Page 20 - Plastics News June 2018

CompAny news

Polystyvert, Total partner to Plastic Omnium Auto Exteriors'

recycle post-consumer polystyrene new plant at Chakan

ontreal-based startup company rench auto component supplier, Plastic Omnium’s
Mis partnering with Total SA's FAuto Exteriors division is expanding its Pune-based
Polymers Business unit , a styrene manufacturing operations by moving into a greenfield
and PS producer ,to develop a plant near Chakan. According to the company, the new
solution-based technology to facility will be almost three-and--half times bigger
recycle polystyrene. Polystyvert and (about 36,000 square metres) than its existing plant
Total said that they will combine in Chakan. The new facility is understood to become
operational from October 2018. The investments
Polystyvert's technology with Total's earmarked and other details remain undisclosed at
expertise in industrial-scale dissolution and polymerization the moment. The company says that at its peak,
to recycle household PS. Polystyvert's system involves the upcoming plant will employ up to 400 people.
dissolving PS present in scrap, then transporting the Meanwhile, the company has also formally inaugurated
solution to a facility that would drive off the solvent its all-new technical centre in Pune and its fourth plant
to recover clean PS resin. The approach is especially in Gujarat, which makes fuel tanks, last week, all
attractive for expanded PS foam since the solution would thanks to the recent India visit of its global chairman
be much more economical to transport. Polystyvert and CEO, Laurent Burelle. The new technical centre,
claims the resultant PS recyclate would be cleaner than which currently employs about 50-60 engineers, has
PS resin recovered by mechanical means, now the main been operating since January last year.
route for recycling PS. "In 2017, Total performed three According to the company, the Pune-based technical
successful test runs with post-consumer recyclates centre is purely a captive unit, dedicated to support
incorporated in virgin polymer via dissolution and Plastic Omnium’s global programs. It plans to expand
polymerization," said Jean Viallefont, Total's vice president the headcount to 150 engineers by 2022. With the
of polymers in Europe. advent of the incoming BS VI emission norms and critical
safety mandates, automakers are focusing on ways to
Working with Polystyvert to tackle household post- reduce weight of the vehicles. Plastic Omnium’s Auto
consumer waste is the next logical step for Total." The Exteriors division designs and develops lightweight
use of solvents to recover PS has been posited for at least and safe plastic fenders, bumpers and the tailgates.
20 years. A liquid chemical called d-limonene derived According to the company, it is one of the leading
from citrus fruit peels has received the most attention,
it was the subject of a U.S. patent filed in 1992 by
Claudia Iovino., who became president of a startup called
International Foam Solutions Inc. in Delray Beach, Florida.
However, Polystyvert's system uses cymene as the solvent.
Cymene occurs naturally in cumin and thyme spices and
can be made by industrial processes. For instance, It can
be a byproduct of sulfite wood pulping and it can be made
from oil-based petrochemicals. Moreoover a Polystyvert manufacturers and suppliers of the plastic (passenger
demonstration plant will be operating in Montreal in car) tailgates globally. Conventionally the tailgates
June with capacity to recover 275 pounds of PS per hour. are made using sheet metal and this is where it claims
Cymene was chosen as the solvent because it is not very to save about 15-20 percent of the weight alone in
hazardous and is stable enough to withstand numerous this area. The company says it is currently witnessing
distillations in the PS recovery step. These attributes offer a strong demand for lightweight components by the
economic and technical advantages. carmakers in the domestic market.

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