Although it started out last summer as a promising project, Polystyrene Loop bv, a recycling plant in Terneuzen that focussed on the recycling of EPS and XPS demolition waste containing the legacy flame retardant HBCD using a solvent-based technology, has now had to halt operations. The company declared bankruptcy on 8 March.
The sunset date for HBCD in Europe was in 2015. However, due to the long service lives of products where HBCD has mainly been used, there is still a huge number of polystyrene foam insulation boards containing HBCD to be found in buildings everywhere.
The idea behind the facility was unique in the world: to build a 3000 t/pa plant that would demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of PS foam recycling, while separating out flame retardant and recovering the bromine used to produce the additive. To that end, Polystyrene Loop was built next door to ICL, a producer of flame retardants.
The facility recycled the polystyrene into reusable polystyrene for the production of new insulation foam, extracted the HBCD and supplied this to the bromine recovery unit operated by ICL, where the bromine was extracted and reused.
While the initiators of the project expected the scale up from pilot scale and implementation of the new innovative technology to be challenging, the project was also dogged by other problems. Attempted startup was delayed by a number of unexpected issues. Liquidity was severely affected by the unprecedented events of the last 2 years, both in terms of Covid-related problems and soaring energy prices.
Prolonged attempts by management and the supervisory board to restructure finances unfortunately proved unsuccessful.
Yet while this project may have foundered, a solution must still be found found the kind of end-of-life waste the plant processed. The dissolution purification recycling process, has been shown to work. Hopefully, another party, or parties, will be found who is willing to take up where this project left off - and who is able to find a technical and commercially viable way forward for the technology in the near future.