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Chementator Briefs

| By Edited by Gerald Ondrey

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PET recycling

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) can be quickly depolymerized into virgin monomers using a patented process that was developed, and is being scaled up by Ioniqa Technologies BV (Eindhoven, the Netherlands; www.ioniqa.com). The company recently finalized a multi-million-euro funding round with Chemelot Ventures BV for scaling up Ioniqa’s process 1,000-fold to the 100-L demonstration scale. This year, Ioniqa aims to reach the kiloton scale, to be later followed by a fully operational 10,000-m.t./yr plant in the Netherlands in 2017.

Although technology is available for recycling colorless PET, the bulk of PET products are colored, which has made recycling difficult. As a result, more than 50 million ton/yr of petroleum-based PET (from bottles, packaging, filling, clothing and carpets) is either incinerated, landfilled or ends up in the ocean, says the company. Ioniqa’s Magnetic Smart Process is based on its proprietary Magnetic Fluid Catalyst (an iron-based ionic liquid).

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