Sustainable Development Goals
Location:
Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan
Project Status:
Historical commercial reference; facility decommissioned
Project Basis:
Approximately 15,000 tonnes per year of mixed-plastic processing capacity, with oil recovery and energy applications
Organizations Involved:
Toshiba Corporation, Sapporo Plastics Recycling, Mitsui & Co., Ltd, Sapporo City Government
Services / Equipment:
Design & Engineering, Component Supply, Operator Training
More than 100,000 tonnes of plastic recycled. Industrial processing of difficult mixed feedstocks. Recovered oils directed into chemical feedstock and energy markets. Sapporo Plastics Recycling (SPR) gave Klean a commercial reference for developing plastic-recovery projects around the materials that conventional recycling leaves behind.
The facility began commercial operation in 2000. Its significance extended beyond scale: the process addressed PVC-derived chlorine, PET-related organic acids and residues from mechanical recycling. Those are practical engineering challenges that determine which waste streams a plant can accept and which products it can sell.
Clean, well-separated plastics already attract demand. Municipal packaging streams and rejects from mechanical recycling present a different opportunity: they contain useful hydrocarbons alongside polymers, residues and contaminants that complicate recovery.
For SPR, the task was to process that more demanding material at industrial scale. PVC introduces chlorine; PET can generate organic acids during thermal processing. These constituents affect equipment, product quality and the recovery route. They had to be addressed within the process design.
The commercial objective was to connect these difficult inputs with useful industrial outputs. That required feedstock preparation, contaminant management, oil separation and downstream applications to work as one system.
SPR combined dechlorination with thermal conversion and product recovery. The dechlorination stage removed hydrogen chloride released from PVC, with absorption in water producing hydrochloric acid. The published Klean case reports oil chlorine content of approximately 100 parts per million; technical work by SPR and Toshiba engineers also documents the commercial dechlorination technology.
Process development addressed PET-derived organic acids through additives and operating refinements. These measures expanded the range of mixed plastics that could be considered for the process while keeping oil quality central to development.
Extend recovery beyond mechanical recycling
The Cascade Recycling System connected material recycling with thermal recovery of its remaining residues. Selected municipal plastics could be blended with rejects from mechanical recycling, allowing the two routes to serve different fractions of the same resource stream.
Klean’s published case describes blends containing up to 40% mechanical-recycling residues by weight. That figure concerns the residue stream within the blend, with its composition and processing requirements assessed together. The commercial opportunity is wider access to usable feedstock through integration with existing recyclers.
Separate products for different industrial uses
The recovered oil was separated into light, medium and heavy fractions. Light oil served chemical-feedstock applications; medium oil served fuel applications; heavy oil supported power generation. A technical report by SPR and Toshiba engineers records the start of a refinery feedstock application in April 2004.
This product separation gave the process several industrial destinations. Chemical recycling and energy recovery were integrated into the same facility, with the use of each fraction determined by its properties and the requirements of the receiving customer.
Apply the reference to further project development
Klean used SPR technology as a reference for developing opportunities in North America and Europe, including proposed integration with chemical manufacturing sites. The commercial proposition connected waste supply with demand for recovered chemical feedstock, fuel and electricity.
Klean’s listed scope combines design and engineering, component supply and operator training. Together, these services connect process configuration with the equipment and operating capability needed to develop a new facility around its own feedstock and product markets.
Klean’s project record reports more than 100,000 tonnes of plastic recycled over the facility’s history. A 2010 paper by SPR and Toshiba engineers documents 14,000 tonnes of municipal waste plastics processed in 2009, providing a specific annual operating result alongside the plant’s approximately 15,000-tonne annual capacity.
The same paper reports that more than 90% of recycled products were reused in Hokkaido. This local use connected resource recovery with an industrial market in the region where the material was processed.
The published benefits for a 50-tonne-per-day reference configuration also include:
The published configuration also included thermal-energy and solid-fuel recovery. These are reference-configuration figures with differing reporting bases. Oil allocation, energy recovery and operating conditions must be defined together for a new project; the carbon figure is an estimate. Total recovery includes material and energy uses.
SPR is now decommissioned. Its continuing value to project development is the operating experience: processing difficult material, managing its chemistry and finding productive uses for the recovered fractions. Klean brings that experience into the assessment of new plastic-recovery opportunities.
1. Industrial experience gives development a practical foundation.
The record includes more than 100,000 tonnes recycled and a documented 14,000-tonne operating year.
2. Feedstock flexibility is an engineering capability.
Dechlorination, PET-related process development and the cascade approach address materials that can limit other recovery routes.
3. Product destinations shape the business.
Chemical feedstocks, fuels and energy uses must be matched with the recovered fractions and the requirements of real customers.
These are selected achievements and lessons. Further technical and commercial insights are available through an engagement with Klean.
The opportunity in difficult plastics is unlocked by matching the waste stream with a workable process and products that industry can use. Klean can help establish that connection for your project.
The appropriate first step for a new equipment development is a paid Detailed Equipment Quotation (DEQ). It establishes the proposed process configuration, equipment requirements and preliminary technical and commercial basis. A Detailed Feasibility Study (DFS) develops project viability and supporting feedstock, offtake and delivery arrangements. Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) follows for the defined project.
Relevant reference information and confidential technical and commercial details are addressed within the agreed engagement and confidentiality arrangements.
Develop Your Mixed-Plastic Recovery Project with Klean >> GO.
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ABOUT THE INFORMATION PRESENTED
This case describes a historical commercial facility and its relevance to Klean’s project-development work. Cumulative and annual operating results are distinguished from published reference-configuration figures. Product specifications, feedstock limits and performance commitments for a new project are established through its own testing, engineering and contractual process.
