Shanks & McEwan investigates recycling Scottish plastics waste
15 Jan 2000
Valpak, the plastics industry's compliance body for recycling waste plastic packaging, is to embark on a 'scoping study' for a plant to convert waste polymers into a hydrocarbon feedstock. The plant, which would handle wastes collected from the central belt of Scotland, will be built by Shanks & McEwan (Northern).
The study will cost some £300000, which Shanks & McEwan will fund via the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme. The company intends to find the best ways of collecting and sorting waste from the region to provide the necessary materials.
The plant will use technology developed by a consortium organised by the Association of Plastics Manufacturers in Europe, involving BPChemicals, DSM, Elf Atochem, EniChem and FINA. The companies have been researching the project for around five years, and development work was completed last summer; since then, according to Valpak, BPhas been 'seeking partners who understand waste and recycling.'
Shanks & McEwan is planning a plant which will handle 25000tpa of mixed plastics waste. Valpak states that BP's Grangemouth plant 'is a suitable location' for the plant, and Grangemouth spokesman Bill Moore indicates that the complex 'would be willing to host' the project. However, he adds, financial considerations are still to be discussed.
The technology involves heating the waste polymers to crack them into smaller hydrocarbons. Impurities such as pigments and fillers are removed, and the clean product used as a replacement or additional feedstock for a naphtha cracker. Previous attempts to use such technology such as at BASFin Germany foundered because the amount of waste supplied was not reliable.
