2024.05.29 PRESS RELEASE
Completion of a Continuous Demonstration Unit for Chemical Recycling Utilizing Microwaves ~Promoting standardization for Chemical recycling field~
Microwave Chemical Co., Ltd.
Microwave Chemical Co., Ltd. (“MWCC”) has installed a demonstration unit capable of continuous operation for chemical recycling using microwaves at MWCC’s demonstration facility in Osaka (Suminoe-ku, Osaka City) in May 2024.
■Overview of the Demonstration Unit
MWCC is advancing the development of chemical recycling technology that thermally decomposes waste plastics using microwaves and returns them to basic chemicals to be used as raw materials for new products. This demonstration unit was developed to further enhance the technology we have accumulated. The main features are as follows:
・High efficiency achieved through continuous decomposition of waste plastics that generate residues
・Enables Microwave process operation according to the composition of waste plastics and target recovered material
・Downsized equipment relative to the amount of waste plastic processed (space saving)
・Reduces CO2 emissions and contributes to energy conservation through the improvement of thermal efficiency
■Background of the Development
Chemical recycling technology, which decomposes waste plastics and returns them to basic chemical raw materials to create new products, is attracting attention to solve the problem of waste plastics and build a decarbonized society. However, existing technologies have faced challenges related to energy consumption, CO2 emissions, cost, and safety because they use external heating processes involving fossil fuels. MWCC has developed the “PlaWave®” chemical recycling technology platform using microwaves, which can heat the target material directly and selectively, providing high energy efficiency. By generating microwaves with electricity derived from renewable energy, it is possible to recycle resources virtually CO2-free.
This project was selected by NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization) in FY2020(1). In September 2021, we completed a small demonstration facility(2) with a processing capacity of about 5 kg/hour, and on November 2022, we completed the first large scale general-purpose microwave processing facility with a processing capacity of 1 t/day(3) in Japan.
This time, we have decided to develop this demonstration facility with the aim of further enhancing the technology accumulated to date and promoting the development of a “small-scale distributed” and a “continuous” systems.
■Future Developments
In the chemical recycling business, we believe that in addition to the “large-scale, centralized” system, in which a large amount of waste plastic is processed all at once in a single location, a “small-scale distributed” system is necessary, in which waste plastic is processed for locally where it is generated. We have named the small, decentralized chemical recycling system we are working on “SpiderTM “, linking it to a network or logistics network, and are promoting the business.
The demonstration unit completed this time is a prototype of the Spider project, and we have already started operation and conducted decomposition tests on various waste plastics.
We will continue to promote demonstration and development using this facility to achieve early social implementation of microwave processes.
Moving forward, we will continue to use this standard bench-scale equipment to conduct continuous feed tests. This will allow us to gather data on material and heat balances. Based on these data, we will identify challenges for scaling up to commercial deployment and perform economic feasibility studies.
(1) The “Development of a new chemical recycling method for plastics using a microwave process” project has been undertaken under the “Strategic Energy Conservation Technology Innovation Program: Practical Application Development Phase” since FY2020, and the “Demonstration and Development of a new chemical recycling method for plastics using a microwave process” project has been adopted under the “Program to Promote R&D and Social Implementation of Energy Conservation Technologies toward Realization of a Decarbonized Society” since FY2023. The “Demonstration and Development of a New Chemical Recycling Method for Plastics Using Microwave Processes” project has been adopted by the “Program for the Promotion of R&D and Social Implementation of Energy-saving Technologies toward the Realization of a Decarbonized Society” since FY2023.
(2) September 27, 2021 Press Release: “Completion of Demonstration Facility for Chemical Recycling of Commodity Plastics – Toward Realization of Circular Economy” (Japanese only)
(3) November 1, 2022 Press Release: “Japan’s First Large-Scale, General-Purpose Chemical Recycling Demonstration Facility Using Microwaves –Contributing to a Circular Economy Through Plastic Waste Recycling”