INEOS Styrolution and AmSty announce plans to construct a joint 100 ton per day facility in Channahon, Illinois, that will utilize the Agilyx advanced recycling technology to recycle post-use polystyrene products back into virgin-equivalent styrene monomer.
Polystyrene Waste for Circular Recycling
Polystyrene is advantageous for
advanced recycling because it can be “unzipped” back to its original liquid form, styrene monomer. Other plastics can also be converted into useful intermediates, but polystyrene offers a truly circular solution. Polystyrene remains the best option for a range of applications such as food and beverage containers. Polystyrene waste products can be used as valuable feedstock for circular recycling.
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Discarded single-use items like polystyrene foam cups and yogurt cups can now go right back to the same applications over and over at the same purity and performance with no need to landfill. We are excited to join forces with AmSty on this ambitious project, which we expect will elevate polystyrene as a sustainable material of choice. In particular, this facility will dramatically increase recycling rates in the greater Chicago area,” said Greg Fordyce, president Americas for INEOS Styrolution.
The Regenyx Joint Venture
In 2018, AmSty and Agilyx formed their Regenyx joint venture to advance the development of a similar facility in Tigard, Oregon, using Agilyx’s breakthrough pyrolysis technology. The Channahon facility will be engineered on a larger scale in cooperation with Agilyx to represent the next generation of advanced recycling technology.
Agilyx’s technology for converting waste polystyrene is proven at scale, having been operational for several years now in Oregon. This new facility in Illinois will be the largest of its type in the world, and will meet the growing demand from brand owners who want more recycled plastic, allowing them not only the possibility of recycling food grade material back to the same products but also for the upcycling of lower quality non-food grade products to meet food grade usage requirements.
Agilyx to Source Plastic Waste Feedstock from Cyclyx Subsidiary
Agilyx will also source and supply plastic waste feedstock for the facility through its recently formed Cyclyx subsidiary.
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In addition to the technology, we have developed a feedstock management system, which is just as important as the technology in developing the supply chain for this new market. The overarching goal of Cyclyx is to dramatically increase the recyclability of post-use plastics with a priority for fully circular pathways, as well as assisting in the development of new supply chains that will aggregate and preprocess larger volumes of post-use plastics than current systems,” said Joe Vaillancourt, Cyclyx's president.
Engineering design for the Channahon facility is under way, with construction and commissioning as the expected next phases.
Source: INEOS Styrolution