MOSCOW (MRC) -- INEOS Styrolution, Recycling Technologies and Trinseo have announced that they 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, as per Trinseo's press release.
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.
As MRC reported earlier, in February 2021, Ineos Styrolution, the styrenics subsidiary of Ineos, said it was collaborating with Polystyvert (Montreal, Canada) to convert post-consumer PS into recycled PS resin using Polystyvert’s dissolution technology. The companies signed a joint development agreement for the dissolution process to convert waste PS into recycled resin. The process takes solid PS waste and dissolves it in a solvent, before processing and then separating the end-product from the solvent as a polymer for reuse, it says.
Besides, earlier this month, Trinseo, a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex binders and synthetic rubber, and BASF, the world's largest petrochemical company, announced the intention to expand their businesses with the production of styrene monomer (SM) based on circular feedstock. The enhanced collaboration between Trinseo and BASF aims to increase efforts by both companies in the development and management of SM featuring an improved environmental profile.
Trinseo is a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex and rubber. Trinseo's technology is used by customers in industries such as home appliances, automotive, building & construction, carpet, consumer electronics, consumer goods, electrical & lighting, medical, packaging, paper & paperboard, rubber goods and tires. Formerly known as Styron, Trinseo completed its renaming process in 1Q 2015. Trinseo had approximately USD3.0 billion in net sales in 2020, with 17 manufacturing sites around the world, and approximately 2,600 employees.
INEOS Styrolution is the leading global styrenics supplier, with a focus on styrene monomer, polystyrene, ABS Standard and styrenic specialties. With world-class production facilities and more than 90 years of experience, INEOS Styrolution helps its customers succeed by offering solutions, designed to give them a competitive edge in their markets. At the same time, these innovative and sustainable best-in-class solutions help make the circular economy for styrenics a reality. The company provides styrenic applications for many everyday products across a broad range of industries, including automotive, electronics, household, construction, healthcare, packaging and toys/sports/leisure. In 2020, sales were at 4 billion euros. INEOS Styrolution employs approximately 3,600 people and operates 20 production sites in ten countries.
MRC