MOSCOW (MRC) -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is considering regulating chemical recycling, a controversial technology that aims to convert mixed plastic waste into fuel or energy, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.
In its notice in the Federal Register earlier this month, the EPA said it wants more information about so-called pyrolysis and gasification, also known as advanced or chemical recycling, and is considering how they could be regulated under the federal Clean Air Act.
"The Agency believes that there is considerable confusion in the regulated community regarding the applicability of Clean Air Act section 129 to pyrolysis and gasification units," the Federal Register notice said. Advanced recycling facilities aim to convert hard-to-recycle plastics, solid waste, biomass, tires and other forms of waste into fuels or energy using high heat and solvents, and has been promoted by the petrochemical and plastics industries as a way to deal with plastic waste.
A Reuters investigation earlier this year, however, found many of these facilities are not processing much waste. Reuters examined 30 projects by two-dozen advanced recycling companies across three continents and found that most still operate on a small scale or have closed down, and more than half are years behind schedule on previously announced commercial plans.
The American Chemistry Council has urged U.S. lawmakers to pass legislation that would incentivize advanced recycling, and 14 U.S. states have passed advanced recycling laws that would exempt chemical recycling facilities from solid waste and recycling laws.
The EPA said it is in the process of preparing a "detailed questionnaire" to get information from dozens of pilot and larger scale pyrolysis and gasification units, including construction date, startup date, air emissions, pollution control equipment and project design.
As per MRC, US Environmental Protection Agency would propose to extend deadlines for refiners to prove compliance with biofuel laws, but signaled it would not decide on a slew of pending waiver requests submitted by the industry. The agency’s proposal represented mixed news for refiners hard hit by slumping energy demand during the coronavirus pandemic and eager to sidestep regulatory costs associated with US biofuel blending policy. It also marks one of the last actions from President Donald Trump’s EPA before he leaves office on Jan. 20.
Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,396,960 tonnes in January-July 2021, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 841,990 tonnes in the first seven months of 2021, up by 29% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.
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