MOSCOW (MRC) -- Agilyx announced that the construction phase of the Toyo Styrene Co, LTD polystyrene (PS) chemical recycling facility has begun in Chiba, Japan, said Plasticstoday.
Agilyx and Toyo Styrene Co. have started construction on a chemical recycling plant in Japan. The facility ultimately will have the capacity to recycle 10 tonnes of post-use polystyrene per day.
With operations in Oregon and Switzerland, Agilyx specializes in processing difficult-to-recycle plastics. Toyo Styrene is a Tokyo-based polystyrene resin manufacturer.
The new Japanese plant will rely on Agilyx’s molecular recycling technology, which uses pyrolysis without a catalyst. The facility will depolymerize post-consumer polystyrene waste, including take-out food boxes and other consumer goods packaging, and the resulting styrene monomer will be purified using a proprietary process developed by Toyo Styrene.
The virgin-quality styrene is suitable for manufacturing high-value polystyrene products such as food packaging and tires, which will have a much lower carbon footprint than similar products manufactured with virgin polymer.
"As the first step toward the circular economy, we will construct a chemical recycling plant for this project, collect post-industrial materials for the time being, and start a chemical recycling business,” said Sanshiro Matsushita, President of Toyo Styrene, in a prepared statement.
Matsushita added that "to build a carbon-free society through chemical recycling in Japan, we are also planning to participate in a platform that integrates citizens, businesses, and local government." That initiative is occurring in Ichihara City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan.
As per MRC, Agilyx Corp. has licensed its technology to Toyo Styrene Co. for use in a new facility to be built in Japan that will recycle post-use polystyrene (PS) back to styrene monomer (SM). The plant, which will be located near Toyo Styrene's existing facility in China Prefecture, will have a processing capacity of up to 10 t/d of post-use PS. Agilyx and Toyo have begun engineering and development of the project. Operations are expected to begin in early 2022.
As MRC reported before, earlier this month, Agilyx Corp., Tigard, Oregon, and Toyo Styrene Co. Ltd., a Toyko-based affiliate of Denka Co. Ltd., announced they are 30% complete with the final phase of developing the front-end loading design to deploy Agilyx's technology near Toyo Styrene’s facility in the Chiba prefecture of Japan. According to a news release from Agilyx, the facility will focus on recycling postuse polystyrene (PS) plastic back to a styrene monomer. In April, Agilyx had announced the licensing of its technology to Toyo Styrene.
Agilyx (AGLX), is a pioneer in the advanced recycling of difficult-to-recycle post-use plastic streams. With Agilyx's chemical recycling technology and intelligent feedstock management system, mixed plastic waste can be converted to new virgin-equivalent plastics, as well as chemical products and fuels – creating the opportunity for true circularity. The company has not only developed these first-to-market products, but has also developed a feedstock management company Cyclyx International, Inc. and is working with many waste service providers, municipalities, petrochemical, and brand and retail companies to develop closed-loop advance recycling solutions for mixed waste plastics.
MRC