Page 44 - Plastics News August 2024
P. 44
COMPANY NEWS
Eastman plans to broaden chemical recycling
plant’s inputs
“That’s the most difficult product we have to
make, the highest standards on clarity, a wide
range of performance specs, and we’re making
these products with no materials of concern get-
ting through the purification process,” Costa told
investors. “So, a very safe product from garbage
and that’s an incredible accomplishment and a
great job by our team in operating this plant and
overcoming a series of challenges.”
The facility takes in hard-to-recycle PET mate-
rials, specifically opaque and colored packag-
n their latest earnings call, Eastman represent- ing, from sources including a supply agreement
atives said the company’s chemical recycling with Midwest recycling operator Rumpke. Costa
Ifacility in Kingsport, Tennessee, is ramping up noted Eastman has achieved sustained operat-
to 100% capacity and is gearing up to take in a ing rates of 70%. He added it is working to ramp
“broader set” of uncommonly recycled plastics.
up to 100% capacity, but that a minor mechanical
During the July 26 call, Eastman CEO Mark Costa issue made that a challenge.
said the company will be “running very hard with “We just recently made the change this week,
the facility” during the third and fourth quarters actually, in fixing that one mechanical issue, and
of the year. The plant started up late last year, we’re ramping up to full rates,” Costa said.
and Costa said the company has “learned a lot
over the last five months, six months of startup.” Additionally, he hinted the facility is expanding to
process “a broader set of hard to recycle feed-
“This has been a journey,” he said. “This is an in- stock,” but that it has encountered challenges in
credibly complex plant to take garbage and turn doing so. Costa didn’t specify which additional
it into clear, on-spec polymer that doesn’t have feedstocks the company is looking at, beyond
any materials of concern that can exist in that noting it is similarly hard-to-recycle plastic ma-
waste feedstock.”
terials. But he elaborated on the challenges of
Eastman’s chemical recycling plant uses metha- expanding the processing capabilities to cover
nolysis to process scrap PET chemically recycled additional streams.
resin, which the company brands as its Tritan “I want to be clear that this is not about chemi-
Renew resin line. That includes food-grade PET cal impurities, it’s not about processed chemis-
resin with up to 75% recycled dimethyl tereph- try,” Costa said. “It took us a few weeks to really
thalate, or DMT, one of the chemicals produced understand what was going on, but we realized
by the methanolysis process.
that it was in the feedstock preparation and
46 PLASTICS NEWS August 2024
