Chemical recycling and its potential to leverage the circular economy
Chemical recycling is a key pathway for significantly advancing the circular economy. This is one of the reasons that Braskem has been putting more and more knowledge, effort and investment into projects that involve improving existing technologies and developing disruptive technologies for this value chain.
In February of this year, the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) provided a significant boost to the agenda by recognizing the effectiveness and safety of chemical recycling through pyrolysis in the production cycle of plastics intended for applications involving contact with food.
Pier Pesce, Braskem's business development manager in South America, explains, "The update of question number 22 of Anvisa's Q&A document ratifies that the chemical recycling process through pyrolysis, which generates molecules indistinguishable from those of fossil origin and with purity suitable for contact with food, can be used without the need for specific authorization or additional regulations."
He adds, "This clears up any confusion and provides comfort to brands, which can increasingly incorporate sustainable practices into their packaging and plastic products. This is a very beneficial step for the circular economy and for the construction of a more sustainable future."
But why is chemical recycling so essential?
To understand more about the potential of chemical recycling for the circular economy, it is important to point out that we are dealing with a complementary process to mechanical recycling, the best known and currently available modality, but with limitations on mechanical properties, which ends up restricting the versatility of final applications.
Chemical recycling, in turn, allows a greater variety of plastic waste to be reintroduced into the economy, particularly those that are more difficult to be recycled mechanically, such as flexible plastics.
This waste is turned into a circular raw material that will be used in the manufacture of chemicals or resins with the same characteristics and performance as those produced with fossil raw materials, with the benefit of addressing one of the main current challenges - plastic waste.
"This opens up many perspectives as it increases the scale of post-consumer plastic recovery and reuse and brings new possibilities for chemicals and resins with recycled content, energizing the market," Pier points out. "The more applications, the greater the demand and the more we will be moving towards the elimination of plastic waste," he explains.
From chemical recycling to the most diverse applications of plastic
In chemical recycling, post-consumer plastic molecules are broken down into smaller and simpler molecules, with changes in their physicochemical properties.
The process takes place through the pyrolysis of post-consumer waste, i.e. heat is responsible for breaking down molecules, producing pyrolysis oil, also known as circular oil.
Pyrolysis oil can be used as a raw material in petrochemical crackers along with fossil naphtha for the production of monomers, which are nothing more than basic chemicals such as ethylene and propylene used in the manufacture of polymers.
In this process, the monomers are produced at a high purity, the same as those produced from fossil naphtha, meaning there is no difference between them and it is impossible to tell them apart. Regardless of their origin, whether fossil-based or recycled, monomers produce virgin polymers that have the same characteristics and plastic properties.In practice, this translates into wide versatility of applications and quick implementation into an extensive variety of segments, such as packaging for food, beverages, pharmaceutical products, medical equipment, and many others.
Sustainable and certified production
In Brazil, most of Braskem's units are certified by ISCC Plus (International Sustainability and Carbon Certification) for the use of circular raw material from chemical recycling.
Certification is based on the concept of mass balance, ensuring that the proportion of sustainable material declared in a product corresponds to the amount of sustainable material that was actually used in production.
In addition to ISCC Plus certification, Braskem received authorization from the National Petroleum Agency (ANP) after rigorous safety and quality tests to use pyrolysis oil in fuel production at its petrochemical plant located in Triunfo, Rio Grande do Sul.
Would you like to know more about Braskem's recycled content products?
See our portfolio of Wenew recycled chemicals and resins .
