Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Plastics News
  • Plastics News China
SustainablePlasticsFINAL
Subscribe
  • Login
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • News
    • Recycling
    • Sustainability
    • Bioplastics
    • Technology & Materials
    • Enespa, Biofabrik to build industrial-scale chemical recycling facility
      Amcor, McKinsey.org are ‘Rethinking Recycling’ in Latin America
      Nylon sorting made easy
      Plastic pallet recycling scheme celebrates second anniversary
    • A fast casual gets serious about the environment
      Value chain collaboration yields new circular packaging solution
      Circa Group successfully completes NOK 575 million private placement
      Arburg publishes its first Sustainability Report online
    • Assets Bio-on S.p.A. up for auction
      Bio-Fed and Febo S.p.A. expand distribution agreement
      RenCom launches production of new lignin-based biomaterial
      SP Group, Nurel Biopolymers develop food-contact approved compostable barrier film structures
    • Injection Moulding
    • Blow Moulding
    • Extrusion
    • Thermoforming
    • 3D printing
    • Technology
    • Materials
    • Machinery
  • Opinion
    • View Point
    • PHA: As green as it gets
      Opinion: The future of sustainable plastic
      A year to remember
      Opinion: California introduces world’s toughest plastic bottle recycling legislature – will other markets follow?
  • Events
    • Our Exhibitions
    • Plastics Industry Awards (PIA)
    • Ask the Expert
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Reifenhäuser Technologies Livestreams
    • Plastics News Europe Live Archives
    • Plastics Recycling Show Europe
  • Prices & Resources
    • Polymer Prices
    • Data Reports
    • White Papers
  • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Media Pack
  • Subscribe
  • Digital magazine
    • Digital Magazine
  • Multimedia
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
February 05, 2021 12:01 PM

Depolymerisation offers viable recycling route for PMMA

Karen Laird
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Print
    MMaTwo

    JSW’s TEX twin screw extruder

    A European project aimed at developing an economically feasible method to successfully recycle PMMA  is currently testing a solution based on thermal depolymerisation. The technology being used was originally developed and patented by Japan Steel Works.

    The project, called MMAtwo was launched in 2018 and has 13 participants. The first contact with JSW was in 2017, when, interested in JSW’s patent, PMMA-manufacturer Arkema contacted the company.

    JSW soon joined the newly-established consortium as the key technology provider for depolymerisation. Its Düsseldorf-based Europe Extrusion Technical Centre, equipped with a modified TEX44αIII twin-screw extruder, is now being used to run a series of PMMA depolymerisation tests. The first trial set-up was at the Technical Centre in June 2020.

    PMMA, also known as acrylic glass, has excellent optical and physical properties. It is used for glazing applications in, for example, caravans, facades, furniture, and vehicle taillights, but is also found in flat screens, neon signs, jewellery and more. Around 300,000 tonnes of PMMA are produced in Europe alone each year of which just 10% cent is being collected for recycling.

    JSW

    Hayato Hobo, JSW-EU sales representative

    Recycling PMMA waste is not that easy, explained Makoto Tojo, technical manager at Germany-based JSW-EU. His colleague, Hayato Hobo, a JSW-EU sales representative, agreed.

    “Most of plastics recycling, not just PMMA, is done by mechanical recycling. In this process, the quality of plastic material becomes lower and lower every time the material is submitted to recycling,“ he said.

    Using a thermal depolymerisation route, through which the PMMA polymer is converted back into the monomer state, however, changes the game.

    “Mind you: we cannot say that thermal depolymerisation can be applied to all plastic materials. For example, polycarbonate is one of the competitors of PMMA from the optical properties point of view, but it cannot be depolymerised back to the monomer at all. Polystyrene can also be recycled by the same way but the yield is lower,” said Hayato Hobo.

    Unlike other processes that have been attempted, the depolymerisation process using JSW’s TEX twin screw extruder can handle a wide range of PMMA waste materials including end-of-life scraps containing inorganic contamination substances and with a relatively high yield. If the MMAtwo project proves to be a success, waste which currently goes to landfill, is incinerated or exported will be able to recycled and used again and again.

    Next to developing second-generation MethylMethAcrylate (MMA) raw material, the aim is to establish a second value chain for the product.

    Much has already been achieved. After first processing relatively pure PMMA waste in the initial tests, the next step was contaminated PMMA waste material, which was more challenging. Ultimately the required level of purity was achieved, and the rMMA was delivered to consortium partner members Speichim and Arkema for further processing and application.

    JSW

    Makoto Tojo, technical manager at Germany-based JSW-EU.

    Further testing was carried out in November 2020, which ‘provided excellent yields of regenerated crude MMA’, according to the newsletter published by the project organisation. In spring 2021, a fourth test series will take place.

    “We are getting closer and closer to the industrial, commercially highly interesting implementation of our PMMA depolymerisation project. The personnel requirements are significantly lower compared to the competing conventional process. The ecological advantage, sustainability and operator safety are unquestionable,” concluded Makoto Tojo.

    The project ends in September 2022. If all goes as expected, the first commercial plant will go into operation, shortly after the end of the project.

    The project has received €6.6 million in funding from the EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme.

     

     

    MMaTwo

    Group photo after the tests in November 2020

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Sustainable Plastics' news delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe

    Subscriptions to Sustainable Plastics, the leading Pan-European magazine for the circular plastics industry are coming soon.

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter

    "In a changing world, Sustainable Plastics is a constant: a platform the plastics industry can rely on to deliver the news and knowhow impacting the industry going forward”

    SustainablePlasticsFINAL
    Contact Us

    11 Ironmonger Lane, EC2V 8EY
    United Kingdom 
     

    Customer Service:
    1-313-446-0450

    [email protected]

     

    Resources
    • Advertise
    • Sitemap
    • Careers
    • Subscribe
    Affiliates
    • Plastics News
    • Plastics News China
    • LSR World
    • Urethanes Technology
    • Tire Business
    • Rubber & Plastics News
    • Automotive News
    • Automotive News Europe
    • Crain Publications
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2021. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Recycling
      • Sustainability
      • Bioplastics
      • Technology & Materials
        • Injection Moulding
        • Blow Moulding
        • Extrusion
        • Thermoforming
        • 3D printing
        • Technology
        • Materials
        • Machinery
    • Opinion
      • View Point
    • Events
      • Our Exhibitions
        • Plastics Recycling Show Europe
      • Plastics Industry Awards (PIA)
      • Ask the Expert
      • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Reifenhäuser Technologies Livestreams
      • Plastics News Europe Live Archives
    • Prices & Resources
      • Polymer Prices
      • Data Reports
      • White Papers
    • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Media Pack
    • Subscribe
    • Digital magazine
      • Digital Magazine
    • Multimedia