Sumitomo Chemical Co. (Tokyo, Japan) and Axens (Rueil-Malmaison, France) signed a license agreement of ethanol-to-ethylene technology Atol for Sumitomo Chemical’s waste-to-polyolefins project in Japan.
In the project Axens’ Atol technology will transform ethanol produced from waste into polymer-grade ethylene that will be polymerized in Sumitomo Chemical’s assets into polyolefin, a key product in the petrochemical industry.
At full roll-out, the project will enable the production of waste-based polyolefin at industrial scale, which will represent a leapfrog towards a sustainable economy based on renewable carbon.
Axens Renewables Business Group Director Frédéric Balligand said: “This project addresses the waste plastics issue by reusing them as a feedstock in a context of greenhouse gas emission reduction. With its wide portfolio of renewable technologies, Axens is ready to support players in the industry to overcome the challenges of the future. Axens is excited to work with Sumitomo Chemical for this project with Atol® technology, accelerating the deployment of circular economy in Japan.”
Atil is a technology for the production of polymer-grade ethylene by dehydration of any kind of renewable ethanol from biomass or waste. The ethylene produced can be integrated in partial and/or total replacement of fossil hydrocarbon based ethylene in various downstream polymerization installations without requiring modifications. Atol ethylene can therefore be fed into existing or new units of, for instance, polyethylene (PE), ethylene oxide/ethylene glycol (polyethylene-terephthalate – PET), polyolefins, alpha-olefins production for linear alkylbenzene (LABs) and polyalphaolefins (PAOs), benzene alkylation for polystyrene (PS), acrylonitrile-butadienestyrene (ABS), polyvinylchloride (PVC), etc. Atol is the result of a partnership between Axens, Total and IFP Energies nouvelles (IFPEN).