According to the company’s website news release on October 13, 2022, Trinseo (NYSE: TSE), a specialty material solutions provider and Japan Steel Works Europe GmbH (JSW EU), a group company of The Japan Steel Works, Ltd. (JSW), a manufacturer of industrial and plastics machinery announced a collaborative effort on chemical recycling of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA).
In this collaboration, JSW and JSW EU will supply a depolymerization extruder and technologies to Trinseo as well as provide technical support. Trinseo will source and pretreat PIR/PCR PMMA waste as feedstock to produce recycled MMA (rMMA). rMMA produced by Trinseo will then be used in the development of circular PMMA solutions. PMMA is used in an array of markets, such as automotive and transportation, building and construction, sanitary ware, lighting and home appliances.
Depolymerization is a chemical recycling process by which PMMA waste can be efficiently recycled back into its monomer to yield truly circular products. It is a versatile process that can handle general PMMA waste and waste that is not fit for mechanical recycling in the categories of both PCR and PIR streams. The production of r-MMA using this chemical recycling process, as opposed to virgin production techniques, also comes with a significant reduction in carbon footprint1. Furthermore, PMMA products produced from chemically recycled monomer exhibit properties identical to their virgin equivalent.
“Chemical recycling is yet another solution towards genuine material circularity. It is the company's belief that the company will be successful in the sustainability journey through collaboration with partners in the value chain, therefore the company look forward to working with JSW,” said Francesca Reverberi, SVP and Chief Sustainability Officer of Trinseo.
“As a specialty machinery company, the company is committed to collaborating with the company's value chain partners in realizing circularity. The company is thrilled that the company's know-how could bring synergy to the circularity of the material PMMA, and at the same time bring positive impacts to the industry,” said Masaki Izawa, Managing Director of JSW Europe.
The cooperation between Trinseo and JSW is a testament to the importance of circularity in the industry. Both companies have been engaged in the MMAtwo project² for the past four years. Heathland, acquired by Trinseo earlier this year, was the coordinator of the MMAtwo consortium.
1. MMAtwo - Environmental Benefits Calculator (mmatwo-footprinter.eu)
2. MMAtwo - European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No. 820687
About Trinseo
Trinseo (NYSE: TSE), a specialty material solutions provider, partners with companies to bring ideas to life in an imaginative, smart, and sustainability-focused manner by combining its premier expertise, forward-looking innovations and best-in-class materials to unlock value for companies and consumers.
From design to manufacturing, Trinseo taps into decades of experience in diverse material solutions to address customers’ unique challenges in a wide range of industries, including consumer goods, mobility, building and construction, and medical.
Trinseo’s approximately 3,400 employees bring endless creativity to reimagining the possibilities with clients all over the world from the company’s locations in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. Trinseo reported net sales of approximately $4.8 billion in 2021. Discover more by visiting www.trinseo.com and connecting with Trinseo on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and WeChat.
About JSW Europe
The Japan Steel Works, Ltd. was founded in 1907 as a joint venture among two British firms (W.G. Armstrong and Vickers) and one Japanese company with a focus on production of military equipment.
After the war, JSW transferred the sophisticated technologies and considerable experience to meet peacetime needs and branched out into new business fields such as materials and equipment for automobiles, electronics, shipbuilding and petrochemicals. The company have concentrated over the last three decades on proprietary special steels and steel products, plastics and other industrial machinery. JSW’s HQ is located in Tokyo, Japan, with 4 plants and 20 offices worldwide.
To focus the plastics machinery business on the European market, and to bring the customers and JSW close to each other, Extrusion Technical Center was opened in Belgium in 2010. In 2012, the office became a local subsidiary “Japan Steel Works Europe GmbH” to focus further enhancement of the service to European market. In 2017, Extrusion Technical Center was relocated into Dusseldorf, Germany to achieve more special trial such as reactive processing, devolatilizing and dewatering, and to improve accessibility of customers.
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