Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation (MCC; Head office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President: Masayuki Waga) and its consolidated subsidiary Mitsubishi Chemical Methacrylates (MCM; Representative: Hitoshi Sasaki) have been studying depolymerization* technology for chemical recycling of PMMA (polymethyl methacrylate, referred to as “acrylic resin” below) together with Agilyx Corporation (Agilyx; Head office: Portland, Oregon, United States; CEO: Tim Stedman). We are pleased to announce that MCC, MCM and Agilyx have succeeded in demonstrating acrylic resin depolymerization technology at Agilyx's plant-scale facility located in Tigard, Oregon.

 

Agilyx has a unique pyrolysis technology that can be applied to various plastics such as polystyrene. MCC, MCM and Agilyx have been conducting laboratory-scale trials for the depolymerization of acrylic resin since 2020. Since August 2021, we have conducted full-scale trial using Agilyx’s plant-scale facility and have finally succeeded in depolymerizing acrylic resin. The decomposition product after depolymerization obtained in this trial is being investigated for distillation and purification at our Group's pilot plant in Wilton, England, in order to raise the purity to the same level of quality as MMA manufactured by the conventional method.

MCC and MCM have been studying the recycling of acrylic resin for some time, and in Japan, we have cooperated with Microwave Chemical Co., Ltd. (Head office: Suita-shi, Osaka, President: Iwao Yoshino) to promote demonstrations for commercialization. Following the success of the demonstration using Agilyx’s plant-scale facility, we will accelerate further studies for the construction of a chemical recycling plant for acrylic resin suitable for the region-specific needs in Europe and Japan.

 

As the world's number one manufacturer of MMA and the acrylic resin, MCC will actively lead efforts toward the realization of a circular economy in this business.

 

*To decompose polymerized acrylic resin by heat and other methods, and return it to the state of MMA (methyl methacrylate), which is the raw material.

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