MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mitsubishi Chemical, a major Japanese petrochemical producer, has unveiled plans to develop its first chemical recycling project with licensed technology from Mura Technology and KBR, according to the company's press release on as of 12 August.
The project will be based at Mitsubishi's Ibaraki Plant in Japan, with the capacity to recycle 20,000 mt of plastic waste per year. The company is expected to complete construction in 2023.
The announcement follows a licensing agreement for the trademarked HydroPRS process signed on June 16, with UK-based chemical recycler Mura Technology and US-based engineering company KBR.
Chemical recycling has been increasingly viewed as a viable alternative to mechanical recycling by the plastics industry, as it allows plastic wastes that were previously landfilled or incinerated to be recycled without downgrading.
Mitsubishi has said that it will seek to extend the plant's capacity in the future, as Mura highlighted the fact the HydroPRS technology is "inherently scalable."
As MRC reported earlier, in April 2021, Origin Materials, Inc., the world’s leading carbon negative materials company, and Mitsubishi Gas Chemical, Inc., a global leader in basic and fine chemicals and advanced materials, announced a partnership to industrialize and manufacture advanced chemicals and materials built on the Origin Materials technology platform.
We remind that Mitsubishi Chemical Corp (MCC) consolidated its headquarter functions for its global methyl methacrylate (MMA) business in Singapore, and renamed its major MMA subsidiaries to Mitsubishi Chemical Methacrylates, effective 1 April, 2021. The move is aimed at optimising the company's global product supply network by utilising digital technologies that connect regional production, costs and supply and demand.
The main application, consuming approximately 75% MMA, is in the production of polymethyl methacrylate acrylic plastics (PMMA). Methyl methacrylate is also used to produce methyl methacrylate-butadiene-styrene copolymer (MBS), used as a modifier for polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall production of unmixed PVC totalled 580,500 tonnes in the first seven months of 2021, up by 4% year on year. At the same time, one producer reduced its output.
Mitsubishi Chemical, as a core operating company of the Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Group,seeks to provide solutions to environmental and social issues and to contribute to the sustainable development of people, society and the Earth through its businesses built on a foundation of chemistry. The company boasts a broad range of products, from basic chemicals such as methanol, xylene, and hydrogen peroxide to high-performance products such as engineering plastics, foamed plastics, etc.
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