"Today we are taking sediment cores from the bottom of the sea to trace back history of pollution by plastic pellets from plastic factories in Stenungsund on the Swedish West Coast" marine geologist and micropalaeontologist at the University of Gothenburg She is one of the researchers in the interdisciplinary team on board the R/V Skagerak with the mission to investigate microplastics in the fjord system in the Stenungsund area Stenungsund is home to Sweden's largest manufacturer of plastic pellets one that produces pellets of so-called polyethylene (PE) and one that produces polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pellets since 1963 Production amounts to around 0.75 million tonnes of PE pellets which is five percent of the European market And some of the plastic ends up in the marine environment off Stenungsund "These pellets sometimes disappear during transport and now we can find them in the bottom sediments Last year we did a pilot study here with a group of students and we could clearly see an accumulation over time of pellets in the sediment This is something that hopefully mimics the industrial development in this region," says Irina Polovodova Asteman.  Martin Hassellöv is a professor of analytical environmental chemistry He is also on board the R/V Skagerak to seek answers to how plastic pellets released into the marine environment eventually break down into microplastic particles that often sink to the seabed - where they can now be found in layers of bottom sediment As there have been some changes in environmental regulations regarding how much plastic pellets can be discharged the researchers are interested in studying the environmental effects of these changes in the area "The aim is both to increase focus on how this is handled today and to look back in time at what developments have looked like It is also an interesting case study to understand more about how plastic spreads in the marine environment," says Martin Hassellöv.  the scientists and crew of the R/V Skagerak will collect sediment samples at seven different locations in the Hakefjord at varying distances from the plastics industry which takes two sediment cores simultaneously heavy tube that takes longer sediment samples we go to the seafloor with a heavy device that has long tubes that can be filled with sediment and go back in time to the Little Ice Age," says Irina Polovodova Asteman a team of researchers is hard at work slicing up sediment cores and putting the samples into jars.  "We slice the cores because the sediments with the different layers act as an archive Now we want to see how the concentration of the pollutants increases with increased production or decreases due to the increased awareness of plastic pollution,’ says Karin Mattsson marine chemist at the University of Gothenburg.  Because the plastic production industry is relatively new the researchers believe we still have a lot to learn about the impact of microplastics in the marine environment.  Find organisation Eos The Landslide Blog is written by Dave Petley who is widely recognized as a world leader in the study and management of landslides On 23 September 2023 a very significant landslide occurred at Stenungsund in Sweden the E6 motorway between Gothenburg and Oslo (across the border in Norway) and a number of buildings but three people were injured when their cars crashed on the margins of the landslide Loyal reader Anton Larsson was quickest off the blocks in terms of highlighting this event via Twitter – thank you – including these images of the aftermath:- pic.twitter.com/EX7dpzZsTf the landslide has caused several metres of displacement across two roads including the motorway on the outskirts of Stenungsund Foton: Schaktmassor orsakade antagligen skredet i Stenungsund – kan ta år att återställa, ej jämförbart med Småröd https://t.co/gRDRTHKTGw pic.twitter.com/yzWZExv0V8 It is clear that there was extensive works occurring in the upper portion of what has become the landslide which is being described as a landfill operating with permission from 2021 (despite what it says on the image) However, Planet imagery from 17 September 2023 indicates that the area of landfilling had become much larger:- An initial working hypothesis would be that the mass of material deposited on what has become the headscarp of the landslide has destabilised the slope The weather conditions at the time were rainy and there has been heavy rainfall in recent days Undoubtedly a key focus now will be to understand what has happened in the headscarp area. Swedish newspapers are reporting that the events are being investigated as an environmental crime the closure of the road is causing severe disruption so there is pressure to reopen the motorway as soon as possible The long term fix to a landslide like this is likely to take a considerable amount of time Planet Team (2023). Planet Application Program Interface: In Space for Life on Earth. San Francisco, CA. https://www.planet.com/ Many thanks to the various loyal readers who highlighted this one to me and in particular to those who provided links and information The Landslide Blog is written by Dave Petley Large landslide on the E6 highway near Stenungsund on the Swedish West Coast tonight. 3 injured when their cars fells in. The infrastructure disruption will be massive. I'm guessing — largest Swedish landslide since 2006, when the E6 collapsed at Småröd. pic.twitter.com/PsM3WgN8GU At the time of the landslide, I speculated that the underlying cause of the failure could have been the dumping of material high on the slope “An initial working hypothesis would be that the mass of material deposited on what has become the headscarp of the landslide has destabilised the slope The weather conditions at the time were rainy In February, there were reports that a factor might have been the failure to understand the location of rockhead in the landslide source area Last week, the lead prosecutor, Daniel Veivo Pettersson, provided valuable new information about the causes of the landslide. There are some English language reports about his observations which highlight that “the landslide had been triggered by a nearby construction site where too much excavated material had been piled up putting excessive strain on the ground below.” Swedish language reports provide more detail The excavated material was being used to construct a business park much more material was emplaced than had been agreed Daniel Veivo Pettersson indicated that the additional mass might have been about 170,000 tons The source of this material was a different construction in the Stenungsund area – he suggested that the individuals concerned may have been paid to dump this waste at the site that failed The additional mass would have loaded the head of the landslide The news reports indicate that three individuals are facing criminal charges of “gross public dangerous devastation gross causing bodily harm and unauthorized environmental activities” but this could take the remainder of thus year Welcome to packagingeurope.com. This site uses cookies. Read our policy Perstorp has invested in a project set to supply its facility in Stenungsund Sweden with wastewater from a nearby municipal treatment plant – a move expected to save 1.1 billion litres of fresh water every year The company uses water as a solvent for chemical reactions Wastewater sourced from the treatment plant is set to be further purified and reused at Perstorp’s Oxo production plant where it will contribute towards the production of renewable hydrogen via electrolysis This hydrogen will be put to use in Project Air, an initiative aiming for climate neutrality in the chemical industry. Perstorp is working alongside Uniper in the hopes of producing sustainable methanol for chemical manufacturing through circular production methods which is anticipated to drive down carbon dioxide emissions by around 500,000 tonnes every year – the equivalent of about 340,000 new cars running on fossil fuel “This exciting water treatment and recycling project will involve close collaboration with several partners in the Stenungsund region,” says Andreas Utbult “It exemplifies how Perstorp uses its technology expertise to transfer a sustainability vision into concrete investments.” The Stenungsund project is expected to become a part of Perstorp’s ambition to become Finite Material Netural which involves switching to 100% renewable and eliminating waste across the value chain; improving energy efficiency and using only renewable or recovered energy; and cutting down on the company’s total water footprint and ensuring that neither the environment nor human health are impacted through its utilisation of water or water effluents “This is an important development of core technology for Perstorp,” says Anna Berggren “We plan to implement it at more sites around the world in the future in our drive to reduce freshwater consumption “Fresh water scarcity is already a fact around the world The chemical industry has a responsibility to reduce its use and find new solutions that can also support society as a whole.” A previous project coordinated by the Research Institute of Sweden sought to create bio-based products from excess waste sludge produced from wastewater effluent at paper and pulp mills Borealis has also signed a ten-year power purchase agreement with VERBUND to supply 220 GWh of hydropower to its operations in Schweat Site powered by Webvision Cloud Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker By Associated Press World news closed in both directions after persistent rain has caused a landslide closed in both directions after persistent rain caused a landslide Three people have been injured and several buildings and vehicles damaged after a highway collapsed following a landslide in western Sweden early Saturday Photos and video footage showed a huge sinkhole that had opened on the E6 highway not far from Sweden’s second largest city of Goteborg HELSINKI >> A landslide in western Sweden caused a huge sinkhole on a major highway to Norway early Saturday and three people were injured when their cars and a bus skidded off the road Photos and video footage showed a sinkhole 500 meters (1,640 feet) wide that had opened up on the E6 highway not far from Sweden’s second largest city of Goteborg Police said at least four cars and a bus skidded off the road and crashed Several buildings and facilities were damaged Swedish emergency services received alarm at 1:45 a.m that a substantial part of the E6 had collapsed in Stenungsund police spokesman August Brandt told Swedish public broadcaster SVT Emergency officials were searching with specially trained dogs and staff to ensure there were no people trapped in the debris The cause for the landslide wasn’t immediately known Swedish media said the area has seen substantial construction activities involving blasting and excavation work A large amount of rain also has fallen in the past few days Footage taken by a drone showed that a crack on the E6 had appeared after the start of the construction of a business park Swedish police started a preliminary investigation 11 April, 2024 By An investigation into a landslide that destroyed part of a highway in Sweden last September has found that it was triggered by excavation material that was illegally dumped at a nearby construction site by “negligent” workers Three people are facing criminal charges in relation to the police investigation into the landslide near E6 at Stenungsund on September 23 last year The significant landslide was around 150m long and caused the road to move more than 50m in some places and a business area with a gas station and a fast-food restaurant An investigation into the causes of the landslide has determined that it was caused by man-made factors as no natural cause has so far emerged, according to a report by Swedish news website SVT Nyheter Chief prosecutor Daniel Veivo Pettersson told a press conference in March that the landslide had been triggered by a nearby construction site where too much excavated material had been piled up putting excessive strain on the ground below to have placed so much excavated material on the site," Pettersson said SVT Nyheter has reported that the people facing charges are all connected to the construction site near the highway They are suspected of “gross public negligence causing bodily harm and unauthorised environmental activities” Pettersson said that the landslide is suspected to have started east of the E6 – where the construction of a business park was underway Images of the nearby construction site after the landslide showed a very high embankment of fill material next to the motorway workers dumped a larger amount of excavated material than permitted in that area He told the press conference that 74,000m3 of excavated material had been handled at height which is roughly 50,000m3 more than the municipality had given permission for the area is believed to have been filled with twice as much mass as was allowed The site in question had permission to be loaded with 50kPa and the assessment from the criminal investigation is that the land was loaded with three times that amount The findings of the investigation correspond with landslide expert and University of Hull vice-chancellor Dave Petley’s theory that the  underlying cause of the failure could have been the dumping of material high on the slope he wrote: “An initial working hypothesis would be that the mass of material deposited on what has become the headscarp of the landslide has destabilised the slope the Swedish Transport Administration appointed engineering consultancy Cowi to carry investigations at the site and plan the reconstruction of the E6 Cowi’s work involves carrying out a large number of geotechnical and environmental engineering investigations These include mapping soil properties and groundwater conditions with particular focus on the properties of the clay and the depth of the landslide looking at possible contamination in the soil masses and the dimensioning and projecting of geotechnical reinforcements and road construction drainage “It is the highest priority for the Swedish Transport Administration neither during field investigations and during the construction period nor for those who have to travel on the road," said Cowi Sweden’s technical director for geotechnics Mats Ekenberg “We are working hard to be sure that all aspects of the reconstruction Swedish construction and engineering company Peab was appointed to rebuild the E6 Swedish Radio reported last week that the Swedish Government wants to give the Swedish Transport Administration an extra SEK1bn (£74.3M) to repair the E6 motorway following the landslide Want to read more? Subscribe to GE’s enewsletters and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn Tagged with: Transport Scotland has alerted the market to a £205M procurement opportunity on the Pitlochry to Killiecrankie section of the A9 Dualling programme in Scotland as main construction works start on the Tomatin to Moy section Enabling works on the £10bn Lower Thames Crossing scheme – a 4.2km twin bore road tunnel under the river between Kent and Essex – could begin in October of this year The completion date for the East Renfrewshire Council’s Aurs Road improvement project has been pushed back further due to complex ground conditions Network Rail has completed a £33M project to stabilise a “large and complex” active landslide that has been disrupting a railway line in County Durham for 150 years Sign in or Register a new account to join the discussion Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf has officially opened the reconstructed E6 motorway in Steningsund almost a year after a landslide caused a significant part of the highway to collapse Traffic will be able to go on the road from 6am on Friday much to the relief of villagers in nearby Ucklum who have had to endure thousands of diverted vehicles passing through daily since last September We are extremely happy that this period is finally over,” says villager Tony Dunghed Radio Swedenenglish@sverigesradio.se plus weekly summary on Fridays at 4.30pm on P2 (P6 89.6FM in Stockholm) Kontakta gärna Sveriges Radios forum för teknisk support där vi besvarar dina frågor vardagar kl Since the French private equity firm PAI Partners purchased Perstorp in 2005 the Swedish specialty chemical maker has gone through an acquisitive phase Succeeding during this last phase could be the most serious challenge yet for Perstorp That’s because a decade is longer than most private equity firms tend to hold onto assets He served a stint five years ago at the private equity firm Apollo Global Management He also knows that a deadline to pay off or refinance close to $1 billion in debt looms in 2017 That’s a hefty chunk of cash for a firm with sales last year of $1.6 billion Secher’s plan for success is simple: Make money and make the firm attractive for a potential buyer or an initial public offering ACS’s Basic Package keeps you connected with C&EN and ACS $80 Regular Members & Society Affiliates ACS’s Standard Package lets you stay up to date with C&EN ACS’s Premium Package gives you full access to C&EN and everything the ACS Community has to offer Since the French private equity firm PAI Partners purchased Perstorp in 2005 That’s because a decade is longer than most private equity firms tend to hold onto assets. Jan Secher, Perstorp’s chief executive officer, should know. He served a stint five years ago at the private equity firm Apollo Global Management and make the firm attractive for a potential buyer or an initial public offering of stock Two key assets are an oxo chemicals unit Perstorp just built in Stenungsund and a range of materials coming out of the plant with an environmentally benign profile “We make no secret of the fact that at some point PAI will sell Perstorp,” says Secher, an industrial engineer by training who led specialty chemical maker Clariant from 2006 to 2008 and joined Perstorp in 2013 “That has been prewired from day one.” But “we must not be focused on the point of when PAI is going to exit We have been around for 134 years and intend to continue to be around.” Since PAI acquired Perstorp from another private equity firm Perstorp has searched for niches where it can survive and grow Among them were a Solvay caprolactones business and the isocyanates businesses of Rhodia and LyondellBasell Industries which together added nearly $800 million in isocyanates sales The caprolactones business has proven a success for Perstorp the firm doubled capacity at a plant in Warrington More recently it combined caprolactones with renewable lactide monomers to create a line of polyols for durable and sustainable polyurethane coatings that contain fewer solvents The isocyanates gambit wasn’t so successful. Perstorp sold a stake in the operation, known as Vencorex, to Thailand’s PTT Global Chemical in 2011 It reduced its 49% ownership to 15% last year and could sell the remainder to PTT when an opportunity arises Vencorex would have required “a large amount of capital” to become a profitable enterprise “We decided we would rather focus our attention on a few other business platforms.” Perstorp dealt with the global financial downturn by selling its formaldehyde catalysts business to British catalyst maker Johnson Matthey The downturn also forced the firm to mothball a pentaerythritol facility in Chile and to discontinue production of dimethylol butanoic acid But as the economy began to recover in 2010 Perstorp doubled capacity for the coatings chemical dipentaerythritol in Bruchhausen the firm reinforced its position as a leading producer of neopentyl glycol for solvent-free powder coatings with the opening of a plant in Zibo One of Secher’s first moves was to acquire the pentaerythritol business of Slovakian chemical firm Chemko “was a good example of a classic bolt-on.” Pentaerythritol is a polyol used in alkyd resins and we are determined to maintain our global leadership position,” Secher explains Secher says the unit represents “the single-largest investment the company has ever made into any of its sites.” To run the new plant, Perstorp relies on Borealis a petrochemical maker that operates an ethylene cracker just down the road in Stenungsund Borealis supplies many of the raw materials Perstorp uses at the site A new raw material since January is butane which allows Perstorp to make valeraldehyde and 2-propylheptanol The chemicals are key raw materials for two plasticizers that make polyvinyl chloride supple and for which Perstorp has high hopes dipropylheptyl phthalate and the polyolester Perstorp calls Pevalen which the European Union recently banned because of human toxicity concerns The first is for industrial applications and will compete with a similar product from BASF which is unique to Perstorp and entirely phthalate-free is intended for consumer applications such as flooring and textiles Secher is betting that Borealis will be a reliable and cost-effective feedstock supplier The Austrian firm recently penned a 10-year deal to import low-priced U.S ethane and is upgrading its Stenungsund site to accommodate increased use of ethane as a cracker raw material The deal reinforces a “stable and reliable” relationship an analyst for the credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services The relationship bodes well for the new oxo unit for which Perstorp is projecting strong margins Perstorp’s earnings this year should benefit from the oxo project the firm should also benefit from lower raw material prices and the weakening of the Swedish krona But whether those conditions will put Perstorp in a good position when it has to refinance its debt is anyone’s guess Secher expects the new plant will help and that demand overall for Perstorp’s products will continue strong “A lot depends on financial market conditions when Perstorp tries to refinance,” she says But she agrees with Secher that a good track record for earnings growth should help That track record will also influence what becomes of Perstorp in the next few years And I’m sure there are strategic buyers who would like to see our portfolio as part of their portfolio,” Secher says But Secher reiterates that Perstorp intends to stick around in some form “We are here to build and grow a business for the long term,” he says Sign up for C&EN's must-read weekly newsletter This article has been sent to the following recipient: Copyright © 2025 American Chemical Society NOURYON has produced the first ethylene amines products at its demonstration plant in Stenungsund which uses a new environmentally friendly process Nouryon has two ethylene amine production plants Construction began last year of a demonstration plant at the Swedish site to test a new patented technology that reduces the consumption of raw materials and improves the environmental performance and cost compared to conventional processes It has now produced the first ethylene amines products at the demonstration plant The plant produces ethylene amines and their derivatives from ethylene oxide rather than the conventional routes of either the reductive amination of monoethanolamine or reacting ethylene dichloride with ammonia Ethylene amines are building blocks for products such as chelating agents “The ability to extend our EO-based ethylene amines portfolio to selectively produce compounds including diethylenetriamine (DETA) triethylenetetramine (TETA) and other higher amines is a major opportunity and we are excited about this breakthrough,” said Joppe Smit General Manager Ethylene Amines at Nouryon “We strongly believe that this technology has the potential to become a game-changer in the industry,” said Nouryon CEO Charlie Shaver FEED activities for a world-scale manufacturing facility using the new technology are expected to begin by the end of the year Article by Amanda Doyle Notts Uni to reprogramme chemicals production Shell partners SBI for drop-in biofuels Dichloromethane may slow ozone recovery Cyborg bacteria make chemicals from sunlight Arkema sets fire to remaining chemicals stocks at flooded site Process Engineer - Safety Specialist Process Engineering Lead Process Engineer - Upstream Process Engineer - Lower Carbon A conversation with the experts: watch the recordings of our previous webinars and sign-up to attend future online webcasts You do not have to be a chemical engineer to join IChemE Our global membership community includes people from a range of disciplines who have an interest in and/or relevant experience in chemical engineering View a wider selection of the archive from within the Magazine section of this site We offer readers a flexible range of subscription options and you are certain to find one that suits your needs Process Engineer - Safety Specialist view job Process Engineering Lead view job Process Engineer - Upstream view job Process Engineer - Lower Carbon view job Quality Engineer view job Process Control and Simulation Lead view job Process Controls Engineer view job Process Controls Engineer - Alarm Management view job © 2025 Institution of Chemical Engineers Site by Technical Labs Shortly after the accident, which injured three people, loyal reader Anton Larsson tweeted some great images of the failure:- @Trafikverket has posted fresh photos of the site of the great landslide that occurred at Stenungsund some weeks ago. pic.twitter.com/38p19PNrQC The failure is currently under investigation by both the National Accident Commission and the police, so we await a definitive report. But, a news agency in Sweden, SVT, has a series of very interesting reports on possible causes of the landslide a business park was under construction at the time of the landslide the ground was elevated with up to 6 metres of fill which loaded the head of what became the landslide This led to an assumption that the ground was able to carry the additional load without stability issues The report indicates that the underlying error may have been as simple as a line on a map:- it is alleged that the Swedish Geotechnical Institute would have recommended drilling at the site if there had been doubt about the presence of solid rock If this report is correct then a simple misunderstanding may have put in place the chain of events that led to this very serious landslide and we await the outcome of the formal investigations but there is much to learn from this very interesting landslide Meanwhile, reconstruction of the E6 at Stenungsund continues with an expectation that the road will reopen towards the end of this year or in early 2025 The scale of the works is huge – for example 30,000 tonnes of soil has had to be removed Thanks to Anton Larsson for highlighting these news reports via Twitter The area of Stenungsund has been monitored and studied for a long time and should therefore be well suited for a study with a system perspective on chemical flows The starting point for this study has been the status of an area in the Askeröfjorden close to the central town and the industrial area We have asked ourselves why chemicals are present or not present in the water column and the sediments We also study what ecological risks these chemicals have and what drives pollution of chemicals to the fjord Is the legislation sufficient to implement objectives on good water status (e.g Water Framework Directive) and a non-toxic environment (Swedish official environmental objective) is there a need to enforce current legislation or to change it and in such case how In this study the multi-disciplinary team uses modelling interviews and desktop studies to examine the current chemical status in the area the flow of chemicals into and within the area its impact and how the policy instruments perform in meeting policy objectives There is ongoing discussions and information exchange with the local authority This case study will allow us to (i) describe the chemical risk in the area in detail (ii) pinpoint particularly problematic compounds and sources (iii) make concrete risk management suggestions and (iv) suggest measures that give improvements of company practises all within Swedish and EU laws and regulations the team has summarized relevant data-sets and reference list for reports and papers that deal specifically with chemical pollution or environmental effects possibly linked to chemical pollution in Stenungsund a dataset compiling the chemicals that are present in the different reports has also been produced A short summary of the document and dataset is presented below: Part of the focus of the field studies in Stenungsund related to FRAM has been on storm water runoff including the presence of organic pollutants and inorganic material Natural waters are recipients of different types of contaminants derived from anthropogenic activities With the implementation and optimization of wastewater treatment facilities and the separation of relatively clean storm water from domestic or industrial wastewater the relative importance of these discharges as drivers for water pollution has increased Storm water runoff has been identified as a significant nonpoint source of contaminants to waterbodies close to urban centres Apart from organic substances that are carried with the storm water particles (that have been deposited in surfaces or stored in small ponds under dry conditions) are also carried away during rainfall affecting the chemical composition of the recipients as well as the water quality Werner Brack’s analytical team from the Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research GmbH – UFZ (Leipzig Germany) one of the world’s leading environmental chemistry groups made a dedicated sampling campaign in the Stenungsund area together with researchers from FRAM Fluxes of 300+ chemicals into the environment in Stenungsund have been identified part of those corresponding to samples from Stenunge Å which acts as storm water collector for a district of Stenungsund Extracts from samples from the water body in the bay containing concentrated organic substances will be used to identify possible effects of the mixture on selected organisms a preliminary survey of the presence of inorganic contaminants associated to storm water runoff was conducted a study on the occurrence of inorganic particles in storm water was carried out in the area This study is complimentary to the one performed in 2018 mentioned above The concentration of inorganic particles was compared in water samples collected during a dry period and during a rain event The aim of the study was to estimate the contribution of contaminants from the catchment area and a residential area and discharges the fjord The sampling site was a small stream in Stenungsund Sweden and the runoff area consists of industrial and residential areas This study evaluates two relatively new methods for identifying inorganic particulate pollutants in storm water: scanning electron microscopy with automatic particle identification (SEM-EDX) and single particle ICP-MS The water samples were filtered using membranes and analysed with SEM-EDX The filtered samples were analysed further with single particle ICPMS This type of studies highlights the overall distribution of natural particles since they are several orders of magnitude more abundant than anthropogenic particles FRAM researchers have also participated in assignments related to plastic pollution a study on the examination of micro-debris along Bohuslän beaches and in sediments near Stenungsund was produced as part of a parallel assignment for the Swedish environmental agency which is publicly available.1 The beach sampling outside Stenungsund took place in the proximity of Stenunge Å The results from the area were compared with samples taken in other zones in the same study Stenungsund samples showed a larger amount of plastics related to plastic production suggesting that local sources of microplastics and waste during production and transport have a significant impact on local pollution levels The legal analysis of the chemical status in Askeröfjorden and sources of pollution affecting this status has during 2019 been focusing on the VISS data showing four substances contributing to the exceedance of the water quality standard (antracen The intention is to understand why the levels are exceeded and the role of formal rules of consideration and their enforcement a new PhD-student (Julia Johansson) started a project aiming at analyzing gender in chemicals legislation One of her first tasks is to contribute to the legal part of the Stenungsund case study but with the intention to be able to further use this material in her analysis of gender and power distribution in relation to different actors and substances Results are expected to be presented in 2020 has opened a $500 million high-pressure low-density polyethylene plant in Stenungsund The 350,000-metric-ton-per-year facility will serve mainly the wire and cable market The firm will idle a 230,000-metric-ton-per-year plant at the site leaving it with 700,000 metric tons of polyethylene capacity in Stenungsund a joint venture between Borealis and Abu Dhabi National Oil plans to build its second plastics compounding plant in China Copyright © 2025 American Chemical Society. All Rights Reserved. Industrial'Transforming the chemicals industry' | Large-scale green methanol plant in Sweden receives €97m of EU fundingProject Air will 'break the sector’s dependence on fossil fuels' by combining renewable hydrogen with biomethane and captured carbon dioxide The landslide that devastated a section of the E6 motorway outside Stenungsund in western Sweden was likely initiated by human activity professor emeritus of geology and geotechnics at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg who investigated a similar landslide that took place in the same area in 2006 says building activity at the top of a nearby slope may have been the cause He says the area is a risk zone for landslides due to the presence of so-called 'quick clay' which can go from being solid to a liquid-like state in seconds Joshua Worthjoshua.worth@sverigesradio.se Perstorp has been a well-known name in chemistry for over 130 years Founded in 1881 as a producer of acetic acid and later formalin the Swedish company went through an eventful 20th century Perstorp has gone through some ownership and portfolio changes and is focusing on specialty chemicals for the coatings & resins Having joined Perstorp as President and CEO in September 2013 which reported 2014 revenues of € 1.2 billion Michael Reubold spoke with him about the most recent developments and his future growth strategy for Perstorp and his views about sustainability and the chemical industry’s public image CHEManager International: The most recent period at Perstorp is characterized by significant investments and the development of sustainable products Could you briefly update us on the current situation of the company Secher: We are currently concluding a very interesting phase in which we have been investing quite heavily in certain areas of our technology portfolio During this four- to five-year period we have invested in round numbers 200 million euros – firstly into our caprolactones capacity and product development secondly into a new plant for neopentyl glycol in China that we started up a year and a half ago and thirdly into our new butene-based oxo platform in Stenungsund in Sweden with significantly increased capacity for high-performance cost-effective plasticizers but also other products like 2-propylheptanol or valeric acid for other key application areas such as surfactants and synthetic lubricants This investment into oxo chemicals is the single-largest investment in the history of Perstorp and opens up a new platform for us So, we are concluding this quite intensive investment period and moving on into a period of reaping the fruits from those investments. So from a CAPEX point of view we sort of passed the peak and are entering into more of a cash-generative period going forward The new state-of-the-art oxo plant at Stenungsund has been inaugurated only a couple of weeks ago What about the project has been special and how can you guarantee a competitive cost basis for the facility Secher: Our internal project name for this investment is Valerox and it represents a milestone for us that we have passed three months ahead of schedule and under budget So it has really been a very successful and well-managed project as such I think it is important that we are operating this plant in close collaboration with our raw material feedstock supplier Borealis We are basically over the fence from their naphtha cracker in Stenungsund which is a strategically advantaged cracker to be a cracker in Europe the cracker market in Europe is quite difficult at this point in time in particular with the low-cost competition from North America right now But Borealis is now actually bringing in ethane from the US that makes them a strategically well positioned raw material supplier for us we are quite convinced that becoming a fully integrated supplier as well as moving to butene-based plasticizers will position Perstorp cost-competitive-wise quite well in the global perspective and we feel definitely that we can be competitive with the products produced in the new plant You said that you are now entering into a cash-generative period What is your strategy to lead Perstorp through this next phase Secher: Given that we have invested as much as we have over this four- the focus now is definitely on organic growth In parallel with these investments we have done smaller bolt-on acquisitions we bought the pentaerythritol business from Ashland in the US and last year we acquired the penta and calcium formate businesses from Chemko in Europe Both acquisitions have been part of our investment campaign to increase the polyol capacity And there might be a few additional bolt-on acquisitions of that nature also in the future but the fundamental strategy is to now really reap the benefits from the investments that we have made do you rather look at certain geographies or at opportunities where to add something to your portfolio Secher: There are three dimensions to that The first dimension is technology; the second one is geography; and the third one is market position We always look for interesting opportunities as additions to our current technology platform There our focus would be more on the specialties side rather than on the intermediates volume products our strategic direction is that we want to grow outside of Europe what currently accounts for about 60% of our business we have very strong market positions and the penta deals are a good example of our intention to always look for opportunities to maintain and even strengthen those leadership positions In 80% of our businesses we are amongst the three leading players I truly believe that one should really make sure to nurture leading market positions because they are difficult to reach and once you are there you got to make sure that you defend them Before taking the helm at Perstorp you had been CEO of Clariant SIPCA and Ferrostaal and held leading positions at ABB What experiences and skills you acquired during your career in the chemical and engineering industry are helpful in your current position Secher: There are quite a few experiences that I can apply and use I did not grow up in the chemical industry and I find that the chemical industry tends to have quite an inside-out mentality But there is too little thinking of where is my market what issues do they deal with today and what demands do they receive from their customers further down the value chain The chemical industry is often situated far up in the value chain therefore you need to constantly look forward and try to understand what the end user requirements are coming at us through this value chain And to be driven from the outside-in rather than from the inside-out is something that we are today applying to Perstorp quite successfully And it is my experience from the previous positions that led me to that understanding quicker than I would have gotten there without that experience Would you say that the chemical industry needs to become more customer-centric Secher: One should be careful of generalizing and so this needs to be put into context But generally speaking I find still today there are situations where we understand the chemistry and we have figured out what the molecules do and don’t do but we have not necessarily understood the full extent of how it can be used And far too often I see that it is the inside drive that leads us to a new development rather than the demand and the problem I sometimes use the analogy: ‘we have the perfect solution; the only thing missing is the problem’ And at Perstorp you have implemented the outside-in look Secher: What I just said is a bit black or white but at Perstorp we are trying to create a more healthy balance between the two drivers I am the first to underline that there is a need to properly optimize the utilization of your assets We are an asset-heavy industry compared to a true service industry which is very asset-light we got to always look at how we can make better use of the assets that we have there are many opportunities going by out there and you will not see them How do you make sure that Perstorp will not miss too many of these opportunities we did first of all a rather thorough data-driven analysis of where are we in terms of competitive positions and really try to understand the markets and the go-to-market strategies that we had And we came to the conclusion that we have two types of businesses One is a supply-demand-driven type of business that we call Intermediates & Derivatives but we don’t differentiate substantially by means of our product The other type of business is much more specialized This business is called Specialties & Solutions And that is part of the strategy how to make ourselves more outside-in and market-driven We also have to make sure that our innovation organization that is working very closely with the two business areas gets really closely linked to the customers we are going through a commercial excellence program that we run with our entire sales force which we have separated into the two business areas So there is a lot of work going on right now to really reach commercial excellence in the organization Perstorp’s mission – according to your website – is to provide sustainable solutions through innovative chemistry Does sustainability mean more to you than being a buzzword J. Secher: For us as a company it does, and for me personally it does, too. I don’t think we are going to see a step change but I think that sustainability is something where we see an increasing interest up to a point where it is slowly starting to develop into a demand But the real change will only come when further down the value chain customers are starting to demand products that are more and more made from renewable resources and also be prepared to take the renewable alternative even if that cost them 3% more Today it is questionable if the purchaser would pay extra And until that actually happens you are going to have the pace of the change as you see today It is driven more by convictions than by economics But at some point in time those two drivers need to come together And then we will see an accelerated change we have started a taskforce to establish our future direction with this And we have a lot of good examples already It is a matter of bringing them under one umbrella and making this more of a corporate visible strategy And that is something that we are working on Sustainability is not just about the feedstock but it is also about what your products are doing in the applications they are meant for take for instance our Capa products that help coatings manufacturers to reduce energy consumption and emissions There are so many examples where chemical products directly influence the downstream use of energy and ultimately CO2 footprint I think that if you were to look at what is the carbon footprint of the chemical industry versus what we help other industries save as a result of the products we manufacture This means that – speaking about the European chemical industry as a whole – our products help other industries reduce their footprint double the size of our own This fact needs to be put out there a bit more visibly Being that far up the value chain is also a reason why the solutions chemical products are enabling in industry or consumer goods – for instance in improving performance energy efficiency or environmental impact – usually don’t get mentioned Do you think that the chemical industry is actually rewarded by the customers or by the public I think as an industry we are a poor communicator we take too much of a factual approach in our communication We are sending messages about all these numbers and how good we are and how we decreased our footprint and how much investments we made And you can come with how many rational arguments as you like Because this is an emotional discussion and we need to meet it with emotional arguments – not always but sometimes – in order to create the connection and strategic direction in an exclusive CHEManager International interview CHEManager Innovation Pitch supports innovation in the chemistry and life sciences start-up scene and start-ups to present their companies to the industry 05 September, 2024 By You have read 1 of 1 free-access articles allowed for 30 - days. For further access please register or log in has been established with offices in Gothenburg and Stenungsund short-sea shipping services with a focus on infrastructure projects from Erik Thun to operate its service and is also acting as a freight forwarder for construction companies that need logistics solutions The company has plans to acquire its own vessel as business builds up The company has completed a voyage transporting house modules from Klaipeda to Gothenburg for a housing complex with a further 20 sailings for the project to follow Does anyone know if they have a website or contact I agree that many flags do conduct inspections and that ther.. They should be bright yellow so they are visible in the ocea.. Don't have an account? Hazards can vary depending on where you live Here are some examples of what you may need to be prepared for in Sweden weather warnings and other things you need to know when staying in Sweden Here you will find information on past and present disasters or incidents dating back to the summer of 2018 (the year we started our English translation) Original text: During the night to Saturday 23 September Large parts of the roadway on the E6 at the Stenungsund motorway junction have collapsed due to the landslide Road users and the general public are encouraged to avoid the area gravel and sand on the move can harm both people and public infrastructure The landslide alarm arrived at the rescue service at 01:48 on Saturday The collapse caused only minor injuries.The County Administrative Board has issued a ban on access to the area affected by landslide The road is closed in both directions and is estimated to be closed for the foreseeable future Plasteurope.com is a business information platform for the European plastics industry It is part of KI Kunststoff Information and PIE Plastics Information Europe one of the leading content providers for the European plastics industry We offer daily updated business news and reports polymer prices and other services for the international plastics industry News | Polymer Prices | Suppliers Guide | Jobs | Register | Advertising 29 September, 2023 By Byggmax opens its 100th Swedish store this morning located at Ucklumsvägen 18 in Stenungsund – We want our customers to still recognize us but it was time to step into a new age and modernize our brand with a fresh graphic profile This is part of once again stating that we represent value for money The work with the design has been a close cooperation with Lynxeye Studios Byggmax as a brand is well known all over Scandinavia and the decision was made to keep the red and yellow colors the implementation will move slowly and be cost effective.  – We have over 150 stores and are not able to change everything everywhere overnight Byggmax sells construction materials such as lumber doors and paint to both professionals and DIY-customers The Byggmax concept offers good quality products at low prices which also includes Skånska Byggvaror and Buildor AB The corporate group had a turnover of SEK 5.3 billion in 2017 and Byggmax Group is listed on Nasdaq since 2010 Charlotte Olsson, Regional Manager, Mobile: +46761-19 00 90, Email: charlotte.olsson@byggmax.se  Emelie Gessner, Marketing Manager, Mobile: +46761-19 00 59, Email: emelie.gessner@byggmax.se The home improvement discounter chain Byggmax was launched in 1993 and currently has 151 stores on three markets Byggmax’s business concept is to be the best and most inexpensive alternative for consumers in need of high-quality construction materials Byggmax has drive-in systems at all stores enabling customers to load their products into their vehicles directly This makes life easy and efficient for customers particularly when buying heavy construction materials A landslide in western Sweden caused a huge sinkhole on a major highway to Norway early Saturday Photos and video footage showed a sinkhole 500 metres wide that had opened up on the E6 highway The cause for the landslide wasn’t immediately known The federal council and the NDP caucus decided on the local MP The Surrey Police Service (SPS) is turning to the public for help Jendhel May Sico is described as a person who lived her life to the fullest she was celebrating the Lapu-Lapu Day festival with those she loved most -- her cousin Killed in a car-ramming attack on Saturday she was celebrating the Lapu-Lapu Day festival with those she loved most -- her cousin speaks to reporter Kier Junos about the day their lives changed forever Huge crowds lined the streets of Vancouver to cheer on 25,000 runners making their way around the city for the 53rd annual BMO Marathon on Sunday Andrew's Saturday in honour of the victims of the deadly Lapu-Lapu tragedy last week The accused person in the deadly car attack at the Lapu-Lapu Day block party in Vancouver on April 26th appeared at the provincial Court of British Columbia 30-year-old Kai Ji Adam Lo appeared via video in court Four people remain in critical condition in hospital and another two remain in serious condition five days after the deadly attack at the Lapu-Lapu Day festival in Vancouver on April 26 Jack Rabb has more on the efforts to support the victims Listen to NewsRadio Vancouver live anytime and get up-to-the-minute breaking-news alerts weather and video from CityNews Vancouver anywhere you are – across all Android and iOS devices 2023 shows large damages at the E6 highway near Stenungsund Photo by Hanna Brunlof WINDELL / TT News Agency / AFP Stockholm: Swedish authorities said Thursday that worker negligence at a construction site was believed to be behind a landslide that tore apart a motorway in western Sweden in September which struck the E6 highway in Stenungsund 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Sweden's second-largest city Gothenburg overturned lorries and caved in the roof of a fast food restaurant Prosecutor Daniel Veivo Pettersson said Thursday he believed "human factors" were behind the landslide as "no natural cause" had been found during the investigation He told a press conference the landslide had been triggered by a nearby construction site where too much excavated material had been piled up Pettersson added that three people were suspected of among other things gross negligence and causing bodily harm adding that the investigation was still ongoing The worst-hit area covered around 100 metres by 150 metres (330 by 500 feet) but the landslide affected an area of around 700 metres by 200 metres in total Three people were taken to hospital with minor injuries after the collapse The government wants to give an extra SEK 1 billion to the Swedish Transport Administration to restore the E6 motorway outside of the town Stenungsund a landslide tore the stretch of road apart and motorists have had to use other roads since then ”It is important that this is done as soon as possible,” Infrastructure Minister Andreas Carlson tells Swedish Radio News