LG Chem has signed a memorandum of understanding with the South Korean city of Ansan to chemically recycle some of the city’s vinyl waste.
The waste will be used as feedstock for LG Chem’s so-called supercritical pyrolysis plant in Dangjin, expected to start operations in the second half of 2024.
The 20,000 tonnes plant was first announced in 2022, after LG Chem signed a technology licencing and engineering contract with UK-based KBR, the exclusive licencing partner of Mura Technology’s Hydrothermal Plastic Recycling Technology (HydroPRT). Construction started on March 30, 2023.
The facility will be the first in Asia to use supercritical water technology. Hydro-PRT technology converts mixed plastic streams into fossil-replacement oils and chemicals. Unlike conventional pyrolysis, the technology is based on the use of supercritical water as the medium to help break down the carbon-carbon bonds in the plastic waste. As a result, the process reportedly does not typically produce char or unwanted by-products and is inherently scalable.
LG Chem said it will recycle vinyls alongside PE and PP using the technology, adding that the process can convert 8 tons out of 10 tons of waste plastics into pyrolysis-like oil, with the remaining 2 tons being reused to generate hydrocarbon gas to power the plant’s operation.
The city of Ansan generates about 15,000 tons of vinyl waste per year, according to a LG Chem statement. So far, it has been processing the waste in a solid waste fuel facility at ‘high cost’.
"It is meaningful to cooperate with LG Chem's pyrolysis oil plant by providing some of the waste vinyl that is difficult to recycle, not only to reduce the budget, but also to transform waste vinyl that was incinerated into plastic," said Lee Min-geun, mayor of Ansan City. "We wish the plant a stable operation and look forward to public-private cooperation to revitalise recycling and build a circular economy society,” he added.
*This article was updated on 8/04/2024 to reflect that the feedstock to be recycled are vinyls, not PVC as previously reported.