US-12617919-B2 - Chemical recycling of metal-containing plastics mixtures

US12617919B2US 12617919 B2US12617919 B2US 12617919B2US-12617919-B2

Abstract

A method of recycling plastic waste by feeding a quantity of PET and metal-containing reclaimer co-product separated from the plastic waste to a chemical recycling facility, the quantity of metal-containing co-product comprises plastic flakes and at least 0.1 weight percent metals; and depolymerizing in the chemical recycling facility at least a portion of the plastic flakes; or depolymerizing in the chemical recycling facility at least a portion of the plastic articles, wherein the chemical recycling facility comprises a solvolysis facility for the depolymerization and the solvolysis facility is a methanolysis facility, and wherein the plastic articles are in the form of compressed bales; which further comprises processing at least a portion of the compressed bales to thereby produce a debaled quantity of plastic articles and the metals; and wherein the processing comprises reducing the size of the bales to form a quantity of plastic particulate solids having a D90 particle size of less than 2.54 cm (1 inch).

Inventors

Bruce Roger DeBruin
Michael Paul Ekart
Anne-Martine Sherbeck Jackson
Nathan Mitchell West
Zhufang Liu

Assignees

EASTMAN CHEMICAL COMPANY

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20210413

Claims (11)

1 . A method of recycling a plastic waste comprising: (a) feeding a quantity of PET and metal-containing reclaimer co-product separated from said plastic waste to a chemical recycling facility, said quantity of metal-containing co-product comprising plastic flakes and at least 0.1 weight percent metals; and (b) depolymerizing in said chemical recycling facility at least a portion of said plastic flakes; or (b) depolymerizing in said chemical recycling facility at least a portion of said plastic articles, wherein said chemical recycling facility comprises a solvolysis facility for depolymerization and the solvolysis facility is a methanolysis facility, and wherein said plastic articles are in the form of compressed bales; further comprising processing at least a portion of said compressed bales to thereby produce a debaled quantity of plastic articles and said metals; wherein said processing comprises reducing the size of said bales to form a quantity of plastic particulate solids having a D90 particle size of less than 2.54 cm (1 inch).
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said co-product does not undergo separation prior to said feeding to said chemical recycling facility (a).
3 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising: (i) feeding at least a portion of said metals and at least a portion of said plastic material in said co-product to a solvolysis facility within said chemical recycling facility; (ii) feeding at least a portion of said metals and at least a portion of said plastic flakes in said co-product to a solvolysis facility within said chemical recycling facility; or (iii) feeding at least a portion of said metals and at least a portion of said plastic articles in said co-product and/or said plastic particulate solids to a solvolysis facility within said chemical recycling facility.
4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein at least a portion of said metals are removed from said co-product and/or said plastic particulate solids by a solid/liquid separator and/or purge in said solvolysis facility.
5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising: (i) separating at least a portion of the plastic material in said co-product from said metals before said depolymerizing (b); (ii) separating at least a portion of said plastic flakes from said metals before said depolymerizing (b); or (iii) separating at least a portion of said plastic articles and/or said plastic particulate solids from said metals before said depolymerizing (b).
6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein said separating comprises: (i) feeding at least a portion of said quantity of PET and metal-containing reclaimer co-product into at least one density separation stage to separate said portion of plastic materials from said metals; (ii) feeding at least a portion of said quantity of PET and metal-containing reclaimer co-product into at least one density separation stage to separate said portion of plastic flakes from said metals; or (iii) feeding at least a portion of said plastic articles and/or said plastic particulate solids and said metals into at least one density separation stage to separate said portion of said plastic articles and/or said plastic particulate solids from said metals.
7 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising feeding at least a portion of said metals separated from said plastic material, said plastic flake, said plastic articles, and/or said plastic particulate solids into a partial oxidation (POX) gasifier.
8 . A method of recycling a plastic waste comprising: (a) feeding a quantity of PET and metal-containing reclaimer co-product separated from said plastic waste to a chemical recycling facility, said quantity of metal-containing reclaimer co-product comprising plastic fines and at least 0.1 weight percent metals; and (b) depolymerizing in said chemical recycling facility at least a portion of said plastic fines; wherein said chemical recycling facility comprises a solvolysis facility for depolymerization and the solvolysis facility is a methanolysis facility, and further comprising (c) densifying at least a portion of said plastic fines to produce a quantity of densified PET-containing particles before said depolymerizing (b), wherein said densified PET-containing particles have a D90 particle size of 1 to 10 mm and wherein said densified PET-containing particles comprise at least a portion of said metals.
9 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising feeding at least a portion of said densified PET-containing particles to a solvolysis facility within said chemical recycling facility without undergoing a preprocessing or separation process.
10 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising separating and/or recovering at least a portion of said metals in said co-product in a metal-containing stream, and feeding said metal-containing stream to a pyrolysis facility within said chemical recycling facility.
11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein said metal-containing stream further comprises a quantity of plastic material.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S) This application is a national stage filing under 35 USC § 371 of International Application Number PCT/US2021/026978, filed on Apr. 13, 2021 which claims the benefit of the filing date to U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/008,916, filed on Apr. 13, 2020, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein. BACKGROUND Waste materials, especially non-biodegradable waste materials, can negatively impact the environment when disposed of in landfills after a single use. Thus, from an environmental standpoint, it is desirable to recycle as much waste material as possible. However, there still exist streams of low value waste that are nearly impossible or economically unfeasible to recycle with conventional recycling technologies. In addition, some conventional recycling processes produce waste streams that are themselves not economically feasible to recover or recycle, resulting in additional waste streams that must be disposed of or otherwise handled. For example, plastic reclaimer facilities can produce significant amounts of waste plastics that are undesirable or unusable by consumers and mechanical recycling facilities. In particular, plastic reclaimer facilities can produce quantities of metal-containing co-products that are undesirable or unusable to mechanical recycling facilities but may contain some amount of otherwise desirable or usable PET and/or other plastics. However, these metal-containing co-products are typically disposed of in landfills and/or incinerators. Thus, a need exists for a large-scale facility capable of chemically recycling a variety of plastic-containing waste materials recovered from such sources, particularly otherwise undesirable or unusable metal-containing co-products from a plastic reclaimer facility, in an economically viable manner. SUMMARY In one aspect, the present technology concerns a method of recycling a plastic waste. Generally, the method comprises: (a) feeding a quantity of PET and metal-containing reclaimer co-product separated from the plastic waste to a chemical recycling facility; and (b) depolymerizing in the chemical recycling facility at least a portion of the PET and metal-containing reclaimer co-product. In one aspect, the present technology concerns a method of recycling a plastic waste. Generally, the method comprises (a) feeding a quantity of PET and metal-containing reclaimer co-product separated from the plastic waste to a chemical recycling facility. The quantity of metal-containing co-product comprises plastic flakes and at least 0.1 weight percent metals. The method further comprises (b) depolymerizing in the chemical recycling facility at least a portion of the plastic flakes. In one aspect, the present technology concerns a method of recycling a plastic waste. Generally, the method comprises (a) feeding a quantity of PET and metal-containing reclaimer co-product separated from the plastic waste to a chemical recycling facility. The quantity of metal-containing co-product comprises plastic articles and at least 0.1 weight percent metals. The method further comprises (b) depolymerizing in the chemical recycling facility at least a portion of the plastic articles. In one aspect, the present technology concerns a method of recycling a plastic waste. Generally, the method comprises (a) feeding a quantity of PET and metal-containing reclaimer co-product separated from the plastic waste to a chemical recycling facility. The quantity of metal-containing co-product comprises plastic fines and at least 0.1 weight percent metals. The method further comprises (b) depolymerizing in the chemical recycling facility at least a portion of the plastic fines. In one aspect, the present technology concerns the use of a PET and metal-containing reclaimer co-product as a feedstock to a chemical recycling facility. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block flow diagram illustrating the main steps of a process and facility for chemically recycling waste plastic according to embodiments of the present technology; FIG. 2 is a block flow diagram illustrating a separation process and zone for separating mixed plastic waste according to embodiments of the present technology; FIG. 3 is a block flow diagram illustrating the main steps of a process and facility for PET solvolysis according to embodiments of the present technology; FIG. 4 is a block flow diagram illustrating typical rPET products and co-products derived from a PET reclaimer facility; FIG. 5 is a block flow diagram illustrating the main steps of a PET reclaimer process, and the resulting products and co-products produced therefrom; FIG. 6 is a block flow diagram illustrating an exemplary liquification zone of the chemical recycling facility shown in FIG. 1 according to embodiments of the present technology; FIG. 7 is a block flow diagram illustrating the main steps of a pyrolysis process and facility for converting waste plastic into a pyrolyze