NEWS
Covestro pilots new process for PC recycling
Covestro is piloting a chemolysis process at its facility in Leverkusen in Germany, which is adapted to recycling polycarbonate (PC). The plastics are convert- ed into monomers and fed back into the PC production process. Covestro says PC material
resulting from depolymeri- sation can be mass-bal- anced and used as recycled material in demanding applications without further processing. The raw
materials are especially sought after in applications that have special require- ments in terms of safety, optical transparency or aesthetics, such as those in the automotive sector. “Pre-sorted waste streams containing a product content of more than 50% PC can be recycled this way,” said Markus Dugal, head of process technology at Covestro. “This has been successfully demonstrated with various polycarbonate- containing plastic waste
streams. With the help of this chemolysis, the cycle can be closed to a direct precursor of PC. This makes the recycling process very sustainable.” Following successful development in the labora- tory, the next stage involv- ing technical implementa- tion of a continuous process has already started. A pilot plant, which is currently being planned, will be used to gather data needed for further expansion. �
www.covestro.com
Kuraray to expand EVOH capacity
Kuraray is to increase capacity of its ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH) copolymer at its US and European production sites. The material, marketed under the Eval name, is used in food packaging as a gas barrier. The company said 5,000
tonnes/year of new capacity will be added across its production sites at Houston in the US and Antwerp in Belgium in 2024, with a further 5,000 tonnes/year planned for 2026. The expansions will take its global production capacity to 113,000 tonnes/
year, according to the company.
In addition, a project
team is examining the creation of a new base of operations in Asia. It currently has a capacity of 10,000 tonnes/year at its site at Okayama in Japan. �
www.kuraray.com
IN BRIEF...
BASF has broken ground on a new polyethylene (PE) plant at its Verbund site in Zhanjiang, China. Opening in 2025, the 500,000 tonnes/year plant will be backward-integrated and will serve demand in the region for products such as pipes and speciality films.
www.basf.com
INVL Baltic Sea has acquired a 70% stake in Polish PVC window recycler Metal-Plast. The company has an annual capacity of around 29,000 tonnes.
www.metal-plast.pl
Packaging companies Amcor and Mondelēz International are investing in chemical recycler Licella, which is construct- ing a facility in Victoria, Australia using its Catalytic Hydrothermal Reactor (Cat-HTR) technology to initially process about 20,000 tonnes/year of plastics, with plans to scale up to 120,000 tonnes/yr.
www.licella.com
Boosting output of polycarbonate additives
Tosaf has added a new compounding line at its production site in Alon-Tavor in Israel – allowing it to boost capacity of polycarbonate (PC) additive masterbatches for use in film and sheet. One recent development includes light diffuser masterbatches for both PC and PMMA. In addition, it has developed heat blockers for the near IR range (NIR blockers) and additives for creating matt surfaces with either a fine or rough structure. Both of the latter are intended to be applied to the surface of PC sheets by coextrusion, each in combination with a UV absorber. As a 50-100 micron top layer, they work more efficiently than in bulk sheet, says Tosaf. “For some years, we have seen growing demand for our products
from PC processors,” said Gabi Bar, polycarbonate product manager at Tosaf. �
www.tosaf.com
8 FILM & SHEET EXTRUSION | October 2023
www.filmandsheet.com
IMAGE: PALRAM
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