Dow Chemical is expanding the traditional “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” framework by adding a fourth pillar: “Recover.” This shift supports the integration of advanced recycling technologies like pyrolysis, enabling plastic waste to be converted into fuel and raw materials—a key step in circular economy innovation.

Jeff Wooster, Dow’s global sustainability leader for plastics, knows people’s impressions of plastic packaging.

“We understand that some consumers view packaging as waste,” he told PlasticsToday. “We want to help consumers feel good about plastic packaging and have them know when they’re done with it, the packaging will be reused.”

Dow Chemical believes that to achieve 100% recycling of packaging; the industry must progress from the 3R mindset, which is the widely practiced “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle,” to the more comprehensive efforts being used in regions such as Europe that add the fourth “R” for end-of-life materials—”Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Recover.” Dow says an integrated 4R approach will help ensure more significant total value recovery from end-of-life plastics and other used materials.

Energy recovery converts end-of-life plastics into fuel and uses the resulting energy value. The combustion method of energy recovery is also known as thermal recycling and is referred to as “recycle-to-energy” (RTE) within Dow. Many believe that energy recovery can create a valuable alternative energy source while reducing dependence on natural gas, oil, and coal.

While mechanical recycling is the first option for recovering many plastics, Wooster said recycling must be integrated with chemical transformation and energy recovery to increase plastics’ overall recovery.

Wooster said some raised red flags about energy recovery because they believed it would divert material from being recycled.

“The key is understanding how energy recovery works as a system because mechanical recycling and energy recovery can work together,” he said. “We have the potential to recycle and recover energy from a large amount of material.”

Mechanical recycling is primarily intended for larger-volume treatment of mono-materials, such as PET and HDPE bottles. Still, Dow says there are technological, logistics, costs, and infrastructure limitations. Energy recovery programs can capture value from consumer goods packaging, including non-recycled stretch and shrink film. Polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene are said to have high material energy values.

“While it makes economic sense to recycle materials, there are a lot of packages that can’t be easily recycled,” Wooster said. “The best thing to do in that case is to recover the energy.”

Dow has experience with energy recovery. In 2010, Dow conducted an energy recovery trial in North America, demonstrating that used plastic can generate energy. The pilot test, performed at a rotary kiln in Dow’s Michigan operations, found that 96% of the available energy was recovered after 578 lb of used linear low-density polyethylene was thermally recycled. The energy recovered was equivalent to 11.1 million BTUs of natural gas and was used as fuel for Dow’s incinerator during the test.

In 2011, six additional energy recovery trials were conducted using non-recycled plastics (NRPs) from Dow Michigan operations to displace natural gas. These trials used 100 tons of NRPs and saved 2 billion BTUs of energy.

In addition, the American Chemistry Council and the Flexible Packaging Association are also actively working to validate the energy recovery prospects for plastics. Both organizations are investing in energy recovery trials.

Slow start, but growing interest

There are 2150 thermal waste treatment plants currently operational around the globe. Those facilities can treat almost 250 million tons of waste per year, according to a report by the German environmental consultancy Ecoprog.

Between 2007 and 2011, the worldwide installed annual capacity increased by about 12%. This growth will increase in the next five years, and Ecoprog estimates that the annual capacity will increase by 21% by 2016. By then, operational capacities will amount to about 300 million annual tons.

About 250 new waste-to-energy plants will start operations by 2016. The group said that Europe continues to lead the market, with Asia close behind.

Ecoprog said that new waste-to-energy projects are being implemented in North America for the first time in several years. However, the group said it is uncertain whether this will result in a more substantial waste-to-energy market in the long term. There are about 80 waste-to-energy facilities across the country.

While North America’s start has been slow, Wooster believes there is growing interest in energy recovery.

“Energy prices have been high for a while now and are expected to be high; crude oil and electricity and diesel fuel have also been high for several years, and people expect it to stay the same or go up in the future,” he said. “People are concerned about the liability of energy sources, which certainly increases interest in the science around energy recovery.”

Jesse Klinkhamer, CEO of Klean Industries, believes North America is behind the waste-to-energy trend because resources were “plentiful” for years, and society had freely adopted a throwaway mentality.

“When things are cheap, it’s business as usual. It’s not until someone gets a pinch and it starts to hurt when they realize there might be a better way,” he said. “If there is a more efficient way to do things and you can profit and still be green, why not do it?”

Klean has been commercially operating for more than 30 years and can process a wide variety of polymer waste, such as plastics, tires, and other post-industrial materials.

Klean’s advanced thermal conversion technology, developed and used commercially in Japan, captures the value in oil-rich plastic packaging.

Dow & Klean collaboration

Wooster, aware of Klean’s extensive background in energy recovery, visited the world’s largest plastics-to-oil recycling plant in Japan with Klean, whose company owns the technology IP.

After visiting the 50 tons/ day plant, Wooster said that this was the only technology they had seen that had consistently operated for more than a decade on a commercial scale. The facility Dow visited processed mixed plastics, including PET and PVC, up to 20% of the in-feed supply, in addition to polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene. At the same time, the facility also produced over 4MW of green electricity.

The two companies have extended a three-year letter of intent, which allows them to combine proprietary technologies, knowledge, and resources to provide “best in class” solutions for end-of-life mixed plastics. They plan to collaborate on developing recovery facilities across North America.

Klinkhamer said bringing energy recovery facilities to North America is not easy. Ultimately, it comes down to access to feedstock for these plants.

Still, he said Klean’s phone is ringing daily with potential customers interested in this alternative energy. Inquiries range from large companies to smaller “mom-and-pop” operations.

“There are existing technologies in the marketplace today that allow you to be a better corporate citizen; this is one of them,” he said.

Ultimately, Dow is working to ensure that plastic packaging doesn’t end up in the garbage and landfills.

“If we got rid of plastic packaging, there would be terrible ramifications both for the economy and the safety of food supply,” Wooster said. “We want to help people understand the science and how good plastic packaging is to protecting the food supply, and we also believe that part of being a leader in the industry is to help find another use for packaging when it’s done, instead of just throwing it away.”

By Heather Caliendo - Plastics Today

Recovery Is the Future — Power It with Klean Industries

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