Ineos Styrolution and Trinseo announce partner in first European polystyrene recycling plants

Polystyrene producers Ineos Styrolution, headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and Trinseo of Berwyn, Pennsylvania, have announced a partnership with Recycling Technologies of Swindon, England, to build two polystyrene (PS) recycling plants in Europe. The companies hope to make PS a circular material through depolymerization.

Following an assessment of technology options, the companies chose Recycling Technologies as the technology provider for commercial-scale recycling of PS. The companies say they determined that Recycling Technologies’ solution provided the highest yields in the conversion of PS to styrene monomer and provided the most scalable solution due to the company’s fluidized bed reactor combined with the expertise of its technical team. 

Recycling Technologies is a specialist in chemical recycling of mixed plastics.

“Our collaboration with Ineos Styrolution and Trinseo is a strong recognition of our technology’s ability to make polystyrene circular,” says Adrian Griffiths, CEO and founder of Recycling Technologies. “We look forward to working with these two global leading companies to build Europe’s first chemical polystyrene recycling facilities.”

The companies say the properties of PS allow for full circularity because postuse PS can be returned to its chemical building blocks before being polymerized again. The recycled PS will have identical properties to virgin PS.

Life cycle assessment calculations reportedly show “significant decreases” in greenhouse gas emissions when compared with PS production from naphtha.

Before building the commercial-scale recycling plants, a PS recycling pilot plant will be built in the U.K. in 2022. There the three companies will develop the PS technology for launch in their commercial plants. The pilot plant will provide information and data related to chemical recycling and operations to support future development of the commercial scale recycling plants, Packaging News reports.

Ineos Styrolution says it plans to build its commercial-scale recycling facility in Wingles, France. Trinseo will build a plant in Tessenderlo, Belgium, expected to be operational in 2023. Each plant will aim to convert 15,000 metric tons per year of PS scrap into recycled styrene.

“Polystyrene 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 compliance,” says Nicolas Joly, vice president for plastics and feedstocks at Trinseo and president of Styrenics Circular Solutions.