Ineos Styrolution and Trinseo recruit Recycling Technologies as tech partner in Europe’s first polystyrene recycling plants
21 Apr 2021 --- Ineos Styrolution and Trinseo have selected Recycling Technologies as their technology partner to develop commercial polystyrene (PS) recycling plants in Europe.
The three companies share the same vision of making PS a circular material through depolymerization.
The unique properties of PS allow for full circularity, returning the plastic to its chemical building blocks before being polymerized again.
The recycled PS will have identical properties with virgin PS, the trio indicates. Meanwhile, life cycle assessments show significant decreases in greenhouse gas emissions compared with PS production from naphtha.
“PS has one of the longest histories of all polymers. The product has become the material of choice in many applications – not only in packaging – with no or little alternatives,” Sven Riechers, Ineos Styrolution’s VP business management for standard products in EMEA, tells PackagingInsights.
“When evaluating alternatives from a sustainability standpoint, you also must take into account if the recycling allows for a true circularity or if you go with downcycling.”
“The beauty of the planned recycling of polystyrene is to offer material with the same properties as virgin material, where there is no downcycling.”
Australia recently pledged to phase out PS food containers by 2025.
Commercial scaling
Recycling Technologies was selected to join Ineos Styrolution and Trinseo as the technology provider for the commercial-scale recycling of PS following a detailed assessment of technology options.
Recycling Technologies’ solution provided the highest yields in converting PS to styrene monomer and the most scalable solution due to the company’s fluidized bed reactor combined with the expertise of a highly-skilled technical team.
“As with all new technologies, the initial barrier is scalability and bringing the technology to a commercial world-scale level,” explains Riechers.
“We truly believe in the technology being superior to other technologies and see PS as a material with superior properties to other materials making it a strong competitor in a circular economy.”
UK pilot plant
A PS recycling pilot plant will be built in the UK in 2022 and the technology further developed by the three parties before the commercial-scale recycling plants are built.
The pilot plant will provide information and data related to chemical recycling and operations to support future development of the commercial-scale recycling plants.
Polystyrene’s unique properties allow for full circularity, returning the plastic to its chemical building blocks before being polymerized again.Ineos Styrolution plans to build its full commercial-scale recycling facility in Wingles, France. Meanwhile, Trinseo plans to build its own plant in Tessenderlo, Belgium, expected to be operational in 2023. Each plant would aim to convert 15 kT/y of PS waste into recycled styrene.
“Being the location of one of our polystyrene plants in Europe, Wingles is perfectly suited for our future recycling facility,” says Riechers.
Nicolas Joly, VP for plastics and feedstocks at Trinseo and president of Styrenics Circular Solutions, adds: “PS turns out to be a wonderful polymer. Not only is depolymerization an effective recycling method, but it also allows for recycling while also maintaining food contact compliancy.”
Adrian Griffiths, CEO and founder of Recycling Technologies, also comments: “Our collaboration with Ineos Styrolution and Trinseo is a strong recognition of our technology’s ability to make polystyrene circular. We look forward to working with these two global leading companies to build Europe’s first chemical polystyrene recycling facility.”
A circular polystyrene economy
In December, Total, Intraplás and Yoplait announced they are piloting the manufacturing of yogurt pots from recycled PS in France. BASF and Trinseo are also partnering on the production of styrene based on circular feedstock.
The demand for circular PS solutions is urgent, with PS food containers increasingly recognized as one of the highest polluting packaging items. Australia recently pledged to phase out PS food containers and seven other high-polluting single-use plastic items by 2025.
Likewise, the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive will take effect on July 3, banning popular throwaway plastic items like straws, cutlery and food containers made of expanded polystyrene (EPS). The banned containers include those with or without a cover.
By Joshua Poole
