INEOS Styrolution reveals ResolVe project progress

INEOS Styrolution, a global styrenics supplier based in Frankfurt, Germany, has disclosed the results of its ResolVE project, which aims to address research related to chemical recycling of polystyrene. According to a news release from INEOS Styrolution, the ResolVe project team now has proof of concept of closed loop recycling. The process converts waste polystyrene (PS) back to pure styrene via a depolymerization process, followed by a polymerization process resulting in a quality identical to virgin PS. 

PS is one of the few polymers that can be converted back into its specific monomer, INEOS Styrolution reports. Technical properties such as its low ceiling temperature enable recycling under conditions that can be achieved in a twin-screw extruder. The results of the project show that PS is very well recyclable.

Fundamental questions covered in the ResolVe project include the yield of styrenics in the chemical recycling process and the impact of nonstyrenic waste contaminations. According to the project’s findings, the chemical recycling process for PS is sensitive to polyethylene terephthalate (PET) contamination and on the other hand, it is hardly impacted by contamination with polyolefins of up to 10 percent.

According to a news release from INEOS Styrolution, these findings allow the company to move to the pilot phase of the project. The findings also prepare the grounds for scaling up the process for industrial use.

“The ResolVe project gives us an insight into chemical recycling,” says Norbert Niessner, director of global research and development and intellectual property at INEOS Styrolution. “As a result, we can clearly say polystyrene is indeed made for recycling. Together with today’s progress in sorting technologies of postconsumer waste, I am confident that there is no longer a reason for polystyrene not to be recycled.”

Details of the findings have been presented at the Bayreuth Polymer Symposium, which took place Sept. 22-24 in Germany.

The ResolVe project, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Education, BMBF, is jointly executed by INEOS Styrolution together with Neue Materialien GmbH Bayreuth as well as with two institutes of the University of Aachen (RWTH)—the Institute for Processing and Recycling and the Institute of Plastics Processing. It also receives contributions from INEOS Manufacturing Deutschland GmbH in Köln.