MOSCOW (MRC) -- Agilyx (Tigard, Oregon) and TechnipFMC say they have recently agreed to collaborate exclusively on the joint development of a process to purify styrene oil into high-purity styrene, reported Chemweek.
The collaboration is the result of over a year of evaluation, and the desire of both companies to expand their energy transition and circular economy offerings, Agilyx says. The aim is to “enable a new production path of styrene via post-use polystyrene (PS) products,” it says.
The developed purification process will bolt on to Agilyx’s existing depolymerization technology and accelerate the presence of recycled styrene and recycled PS in the market, according to the company. The recycled styrene is expected to retain “all of the properties and functionality of traditionally manufactured styrene,” it says.
“We view this collaboration as an important step to meet the increasing demand for recycled content in plastic products,” says Joe Vaillancourt, Agilyx CEO. “Demand for recycled content is increasing globally driven by legislation as well as sustainability goals by major brand owners. We are excited to work with TechnipFMC, a company focused on advancing sustainable technologies and increasing plastic recovery.”
The linkup with Agilyx “fully aligns with a strategic objective of TechnipFMC and its Technip Energies segment to bring sustainable process technologies to the marketplace by developing circular economy technology for a major plastic used widely throughout the world,” says Stan Knez, president/process technology at TechnipFMC.
As MRC informed before, in June, 2020, TechnipFMC and Clariant Catalysts announced that they have entered into a joint development agreement for the demonstration and commercialisation of Clariant’s new state-of-the-art AcryloMax propylene ammoxidation catalyst for the production of acrylonitrile (ACN). This new collaboration will bring together Technip Energies’ well-established expertise in fluid bed technologies and process development with Clariant’s longstanding experience and knowledge in the development, manufacturing and supply of catalysts for the petrochemical industry.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated consumption of PS and styrene plastics was 225,870 tonnes in the first half of 2020, down by 8% year on year. PS consumption in the Russian market increased by 2% year on year in June 2020, totalling 39,590 tonnes.
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