Technological watch

ExxonMobil has completed the initial phase of a plant trial of a proprietary advanced recycling process for converting plastic waste into raw materials for production of high-value polymers. The trial, at the company’s existing facilities in Baytown, Texas, marks another step in ExxonMobil’s efforts to help reduce plastic waste in the environment and maximize resource recovery.

ExxonMobil intends to use results from the Baytown trial to scale-up advanced recycling capabilities at other global facilities, targeting a circular solution for converting difficult-to-recycle plastic waste into feedstock for virgin-quality plastic.

The company has already obtained certifications through the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification Plus (ISCC+) process. ISCC+ is widely recognized by industry as an effective system to certify products that result from advanced recycling of plastic waste. Pending a successful completion of the next phase of the Baytown plant trial, the company plans to market commercial volumes of certified circular plastics later this year.

ExxonMobil has also formed a joint venture with Agilyx Corporation, Cyclyx International LLC, focused on developing innovative solutions for aggregating and pre-processing large volumes of plastic waste that can be converted into feedstocks for valuable products. Cyclyx will help supply ExxonMobil’s advanced recycling projects, and will aim to do the same for other customers.

The company supports making the most of resources and minimizing waste, which are the underlying principles of the circular economy concept. Advanced recycling, along with innovation and new processes, will play an important role in reducing plastic waste.