In recent years, due to the policy support of many countries in the world and the layout of international mainstream petrochemical, brand and packaging giant enterprises, waste plastic chemical recycling has gradually become a hot topic of global concern. Kemao Chemical Recycling Research Institute sorted out and analyzed the achievements of scientific research and commercial development over the years, and specially wrote the "Waste Plastic Chemical Recycling Industry Development Series Report", which is the fourth part - "Enterprise Article".
Key points of this article:
1. Chemical cycle is the main technical route to achieve "plastic waste to high-quality materials" high-value closed loop. From the past to mixed plastic pyrolysis and PET depolymerization, gradually developed a number of subdivisions including polyolefin cracking and PET, PA, PU, PMMA depolymerization, etc., the products can be used in packaging materials, modified plastics, textiles and clothing, home building materials, auto parts and other application areas.
2. Catalytic cracking and thermal cracking of mixed polyolefin waste plastics are the two technical routes with the greatest potential for plastic pollution control and market scale. Because it can deal with low-value waste plastics that are difficult to deal with by physical recycling enterprises, plastic oil is obtained through cracking, and after deep processing, it is further converted into basic chemicals such as ethylene, propylene, BTX, etc., and polymerized to obtain polymer materials, thus forming a complete closed loop.
3. According to the statistics of projects under construction, the global chemical cycle capacity will increase from 10,000 tons in 2020 to millions of tons in 2025. The world's leading brands, packaging, retail, chemical and resource recycling companies generally recognize that chemical recycling is the core way to achieve their plastic sustainability goals and rapidly deploy production capacity around the world.
4. The maximum potential of raw materials for chemical cycling comes from the "urban sanitation system" in the "two networks", and its availability and volume depend on large-scale mechanized waste sorting (MRF). Garbage sorting plus chemical recycling can realize the real "two networks integration" in the field of waste plastics, and the establishment of chemical recycling capacity provides stronger economic traction and plastic waste absorption capacity for garbage sorting, which is an important driving force for the rapid development of the industry, and at the same time promotes urban domestic waste to become an important carrier of carbon emission reduction.
5. The chemical cycle industry model has been verified in European and American countries and multinational companies, and the rapid expansion of production capacity has provided a sample for China's industrial development. China's chemical recycling industry started late, but the development potential is great, such as the blessing of funds, policies, government support, etc., has the potential to become the world's largest producer and exporter of food-grade PCR plastics.
With the establishment of carbon neutrality goals in most countries, the world has entered the era of low-carbon sustainability, the entire field of chemical materials is undergoing a systematic low-carbon cycle transformation, and the product model of the whole industry chain will undergo major changes, and opportunities and challenges coexist. As an important chemical material, the recycling of plastics has attracted much attention. Chemical recycling has become the most eye-catching mainstream technology for low-carbon recycling in the plastics industry by virtue of its excellent characteristics such as wide adaptability of raw materials, strong safety and environmental protection, and products that are not degraded or even upgraded.
As analyzed in this series of reports "Technology", "Market" and "Policy", China's waste plastic chemical recycling technology is in a leading position in the world, the market potential is huge, the policy support of the system is gradually established, and China has the potential to become a global industry leader, the largest producer and exporter in this field.
In this report, Kemao Chemical Recycling Research Institute will try to elaborate on the overall situation of the chemical cycle industry chain and representative enterprises, covering brand, retail, packaging, chemical, sanitation, solid waste treatment, technology providers, NGOs and other actions in the field of waste plastic chemical cycle.
Overview of the chemical cycle industry chain
The combing of the waste plastic chemical recycling industry chain by Kemao Chemical Recycling Research Institute is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1 Waste plastic chemical cycle industry chain
01 | Physical circulation industry chain
Brands and retailers sell their products to individual and corporate consumers, who generate garbage and sanitation companies collect garbage. A single category of garbage, relatively clean waste plastics (mainly PET/HDPE/PP) are collected by physical recycling enterprises, and after sorting, cleaning, crushing, melting, granulation, and obtain degraded PCR plastics (part of the physical recycling technology can be achieved without degradation), used to re-make products, through brand owners and retailers, back to consumer hands, thus completing the cycle of plastics.
02 | Chemical cycle polyolefin industry chain
Mixed low-value waste plastics (mainly PP/PE, which can include PS) are chemically recycled through liquefaction or monomer processes to produce plastic oil or ethylene, propylene and BTX monomers, which are further processed by chemical companies into native quality PCR PP, PE, PS, PET and chemical fiber monomers, and then made into packaging or high-quality fabrics, foams and other materials that can be used in high-value fields such as food and medicine, and then return to brand owners and retailers to complete the closed loop. Existing chemical companies rarely have devices that specialize in plastic oil, which need to be mixed with crude oil or naphtha and processed, certified by Mass balance's method to ensure traceability.
03 | Chemical recycled chemical fiber/PET bottle industry chain
Pet, PA and PU monomers are recovered by depolysis such as hydrolysis, alcohol lysis and enzymatic lysis, and monomers or oligomers such as terephthalic acid (PTA), bishydroxyethyl terephthalate (BHET), caprolactam (CPL), polyols are obtained, and the native quality PCR chemical fibers and films are made by chemical fiber enterprises, and enter the market through textile and garment enterprises and packaging enterprises.
04 | Chemical circulating foam (PU) industry chain
Through hydrolysis, alcohololysis and other ways to recover PU monomer, to obtain polyols, diamines (can further synthesize isocyanates, as an important raw material for PU) and other monomers or oligomers, through the PU enterprises to make the original quality of PCR PU, and then through the household materials enterprises processed into foam, mattresses, shoes and leather and other supplies into the market.
05 | Chemical circulating plexiglass (PMMA) industry chain
PMMA monomer is recovered by hydrolysis, alcohololysis, etc., methyl methacrylate (MMA) monomer is obtained, and the original quality PMMA is made by PMMA enterprises, and then processed into plexiglass or copolymerized with ABS by material enterprises to make transparent ABS and other supplies to enter the market.
Chemical recycling products demand actions of businesses
The "Market Chapter" of this series of reports points out that the development of the chemical recycling industry has experienced a development process from energy substitution drive to environmental drive, and then to international political consensus to drive the opening of the market. Chemical cycle PCR plastics from the past because of uneconomical and no market, to now become an important strategy and KPI of multinational chemical, packaging and brand enterprises, the real and huge market demand has been formed.
As an important node in the rise of the chemical cycle market, in 2018, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the United Nations Environment Programme launched the "Global Commitment to the New Plastics Economy", which is signed by leading international brands, retail and packaging giants, as well as governments, NGOs and other organizations. The signing of the Global Commitment has transformed the plastic circular economy from a flexible concept of doing or not to a hard performance indicator for the sustainable and product sectors of the enterprise, driving a surge in demand for chemically recycled PCR plastic packaging and products.
In addition, dozens of multinational companies with international chemical giants such as Sinopec, Leand Basel, SABIC, BASF, Shell, ExxonMobil and other international chemical giants as the main members have established the "End Plastic Waste Alliance (AEPW)", promising to invest 1.5 billion US dollars to promote the construction of a plastic circular economy, prevent and reduce waste plastic leakage into the environment, and promote the recycling of waste plastics, which is its favored technical route. At the same time, several AEPW member companies have pledged to provide customers with PCR plastics. Establishing and expanding PCR plastic production capacity and industrial chain has become an important strategy for international chemical giants in recent years.
Como Chemical Recycling Research Institute summarizes the actions of mainstream enterprises and NGOs in the field of chemical recycling.
01 | Brand enterprise
The commitments made by the world's top brands are shown in Table 1. According to the commitment, by 2025, plastic packaging will contain an average of about 25% of PCR components, compared with less than 10% in 2020, and most of it will be physical recycling. Most of the plastics required by these enterprises are food contact grades, but physical recycling is difficult to meet their needs, because physical recycling has higher requirements for the single degree and cleanliness of raw materials, and raw materials are limited and rely on source classification and pretreatment, making it difficult to expand the scale. At the same time, most of the physical recycling is downgraded recycling, which means that it is difficult to meet the quality needs of brand enterprises. Chemical recycling has become a very favored solution for brand enterprises by virtue of product degradation.
Table 1 Global leading brand enterprise commitments
In order to achieve the global commitment, some brand companies have actively taken action in the field of chemical recycling, such as joining NGOs aimed at promoting plastic recycling and recycling, and paying a higher premium to purchase chemical recycled PCR plastic packaging.
02 | Retail businesses
The commitments made by the world's top retailers are shown in Table 2. According to the commitment, plastic packaging will contain an average of about 25% of PCR components by 2025, compared with about 10% in 2020.
Table 2 Commitments of the world's leading retail enterprises
To achieve global commitments, some retail giants have taken active actions in the field of chemical recycling, such as the use of PCR plastic shopping bags and packaging materials, and the addition of NGOs that promote plastic packaging cycles.
03 | Packaging enterprises
The commitments of the world's top packaging companies are shown in Table 3. According to the commitment, by 2025, plastic packaging should contain an average of 25% to 30% of PCR components, compared with less than 15% in 2020.
Table 3 Commitments of global head packaging companies
In order to achieve the global commitment, some packaging companies have actively taken action in the field of chemical recycling, such as the production of PCR plastic packaging and the promotion of recycling of waste plastic packaging.
04 | Chemical enterprises
International chemical giants are the most active promoters of the chemical cycle for the following reasons:
(1) In order to fulfill the commitment of PCR components of plastic packaging, the brand giants need to find PCR plastic sources globally and pass the pressure on upstream packaging enterprises and chemical companies. Chemical companies without PCR plastic capacity will find it difficult to meet customer needs.
(2) Dozens of multinational companies have established the "End Plastic Waste Alliance (AEPW)", committing to invest $1.5 billion to promote the construction of a plastic circular economy, prevent and reduce waste plastic leakage into the environment, and promote the recycling of waste plastics, while a number of AEPW member companies have pledged to provide customers with PCR plastics.
The establishment and expansion of PCR plastic production capacity and industrial chain has become a strategic measure that chemical giants have paid more attention to in recent years. However, chemical companies have fewer reserves of chemical recycling technologies and projects, and in order to stably serve existing customers in the sustainable transition period and open up new markets for sustainable resins, chemical companies are actively investing in or integrating chemical recycling technologies and projects. The actions of some chemical companies sorted out by Kemao Chemical Recycling Research Institute are shown in Table 4.
Table 4 Actions of the world's leading chemical companies
05 | International NGOs
The growth of demand for chemical recycling products and the progress of technological development are inseparable from the encouragement and appeal of NGOs. The actions of international NGOs summarized by the Como Chemical Recycling Research Institute are shown in Table 5.
Table 5 Actions of international NGOs
In addition to launching a global commitment to brands, retail and packaging companies, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation has launched the Global Network of Plastics Conventions. The network is made up of multiple countries and regions, and its objectives include reusable, compostable, proportion of recyclable plastic packaging designs, recovery rates, and PCR components, as detailed in Table 6.
Table 6 "Global Plastics Convention Network"
06 | Domestic NGOs
In China, many organizations have also begun to vigorously promote the chemical cycle, the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation (CPCIF) is one of the typical representatives, and many associations or institutions have also taken action (see Table 7).
Table 7 Domestic NGO-related actions
Introduction and case study of chemical cycle sub-industry chain
01 | Polyolefin chemical cycle industry chain
At present, chemical companies rarely have devices that specialize in plastic oil, which need to be mixed with crude oil or naphtha. For several years, the main producers of chemical recycling resins were the existing chemical companies. Mixed processing produces PP/PE/PS, etc., and the traceability of PCR resin is guaranteed by Mass balance certification.
Figure 2 Polyolefin chemical cycle industry chain
In 2020, ice cream brand Magnum announced the launch of more than 7 million ice cream kegs, the world's first food-grade plastic chemistry cycle case, jointly completed by SABIC, Unilever and Plastic Energy. Plastic Energy supplies plastic oil in a chemically recycled fashion, SABIC's chemical plant produces PCR PP from plastic oil, and Unilever makes boxes of Monlong ice cream from that raw material. It is not large, but it is epoch-making.
Figure 3 The world's first closed-loop case
SABIC has also launched a series of chemical cycle PCR resin product examples, including the launch of PCR PP food containers with Unilever; Launched PCR PE food flexible packaging bags in conjunction with packaging giant Berry; Launched PCR PE food film crispness bags in collaboration with UK retailer Tesco; Launched PCR PP juice packaging box jointly with Swiss packaging company SIG Combibloc; Launched PCR PP straws and cups in partnership with Tupperware, a U.S. plastic preservation container company; Launched PCR PE bread bags in partnership with UK bakery supplier Allied Bakeries, among others.
Figure 4 SABIC product example
In China, Kemao Environment has built its first chemical recovery plant with a process of "low temperature and low pressure catalytic cracking and catalytic reforming", with a processing capacity of 40,000 tons per year, converting mixed waste plastics into high-quality lightweight pyrolysis oils, and further used for cracking ethylene and propylene. Como works closely with a number of chemical giants, packaging companies and brand owners to promote China's completion of the closed loop from waste plastics to food-grade new plastics.
Figure 5 China's first chemical recycling plant built by Kemao Environment
02 | Chemical fiber/PET bottle chemical cycle industry chain
There are two paths for the chemical recycling chemical fiber and packaging industry chain, one is PET bottles, waste textiles (polyester, nylon, spandex, etc.) are made of monomers by depolymerization method, and after polymerization, they are made of fibers, bottle flakes and film materials; The other is a polyolefin chemical recycling plant that makes waste plastics into plastic oil or diene benzene, which is made into chemical fibers and packaging materials by petrochemical companies, and then made into fibers, flakes and film materials.
Polyolefin-based waste plastics are further produced into PET monomers by making PCR ethylene and benzene, and finally produce native quality PCR PET, which avoids the problem of high cost of bottle-to-bottle raw materials and is a direction with great potential. At present, with polyolefin waste plastics as the route of PCR PET raw materials, Kemao Environment and other enterprises are promoting projects with upstream and downstream partners.
Figure 6 Chemical fiber/PET bottle chemical cycle industry chain
In 2021, the annual output of tree environmental protection is 70,000 tons of chemical recovery r-BHET production line put into operation. Its r-BHET has obtained ISCC PLUS certification, and the polyester series raw materials produced by its patented chemical alcohol lysis recycling and recycling technology have been highly recognized by SABIC, SK Chemical, Coca-Cola and other top 500 enterprises, and the products can be widely used in special engineering plastics, high-end cosmetics, high-end sportswear, high-end sports shoes and other fields.
In the same year, Sanlian Hongpu signed a contract with Zhejiang Jiahua, a holding subsidiary of Taihua New Material, for the project of recycling nylon materials by chemical method, with a contract amount of 62.56 million yuan. If the project is successfully implemented, it will fill the technical gap in this field in China and reach the world's advanced level in one fell swoop.
03 | Foam (PU) chemical cycle industry chain
There are two paths in the chemical cycle foam industry chain, one is for waste foam and other polyurethane products to be made of monomers by depolymerization method, and after polymerization to make new foam and other products; The other is the polyolefin chemical recycling plant, which makes waste plastic into plastic oil or dienebenzene, and makes polyols and isonitrile monomers through petrochemical enterprises, and then makes foam and other products.
Figure 7 Foam chemical cycle industry chain
Polyurethane products have thermoset and thermoplasticity, thermoplastic polyurethane has many physical recovery cases, thermosetting polyurethane has no physical recovery cases, chemical recovery is an important potential direction for its recycling.
In 2021, Covestro started a pilot plant for the chemical recycling of soft foams in Germany, with the goal of chemically recycling the soft foams from used mattresses and eventually remarketing the recycled raw materials.
04 | Plexiglass (PMMA) chemical circulation industry chain
There are two paths in the chemical cycle plexiglass industry chain, one is the waste PMMA through the depolymerization method to make a monomer, polymerization to make PCR PMMA, can be made into a new plexiglass, or mixed with ABS to produce transparent ABS, for the automotive field; The other is the polyolefin chemical recycling plant, which makes waste plastics into plastic oil or diene BTX, and makes MMA monomers through petrochemical enterprises, which produce PCR PMMA after polymerization.
Figure 8 Plexiglass chemical cycle industry chain
The demand for PMMA is not high, but its most important use attribute is transparency, and physical recycling is more difficult to ensure transparency, so chemical recycling is likely to become the main recycling method, and there are many cases around the world.
Table 8 Global PMMA chemical cycle case
05 | Chemical recycling technology enterprise
The chemical recycling industry model has been verified in European and American countries and multinational companies, and the world's leading brands, packaging, retail, chemical and resource recycling enterprises generally agree that chemical recycling is the core way to achieve their plastic sustainability goals, and rapidly deploy production capacity on a global scale. According to the statistics of projects under construction, the global chemical cycle capacity will increase from 10,000 tons in 2020 to millions of tons in 2025.
Mainland enterprises are also actively carrying out technology research and development and production capacity layout. As the largest resin producer in China, Sinopec is focusing on new technologies such as thermal cracking and microwave cracking, and has established technical cooperation with related enterprises, and has 100-ton pilot projects and 10,000-ton projects under construction. Kemao Environment has a number of projects under construction, with a total annual processing capacity of 683,000 tons, and at the same time laying out production capacity in more than 20 cities. The following figure shows the combing of the production capacity layout of global chemical recycling enterprises by Kemao Chemical Recycling Research Institute.
Table 9 Global chemical recycling enterprises production capacity layout
06 | Chemical Cycle Pattern Outlook: A Large Chemical Cycle Base – Absolute Chemical Recycling
Figure 9 Large chemical circulation base
In the future, there will be a large-scale waste plastic chemical recycling base, which can not only process hundreds of tons to thousands of tons of waste plastics per day in nearby cities, but also collaborate with existing small and medium-sized chemical recycling plants to process waste plastics and plastic oils at the same time, and produce PCR dienes, BTX and polymers for downstream resin enterprises, modification enterprises, fine chemical enterprises and chemical fiber enterprises.
Como Environment is building a global lighthouse plant for waste plastic chemical cycles with an annual capacity of 600,000 tons, producing PCR propylene, BTX and low-carbon alkanes with cutting-edge patented "highly selective catalytic cracking" technology, and converting all waste plastics into basic chemicals. Propylene is produced by polymerization of PCR PP; Alkanes can be used as raw materials for steam cracking, have a higher yield than naphtha, produce ethylene propylene after polymerization into PCR PE/PP, and can also be burned to produce waste-based renewable energy for self-use or output; BTX can be produced from aromatic hydrocarbon combined units, which can then be processed into PCR PET. The plant is able to achieve a complete closed loop from waste plastics to food-grade new plastics, that is, a "thorough chemical cycle", while achieving a net negative carbon emission of more than 1.2 million tons/year and net negative energy consumption.
Kemao Chemical Recycling Research Institute believes that China's chemical recycling capacity potential is several million-ton super factories, dozens of large-scale factories of 300,000 to 600,000 tons, and 100-200 small and medium-sized factories of tens of thousands of tons, with the world's largest production capacity potential.
Source mode of chemical circulating raw materials
The raw material sources of the chemical cycle are diverse, which can be integrated with the sanitation system, can also be embedded in the waste incineration plant for pre-incineration sorting, and there are many channels such as hazardous waste plastics in industrial agriculture. The full recycling of waste plastics has the potential to reduce carbon emissions from municipal waste incineration by 25%-40%.
01 | Raw materials come from a variety of sources
The first scenario is to integrate with the sanitation system, through a large garbage sorting device, in the dry garbage, wet garbage, mixed garbage, decoration garbage to sort out the low-value waste plastic for chemical recycling, the generation of plastic oil or new plastic raw materials, the remaining garbage through incineration or landfill treatment. This may be the channel with the greatest potential in the future, and it is also a key link for China to become the world's largest producer and exporter of chemical cycle PCR plastics.
Figure 10 Sanitation solid waste + waste plastic chemical recycling
In contrast, physical recycling relies more on the current waste recycling system, and chemical recycling can be better integrated with the sanitation system to promote the construction of the "two networks integration" system.
The second scenario is to pass the garbage through the sorting equipment before incineration, sort out the low-value waste plastics, enter the chemical recycling device, and the remaining garbage enters the incineration equipment. Europe has shown a trend of pre-incineration sorting. First, carbon emission reduction in garbage disposal can be realized, and additional economic value can be generated through carbon trading; Second, the separation of high calorific value plastics makes incineration plants have a stronger waste absorption capacity, and the government does not need to build more waste incineration plants. This is both a government demand and a market demand.
Figure 11 Waste incineration + chemical recycling of waste plastics
The increase in domestic waste in developed areas of the mainland is significant and the calorific value is obvious, especially in the case of garbage classification, the situation that the calorific value of dry garbage is too high and the incineration efficiency declines begins to appear. Sorting before incineration, first, can better achieve waste reduction and resource utilization, and achieve the goal of "waste-free city"; Second, significant carbon emission reductions can be achieved; The third is to reduce the environmental protection and operating cost pressure of incineration plants. In some underdeveloped areas, waste incineration plants or facing the phenomenon of "not enough to eat" may not be suitable for mechanical sorting before incineration for the time being. The expansion of China's chemical recycling capacity and efficient output will provide an important economic impetus for the sorting of waste before incineration.
The third scenario is to go through the sorting equipment after the restoration and excavation of the old landfill, and the low-value waste plastics are sorted out and entered into the chemical recycling unit, and the remaining waste enters the incineration equipment or backfills. Pre-landfill sorting may also occur, with low-value waste plastics and other recyclables being sorted out, and surplus non-recyclables and difficult-to-recycle items disposed of in landfills. At present, the amount of waste plastic in mainland landfills is about 400 million to 500 million tons, so this is the source of raw materials with the greatest potential.
Figure 12 Landfill Recovery + Waste Plastic Chemical Recycling
Other application scenarios, such as agricultural film, pesticide packaging, paper mill tailings, medical waste plastics, hazardous waste plastics, etc., many waste plastics that are difficult to physically recycle are expected to become good raw materials for chemical recycling. Among them, the plastic composition of medical waste is mainly pure polyolefin, and the use of cracking technology can achieve higher yield, but it must be treated harmlessly, and microwave technology is an important route for harmless treatment.
Figure 13 Other scenarios
02 | The integration of garbage classification + sanitation has enhanced the availability of raw materials
The mainland began to carry out municipal domestic waste classification in 46 key cities in 2017, and further promoted it to cities at the prefecture level and above in China from 2019. Various localities have formulated detailed garbage classification methods, catalogs and guidelines, purchased a large number of garbage classification facilities and equipment, and extensively carried out publicity, education and supervision of garbage classification, invested a lot of manpower, material resources and financial resources, and greatly improved the recycling rate of urban domestic garbage in mainland China.
At the same time, the development trend of sanitation projects is to integrate cleaning, cleaning, transit, collection and transportation, and treatment, and at the same time involve front-end garbage classification and back-end kitchen waste treatment. In the future, with the continuous improvement of people's living environment requirements, the depth and breadth of sanitation services will continue to extend.
The deep integration of garbage classification and sanitation integration makes the process of garbage from being discarded to terminal disposal continuous and controllable, which helps to avoid mixed collection and mixed transportation and mixed disposal, provides stable initial raw materials for downstream resources, and is one of the largest potential sources of chemical recycled raw materials.
03 | Sorting technology enables waste plastics to be selected for downstream recycling
Figure 14 Sorting: Hub of waste recycling
Throughout the resource recycling industry, in order to obtain high-quality and high-value recycled products, it is necessary to meet the requirements of a single material (high purity, less impurities) in the feeding process of the production process. Although chemical recycling does not require the singleness and cleanliness of raw materials, if you can provide higher purity, less impurities of raw materials, you will get higher quality and higher value products. Mainland domestic source garbage is often a mixture of different materials, in addition to waste paper, scrap metal, waste textiles and other mixes, only waste plastic contains several different components, such as PET, PP, HDPE, LDPE, PS, PU, PA, PMMA, PC, ABS, etc., so sorting has become an indispensable and most critical precursor link in the process of resources, and even sorting is a necessary means to achieve the goal of resources. Only by obtaining a high-purity single material material after sorting can it become a suitable feed for the recycling process, so as to produce high-quality recycled materials for new product production and complete the resource process.
In January 2022, the National Development and Reform Commission and other ministries and commissions issued the Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Construction of the Recycling System for Waste Materials (hereinafter referred to as the Opinions), which requires that by 2025, more than 1,000 green sorting centers be built; The recycling of nine major renewable resources, including waste plastics, reached 450 million tons. The release of the Opinions has prompted the mushrooming of garbage sorting/sorting factories. As of June 2022, 11 companies have been certified as green sorting centers for renewable resources.
The technology and equipment of the sorting industry are very mature, but they have not yet been widely popularized in China, and the low income of downstream resources and the difficulty of covering the cost of sorting are one of the main reasons, so it is more dependent on policies and subsidies. Chemical recycling, with its excellent economy, relies on the benefits of low-value waste plastics, which account for only 15% to 20% of the output of domestic waste sorting plants, as raw materials, and it is possible to cover the entire sorting system and the cost of chemical recycling. In addition, before the establishment of chemical recycling capacity, most of the waste plastics produced by domestic waste sorting were of low quality and could not be physically recycled, and could only be treated by incineration or landfill.
Chemical recycling obtains high-quality raw materials from large-scale mechanical sorting, and provides stronger economic traction and plastic waste absorption capacity for sorting, which is an important driving force for the rapid development of the industry.
04 | Sanitation and solid waste treatment enterprises vigorously lay out the renewable resource industry
With unique technical advantages, excellent carbon reduction attributes and promotion of upstream and downstream industries, chemical circulation is an excellent way to solve plastic pollution, promote "garbage classification", "waste-free city", "integration of two networks", "circular economy", "double carbon target" and other policies to achieve the excellent way or even the only way out, favored by sanitation and solid waste treatment enterprises.
Table 10
Different from other areas of the solid waste treatment industry (such as higher technical barriers in the field of hazardous waste treatment and higher financial barriers in the field of waste incineration), the entry threshold of the sanitation industry is relatively low, and the market competition is fierce. At present, there are thousands of enterprises participating in the entire market, of which smaller sanitation enterprises are the mainstay, and the market concentration cr10 is about 15%. Extending upstream and downstream, the series of garbage classification, waste-free cities and the integration of the two networks has become the only way for sanitation enterprises. Some head sanitation enterprises have begun to explore the new model of "garbage classification + sanitation integration + renewable resources", vigorously layout the renewable resource industry, and achieve profit growth through high-value recycling on the basis of garbage classification and transportation.
At the same time, the concentration of the waste incineration market has exceeded 50%, and the future growth engine will no longer rely on the expansion of incineration projects, but will take the waste incineration plant as the base to develop related sanitation, kitchen, industrial solid waste, hazardous waste, medical waste, renewable resources and other "incineration +" businesses, relying on the incineration plant to build a vein industrial park, some enterprises try to explore the "sorting + regeneration + incineration" new format. Some corporate actions are shown in Table 11.
Table 11 Selected corporate actions
At this point, the "Waste Plastic Chemical Recycling Industry Development Report" has been completed, and Kemao Chemical Recycling Research Institute has obtained the following conclusions through the study of waste plastic chemical recycling technology, market, policy and industrial chain:
01 | After decades of accumulation, waste plastic chemical recycling technology has a large-scale industrialization foundation
Waste plastic chemical recycling technology has made great progress in terms of technical level, scale effect, product quality, environmental protection degree, safe production and other aspects, with the basis of large-scale industrial production, and will become one of the main carbon emission reduction technologies in the future, and has become a key industry supported and encouraged by the state.
02 | The waste plastic chemical recycling market demand is huge, and the largest market is in China
Chemical cycle PCR plastics have become an important strategy and KPI of head multinational enterprises, and real and huge market demand has been formed. The blessing of taxation, carbon subsidies and other factors gives chemical cycle PCR plastics several times the short-term premium, as well as a high long-term premium.
The chemical cycle will become the "second growth curve" of the petrochemical and sanitation solid waste industries in the carbon neutral era, with an annual new market potential of 100 billion, a stock market of trillions, and the world's largest market in China.
03 | The policy support window for the waste plastic chemical recycling industry has been opened, and the future prospects are bright
The legal goal of waste plastic recycling is gradually clear, the end use of chemical cycle PCR plastics and exclusive product standards are being promoted, scientific and technological, financial and other supporting policy support is being established, and the policy support for the waste plastic chemical cycle industry is gradually increasing, and the future prospects are bright.
04 | The waste plastic chemical recycling industry has exploded rapidly in Europe and the United States, setting a model for China's development
Global chemical cycle capacity will grow from 10,000 tons in 2020 to millions of tons in 2025. The world's leading brands, packaging, retail, chemical and resource recycling companies generally recognize that chemical recycling is the core way to achieve their plastic sustainability goals, and rapidly deploy production capacity around the world, providing a sample for China's industrial development.
epilogue
The waste plastic chemical recycling industry is a key bridge connecting plastic pollution control and the transformation of low-carbon cycles in the field of materials. The strong pull of downstream demand is the gradual development of the plastic circular economy from a political consensus to a market consensus; The strong thrust of upstream supply is an urgent need for global plastic pollution control and carbon neutrality. The chemical cycle can not only solve the white pollution, but also reap the economic returns, and will inevitably lead to a situation of vigorous development.
At the time of industrial change, if the leading enterprises in the previous stage do not have the courage to self-revolution to achieve strategic transformation, many companies like Nokia and Kodak will fall into the dilemma of innovators and quickly turn from prosperity to decline. The world's top brands, packaging, chemical enterprises are facing low-carbon cycle transformation, sanitation and solid waste enterprises are facing the national policy change of encouraging incineration to encourage resources, and the current plastic recycling main force physical recycling enterprises are facing the shortage of high-value plastic raw materials and the problem of low value appreciation. The chemical cycle of waste plastics is a strategic direction worthy of investment at present.
Kemao Chemical Recycling Research Institute calls on people of insight in the industry to actively embrace the changes of the times and quickly devote themselves to this vigorous industry with a fearless spirit and the courage not to break or stand.
Thanks to Man Juan, Deputy Secretary-General of the Foreign Investment Committee of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, Tang Yusheng, Chief Advisor of the Alliance for Ending Plastic Waste (AEPW) China, Sun Haohe, Senior Investment Officer of the World Bank Group, Dr. Zhuang Ping, Senior Investment Officer of the World Bank Group IFC, Professor Du Huanzheng, President of the Plastics Recycling Branch of the China Synthetic Resin Association and Director of the Institute of Ecological Civilization and Circular Economy of Tongji University, Cai Zhiqiang, Senior Expert and Professor-level Senior Engineer of Sinopec Group, Pang Jiangzhu, Senior Expert and Professor-level Senior Engineer of China National Petroleum Corporation, Zhang Hongbo, Technical Director of Everbright Environmental Protection (China) and President of Everbright Ecological Environment Design Institute, Dr. Xiong Wei, Co-founder of Shanghai Ruimo Environmental Protection, Wang Zhonglin, Vice President of R&D of Greater China of Amcor Group, Chang Xinjie, Vice President of Circular Economy of Tomran Group, Hong Lutian, General Manager of Guangdong Linuo Environmental Protection Co., Ltd., Qian Mingyu, Director of Waste and Circular Economy Department of Deutsche Gesellschaft Internationale Zusammenar (GIZ), Zhang Gabei, Vice President of Envision Sequoia Carbon Neutrality Fund, Wang Zhonghui, Dr. Gao Li, Engineer, Institute of Environmental Risk and Damage Appraisal and Assessment, Guangdong Academy of Environmental Sciences, Dr. Song Yanan, Guotai Junan Securities Policy Research Institute, and members of the Chemical Cycle Research Group of China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation have made important contributions to this series of reports.