Polypropylene resin, pellets

Activity Polypropylene by Ziegler-Natta polymerisation of propylene, bulk loop and gas phase, US: the inventory of 1 kilogram of its reference product, attributional, cut-off.

Calculation maturity: not assessed Design maturity: Concept (research)Not independently reviewedpolypropylene-1:polypropylene-bulk-gas-phase:product:polypropylenePreliminaryReport a problem with this dataset

Research outputAn inventory from a research design at the design maturity its process states, not verified plant data: check its calculation maturity and review status before use. Background activities are referenced by name only; no background data is included. All caveats

What it is

Per 1 t of polypropylene resin (pellets), gate-to-gate: the weighted average of three US plants of 2015-2016, about two-thirds bulk liquid-propylene loop (Spheripol type) and one-third gas phase (Unipol type), as reported by Franklin Associates for the American Chemistry Council (2021). Natural gas combustion from stoichiometry.

Reference product: 1 kilogram of Polypropylene resin, pellets
Chemical: polypropylene
CAS: 9003-07-0
Code: polypropylene-1:polypropylene-bulk-gas-phase:product:polypropylene
Dataset: polypropylene-bulk-gas-phase version 0.1.0 · UUID ee337f99-b7f9-5083-a395-dc2142c7ed88
Activity UUID: not available (the library assigns none; use the code)
Database: cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-a3c52e4 (version preview-a3c52e4)
Process: Polypropylene by Ziegler-Natta polymerisation of propylene, bulk loop and gas phase
Geography: US · background inputs with a site rule link at the user's site location (default DE)
Time period: 2015 · valid until 2021
Technology: continuous Ziegler-Natta polymerisation in liquid propylene (loop reactors) or in the gas phase (fluidised bed), with extrusion; not the solvent slurry process or metallocene grades in particular · level current
Boundary: gate-to-gate: monomer purification, polymerisation, monomer recovery, deactivation and purging, extrusion and pelletising; power, natural gas and nitrogen from outside
Classification: ISIC Rev.4 2013 (taxonomy/families.yaml (ISIC Rev.4) of the process's families)
System model: attributional, cut-off (docs/system-model.md, methodology 1.1.0)
Allocation: mass, 100 % of the dataset to this product (rule single-output, from default)
one product: nothing to allocate
Rights: CC-BY-4.0

Exchanges per 1 kilogram of Polypropylene resin, pellets

As exported: allocated and scaled to the reference product. Provenance: 14 given, 3 calculated. Pedigree scores (1 best, 5 worst): reliability, completeness, temporal correlation, geographical correlation, further technological correlation.

Preliminary4 exchanges are not yet linked to a background dataset. They count no burden, so the inventory is incomplete: do not read a result from it as complete.

Input	Amount	Unit	Provenance	Pedigree	Linked to
Propylene feed:propylene Franklin Associates (2021) Cradle-to-gate life cycle analysis of polypropylene (PP) resin, final report for the American Chemistry Council Plastics Division, Table 12 (report p. 38, PDF p. 43)	1.014	kilogram	given	3 4 3 3 3	unlinked unlinked, no technosphere mapping: no mapping (chemical 'propylene'); add it to lci/mappings.yaml technosphere or to the process's lca/mappings.yaml exchanges
Nitrogen, gaseous (purge and inerting) feed:nitrogen Franklin Associates (2021) Cradle-to-gate life cycle analysis of polypropylene (PP) resin, final report for the American Chemistry Council Plastics Division, Table 12 (report p. 38, PDF p. 43); the report models it as an ancillary material	0.064	kilogram	given	3 4 3 3 3	market for nitrogen, liquid (nitrogen, liquid, RER) in your background (default ecoinvent-3.11-cutoff) or in the Atlas (market): market for nitrogen, gaseous, <= 10 ppm O2, 8 barg (Nitrogen, gaseous, <= 10 ppm O2, 8 barg, RER) compatible: grade nitrogen/gan-8barg-10ppm (Nitrogen, gaseous, <= 10 ppm O2, 8 barg); unit kilogram; system model cutoff (one database); allocation exergy (physical-exergy); boundary delivered (production-mix, RER: transport and losses included) plant behind it: Nitrogen, gaseous, <= 10 ppm O2, 8 barg
Electricity (grid and cogeneration) feed:electricity Franklin Associates (2021) Cradle-to-gate life cycle analysis of polypropylene (PP) resin, final report for the American Chemistry Council Plastics Division, Table 12 (report p. 38, PDF p. 43); grid 160 and cogeneration 140 kWh/t electricity	0.3	kilowatt hour	given	3 4 3 3 3	market for electricity, medium voltage (electricity, medium voltage, DE, site location) in your background (default ecoinvent-3.11-cutoff)
Natural gas (as methane), burnt for process energy feed:natural-gas Franklin Associates (2021) Cradle-to-gate life cycle analysis of polypropylene (PP) resin, final report for the American Chemistry Council Plastics Division, Table 12 (report p. 38, PDF p. 43); 34.0 m3/t, by mass at the density of methane at 60 degF (ASSUMED, see parameter rho_ng); gross, the vent-gas export is not credited fuel, LHV 50.01 MJ/kg	0.02302	kilogram	given	3 4 3 3 3	Atlas: natural gas, per kg, as methane (Atlas unit proxy) (natural gas, by mass, GLO)
Hydrocarbon vent and off-gas (residual), to fuel-gas use, flare or export output:offgas closes the balance: propylene not in the product, the VOC, the polymer wastes or the flared gas behind co2_p. Modelled as propylene (ASSUMED); it also carries the propane of a polymer-grade feed, which the report does not state. Its fate is not split by the report (part is exported as fuel, 2.70 m3/t of natural gas avoided). TODO its combustion where it is burnt on site	0.009583	kilogram	calculated	4 4 4 4 4	unlinked unlinked, no technosphere mapping: no mapping (no chemical slug or factor id); add it to lci/mappings.yaml technosphere or to the process's lca/mappings.yaml exchanges
Process solid waste to landfill output:solid-waste-landfill Franklin Associates (2021) Cradle-to-gate life cycle analysis of polypropylene (PP) resin, final report for the American Chemistry Council Plastics Division, Table 12 (report p. 38, PDF p. 43); modelled as polymer (ASSUMED)	4.2e-4	kilogram	given	3 4 3 3 3	unlinked unlinked, no technosphere mapping: no mapping (no chemical slug or factor id); add it to lci/mappings.yaml technosphere or to the process's lca/mappings.yaml exchanges
Hazardous waste to landfill and incineration output:hazardous-waste Franklin Associates (2021) Cradle-to-gate life cycle analysis of polypropylene (PP) resin, final report for the American Chemistry Council Plastics Division, Table 12 (report p. 38, PDF p. 43); composition not stated, outside the element balance	6.1e-6	kilogram	given	3 4 3 3 3	unlinked unlinked, no technosphere mapping: no mapping (no chemical slug or factor id); add it to lci/mappings.yaml technosphere or to the process's lca/mappings.yaml exchanges

Elementary flows

Flow	Direction	Compartment	Amount	Unit	Provenance	Pedigree
Carbon dioxide, fossil 349b29d1-3e58-4c66-98b9-9d1a076efd2e	emission	air	0.07316	kilogram	calculated	4 4 4 4 4
Water 075e433b-4be4-448e-9510-9a5029c1ce94	emission	air	5.58e-5	cubic meter	calculated	4 4 4 4 4
NMVOC, non-methane volatile organic compounds d3260d0e-8203-4cbb-a45a-6a13131a5108	emission	air	1.1e-4	kilogram	given	3 4 3 3 3
Particulate Matter, < 2.5 um 21e46cb8-6233-4c99-bac3-c41d2ab99498	emission	air	9e-6	kilogram	given	3 4 3 3 3
Nitrogen oxides c1b91234-6f24-417b-8309-46111d09c457	emission	air	4.4e-5	kilogram	given	3 4 3 3 3
Methane, fossil 0795345f-c7ae-410c-ad25-1845784c75f5	emission	air	1e-6	kilogram	given	4 4 3 3 3
Dinitrogen monoxide 20185046-64bb-4c09-a8e7-e8a9e144ca98	emission	air	1e-7	kilogram	given	4 4 3 3 3
Carbon monoxide, fossil ba2f3f82-c93a-47a5-822a-37ec97495275	emission	air	1e-5	kilogram	given	4 4 3 3 3
Sulfur dioxide fd7aa71c-508c-480d-81a6-8052aad92646	emission	air	1e-6	kilogram	given	4 4 3 3 3
Ammonia 87883a4e-1e3e-4c9d-90c0-f1bea36f8014	emission	air	1e-6	kilogram	given	4 4 3 3 3

Where these numbers come from: each exchange names its source above; the dataset is processes/polypropylene-1/lca/datasets/polypropylene-bulk-gas-phase.yaml in library version a3c52e4.

Used by

No other activity of this database links to it.

How good it is

Review: Not reviewed: no LCI review record yet
Data quality: not available
Mass and carbon closure: Not available: a hand-written dataset: no lca/manifest.json records its balance
Change report: Not available: this build has no change report against an earlier release.

KPI benchmark positions

KPI	Value	Reference range	Position
Electricity per t of polypropylene	– kWh/t	250 to 277.8 kWh/t Saygin, D., Patel, M.K., Tam, C., Gielen, D.J. (2009) Chemical and Petrochemical Sector: Potential of best practice technology and other measures for improving energy efficiency. IEA Information Paper, OECD/IEA, Paris (iea)	not evaluated
Propylene consumption per t of polypropylene	– kg/t	1,008 to 1,066 kg/t European Commission JRC (2007) Reference Document on Best Available Techniques in the Production of Polymers, August 2007 (bref)	not evaluated

How to use it

Downloads

cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-a3c52e4.xlsx · bw2io ExcelImporter workbook (bw2io 0.9 Excel layout) · the whole database
code polypropylene-1:polypropylene-bulk-gas-phase:product:polypropylene
cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-a3c52e4-olca-jsonld.zip · openLCA JSON-LD (olca-schema) (2) · the whole database
process ee337f99-b7f9-5083-a395-dc2142c7ed88 (processes/ee337f99-b7f9-5083-a395-dc2142c7ed88.json)
cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-a3c52e4-multifunctional.json · Brightway 2.5 multifunctional database (JSON, for the multifunctional package) (cheme-as-code/lci-multifunctional/v1) · the whole database
code polypropylene-1:polypropylene-bulk-gas-phase:product:polypropylene
cheme_as_code_lci-0.1.0-py3-none-any.whl · the installer

A file with this activity alone is not available: each file above is the whole database, and the line under it says how to find this activity there.

import bw2data as bd
from cheme_as_code_lci import install

bd.projects.set_current("my-project")   # holds your licensed background + biosphere3
install("cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-a3c52e4.xlsx", background="ecoinvent-3.11-cutoff", location="DE")
activity = bd.get_activity(("cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-a3c52e4", "polypropylene-1:polypropylene-bulk-gas-phase:product:polypropylene"))

While any exchange of the database has no mapping, install() writes nothing and only lists the unlinked exchanges. So the last line finds no activity until the gaps are mapped: the download section gives the ways to use the database now.

How to cite

Polypropylene resin, pellets, from Polypropylene by Ziegler-Natta polymerisation of propylene, bulk loop and gas phase (dataset polypropylene-bulk-gas-phase 0.1.0), ChemE-as-Code Process Atlas LCI database preview-a3c52e4, activity polypropylene-1:polypropylene-bulk-gas-phase:product:polypropylene. Cite the Process Atlas paper (in preparation, 2026), by Artur M. Schweidtmann and Jana M. Weber, and the ChemE-as-Code Process Atlas LCI database version preview-a3c52e4.

DOI: none yet (the Process Atlas paper is in preparation)

For the data, cite the Process Atlas paper; for the platform that builds and checks it, the ChemE-as-Code paper.

Schweidtmann, A. M. & Weber, J. M. (2026, in preparation). Process Atlas: an open, git-native, reproducible library and life cycle inventory of chemical processes (working title).

BibTeX

@unpublished{schweidtmann_process_atlas,
  author = {Schweidtmann, Artur M. and Weber, Jana M.},
  title = {{Process Atlas: an open, git-native, reproducible library and life cycle inventory of chemical processes (working title)}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://atlas.cheme-as-code.org},
  note = {in preparation}
}

Schweidtmann, A. M. (2026). ChemE-as-Code: An Open-Source Platform for Agentic AI in Chemical Engineering. arXiv:2611.07947. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2611.07947

BibTeX

@misc{schweidtmann_cheme_as_code,
  author = {Schweidtmann, Artur M.},
  title = {{ChemE-as-Code: An Open-Source Platform for Agentic AI in Chemical Engineering}},
  year = {2026},
  eprint = {2611.07947},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  doi = {10.48550/arXiv.2611.07947},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.07947}
}