MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sumitomo Chemical and Sekisui Chemical are moving forward with a project to convert plastic waste into polyolefin, targeting to start up a pilot plant to produce ethylene as a first step, according to Kemicalinfo.
Sumitomo Chemical has established a cooperative relationship with Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd. for the social implementation of the technology to manufacture polyolefin using waste as raw material.
Toyo Engineering Corporation has been awarded a contract for the said project to construct an Ethylene Pilot Plant.
Toyo has worked with Sumitomo Chemical since the basic design of the plant and currently carries out the detail engineering, procurement, and construction under the engineering, procurement, construction (EPC) lump-sum contract, aiming to start demonstration operation of the plant for a short period.
The pilot facility will be located at Sumitomo’s Chiba plant near Tokyo. The output capacity of the ethylene plant has not been disclosed. Sekisui will supply unspecified volumes of plastic waste-based ethanol to the pilot plant.
The commissioning is scheduled for some time during the April 2022-March 2023 fiscal year. The project partners plan to start trial production in 2022-23 and begin normal operations in 2025-26.
As MRC reported earlier, in December 2020, Sumitomo Chemical and Axens signed a license agreement of ethanol-to-ethylene technology Atol for Sumitomo Chemical’s waste-to-polyolefins project in Japan. In the project, to promote circular economy, Axens’ Atol technology will transform ethanol produced from waste into polymer-grade ethylene that will be polymerized in Sumitomo Chemical’s assets into polyolefin, a key product in the petrochemical industry.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 241,030 tonnes in January 2021 versus 217,890 tonnes a year earlier. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 141,870 tonnes in January 2021 versus 123,520 tonnes a year earlier. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.
MRC