Original Article in Japanese

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R Plus Japan (Minato-ku, Tokyo) which is engaged in recycling waste plastic, plans to implement chemical recycling (CR) technology in Japan as early as 2028. The Company will establish a collection route for waste plastic as raw material, and will identify the needs of potential users to secure uses for the chemical products recycled at the CR Facility. It Will begin full-scale feasibility studies (FS) and work to build a supply chain for resource circulation. It aims to develop a large-scale plant with an annual processing capacity of over 200,000 tons after 2030.

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R Plus Japan is a joint venture established in 2020 by Suntory Holdings Group companies and others are interested in the potential of Plas-TCat, a CR Technology developed by Anellotech, Inc. of the United States. Currently, 45 companies, including Toyobo, Mitsui Chemicals, Mitsubisi Gas Chemical, and other raw material manufacturers, plastic processing manufacturers, end product brand owners such as Shiseido, and banks, have participated in the capital of the company.

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President Atsushi Otake said, "The technology development is on track, and is scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2025." In April of this year, Anellotech partnered with Technip Energies, a major French licensor, and this is expected to accelerate the development towards commercialization, making the introduction of the technology to Japan a reality. The technical documents required for the license are also being prepared. The company is looking for companies that will be CR operators and will work on building a supply chain with surrounding companies to encourage the conclusion of the license.

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In Japan, there are competitors who plan to start commerical operation of CR facilities in fiscal year 2025, but President Otake is confident that 'we are one of the world's frontrunners in one-step CR technology that is also suitable for large-scale production."

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Plas-TCat, which the company aims to introduce, can convert a variety of mixed waste plastic resins, excluding polyvinyl chloride, into basic chemicals in one process through thermal decomposition using a catalyst. Compared to oil-based CR, which returns the product to the oil refining process, it is expected that this will enable resource recycling into chemicals in a shorter process.

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Another advantage of Plas-TCat is that it can adjust the product slate. Depending on the type of catalyst, it is possible to select whether the main components of the product are BTX (benzene, toluene, xylene) or olefins such as ethylene and propylene. In light of the global oversupply of olefins, the company plans to "propose a process that can obtain BTXrich components" (same company)

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To realize the business, it is essential to build an upstream and downstream supply chain that connects to CR facilities. For the upstream recovery of raw material waste plastic, "metropolitan areas are advantageous because they can utilize the strengths of our technology, which is suitable for large-scale production" according to the company. Therefore, the company will first target petrochemical companies located in the Kanto region as potential CR operators.
On the downstream side, the company envisions supplying products to downstream cracker processes. However, there are countless options for how to process and distribute the components, and they are still exploring. The needs of the participating companies are also diverse, and "we are tackling a problem that has no right answer" (ibid).

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Regarding supply chain creation, the company has been gathering knowledge by conducting repeated demonstrations of waste plastic collection at schools, retail stores and other locations. In March of this year, they began a voluntary waste plastic collection test in Kunitachi City together with Yakult Honsha and other companies. The compnay plans to utilise PS Japan's CR technology, which is already available in Japan, to demonstrate the feasibility of resource recycling, including downstream.