FEATURE Sustainability
Honeywell introduces plastics recycling technology to drive a circular plastics economy
H
oneywell has announced the commercialisation of a revolutionary process that expands the types of
plastics that can be recycled and can produce feedstock used to make recycled plastics with a lower carbon footprint. The new technology can reduce the need
for fossil fuels in the creation of virgin plastics while enabling hundreds of cycles of recycling, with the goal of enabling a circular economy for plastics. Honeywell’s UpCycle Process Technology utilises molecular conversion, pyrolysis and contaminants management technology to convert waste plastic back to Honeywell Recycled Polymer Feedstock, which is then used to create new plastics. The UpCycle Process technology expands the types of plastics that can be recycled to include waste plastic that would otherwise go layered packaging and polystyrene. When used in conjunction with other chemical and mechanical recycling processes – along with improvements to collection and sorting – Honeywell’s UpCycle Process Technology has the potential to increase the amount of global plastic waste that can be recycled to 90 per cent. According to a study published by AMI International in September 2020, waste plastics processed through advanced recycling
14 February 2022 Irish Manufacturing
technologies, such as UpCycle Process 15 million tonnes of additional plastic waste being recycled per year by 2030. Recycled plastics produced via UpCycle
Process Technology can result in a 57% compared with the production of the same amount of virgin plastic from fossil feeds.2. The process also reduces CO2e emissions by 77% compared with conventional modes of handling waste plastic, such as incineration and of the largest improvements among all pyrolysis technology offerings3, 4. “Plastics play an important role in our society, including expanding the shelf life of food and making vehicles lighter, which reduces their emissions,” comments Vimal Kapur, President and CEO of Honeywell Performance Materials and Technologies. “Unfortunately, only a fraction of plastics
today can be successfully recycled. Honeywell’s broadening the types of plastic that can be recycled, UpCycle will revolutionise the plastics economy and play a critical role in improving the sustainability of many of the products we use on a daily basis.” services company with operations in more
to deploy Honeywell’s proprietary UpCycle Process Technology. Honeywell and Sacyr will form a joint venture
operate a facility in Andalucía, in Southern Spain, with a capacity to transform 30,000 metric tons per year of mixed waste plastics into Honeywell Recycled Polymer Feedstock. Production is expected to begin in 2023. Partnering with companies that have waste management experience such as Sacyr allows Honeywell to help close the loop within the plastics supply chain by bringing the recycling technology onsite to the collection source. The recycling plants employ a modular design, enabling straightforward deployment and installation, striking the right balance between economy of scale and amount of waste plastic generated locally. Domingo Jiménez, Manager of Sacyr Circular,
adds: “Our partnership with Honeywell will enable Sacyr to bring sustainable, circular solutions to market. The speed with which we can start up plants and the global viability of this solution has the potential to greatly accelerate the impact we can have on the communities we serve, the environment, and society as a whole.”
Honeywell
www.honeywell.com
www.irish-manufacturing.com
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