Chemical Engineering March 2020 - 32

Cover Story
3M
FIGURE 6. The share of renewable energy powering
CPI manufacturing plants is set to skyrocket in
the coming years, as companies begin to execute
their longterm sustainability goals
it unmanaged, " emphasizes Becker.
CP Chem is in the early phases of
development on a variety of chemical-recycling
projects, including its
combination with existing mechanical
recycling techniques to greatly
expand the breadth of materials that
can be efficiently handled. " The combination
of chemical and mechanical
recycling is going to be a bigger part
of the picture over the next 3-5 years.
It is difficult to mechanically recycle
everything, and there can be barriers
to convert mechanically recycled
resins back into useful products, "
says Becker. For instance, mechanical
recycling usually requires finely
separated waste streams, whereas
chemical recycling processes are
suited to handle mixed streams.
Also, chemical recycling opens the
door for recycling multilayer packaging,
and other traditionally challenging
materials like polystyrene.
CP Chem's American Styrenics
joint venture with Trinseo produces
circular polystyrene through a chemical
recycling process, but Becker
notes that there is still much work
to be done to scale chemical recycling
to handle massive amounts of
unmanaged plastic waste. " We have
to get the whole supply chain working
properly. There will be many innovations
in order to make chemical
recycling viable and the industry is
working on efficiencies, catalyst technologies
and other improvements, "
he continues.
Clariant is also working with partners
in the field of chemical recycling
to secure future access to reclaimed
raw materials, such as ethylene and
propylene, and working toward tackling
some of the challenges associated
with the utilization of post-con32
sumer
and post-industrial recycled
(PCR/PIR) materials. " Among our
longer-term sustainability projects,
we are investigating the chemical recycling
or upcycling of plastic waste
from either clean-grade or mixed material
streams for reuse in new virginquality
plastics for fuels. A special
focus within this work is on fundamental
absorption mechanisms for
removing harmful impurities, " says
Clariant's Haldimann.
Eastman Chemical Co. (KingTenn.;
www.eastman.com)
has launched two chemical recycling
technologies - one focused
on polyester and the other tackling
mixed plastics streams. The company's
Polyester Renewal Technology
(PRT) reclaims waste polyesters
from landfill and recycles them via
glycolysis or methanolysis, reducing
the polyesters to monomers, which
are then fed back into the polyester
manufacturing process. Eastman
expects to begin operation of
a commercial PRT unit in the next
2-3 years.
To implement the mixed-plasticssport,
recycling
process, which began
commercial operation in 2019,
Eastman modified the front end
of a cellulosics production unit to
handle
mixed-plastic
feedstock.
The process partially oxidizes the
plastic and efficiently converts it
into basic building blocks for other
chemicals. In 2020, the company
anticipates processing up to 50
million pounds of waste-plastic
feedstock. " Our advanced circular
recycling technologies give us an
opportunity to develop partnerships
across the value chain to
provide solutions, including better
end-of-life options that will have an
impact on the global waste problem.
It's extremely important that
we succeed here, as we can help
pave the way for the entire industry
to make a material difference for
a global issue, " emphasizes Steve
Crawford, chief technology and
sustainability officer at Eastman.
" We see chemical recycling as a
vital complement to mechanical
recycling. Chemical recycling can
now properly deal with the more
complex plastics that mechanical recycling
was not designed to process.
We are focused on the vast amount
of materials that are not suitable for
basic recycling, " adds Crawford.
Other efforts to curb plastic waste
include designing end products
themselves to be intrinsically more
recyclable. According to Becker, CP
Chem is working with its customers
to re-design packaging structures
with recyclability in mind, and also
to incorporate more post-consumer
recycled materials. " There's a lot of
work going on in packaging design,
because the industry as a whole
needs to have packaging that is more
easily recycled. We're going to see
more of that in the coming years. We
are certainly seeing consumer preference
drive sustainable product development,
but this is also reflected
from a regulatory standpoint, " Becker
concludes.
One part of Clariant's plastics strategy
has taken the form of dedicated
additives that are intended to improve
the compatibility of plastics in current
and future recycling processes. " The
development
of
customer-tailored
additives will enable brand owners
to significantly increase the share of
recycled material in the packaging of
their products, " explains Haldimann.
" We must put an end to the throwaway
mentality, and a stronger circular
economy with recycled plastics
will help accomplish this change. We
see an enormous innovation potential
in appropriate end-of-life product
strategies, " he adds.
Milliken has also developed performance-modifying
chemicals that
allow for recycled polypropylene to
be better utilized in end products
without sacrificing physical properties.
" We are analyzing new products
using lifecycle analysis principles. Our
sustainability efforts include convening
scientists and thought leaders
to take action on solving plastics'
end-of-life challenges, " says Cassidy
Carlile of Milliken. Looking ahead, this
type of collaboration - between industry,
academia and regulatory bodies
- will surely be an instrumental
element to accelerate circularity in
the CPI.
■
Mary Page Bailey
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM
MARCH 2020
http://www.eastman.com http://WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM
Chemical Engineering March 2020

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