Japan-based chemical companies Denka and Toyo Styrene have finished construction of the country’s first polystyrene (PS) chemical recycling facility. Investment totalled approximately JPY 4 billion (€24.6 million).
The plant started operations on March 19 and is located at Denka’s Chiba Factory, about 40 kilometres east of Tokyo. Chiba Factory has been in operation for 58 years and produces a range of petrochemical products, including styrene monomer, PS, styrene-based special resins, PVC tape, amongst others.
The new chemical recycling facility has capacity to process approximately 3,000 tonnes of PS waste per year. Construction began in February 2022 after Toyo Styrene entered into a technology licensing agreement with US-based Agilyx.
Agilyx built the pyrolysis modular system that powers the plant at its fabrication site in Louisiana, United States. Factory acceptance testing was also conducted in the US, before the modules were installed at Chiba Factory.
Together with US-based AmSty, Agilyx operated the world’s first commercial-scale chemical recycling facility for PS in Tigard, Oregon, between 2019 and 2024. The joint-venture, called Regenyx, will shut down this month after having lost $4.5 million since 2021.
Regenyx’s poor efficiency was one of the causes of the joint venture’s losses.
When Regenyx first launched, Agilyx and AmSty expected it to process up to 10 tons of PS waste per day (3,650 tons per year). However, Agilyx’s 2021 annual report showed the facility had processed a total of 4,400 tons between 2019 and 2021. Company records indicate that by April 2020, Agilyx had sold about 1 million pounds (less than 0.5 tons per day) of recycled styrene monomer to AmSty. In April 2021, Agilyx said the facility was undergoing operational advancements to maximise efficiency.
As for Denka and Toyo Styrene, the companies said they will create a system for collecting waste PS, including post-consumer recyclate at a later stage. They plan to obtain ISCC Plus certification for their plant to allocate recycled content via the mass balance method.