Idemitsu Kosan, Japan’s second largest petrochemical, has started operations at its chemical recycling commercial demonstration plant in Japan.
The company first announced its investment in the facility in April 2023, when it also established a subsidiary, called Chemical Recycle Japan, to develop pyrolysis technology together with JFE Kankyo, a Japanese recycler.
The facility is expected to have a plastic processing capacity of 20,000 tonnes a year and is scheduled to start commercial operations in 2025. The demonstration phase of the project was announced on Dec. 20, 2023, by Toyo Seikan Group Holdings. The Japanese packaging manufacturer which will provide Idemitsu Kosan with plastic waste from its manufacturing operations.
In a future phase, Toyo Seikan plans to produce ‘renewable chemicals’ and ‘renewable fuel oil’ from the outputs of Idemitsu Kosan’s pyrolysis plant. No further details were disclosed about the technology or the facility’s location.