INEOS Styrolution (Frankfurt, Germany), Recycling Technologies (London, U.K.) and Trinseo (Berwyn, Pa.) have reached a significant milestone in their plans to build commercial polystyrene (PS) recycling plants in Europe. Recycling Technologies has been selected as the technology partner.
These three companies all share the same vision of making PS a circular material through depolymerisation. The unique properties of PS allow for full circularity where PS waste is returned to its chemical building blocks before being polymerised again. The recycled PS will have identical properties with virgin PS. Life cycle assessment calculations show significant decreases in greenhouse gas emissions when compared with PS production from naphtha.
Following a detailed assessment of technology options, Recycling Technologies was selected to join INEOS Styrolution and Trinseo as the technology provider for commercial scale recycling of PS. Recycling Technologies’ solution provided the highest yields in the conversion of PS to styrene monomer and provided the most scalable solution due to the company’s fluidised bed reactor combined with expertise of a highly skilled technical team.
Prior to building the commercial scale recycling plants, a PS recycling pilot plant will be built in the UK in 2022, and the technology will be further developed jointly by the three parties. The pilot plant will provide information and data related to chemical recycling and operations to support future development of the commercial scale recycling plants.
INEOS Styrolution plans to build its full commercial scale recycling facility in Wingles, France. Trinseo announces its plan to build its own plant in Tessenderlo, Belgium, which is expected to be operational in 2023. Each plant would aim to convert 15kT/y of PS waste into recycled styrene.
Sven Riechers, Vice President, Business Management, Standard Products EMEA at INEOS Styrolution, said, “Being the location of one of our polystyrene plants in Europe, Wingles is perfectly suited for our future recycling facility.”
Nicolas Joly, Vice President, Plastics & Feedstocks at Trinseo and President of Styrenics Circular Solutions, adds, “Polystyrene turns out to be a wonderful polymer. Not only is depolymerisation an effective recycling method, but it also allows for recycling while also maintaining food contact compliancy.”
Adrian Griffiths, CEO & Founder of Recycling Technologies Ltd., comments, “Our collaboration with INEOS Styrolution and Trinseo is a strong recognition of our technology’s ability to make polystyrene circular. We look forward to working with these two global leading companies to build Europe’s first chemical polystyrene recycling facility.”
By Mary Page Bailey
Source: chemengonline.com
CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CF) today announced that it has closed its acquisition of Incitec Pivot Limited’s (“IPL”) ammonia production complex located in Waggaman, Louisiana. Under the terms of the agreement, CF Industries purchased the Waggaman ammonia plant and related assets for $1.675 billion, subject to adjustments.
The Virgin Atlantic flight was powered entirely by SAF, that was a drop-in replacement for conventional jet fuel, but made solely from sustainable feedstocks. This was enabled through the inclusion of a new bio-based aromatic jet fuel blending component.
Cepsa SA (Madrid) has agreed a deal with C2X, an independent firm owned by AP Moller Holding with AP Moller-Maersk as minority owner, to develop a 300,000 metric tons per year renewable methanol plant at Huelva, Spain.
