are also investing in improving battery technology. Arkema is developing specialty additives that improve electroconductivity, reducing the charging time of the battery.264 SABIC produces lighter-weight materials for battery packs that helps extend the range of electric vehicles.265

In addition to battery technology, you can find plastics derived from petrochemicals throughout the body and component parts of cars of all types. But for EVs that have 1-ton batteries, light weight plastics are especially critical to keeping these heavy cars on the road safely and efficiently. In fact, plastics make up 50 percent of an EV’s volume but only 10 percent of its weight, significantly reducing the overall weight of these vehicles. This reduction improves efficiency and range allowing EVs to travel further on a single charge.266

Investments extend beyond the cars themselves. For example, Chevron, through its venture capital arm Chevron Technology Ventures, has invested in Electric Era Technologies, which aims to make charging stations more accessible. The 2023 investment supports Electric Era’s effort to bring affordable and fast-charging stations to their convenience store and refill station partners.267

These are highlights that demonstrate how refining and petrochemical companies are enabling the EV market, but the list of contributions is much longer.

“Some may say that refiners and petrochemical companies oppose EVs, but the reality is that they are essential to the development and supply chain of these vehicles. You can’t have EVs without the products our members make; we’re proud of their role in advancing this market.”

Chet Thompson, President and CEO, AFPM

Petrochemicals in EVs

Most EV battery packs weigh over 1,000 lbs, but plastics and other petrochemical-based materials help make EVs lighter, achieving more efficiency and longer battery range.

In fact, according to America’s Plastic Makers, in 2023 the average EV uses 426 lbs of plastic and polymer components. And according to the EPA, the average horsepower of model 2023 vehicles has reached a record high of 272, compared to 203 just ten years ago.

Plastics and polymers are used in hundreds of individual parts in an EV.

Today’s EV fleet is made possible with petrochemicals derived from oil and natural gas.

Source: America’s Plastic Makers