US-based Agilyx has licensed its chemical recycling technology to Toyo Styrene, Japan’s leading PS producer. The agreement enables Toyo Styrene to use the process at its facility in Chiba, where it will focus on recycling post-use PS back to styrene monomer by pyrolysis.

“This announcement marks our formal entrance into the Asian markets to deliver circular pathways for plastics,” said Joe Vaillancourt, CEO of Agilyx.

Noting that PS is relatively easier to be depolymerized to its monomers than other plastics are, Toyo Styrene’s president Sanshiro Matsushita said: “We will achieve recycled ‘refreshed’ PS that is able to be used for PS food containers with no problem with both quality and safety.”

The companies will start engineering and development work immediately. The plant will be able to process up to 10 t per day of post-consumer PS when it starts up in early 2022.

Toyo Styrene will use its proprietary technology to purify the styrene oil produced by the Agilyx process.

Agilyx is also working with Ineos Styrolution on building a PS chemical recycling plant in Channahon, Illinois. This facility will be capable of processing up to 100 t per day of post-consumer PS.

The Tigard, Oregon-headquartered company has already qualified the styrene output to Ineos’s specifications and identified the post-consumer PS feedstock for the plant.

Last July, Agilyx announced another collaboration, this time in Europe with Ineos Styrolution and US styrenics producer Trinseo, the latter two as part of Styrenics Circular Solutions (SCS). Established in June 2017 by PlasticsEurope, SCS is a joint industry initiative that aims to boost styrenics recycling.

The three companies plan to build a facility with a processing capacity of up to 50 t per day of waste PS.