Ineos Styrolution (Frankfurt / Germany; www.ineos-styrolution.com) has produced polystyrene from recycled styrene feedstock, an achievement it describes as a “significant milestone” in proving that PS is recyclable. A series of experimental runs at Ineos Styrolution’s plant in Antwerp / Belgium yielded a lab-scale quantity of GPPS from 100% recycled styrene monomer that was produced by depolymerising post-consumer polystyrene waste.

A company spokesperson told Plasteurope.com that the SM came from Pyrowave's (Oakville, Ontario / Canada; www.pyrowave.com) "catalytic microwave depolymerisation" (CMD) technology. Ineos Styrolution has been collaborating with Pyrowave for about one and a half years – see Plasteurope.com of 06.12.2017.

According to the Frankfurt-based company, the tests, which were done in collaboration with commercial partners and universities, resulted in the production of PS with the same properties as that produced from new styrene monomers. “Due to its relatively clean decomposition into its building blocks, PS is almost designed to be recycled,” said Michiel Verswyvel, Ineos Styrolution’s global R&D expert. “Within our global project team we are working to make this a stable process on a commercial level, by learning for example more about purity requirements of the feedstock material.” Rob Buntinx, president of Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) at Ineos Styrolution, added that the company was now looking forward to scaling the process to an industrial level.