CHEMICAL RECYCLING | INNOVATION
Looking for success in chemical recycling
The success of chemical recycling projects will depend not just on technology, but also feedstock supply, purification, costs and more. Peter Mapleston reports on polystyrene and polyolefin developments
The chemical recycling industry has a few pointed questions to answer: Just how effective is it at reducing post-consumer plastics waste? How good is it for the environment? Can it be done cost-effec- tively? The winners in this race will be, firstly, those who have technology that has been proven to work on an industrial scale with contained costs and which can clearly demonstrate the ability to help produce plastics with much lower carbon foot- prints; and secondly, those who source feedstocks that are consistent in quality and quantity. On top of that, players will need to convince nay-sayers – many of them in state legislatures – that chemical recycling really will help keep plastics out of our riv- ers and oceans, without polluting the atmosphere. One company that appears to have a strong handle on the supply logistics situation is depoly- merisation technology company Agilyx Group, headquartered in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, US. Agilyx claims to be the only company in the market to offer an integrated solution for chemical recy- cling and feedstock management. Agilyx says it has an asset-light, technology licensing model with multiple revenue streams coming from feedstock IP (feedstock characterisa-
www.plasticsrecyclingworld.com
tions and recipes, supply chain optimisation) and depolymerisation IP (plastic-to-plastic, plastic-to- intermediaries, plastic-to-fuels). In July, Cyclyx International, a consortium-based post-use plastic innovation company jointly owned by Agilyx (75%) and ExxonMobil, said Union Pacific Railroad, one of the largest freight railroads in North America, had joined the consortium. ”Exper- tise in circular economy logistics and cost effective transportation solutions is critical,” says Cyclyx. In its 2021 Annual Report, Agilyx outlines future
growth for Cyclyx, through expanding the consor- tium. At the time of publication, it said it was in ongoing membership discussions with 285 global companies.
Agilyx has developed depolymerisation tech- nologies that can be applied to single streams, most notably polystyrene, and also mixed streams. Chemical recycling of PS is probably the furthest advanced of all plastics chemical recycling tech- nologies. In January, Agilyx and Toyo Styrene said they were entering into the construction phase of a 10 tonnes/day chemical recycling facility in Japan, enabled by Agilyx technology. The recycling plant will convert post-use PS into
July/August 2022 | PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD 17
Main image: Polystyrene is the subject of a number of chemical recycling projects
IMAGE: PYROWAVE
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54
