Chemical Engineering March 2019 - 18

COORDINATED EFFORTS IN PLASTICS RECYCLING
The following are short descriptions of some selected consortia, alliances and collaborations
that are aimed at various pieces of the plastics recycling movement.
Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW; www.endplasticwaste.org). Launched in January
2019, AEPW is an alliance of nearly 30 global member companies from across the plastics
and consumer goods value chain. The alliance has committed over $1.0 billion, with the goal
of investing $1.5 billion over the next five years to help end plastic waste in the environment.
The Alliance will develop and bring to scale solutions that will minimize and manage plastic
waste and promote solutions for used plastics by helping to enable a circular economy, according
to AEPW. Member companies include BASF, Braskem, Chevron Phillips Chemicals,
Clariant, Covestro, LyondellBasell, NOVA Chemicals, Sasol, Total, Veolia and others.
Materials Recovery for the Future (MRFF; www.materialsrecoveryforthefuture.com). MRFF
was formed by the non-profit arm of the American Chemistry Council (ACC) to foster the addition
of flexible plastic packaging to the recycling stream. MRFF is trying to install sorters that
can separate flexible packaging from recycled streams, so that consumers can include flexible
packaging into their regular recycling bins. Members include the Dow Chemical Co., PepsiCo,
SC Johnson, Nestle, the Association of Plastics Recyclers, Target Stores and others.
CEFLEX (www.ceflex.eu) CEFLEX is the collaborative project of a European consortium of
companies representing the entire value chain of flexible packaging and continues the work
of Project REFLEX and Project FIACE.
Recycle Across America (RAA; www.recycleacrossamerica.org). RAA created the world's
first and only society-wide standardized labeling system for recycling bins to make it easier
for people to participate in recycling programs. The standardized labels are proven to help
increase recycling levels and significantly decrease the costly garbage thrown in recycling
bins, RAA says.
Project STOP (Stop Ocean Plastics; www.systemiq.earth) is a frontline initiative to prevent
ocean plastic leakage in Southeast Asia. Its partners include Borealis, SYSTEMIQ, the Government
of Norway, NOVA Chemicals, Borouge and Veolia and Nestlé.
in the form of mixed films fractions
from recycling sorting centers.
In another approach aimed at recycling
waste plastic that is not currently
recycled, BioCellection Inc.
(Menlo Park, Calif.; www.biocellection.com)
has developed a novel catalytic
process that can break down
PE into dicarboxylic acids, which
can then be used as intermediates
to synthesize other chemicals. The
proprietary process is designed to
work on PE films that are generally
not being recycled currently, explains
Erik Freer, BioCellection chief technology
officer.
The overall process designed by
the company effectively recovers
and recycles the catalyst, using
mild temperatures and pressures to
keep costs low. " The raw-materials
costs for our process are much
lower than existing processes for
making dicarboxylic acids, " Freer
says, so it is a good way to create
a high-value chemical intermediate
from waste plastic.
After a bench-scale demonstration,
the company built a pre-pilot
unit that is an order of magnitude
larger than the bench-scale system
to validate the effectiveness
18
of the catalyst. They are now designing
a commercial pilot plant
that integrates all the components
of the process and aims to validate
the complete process, Freer
says. In 2018, the company won
a $100,000 award from UCLA and
the Anthony and Jeanne Pritzker
Foundation for emerging environmental
projects.
Products from pyrolysis oil
One approach to addressing the
problems associated with recycling
mixed-stream plastics is to break
down the plastics via thermochemical
means, such as pyrolysis (thermal
decomposition in the absence of oxygen),
then separate them into fractions,
similar to the refining of crude
oil. The wax/oil mix from plastic can
then be fed to steam crackers to be
made into olefins for plastic production.
A number of companies are operating
in this area, including Cynar
(Ireland), Recycling Technologies Inc.
(U.K.), Plastic Energy Ltd. (U.K.) and
Recenso GmbH (Germany). The outlets
for this material are expanding as
the companies are partnering with
others who can use the products
from the pyrolyzed plastic.
One example of this is BASF SE's
(Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.
com) ChemCycling project. In late
2018, BASF announced the first pilot
products made from oils derived from
the thermochemical decomposition
of recycled plastic waste for which
no recycling solutions currently exist.
Using oils from plastic waste generated
by partner Recenso, BASF put
the material into its steam cracker at
Ludwigshafen to make ethylene and
propylene. From these olefins, BASF
made plastic packaging for mozzarella
cheese, for example.
Another similar arrangement was
recently established by Plastic Energy
Ltd. (London, U.K.; www.plasticenergy.com),
which has developed
a process for making a raw material
feedstock from mixed plastics
known as Tacoil. Tacoil results from
the recycling of low-quality, mixed
plastic waste otherwise destined for
incineration or landfill. The upgraded
pyrolysis oil will yield a cracker feedstock
with similar characteristics and
quality as the fossil-based naphtha
feedstock, the company says. The
naphtha cracking process yields
the same monomers, such as ethylene
and propylene, that are used
to manufacture low-density polyethylene
(LDPE), high-density polyethylene
(HDPE) and polypropylene (PP).
A partnership between Plastic Energy
and SABIC (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia;
www.sabic.com) was recently
announced where SABIC is building
a facility in Geleen, the Netherlands
to make plastics out of Tacoil. At
the recent World Economic Forum
in Davos, Switzerland, SABIC announced
that the line
of
certified
circular polymers made from Tacoil
will be used by key SABIC customers
Unilever, Vinventions and Walki
Group for packaging solutions for
a variety of consumer packaging in
the food, beverage, personal- and
home-care markets. Those products
will be introduced into the market
this year. The plant in Geleen is anticipated
to enter commercial production
in 2021.
n
Scott Jenkins
Editor's note: For more information about
plastics recycling supply chains and recyling
hurdles, see the online version of this article at www.
chemengonline.com.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM
MARCH 2019

http://www.basf http://www.endplasticwaste.org http://www.materialsrecoveryforthefuture.com http://www.ceflex.eu http://www.plas http://www.ticenergy.com http://www.recycleacrossamerica.org http://www.systemiq.earth http://www.biocellec http://www.tion.com http://www.sabic.com http://www.chemengonline.com http://WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM

Chemical Engineering March 2019

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