Trinseo, 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, announce 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 our belief that we will be successful in the sustainability journey through collaboration with partners in the value chain, therefore we look forward to working with JSW,” said Francesca Reverberi, SVP and Chief Sustainability Officer of Trinseo.

“As a specialty machinery company, we are committed to collaborating with our value chain partners in realizing circularity. We are thrilled that our 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.