Page 153 - CW E-Magazine (7-5-2024)

News from Abroad

POSITION PAPER
‘Mechanical recycling must take priority over chemi-

cal recycling and be incentivised’

Mechanical recycling must remain nascent technology”, BIR urges caution on incentivizing the design of plastics
the preferred method for plastics recy- in its deployment and calls for the for reuse or mechanical recycling,
cling on a large scale whereas chemi- introduction of a harmonized definition thus reducing the requirement for new
cal recycling should be used only for of chemical recycling that excludes fuel resources,” it says.
hard-to-recycle end-of-life plastics. production.
This is the thesis of a new position Furthermore, it is added in the
paper released by the Bureau of Inter- “Chemical recycling processes are position paper, chemical recyclers
national Recycling (BIR), a global extremely energy-intensive and some should refrain from misusing mass
recycling industry federation repre- that are currently available produce balance accounting principles to fulfil
senting more than 30,000 companies more greenhouse gas emissions than recycled content objectives.
around the globe, with a direct member- primary production using fossil fuels
ship of over 950 companies and 37 during the production process,” the “A robust method for calculating
national associations from 70 countries. position paper points out. “For these the climate impacts of chemical recy-
and other reasons, chemical recycling cling must be developed,” underlines
The result of collaborative work should be used only for materials BIR Director General Mr. Arnaud
with BIR national member associa- that mechanical recycling cannot Brunet. “This should cover all emissions
tions, the paper highlights that chemi- efficiently or economically process,” from the process, as well as overall
cal recycling needs careful considera- it argues. energy usage and incineration of reco-
tion and well-informed, market-based vered hazardous waste. Furthermore,
policies to ensure that it complements In addition, the paper advises that incentivizing the lower-carbon option
rather than competes with traditional chemical recycling should not be of mechanical recycling would enable
recycling methods. allowed to override the need for design it to compete with lower-priced primary
for recycling. “Policies should focus on plastics and make the process more
Describing chemical recycling as “a eliminating hard-to-recycle plastics and attractive for investment.”
CATALYTIC RECYCLING
Technip Energies and Anellotech to jointly develop

plastics recycling technology

Technip Energies and Anellotech, its role as the global Plas-TCat licensor.
Inc. have signed a global joint deve- The Plas-TCat process can feed all
lopment agreement to work coopera- major plastics with predictable end-pro-
tively to further develop and then duct yields. This process can reduce
license Anellotech’s Plas-TCat process, CO emission up to 50% compared
2
a one-step thermal-catalytic recycling to the production of virgin monomers in
technology that converts mixed plastic naphtha crackers.
wastes back into its constituent basic
chemicals, with a specific focus to “Together with our strategic fund-
benzene, toluene, and xylene (BTX). ing partner R Plus Japan Ltd., we will
nameplate feed rate demonstration work towards accelerating the global
The companies will bring their com- plant in Silsbee, Texas. It will incor- licensing and commercialization of the
bined process technology expertise and porate Technip Energies’ downstream Plas-TCat process,” said Mr. David
knowhow to complete comprehensive processing units, leading to a process Sudolsky, Founder, President and CEO,
performance trials at Anellotech’s 100-tpa design for use by Technip Energies in Anellotech.

Chemical Weekly May 7, 2024 153

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