PYROLYSIS PROJECTS | CHEMICAL RECYCLING
Chemical recycling makes global progress
The number of projects for chemically recycling plastics waste continues to grow in Europe, North America and
Asia.Peter Mapleston reviews progress among technology start-ups and major polymer producers
Worldwide, 50 million tonnes of plastics waste are mechanically recycled every year. That may sound like a lot, but it is not. 200 million tonnes are incinerated, landfilled or end up in the environ- ment. The European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic) says that today, only 15% of the collected plastic waste in the EU currently finds its way back into the EU market. There are several ways to make things better. Among them are: reduce the amount of plastic we use and dispose of; improve and increase mechan- ical recycling, as well as sorting; amplify and improve our options in recycling, through use of chemical processes such as pyrolysis, depolymeri- sation, and dissolution. All of these options need to be adopted, but there is a lot of work to be done. When it comes to chemical recycling, there are multiple issues to be addressed: not only do the technologies need to be further improved and massively upscaled, but resistance to chemical recycling from outside industry – much of it driven by misunderstanding, as well as a fundamental antipathy to plastics – needs to be overcome. Fortunately, progress is being made, mostly on the technology front.
www.plasticsrecyclingworld.com It is difficult to think of any important thermoplas-
tics producer that is not active in chemical recycling developments. “Chemical recycling can become especially relevant in the manufacturing of products that have high hygiene and quality requirements, such as food packaging or safety-relevant automo- tive parts,” says BASF. “Today, it is almost impossi- ble to manufacture such products with mechanically recycled materials. But it is possible to produce them with chemically recycled feedstock according to a mass balance approach. The resulting products have the exact same properties as those manufac- tured from fossil feedstock. This is the unique advantage of chemical recycling.” CO2
emissions from advanced recycling are
currently higher than those from mechanical and virgin production, but they are significantly lower than those emitted from plastics incineration. In 2020 a life cycle study by BASF on recycling of mixed plastic using pyrolysis showed a 50% improvement compared to incineration. In fact, each tonne of plastic processed through chemical recycling could save approximately 1.5 tonnes of CO2
in comparison. SABIC says its chemical recycling technology for November/December 2021 | PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD 15
Main image: A lot of chemical recycling
developments are taking place in North America and Europe, but facilities are planned for Asia too
IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK
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