Chemical recycling of waste plastics from various sources, including moist granules.

Abstract

Provided herein are chemical recycling processes and facilities for using one or more PET-containing materials as feedstocks to chemical recycling facilities, particularly solvolysis facilities. The PET-containing materials used as feedstocks can include PET-containing reclaimer co-products, PET-containing MRF products or co-products, sorted plastic-containing mixtures, and / or PET-containing waste plastics from plastic article manufacturing facilities. In particular, the PET-containing materials used as feedstocks can include a quantity of PET-containing wet granules from a reclaimer facility.

Description

[Background technology]

[0001]

[0001] Waste materials, especially non-biodegradable waste materials, can have a negative impact on the environment if they are disposed of in landfills after a single use. Therefore, from an environmental standpoint, it is desirable to recycle as much waste material as possible. However, there are still streams of low-value waste that are virtually impossible or economically unfeasible to recycle with conventional recycling technologies. In addition, some conventional recycling processes themselves generate streams of waste that are economically unfeasible to recover or recycle, resulting in additional streams of waste that must be disposed of or handled in other ways. For example, plastic reclaimer facilities, municipal recycling facilities, plastic article manufacturers (molding machines), and polymer manufacturing facilities can generate significant amounts of waste plastic that are undesirable or unsuitable for use by consumers and mechanical recycling facilities. In particular, reclaimer facilities can generate large amounts of wet granules containing PET as an undesirable co-product, which are typically disposed of in landfills and / or incinerators. [Overview of the project] [Problems that the invention aims to solve]

[0002]

[0002] Therefore, there is a need for a large-scale facility that can chemically recycle various plastic-containing waste materials recovered from such sources, particularly undesirable reclaimer by-products, such as wet granules, in an economically viable manner. [Means for solving the problem]

[0003]

[0003] In one embodiment, the technology of the present invention relates to a method for recycling plastic waste. Generally, the method comprises (a) supplying at least a portion of one or more PET-containing materials to a chemical recycling facility, and (b) depolymerizing at least a portion of the PET-containing materials within the chemical recycling facility. One or more PET-containing materials include (i) co-products of PET-containing reclaimers and / or (ii) PET-containing MRF products or co-products and / or (iii) sorted plastic-containing mixtures and / or (iv) PET-containing waste plastics from a plastic article manufacturing facility, wherein (i) to (ii) are separated from plastic waste.

[0004]

[0004] In one embodiment, the technology of the present invention relates to a method for recycling plastic waste. Generally, the method comprises (a) supplying at least a portion of one or more PET-containing materials to a solvolysis facility, and (b) depolymerizing at least a portion of the PET-containing materials within the solvolysis facility. One or more PET-containing materials include (i) co-products of PET-containing reclaimers and / or (ii) PET-containing MRF products or co-products and / or (iii) a sorted plastic-containing mixture and / or (iv) PET-containing waste plastics from a plastic article manufacturing facility, wherein (i) to (ii) are separated from plastic waste.

[0005]

[0005] In one embodiment, the technology of the present invention relates to a method for recycling plastic waste. Generally, the method comprises the steps of (a) supplying a certain amount of moist PET-containing granules separated from plastic waste to a chemical recycling facility, and (b) depolymerizing at least a portion of the moist PET-containing granules within the chemical recycling facility.

[0006]

[0006] In one embodiment, the technology of the present invention relates to the use of one or more PET-containing materials as feedstock to chemical recycling facilities and / or solvolysis facilities. One or more PET-containing materials include (i) co-products of PET-containing reclaimers and / or (ii) PET-containing MRF products or co-products and / or (iii) sorted plastic-containing mixtures and / or (iv) PET-containing waste plastics from plastic article manufacturing facilities.

[0007]

[0007] In one aspect, the technology of the present invention relates to the use of moist granules of PET reclaimer as a raw material to be supplied to a chemical recycling facility. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0008] [Figure 1]

[0008] Figure 1 is a block flow diagram illustrating the main steps of a process and facility for chemically recycling waste plastics according to an embodiment of the technology of the present invention. [Figure 2]

[0009] Figure 2 is a block flow diagram illustrating a separation process and zones for separating mixed plastic waste according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 3]

[0010] Figure 3 is a block flow diagram illustrating the main steps of the process and facility for PET solvolysis according to an embodiment of the technology of the present invention. [Figure 4]

[0011] Figure 4 is a block flow diagram illustrating typical rPET products and co-products derived from a PET reclaimer facility. [Figure 5]

[0012] Figure 5 is a block flow diagram illustrating the main steps of the PET reclaimer process, as well as the products generated and the co-products derived therefrom. [Figure 6]

[0013] Figure 6 is a block flow diagram illustrating an exemplary liquefaction zone of a chemical recycling facility shown in Figure 1, according to an embodiment of the technology of the present invention. [Figure 7]

[0014] Figure 7 is a block flow diagram illustrating the main steps of a pyrolysis process and facility for converting waste plastics into a pyrolysis product stream, according to an embodiment of the technology of the present invention. [Figure 8A]

[0015] Figure 8A is a block flow diagram illustrating the main steps of an integrated pyrolysis process and facility, as well as a cracking process and facility, according to an embodiment of the technology of the present invention. [Figure 8B]

[0016] Figure 8B is a schematic diagram of a cracking furnace according to an embodiment of the technology of the present invention. [Figure 9]

[0017] Figure 9 is a schematic diagram of a POx reactor according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 10]

[0018] Figure 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating various definitions of the term “separation efficiency” as used herein. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0009]

[0019] The inventors have discovered novel methods and systems for using one or more PET-containing materials from various sources as feedstock for chemical recycling facilities, particularly solvolysis facilities. More specifically, the inventors have found that PET-containing materials used as feedstock for chemical recycling or solvolysis may include co-products of PET-containing reclaimers, PET-containing products or co-products from municipal recycling facilities, sorted plastic-containing mixtures, and / or PET-containing waste plastics from plastic article manufacturing facilities. For example, PET-containing materials used as feedstock may include a certain amount of PET-containing moist granules from a reclaimer facility.

[0010]

[0020] When a numerical array is shown, each number is modified to be the same as the first or last number in the numerical array or sentence. For example, each number is "at least" or "up to" or, in some cases, "not more than", and it should be understood that each number is in an "or" relationship. For example, "at least 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 75 wt%..." has the same meaning as "at least 10 wt%, or at least 20 wt%, or at least 30 wt%, or at least 40 wt%, or at least 50 wt%, or at least 75 wt%", "90, 85, 70, 60... wt% or less" has the same meaning as "90 wt% or less, or 85 wt% or less, or 70 wt% or less...", "at least 1%, 2%, 3%, 4%, 5%, 6%, 7%, 8%, 9% or 10 wt%..." has the same meaning as "at least 1 wt%, or at least 2 wt%, or at least 3 wt%...", and "at least 5, 10, 15, 20 and / or 99, 95, 90 weight percent or less" has the same meaning as "at least 5 wt%, or at least 10 wt%, or at least 15 wt% or at least 20 wt% and / or 99 wt% or less, or 95 wt% or less, or 90 weight percent or less...".

[0011]

[0021] All concentrations or amounts are by weight unless otherwise specified. Overall chemical recycling facility

[0022] Referring now to FIG. 1, the major steps of a process for chemically recycling waste plastics in a chemical recycling facility 10 are shown. It should be understood that FIG. 1 represents one exemplary embodiment of the technology of the present invention. Certain features shown in FIG. 1 may be removed, and / or additional features described elsewhere in this specification may be added to the system shown in FIG. 1.

[0012]

[0023] As shown in Figure 1, these steps generally include a pretreatment step / facility 20, as well as at least one (or at least two or more) of the following: solvolysis step / facility 30, partial oxidation (POX) gasification step / facility 50, pyrolysis step / facility 60, cracking step / facility 70, and energy recovery step / facility 80. Optionally, in one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, these steps may also include one or more other steps, e.g., direct sale or use, landfill, separation, and solidification, i.e., one or more of those represented in block 90 in Figure 1. While chemical recycling processes and facilities according to one or more embodiments of the technology of the present invention are shown to include all of these steps or facilities, it should be understood that at least two, three, four, five, or all of these steps / facilities for the chemical recycling of plastic waste, in particular mixed plastic waste, may be included in various combinations. Using chemical recycling processes and facilities as described herein, waste plastics can be converted into recycled component products or chemical intermediates used to form a variety of end-use materials. The waste plastics supplied to the chemical recycling facility / process may be mixed plastic waste (MPW), pre-sorted waste plastics, and / or pre-treated waste plastics.

[0013]

[0024] As used herein, the term "chemical recycling" refers to a waste plastic recycling process that includes the step of chemically converting waste plastic polymers into lower molecular weight polymers, oligomers, monomers, and / or non-polymeric molecules (such as hydrogen and carbon monoxide) that are useful in themselves and / or as feedstocks for another chemical production process(es). A "chemical recycling facility" is a facility for producing products of recycled components via chemical recycling of waste plastics. As used herein, the terms "recycled component" and "r-component" mean a composition directly and / or indirectly derived from waste plastics or containing the same.

[0014]

[0025] As used herein, the term "directly derived" means having at least one physical component generated from waste plastics, while "indirectly derived" means having a specified recycled component that i) is attributable to waste plastics but ii) is not based on having a physical component generated from waste plastics.

[0015]

[0026] A chemical recycling facility is not a mechanical recycling facility. As used herein, the terms "mechanical recycling" and "physical recycling" refer to a recycling process that includes the step of melting waste plastics and forming the melted plastics into new intermediate products (such as pellets or sheets) and / or new final products (such as bottles). Generally, mechanical recycling does not substantially change the chemical structure of the recycled plastics. In one embodiment or in combination with any of the described embodiments, the chemical recycling facilities described herein can be designed to receive and process waste streams from mechanical recycling facilities and / or waste streams that are not normally processable in mechanical recycling facilities.

[0016]

[0027] Although described herein as part of a single chemical recycling facility, it should be understood that the pretreatment facility 20, solvolysis facility 30, pyrolysis facility 60, cracking facility 70, partial oxidation (POX) gasification facility 50, and energy recovery facility 80, or other facilities 90, such as solidification or separation, one or more of these may be located in different geographical locations and / or operated by different commercial entities. Each of the pretreatment facility 20, solvolysis facility 30, pyrolysis facility 60, cracking facility 70, partial oxidation (POX) gasification facility 50, energy recovery facility 80, or any other facility 90 may be operated by the same entity, while in other cases, the pretreatment facility 20, solvolysis facility 30, pyrolysis facility 60, cracking facility 70, partial oxidation (POX) gasification facility 50, solidification facility, energy recovery facility 80, and one or more of the other facilities 90, such as separation or solidification, may be operated by different commercial entities.

[0017]

[0028] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the chemical recycling facility 10 may be an industrial-scale facility capable of processing significant amounts of mixed plastic waste. As used herein, the term “industrial-scale facility” means a facility having an average annual supply of at least 226.8 kilograms (500 pounds) per hour on average over a year. The average supply to the chemical recycling facility (or any one of the pretreatment facility 20, solvolysis facility 30, pyrolysis facility 60, cracking facility 70, POX gasification facility 50, energy recovery facility 80, and any other facility 90) is at least 340.19 kilograms (750 pounds), at least 453.59 kilograms (1,000 pounds), at least 680.39 kilograms (1,500 pounds), and at least 907.18 kilograms (2,000 pounds) per hour. ), at least 1,133.98 kg (2,500 pounds), at least 1,360.78 kg (3,000 pounds), at least 1,587.57 kg (3,500 pounds), at least 1,814.37 kg (4,000 pounds), at least 2,041.17 kg (4,500 pounds), at least 2,267.96 kg (5,000 pounds), at least 2,494.76 kg (5,500 pounds), at least 2,721.55 kg (6,000 pounds) 0 pounds), at least 2,948.35 kg (6,500 pounds), at least 3,401.94 kg (7,500 pounds), at least 4,535.92 kg (10,000 pounds), at least 5,669.9 kg (12,500 pounds), at least 6,803.89 kg (15,000 pounds), at least 7,937.87 kg (17,500 pounds), at least 9,071.85 kg (20,000 pounds), at least 10,205. 83 kg (22,500 lbs), at least 11,339.81 kg (25,000 lbs), at least 12,473.79 kg (27,500 lbs), at least 13,607.77 kg (30,000 lbs), or at least 14,741.75 kg (32,500 lbs) and / or not exceeding 453,592.37 kg (1,000,000 lbs) per hour, 340,194.28 kg (750,000 lbs) per hour, and 226,796.Under 18 kg (500,000 pounds), under 204,116.57 kg (450,000 pounds), under 181,436.95 kg (400,000 pounds), under 158,757.33 kg (350,000 pounds), under 136,077.71 kg (300,000 pounds), under 113,398.09 kg (250,000 pounds), 90,718 The maximum annual supply may be 0.47 kg (200,000 lbs), 68,038.86 kg (150,000 lbs), 45,359.24 kg (100,000 lbs), 34,019.43 kg (75,000 lbs), 22,679.62 kg (50,000 lbs), or 18,143.69 kg (40,000 lbs). If a facility includes two or more supply flows, the average annual supply is determined based on the combined weight of the supply flows.

[0018]

[0029] Furthermore, it should be understood that each of the pretreatment facilities 20, solvolysis facilities 30, pyrolysis facilities 60, cracking facilities 70, POX gasification facilities 50, energy recovery facilities 80, and any other facilities 90 may include multiple units operating in series or in parallel. For example, pyrolysis facility 60 may include multiple pyrolysis reactors / units operating in parallel, each receiving feed containing waste plastics. If a facility is made up of multiple individual units, the average annual feed to the facility is calculated as the sum of the average annual feeds to all equipment of common types within that facility.

[0019]

[0030] Furthermore, in one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the chemical recycling facility 10 (or any one of the pretreatment facility 20, solvolysis facility 30, pyrolysis facility 60, cracking facility 70, POX gasification facility 50, energy recovery facility 80, and any other facility 90) may operate in a continuous manner. Furthermore, or alternatively, at least a portion of the chemical recycling facility 10 (or any one of the pretreatment facility 20, solvolysis facility 30, pyrolysis facility 60, cracking facility 70, POX gasification facility 50, energy recovery facility 80, and any other facility 90) may operate in a batch or semi-batch manner. In some cases, the facility may include multiple tanks between a portion of a single facility and another portion, or between two or more different facilities, to address inventory and ensure a consistent flow rate to each facility or portion thereof.

[0020]

[0031] In addition, two or more of the facilities shown in Figure 1 may also be jointly installed with each other. In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, at least two, at least three, at least four, at least five, at least six, or all of the facilities may be jointly installed. As used herein, the term “jointly installed” means facilities in which at least a portion of the process flow and / or support equipment or services is shared between the two facilities. If two or more of the facilities shown in Figure 1 are jointly installed, the facilities may satisfy at least one of the following criteria (i) to (v): (i) the facilities share at least one type of non-residential utility service; (ii) the facilities share at least one type of service group; (iii) the facilities are owned and / or operated by parties sharing at least one site boundary; (iv) the facilities share at least one type of process material (e.g., solid, liquid supplied, used, or produced in the facilities) from one facility to the other. (i) to (v) are connected by at least one conduit designed to carry (and / or gases); and (v) the facilities are within 64.37 km (40 miles), 56.33 km (35 miles), 48.28 km (30 miles), 32.19 km (20 miles), 24.14 km (15 miles), 19.31 km (12 miles), 16.09 km (10 miles), 12.87 km (8 miles), 8.05 km (5 miles), 3.22 km (2 miles), or 1.61 km (1 mile) of each other, measured from these geographic centers. At least one, at least two, at least three, at least four, or all of the above descriptions (i) to (v) may be true.

[0021]

[0032] With respect to (i), examples of appropriate utility services include, but are not limited to, steam systems (cogeneration and distribution systems), cooling water systems, heat transfer fluid systems, air cooling systems for factories or equipment, nitrogen systems, hydrogen systems, non-residential power generation and distribution including distribution above 8000V, non-residential wastewater / sewer systems, storage facilities, transport systems, flare systems, and combinations thereof.

[0022]

[0033] With respect to (ii), examples of service groups and facilities include, but are not limited to, emergency service personnel (fire and / or medical), third-party vendors, state or local government monitoring groups, and combinations thereof. Examples of government monitoring groups include regulatory or environmental protection agencies, as well as city, county, and state-level municipal agencies and tax-related agencies.

[0023]

[0034] With respect to (iii), the boundary may be, for example, a fence line, a property boundary line, a gate, or a common boundary with at least one boundary of land or facility owned by a third party.

[0024]

[0035] With respect to (iv), the conduit may be a fluid conduit for carrying gases, liquids, solid / liquid mixtures (e.g., slurries), solid / gas mixtures (e.g., pneumatic conveying), solid / liquid / gas mixtures, or solids (e.g., a belt conveyor). In some cases, two units may share one or more conduits selected from the above list. Fluid conduits can be used to transport process flows or utilities between two units. For example, the outlet of one facility (e.g., solvolysis facility 30) may be fluidly connected to the inlet of another facility (e.g., POX gasification facility 50) via a conduit. In some cases, an intermediate storage system may be provided for the material being transported in the conduit between the outlet of one facility and the inlet of another facility. The intermediate storage system may include, for example, one or more tanks, containers (open or closed), buildings, or containers designed to store the material being transported by the conduit. In some cases, the interim storage period between the exit of one facility and the entrance of another facility may be 90 days or less, 75 days or less, 60 days or less, 40 days or less, 30 days or less, 25 days or less, 20 days or less, 15 days or less, 10 days or less, 5 days or less, 2 days or less, or 1 day or less.

[0025] waste plastics

[0036] Referring again to Figure 1, the waste plastic stream 100 can be mixed plastic waste (MPW), which can be introduced into the chemical recycling facility 10. As used herein, the terms “waste plastic” and “plastic waste” refer to used, scrap, and / or discarded plastic materials, e.g., plastic materials that would normally be sent to landfills. Other examples of waste plastic (or plastic waste) include used, scrap, and / or discarded plastic materials that would normally be sent to incinerators. The waste plastic stream 100 supplied to the chemical recycling facility 10 may include untreated or partially treated waste plastic. As used herein, the term “untreated waste plastic” means waste plastic that has not been subjected to any automated or mechanized sorting, washing, or grinding. Examples of untreated waste plastic include waste plastic collected from roadside household plastic recycling bins or community-shared plastic recycling containers. As used herein, the term “partially treated waste plastic” means waste plastic that has been subjected to at least one automated or mechanized sorting, washing, or grinding step or process. Partially processed waste plastics may originate, for example, from a municipal recycling facility (MRF) or a reclaimer. When partially processed waste plastics are provided to the chemical recycling facility 10, one or more pretreatment steps may be omitted. The waste plastics may include at least one of industrially end-of-use (or pre-consumer) plastics and / or post-consumer plastics.

[0026]

[0037] As used herein, the terms “mixed plastic waste” and “MPW” refer to a mixture of at least two types of waste plastics, including, but not limited to, the following types of plastics: polyethylene terephthalate (PET), one or more types of polyolefins (PO), and polyvinyl chloride (PVC). In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the MPW comprises at least two different types of plastics, each type of plastic present in an amount of at least 1, at least 2, at least 5, at least 10, at least 15, or at least 20 weight percent based on the total weight of plastics in the MPW.

[0027]

[0038] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the MPW includes, based on the total weight of the plastics in the MPW, at least 1, at least 2, at least 5, at least 10, at least 15, at least 20, at least 25, at least 30, at least 35, at least 40, at least 45, at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, at least 95, or at least 99 weight percent of PET and / or at least 1, at least 2, at least 5, at least 10, at least 15, or at least 20 weight percent of PO. In one or more embodiments, the MPW may also contain trace amounts of one or more types of plastic components other than PET and PO (and optionally PVC) in total, based on the total weight of plastics in the MPW, in amounts of less than 50 weight percent, less than 45 weight percent, less than 40 weight percent, less than 35 weight percent, less than 30 weight percent, less than 25 weight percent, less than 20 weight percent, less than 15 weight percent, less than 10 weight percent, less than 5 weight percent, less than 2 weight percent, or less than 1 weight percent.

[0028]

[0039] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the MPW contains at least 20, at least 25, at least 30, at least 35, at least 40, at least 45, at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, or at least 95 percent by weight of PET, based on the total weight of the flow. Alternatively, or in addition, MPW may contain PET in amounts of 99.9% by weight or less, 99% by weight or less, 97% by weight or less, 92% by weight or less, 90% by weight or less, 85% by weight or less, 80% by weight or less, 75% by weight or less, 70% by weight or less, 65% by weight or less, 60% by weight or less, 55% by weight or less, 50% by weight or less, 45% by weight or less, 40% by weight or less, 35% by weight or less, 30% by weight or less, 25% by weight or less, 20% by weight or less, 15% by weight or less, 10% by weight or less, or 5% by weight or less, based on the total weight of the flow.

[0029]

[0040] MPW flow may contain non-PET components in amounts of at least 0.1, at least 0.5, at least 1, at least 2, at least 5, at least 7, at least 10, at least 15, at least 20, at least 25, at least 30, or at least 35 weight percent and / or 80 weight percent or less, 75 weight percent or less, 70 weight percent or less, 65 weight percent or less, 60 weight percent or less, 55 weight percent or less, 50 weight percent or less, 45 weight percent or less, 40 weight percent or less, 35 weight percent or less, 30 weight percent or less, 25 weight percent or less, 20 weight percent or less, 15 weight percent or less, 10 weight percent or less, or 7 weight percent or less, based on the total weight of the flow. Non-PET components may be present in amounts between 0.1 and 50 weight percent, 1 and 20 weight percent, or 2 and 10 weight percent, based on the total weight of the flow. Examples of such non-PET components, but not limited to these, include iron and non-ferrous metals, inert materials (e.g., rocks, glass, sand, etc.), plastic inert materials (e.g., titanium dioxide, silicon dioxide, etc.), olefins, adhesives, compatibilizers, biological sludge, cellulosic materials (e.g., cardboard, paper, etc.), and combinations thereof.

[0030]

[0041] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, all or part of the MPW may be of municipal origin or may include municipal waste. The municipal waste portion of the MPW may include, for example, PET in amounts of 45–95 weight percent, 50–90 weight percent, or 55–85 weight percent based on the total weight of the municipal waste flow (or part of the flow).

[0031]

[0042] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, all or part of the MPW may originate from a municipal recycling facility (MRF) and may contain, for example, PET in amounts of 65–99.9 weight percent, 70–99 weight percent, or 80–97 weight percent based on the total weight of the flow. Non-PET components in such a flow may include, for example, other plastics in amounts of at least 1, at least 2, at least 5, at least 7, or at least 10 weight percent and / or 25 weight percent or less, 22 weight percent or less, 20 weight percent or less, 15 weight percent or less, 12 weight percent or less, or 10 weight percent or less based on the total weight of the flow, or such plastics may be present in amounts ranging from 1–22 weight percent, 2–15 weight percent, or 5–12 weight percent based on the total weight of the flow. In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, particularly for example, when MPW includes colored selected plastics, the non-PET component may include other plastics in amounts ranging from 2 to 35 weight percent, 5 to 30 weight percent, or 10 to 25 weight percent based on the total weight of the flow.

[0032]

[0043] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, all or part of the MPW may originate from a reclaimer facility and may contain, for example, PET in amounts of 85–99.9 weight percent, 90–99.9 weight percent, or 95–99 weight percent based on the total weight of the flow. Non-PET components in such a flow may include, for example, other plastics in amounts of at least 1, at least 2, at least 5, at least 7, or at least 10 weight percent and / or 25 weight percent or less, 22 weight percent or less, 20 weight percent or less, 15 weight percent or less, 12 weight percent or less, or 10 weight percent or less based on the total weight of the flow, or such non-PET components may be present in amounts ranging from 1–22 weight percent, 2–15 weight percent, or 5–12 weight percent based on the total weight of the flow.

[0033]

[0044] As used herein, the term “plastic” may include any organic synthetic polymer that is solid at 25°C and 1 atmospheric pressure. In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the polymer may have a number-average molecular weight (Mn) of at least 75, or at least 100, or at least 125, or at least 150, or at least 300, or at least 500, or at least 1000, or at least 5,000, or at least 10,000, or at least 20,000, or at least 30,000, or at least 50,000, or at least 70,000, or at least 90,000, or at least 100,000, or at least 130,000 Daltons. The weight-average molecular weight (Mw) of the polymer can be at least 300, or at least 500, or at least 1,000, or at least 5,000, or at least 10,000, or at least 20,000, or at least 30,000, or at least 50,000, or at least 70,000, or at least 90,000, or at least 100,000, or at least 130,000, or at least 150,000, or at least 300,000 Daltons.

[0034]

[0045] Examples of suitable plastics, but not limited to these, include aromatic and aliphatic polyesters, polyolefins, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polystyrene, polytetrafluoroethylene, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), cellulose-based, epoxide, polyamide, phenolic resins, polyacetal, polycarbonate, polyphenylene-based alloys, poly(methyl methacrylate), styrene-containing polymers, polyurethane, vinyl-based polymers, styrene-acrylonitrile, thermoplastic elastomers other than tires, urea-containing polymers, and melamine.

[0035]

[0046] Examples of polyesters include polyesters having repeating aromatic or cyclic units, such as those containing repeating terephthalate, isophthalate, or naphthalate units, e.g., PET, modified PET, and PEN, or those containing repeating furanate units. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is also a suitable example of a polyester. As used herein, "PET" or "polyethylene terephthalate" refers to a homopolymer of polyethylene terephthalate, or polyethylene terephthalate modified with one or more acids and / or glycol modifying factors, and / or containing residues or moieties other than ethylene glycol and terephthalic acid, e.g., isophthalic acid, 1,4-cyclohexanedicarboxylic acid, diethylene glycol, 2,2,4,4-tetramethyl-1,3-cyclobutanediol (TMCD), cyclohexanedimethanol (CHDM), propylene glycol, isosorbide, 1,4-butanediol, 1,3-propanediol, and / or neopentyl glycol (NPG).

[0036]

[0047] Similarly, the definitions of the terms "PET" and "polyethylene terephthalate" include polyesters having repeating terephthalate units (whether or not they contain repeating ethylene glycol-based units) and one or more residues or portions of glycols, such as TMCD, CHDM, propylene glycol, or NPG, isosorbide, 1,4-butanediol, 1,3-propanediol, and / or diethylene glycol, or combinations thereof. Examples of polymers having repeating terephthalate units include, but are not limited to, polypropylene terephthalate, polybutylene terephthalate, and their copolyesters. Examples of aliphatic polyesters include, but are not limited to, polylactic acid (PLA), polyglycolic acid, polycaprolactone, and polyethylene adipate. Polymers may include, for example, mixed aliphatic-aromatic copolyesters, including mixed terephthalate / adipate.

[0037]

[0048] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the waste plastic may include at least one type of plastic having repeated terephthalate units, such plastic present in amounts of at least 1, at least 2, at least 5, at least 10, at least 15, at least 20, at least 25, or at least 30 and / or 45 weight percent or less, 40 weight percent or less, 35 weight percent or less, 30 weight percent or less, 25 weight percent or less, 20 weight percent or less, 15 weight percent or less, 10 weight percent or less, 5 weight percent or less, or 2 weight percent or less, based on the total weight of the flow, or such plastic may be present in amounts of 1 to 45 weight percent, 2 to 40 weight percent, or 5 to 40 weight percent, based on the total weight of the flow. Similar amounts of copolyesters having multiple cyclohexanedimethanol moieties, 2,2,4,4-tetramethyl-1,3-cyclobutanediol moieties, or combinations thereof may also be present.

[0038]

[0049] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the waste plastic may include at least one type of plastic having repeated terephthalate units, such plastic present in amounts of at least 30, at least 35, at least 40, at least 45, at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, or at least 90 weight percent and / or 99.9 weight percent or less, 99 weight percent or less, 97 weight percent or less, 95 weight percent or less, 90 weight percent or less, or 85 weight percent or less, based on the total weight of the flow, or such plastic may be present in amounts of 30 to 99.9 weight percent, 50 to 99.9 weight percent, or 75 to 99 weight percent, based on the total weight of the flow.

[0039]

[0050] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the waste plastic may contain terephthalate repeating units in an amount of at least 1, at least 5, at least 10, at least 15, at least 20, at least 25, at least 30, at least 35, at least 40, or at least 45 weight percent and / or 75 weight percent or less, 72 weight percent or less, 70 weight percent or less, 60 weight percent or less, or 65 weight percent or less, based on the total weight of the plastic in the waste plastic flow, or the waste plastic may contain terephthalate repeating units in an amount ranging from 1 to 75 weight percent, 5 to 70 weight percent, or 25 to 75 weight percent, based on the total weight of the flow.

[0040]

[0051] Examples of specific polyolefins may include low-density polyethylene (LDPE), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), atactic polypropylene, isotactic polypropylene, syndiotactic polypropylene, crosslinked polyethylene, amorphous polyolefins, and copolymers of any one of the polyolefins mentioned above. Waste plastics may include polymers containing linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), polymethylpentene, polybutene-1, and their copolymers. Waste plastics may also include flash-spun high-density polyethylene.

[0041]

[0052] The waste plastic may include thermoplastic polymers, thermosetting polymers, or combinations thereof. In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the waste plastic may contain, based on the total weight of the flow, one or more thermosetting polymers in amounts of at least 0.1, at least 1, at least 2, at least 5, at least 10, at least 15, at least 20, at least 25, or at least 30 weight percent and / or 45 weight percent or less, 40 weight percent or less, 35 weight percent or less, 30 weight percent or less, 25 weight percent or less, 20 weight percent or less, 15 weight percent or less, 10 weight percent or less, 5 weight percent or less, or 2 weight percent or less, one or more thermosetting polymers, based on the total weight of the flow, or the thermosetting polymers may be present in amounts of 0.1 to 45 weight percent, 1 to 40 weight percent, 2 to 35 weight percent, or 2 to 20 weight percent, based on the total weight of the flow.

[0042]

[0053] Alternatively, or in addition, waste plastics may contain, based on the total weight of the flow, at least 0.1, at least 1, at least 2, at least 5, at least 10, at least 15, at least 20, at least 25, or at least 30 weight percent and / or 45 weight percent or less, 40 weight percent or less, 35 weight percent or less, 30 weight percent or less, 25 weight percent or less, 20 weight percent or less, 15 weight percent or less, 10 weight percent or less, 5 weight percent or less, or 2 weight percent or less of cellulose material, or the cellulose material may be present in amounts ranging from 0.1 to 45 weight percent, 1 to 40 weight percent, or 2 to 15 weight percent, based on the total weight of the flow. Examples of cellulose material include cellulose acetate, cellulose diacetate, cellulose triacetate, cellulose propionate acetate, cellulose butyrate acetate, and regenerated cellulose, such as viscose. Furthermore, the cellulose material may include cellulose derivatives having an acyl substitution degree of less than 3, 2.9 or less, 2.8 or less, 2.7 or less, or 2.6 or less and / or at least 1.7, at least 1.8, or at least 1.9, or 1.8 to 2.8, or 1.7 to 2.9, or 1.9 to 2.9.

[0043]

[0054] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the waste plastic may include STYROFOAM® or expanded polystyrene.

[0044]

[0055] Waste plastics may originate from one or more of several sources. In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, waste plastics may originate from plastic bottles, diapers, eyeglass frames, films, packaging materials, carpets (residential, commercial, and / or automotive), textiles (clothing and other fabrics), and combinations thereof.

[0045]

[0056] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, waste plastics (e.g., MPW) supplied to a chemical recycling facility may include one or more plastics having or derived from plastics having resin ID codes numbered 1 to 7 along with the Chasing Arrow Triangle established by SPI. The waste plastics may also include one or more plastics that are not generally mechanically recycled. Examples of such plastics, but not limited to, include plastics having resin ID code 3 (polyvinyl chloride), resin ID code 5 (polypropylene), resin ID code 6 (polystyrene), and / or resin ID code 7 (others). In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, a plastic having resin ID codes 3-7, or 3, 5, 6, 7, or at least one, at least two, at least three, at least four, or at least five of these combinations may be present in the waste plastic in amounts of at least 0.1, at least 0.5, at least 1, at least 2, at least 3, at least 5, at least 7, at least 10, at least 12, at least 15, at least 20, at least 25, at least 30, at least 35, or at least 40 weight percent and / or 90 weight percent or less, 85 weight percent or less, 80 weight percent or less, 75 weight percent or less, 70 weight percent or less, 65 weight percent or less, 60 weight percent or less, 55 weight percent or less, 50 weight percent or less, 45 weight percent or less, 40 weight percent or less, or 35 weight percent or less, based on the total weight of all plastics.

[0046]

[0057] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, at least 5, at least 10, at least 15, at least 20, at least 25, at least 30, or at least 35 weight percent and / or 60 weight percent or less, 55 weight percent or less, 50 weight percent or less, 45 weight percent or less, 40 weight percent or less, 35 weight percent or less, 30 weight percent or less, 25 weight percent or less, 20 weight percent or less, 15 weight percent or less, 10 weight percent or less, or 5 weight percent or less of the total plastic components in waste plastics supplied to a chemical recycling facility may include plastics that do not have resin ID codes 3, 5, 6, and / or 7 (for example, if the plastic is not classified). At least 0.1, at least 0.5, at least 1, at least 2, at least 3, at least 4, at least 5, at least 10, at least 15, at least 20, at least 25, at least 30, or at least 35 weight percent and / or 60 weight percent or less, 55 weight percent or less, 50 weight percent or less, 45 weight percent or less, 40 weight percent or less, 35 weight percent or less, 30 weight percent or less, 25 weight percent or less, 20 weight percent or less, 15 weight percent or less, 10 weight percent or less, or 5 weight percent or less of the total plastic components in the waste plastics supplied to the chemical recycling facility 10 may include plastics that do not have resin ID codes 4 to 7, or it may be in the range of 0.1 to 60 weight percent, 1 to 55 weight percent, or 2 to 45 weight percent based on the total weight of the plastic components.

[0047]

[0058] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the waste plastics (e.g., MPW) supplied to a chemical recycling facility may include plastics not classified as resin ID codes 3-7 or ID codes 3, 5, 6, or 7. The total amount of plastics not classified as resin ID codes 3-7 or ID codes 3, 5, 6, or 7 in the waste plastics is at least 0.1, at least 0.5, at least 1, at least 2, at least 3, at least 4, at least 5, at least 10, at least 15, at least 20, at least 25, at least 30, at least 35, at least 40, at least 45, at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, or at least 75 parts by weight, based on the total weight of plastics in the waste plastic stream. It may be 95% by weight or less, 90% by weight or less, 85% by weight or less, 80% by weight or less, 75% by weight or less, 70% by weight or less, 65% by weight or less, 60% by weight or less, 55% by weight or less, 50% by weight or less, 45% by weight or less, 40% by weight or less or 35% by weight or less, or it may be in the range of 0.1 to 95% by weight, 0.5 to 90% by weight, or 1 to 80% by weight, based on the total weight of plastic in the waste plastic stream.

[0048]

[0059] In one embodiment or in combination with any of the embodiments described, the MPW includes plastics having or derived from plastics having at least one, at least two, at least three, or at least four different types of resin ID codes in weight percent of at least 30, at least 35, at least 40, at least 45, at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, at least 95, or at least 99 percent.

[0049]

[0060] In one embodiment or in combination with any of the embodiments described, the MPW comprises a multicomponent polymer. As used herein, the term “multicomponent polymer” means an article and / or particles comprising at least one synthetic or natural polymer combined with, bound to, or otherwise physically and / or chemically associated with, at least one other polymer and / or nonpolymeric solid. The polymer may be a synthetic polymer or plastic, e.g., PET, olefin, and / or nylon. The nonpolymeric solid may be a metal, e.g., aluminum, or other nonplastic solid as described herein. The multicomponent polymer may include metallized plastics.

[0050]

[0061] In one embodiment or in combination with any of the embodiments described, MPW comprises a multi-component plastic in the form of a multilayer polymer. As used herein, the term “multilayer polymer” means a multi-component polymer comprising two or more physically distinct layers, PET and at least one other polymer, and / or a non-polymeric solid that is physically and / or chemically associated with them. A polymer or plastic is considered a multilayer polymer even if a transition zone exists between two layers, for example, if the transition zone exists within a bonded or co-extruded layer. Adhesives between two layers are not considered layers. A multilayer polymer may comprise layers of PET and one or more additional layers, at least one of which is a synthetic or natural polymer different from PET, or a polymer without ethylene terephthalate repeating units, or a polymer without alkylene terephthalate repeating units ("non-PET polymer layer"), or other non-polymeric solid.

[0051]

[0062] Examples of non-PET polymer layers include nylon, polylactic acid, polyolefin, polycarbonate, ethylene vinyl alcohol, polyvinyl alcohol, and / or other plastics or plastic films associated with PET-containing articles and / or particles, as well as natural polymers, such as whey protein. Multilayer polymers may include metal layers, such as aluminum, provided that at least one additional polymer layer is other than the PET layer. The layers may be bonded by adhesive bonding or other means, physically adjacent (i.e., articles compressed against the film), tackified (i.e., plastics heated and stuck together), co-extruded plastic films, or otherwise bonded to PET-containing articles. Multilayer polymers may also include PET films associated with articles containing other plastics in the same or similar manner. MPW may include multicomponent polymers in the form of PET and at least one other plastic, such as polyolefins (e.g., polypropylene) and / or other synthetic or natural polymers combined with a single physical phase. For example, MPW comprises a heterogeneous mixture containing a compatibilizer, PET, and at least one other synthetic or natural polymer plastic (e.g., a non-PET plastic) combined within a single physical phase. As used herein, the term “compatibilizer” refers to an agent capable of combining at least two otherwise immiscible polymers together in a physical mixture (i.e., blend).

[0052]

[0063] In one embodiment or in combination with any of the embodiments described, the MPW contains 20% by weight or less, 10% by weight or less, 5% by weight or less, 2% by weight or less, 1% by weight or less, or 0.1% by weight or less, based on the dry plastic. In one embodiment or in combination with any of the embodiments described, the MPW contains 0.01 to 20% by weight, 0.05 to 10% by weight, 0.1 to 5% by weight, or 1 to 2% by weight, based on the dry plastic.

[0053]

[0064] In one embodiment or in combination with any of the embodiments described, MPW includes a multi-component plastic of 40% by weight or less, 20% by weight or less, 10% by weight or less, 5% by weight or less, 2% by weight or less, or 1% by weight or less, based on the dry plastic. In one embodiment or in combination with any of the embodiments described, MPW includes a multi-component plastic of 0.1 to 40% by weight, 1 to 20% by weight, or 2 to 10% by weight, based on the dry plastic. In one embodiment or in combination with any of the embodiments described, MPW includes a multi-layer plastic of 40% by weight or less, 20% by weight or less, 10% by weight or less, 5% by weight or less, 2% by weight or less, or 1% by weight or less, based on the dry plastic. In one embodiment or in combination with any of the embodiments described, MPW includes a multi-layer plastic of 0.1 to 40%, 1 to 20, or 2 to 10% by weight, based on the dry plastic.

[0054]

[0065] In one embodiment or in combination with any of the embodiments described, the MPW feedstock to the chemical recycling facility 10 in flow 100 contains, on a dry basis, 20% by weight or less, 15% by weight or less, 12% by weight or less, 10% by weight or less, 8% by weight or less, 6% by weight or less, 5% by weight or less, 4% by weight or less, 3% by weight or less, 2% by weight or less, or 1% by weight or less of biological waste material, with the total weight of the MPW feedstock being 100% by weight. The MPW feedstock contains, on a dry basis, 0.01 to 20%, 0.1 to 10%, 0.2 to 5, or 0.5 to 1% by weight of biological waste material, with the total weight of the MPW feedstock being 100% by weight. As used herein, the term “biological waste” refers to material of living or organic origin. Examples of biological waste material include, but are not limited to, cotton, wood, sawdust, food scrap, animals and animal parts, plants and plant parts, and fertilizers.

[0055]

[0066] In one embodiment or in combination with any of the embodiments described, the MPW feedstock comprises, on a dry basis, 20% by weight or less, 15% by weight or less, 12% by weight or less, 10% by weight or less, 8% by weight or less, 6% by weight or less, 5% by weight or less, 4% by weight or less, 3% by weight or less, 2% by weight or less, or 1% by weight or less of manufactured cellulose products, based on 100% by weight of the total weight of the MPW feedstock. The MPW feedstock comprises, on a dry basis, 0.01 to 20%, 0.1 to 10, 0.2 to 5, or 0.5 to 1% by weight of manufactured cellulose products, based on 100% by weight of the total weight of the MPW feedstock. As used herein, the term “manufactured cellulose products” refers to non-natural (i.e., artificial or machine-made) articles containing cellulosic fibers, and their scraps. Examples of manufactured cellulose products, but not limited to, include paper and cardboard.

[0056]

[0067] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, waste plastics (e.g., MPW) supplied to a chemical recycling facility may contain, based on the total weight of plastics in the waste plastic supply, at least 0.001, at least 0.01, at least 0.05, at least 0.1, or at least 0.25 weight percent and / or 10 weight percent or less, 5 weight percent or less, 4 weight percent or less, 3 weight percent or less, 2 weight percent or less, 1 weight percent or less, 0.75 weight percent or less, or 0.5 weight percent or less of polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

[0057]

[0068] Furthermore, or alternatively, waste plastics (e.g., MPW) supplied to a chemical recycling facility may contain at least 0.1, at least 1, at least 2, at least 4, or at least 6 weight percent and / or 25 weight percent or less, 15 weight percent or less, 10 weight percent or less, 5 weight percent or less, or 2.5 weight percent or less of non-plastic solids. The non-plastic solids may include inert filler materials (e.g., calcium carbonate, hydrated aluminum silicate, alumina trihydrate, calcium sulfate), rocks, glass, and / or additives (e.g., thixotropes, pigments and colorants, flame retardants, inhibitors, UV inhibitors and stabilizers, conductive metals or carbon, release agents, e.g., zinc stearate, waxes, and silicones).

[0058]

[0069] In one embodiment or in combination with any of the embodiments described, the MPW may contain at least 0.01, at least 0.1, at least 0.5, or at least 1 weight percent and / or 25 weight percent or less, 20 weight percent or less, 25 weight percent or less, 10 weight percent or less, 5 weight percent or less, or 2.5 weight percent or less, based on the total weight of the MPW flow or composition. The amount of liquid in the MPW may be in the range of 0.01 to 25 weight percent, 0.5 to 10 weight percent, or 1 to 5 weight percent, based on the total weight of the MPW flow 100.

[0059]

[0070] In one embodiment or in combination with any of the embodiments described, the MPW may contain liquids in an amount of at least 35, at least 40, at least 45, at least 50, or at least 55 weight percent and / or 65 weight percent or less, 60 weight percent or less, 55 weight percent or less, 50 weight percent or less, 45 weight percent or less, 40 weight percent or less, or 35 weight percent or less, based on the total weight of the waste plastic. The liquids in the waste plastics may be in the range of 35 to 65 weight percent, 40 to 60 weight percent, or 45 to 55 weight percent, based on the total weight of the waste plastics.

[0060]

[0071] In one embodiment or in combination with any of the embodiments described, the amount of fabric (including fabric fibers) in the MPW flow 100 of the line may be at least 0.1 weight percent, or at least 0.5 weight percent, or at least 1 weight percent, or at least 2 weight percent, or at least 5 weight percent, or at least 8 weight percent, or at least 10 weight percent, or at least 15 weight percent, or at least 20 weight percent of fabric or fabric fibers, based on the weight of the MPW. The amount of fabric (including fabric fibers) in the MPW in the flow 100 may be 50 weight percent or less, 40 weight percent or less, 30 weight percent or less, 20 weight percent or less, 15 weight percent or less, 10 weight percent or less, 8 weight percent or less, 5 weight percent or less, 2 weight percent or less, 1 weight percent or less, 0.5 weight percent or less, 0.1 weight percent or less, 0.05 weight percent or less, 0.01 weight percent or less, or 0.001 weight percent or less, based on the weight of the MPW flow 100. The amount of fabric in MPW flow 100 can be in the range of 0.1 to 50 weight percent, 5 to 40 weight percent, or 10 to 30 weight percent, based on the total weight of MPW flow 100.

[0061]

[0072] The MPW introduced into the chemical recycling facility 10 may contain recycled textiles. Textiles may contain natural and / or synthetic fibers, rovings, yarns, nonwoven webs, cloths, fabrics and products made from or containing any of the above items. Textiles may include woven, knitted, knotted, sewn, fringed, and compressed fibers, for example, formed into felt, embroidered, laced, crocheted, braided, or nonwoven webs and materials. Textiles may include fabrics and fibers separated from textiles, or other products containing fibers, scraps or off-spec fibers or yarns or fabrics, or any other source of loose fibers and yarns. Textiles may also include short fibers, continuous fibers, yarns, tow bands, twisted and / or spun yarns, raw fabrics made from yarns, finished fabrics produced by wet processing of raw fabrics, and garments made from finished fabrics or any other fabrics. Textiles include clothing, interior furnishings, and industrial-type textiles. Textiles may include textiles that are industrially used after use (before consumer use) or after consumer use, or both.

[0062]

[0073] In one embodiment or in combination with any of the embodiments described, textiles can include garments, which can be generally defined as anything worn by a person or made for the body. Such textiles can include sports coats, suits, trousers and casual pants or work pants, shirts, socks, sportswear, dresses, underwear, outerwear, such as rain jackets, winter jackets and coats, sweaters, protective clothing, uniforms, and accessories, such as scarves, hats, and gloves. Examples of textiles in the interior furniture category include upholstery and slipcovers, carpets and rugs, curtains, bedding, such as sheets, pillowcases, down comforters, duvets, mattress covers; linens, tablecloths, towels, washcloths, and blankets. Examples of industrial textiles include transport seats (for cars, airplanes, trains, and buses), floor mats, trunk liners, and ceilings; outdoor furniture and cushions, tents, backpacks, travel bags, ropes, conveyor belts, calender roll felt, polishing cloths, rags, soil erosion control fabrics and geotextiles, agricultural mats and screens, personal protective equipment, bulletproof vests, medical bandages, sutures, and tapes.

[0063]

[0074] Nonwoven webs classified as textiles do not include the categories of wet-process nonwoven webs and articles made therefrom. While various articles with the same function can be produced by dry or wet processes, articles made from dry-process nonwoven webs are classified as textiles. Suitable articles that can be formed from dry-process nonwoven webs, as described herein, include articles for personal, consumer, industrial, food service, medical, and other end uses. Specific examples, but not limited to, include neonatal wipes, flushable wipes, disposable diapers, training pants, feminine hygiene products such as sanitary napkins and tampons, adult incontinence pads, underwear, or briefs, and PET training pads. Other examples include a variety of different dry or wet wipes, including those for consumer use (e.g., personal care or household) and industrial use (e.g., food service, healthcare, or professional). Nonwoven webs can also be used as pillow pads, mattresses, and upholstery, and as stuffing for quilts and bedding. In the medical and industrial fields, the nonwoven web of the present invention can be used for consumer, medical, and industrial face masks, protective clothing, caps, shoe covers, disposable sheets, surgical gowns, drapes, bandages, and medical bandages.

[0064]

[0075] Furthermore, the nonwoven webs described herein can be used in environmental fabrics, such as geotextiles and tarps, oil and chemical absorbent pads, and building materials, such as soundproofing or insulation materials, tents, timber and soil covers and sheets. The nonwoven webs can also be used in other consumer end uses, such as carpet backing, consumer, industrial, and agricultural articles, insulation or soundproofing materials, and packaging in various types of clothing.

[0065]

[0076] The dry nonwoven webs described herein can also be used for a variety of filtration applications, including transportation (e.g., automotive or aviation), commercial, residential, industrial, or other specialized applications. Examples include nanofiber webs used for microfiltration, as well as filter elements for consumer or industrial air filters or liquid filters (e.g., gasoline, oil, water), including end uses such as tea bags, coffee filters, and dryer sheets. Furthermore, the nonwoven webs described herein, though not limited to these, can be used to form a variety of parts for automotive use, including brake pads, trunk liners, carpet tufting, and underpadding.

[0066]

[0077] Examples of textiles include single-type or multiple-type natural fibers and / or single-type or multiple-type synthetic fibers. Examples of textile fiber combinations include all natural, all synthetic, two or more natural fibers, two or more synthetic fibers, one natural fiber and one synthetic fiber, one natural fiber and two or more synthetic fibers, two or more natural fibers and one synthetic fiber, and two or more natural fibers and two or more synthetic fibers.

[0067]

[0078] Natural fibers include those of plant or animal origin. Natural fibers can be cellulose-based, hemicellulose-based, and lignin-based. Examples of plant-based natural fibers include hardwood pulp, softwood pulp, and wood flour; as well as wheat straw, rice straw, abaca, coir, cotton, flax, hemp, jute, bagasse, kapok, papyrus, ramie, rattan, climbing plants, kenaf, abaca, henecken, sisal, soybeans, grain straw, bamboo, reed, esparto grass, bagasse, sabaygrass, milkweed cotton fibers, pineapple leaf fibers, switchgrass, and other plant fibers including plant fibers from lignin-containing plants. Examples of animal-based fibers include wool, silk, mohair, cashmere, goat hair, horse hair, bird fibers, camel hair, angora wool, and alpaca wool.

[0068]

[0079] Synthetic fibers are fibers that are at least partially synthesized or derivatized or regenerated through chemical reactions, and include, but are not limited to, rayon, viscose, mercerized fibers or other types of regenerated cellulose (conversion of natural cellulose to soluble cellulosic derivatives and subsequent regeneration), e.g., lyocell (also known as TENCEL®), Cupro, Modal, acetate, e.g., polyvinyl acetate, polyamides including nylon, polyester, e.g., PET, olefin polymers, e.g., polypropylene and polyethylene, polycarbonate, polysulfate, polysulfone, polyether, e.g., polyether-urea known as Spandex or elastane, polyacrylate, acrylonitrile copolymer, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polylactic acid, polyglycolic acid, sulfopolyester fibers, and combinations thereof.

[0069]

[0080] Before entering the chemical recycling facility, textiles can be reduced in size by shredding, cutting, haloing, powdering, pulverizing, or cutting to produce reduced-size textiles. Textiles can also be densified (e.g., pelletized) before entering the chemical recycling facility. Examples of densification processes include extrusion (e.g., pelletizing), molding (e.g., briquetting), and agglomeration (e.g., by externally applied heat, heat generated by frictional force, or by adding one or more adhesive substances, which may themselves be non-virgin polymers). Alternatively, or in addition, textiles may be in any of the forms described herein and may be exposed to one or more of the previously described steps in the pretreatment facility 20 before being processed in the rest of the chemical recycling facility 10 shown in Figure 1.

[0070]

[0081] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and one or more polyolefins (PO) together constitute at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, at least 95, or at least 99 weight percent of the waste plastic (e.g., MPW) supplied to the chemical recycling facility of flow 100 in Figure 1. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) can constitute at least 0.001, at least 0.01, at least 0.05, at least 0.1, at least 0.25, or at least 0.5 weight percent and / or 10 weight percent or less, 5 weight percent or less, 4 weight percent or less, 3 weight percent or less, 2 weight percent or less, 1 weight percent or less, 0.75 weight percent or less, or 0.5 weight percent or less of the waste plastic, based on the total weight of plastic in the waste plastic introduced into the chemical recycling facility 10.

[0071]

[0082] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the waste plastic may contain at least 5, at least 10, at least 15, at least 20, at least 25, at least 30, at least 35, at least 40, at least 45, at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, or at least 95 percent by weight of PET, based on the total weight of plastic in the waste plastic introduced into the chemical recycling facility 10.

[0072]

[0083] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the waste plastic may contain PO in amounts of at least 5, at least 10, at least 15, at least 20, at least 25, at least 30, at least 35, at least 40 weight percent and / or 95 weight percent or less, 90 weight percent or less, 85 weight percent or less, 80 weight percent or less, 75 weight percent or less, 70 weight percent or less, 65 weight percent or less, 60 weight percent or less, 55 weight percent or less, 50 weight percent or less, 45 weight percent or less, 40 weight percent or less or 35 weight percent or less, or PO may be present in amounts ranging from 5 to 75 weight percent, 10 to 60 weight percent, or 20 to 35 weight percent, based on the total weight of plastic in the waste plastic introduced into the chemical recycling facility 10.

[0073] Sources of waste plastics

[0084] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, waste plastics (e.g., MPW) introduced into a chemical recycling facility may be supplied from a variety of sources, including, but not limited to, municipal recycling facilities (MRFs) or reclaimer facilities or other mechanical or chemical sorting or separation facilities, manufacturers or processing plants or commercial production facilities, or retailers or distributors or wholesalers who possess industrially used and pre-consumer recyclable materials, directly from homes / businesses (i.e., unprocessed recyclable materials), landfills, collection centers, convenience stores, or from ports or ships or warehouses thereon. In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the sources of waste plastics (e.g., MPW) do not include state deposit return facilities where consumers can deposit certain recyclable items (e.g., plastic containers, bottles, etc.) and receive a refund from the state. However, in one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, a source of waste plastic (e.g., MPW) may include a state deposit return facility where consumers can deposit certain recyclable items (e.g., plastic containers, bottles, etc.) and receive a refund from the state. Such return facilities are commonly found, for example, in grocery stores.

[0074]

[0085] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, waste plastics may be provided as a waste stream from another processing facility, e.g., a municipal recycling facility (MRF) or reclaimer facility, or as a plastic-containing mixture that includes waste plastics sorted by consumers and placed for collection at roadsides or major convenience stations. In one or more such embodiments, the waste plastics include one or more MRF products or co-products, reclaimer co-products, sorted plastic-containing mixtures, and / or PET-containing waste plastics from a plastic article manufacturing facility, which include at least 10, at least 20, at least 30, at least 40, at least 50, at least 60, at least 70, at least 80, or at least 90 weight percent of PET and / or 99.9 weight percent or less, 99 weight percent or less, 98 weight percent or less, 97 weight percent or less, 96 weight percent or less, or 95 weight percent or less of PET, or it may be in the range of 10 to 99.9 weight percent, 20 to 99 weight percent, 30 to 95 weight percent, or 40 to 90 weight percent of PET, based on the dry plastic. In one or more such embodiments, the waste plastic comprises a co-product or plastic-containing mixture of a PET-containing reclaimer containing at least 1, at least 10, at least 30, at least 50, at least 60, at least 70, at least 80, or at least 90 weight percent and / or 99.9 weight percent or less, 99 weight percent or less, or 90 weight percent or less of PET, based on the dry plastic, or it may be in the range of 1 to 99.9 weight percent, 1 to 99 weight percent, or 10 to 90 weight percent of PET, based on the dry plastic.

[0075]

[0086] As described above, exemplary sources of plastic waste introduced into a chemical recycling facility may include co-products of PET-containing reclaimers (e.g., from PET reclaimer facilities), PET-containing products or co-products from municipal recycling facilities (MRFs), sorted plastic-containing mixtures, and / or PET-containing waste plastics from plastic article manufacturing facilities. Thus, in one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the technology of the present invention relates to a method of recycling plastic waste comprising the step of supplying at least a portion of one or more PET-containing materials, including co-products of reclaimers, PET-containing MRF products or co-products, sorted plastic-containing mixtures, and / or PET-containing waste plastics from plastic article manufacturing facilities, to a chemical recycling facility, wherein at least a portion of the co-products can be used as feedstock for a chemical recycling process, e.g., depolymerization, as described in more detail below. The chemical recycling facility may include, but is not limited to, solvolysis facilities, including alcohollysis facilities, methanolylysis facilities, glycolysis facilities, and / or hydrolysis facilities.

[0076]

[0087] One or more PET-containing materials may be supplied directly to the solvolysis facility within the chemical recycling facility, or they may be subjected to one or more pretreatment steps before being supplied to the solvolysis facility. For example, as shown in Figure 1, a stream of plastic waste 100 from one or more plastic waste sources may be introduced into a pretreatment facility 20 within the chemical recycling facility 10, which can be designed to produce a PET-rich stream 112 and a PET-depleted stream 114. The PET-rich stream 112 from the pretreatment facility 20 may be introduced into the solvolysis facility 30. Alternatively, or instead, a stream of plastic waste 100a from one or more plastic waste sources may be introduced directly into the solvolysis facility 30 (i.e., without being introduced into the pretreatment facility 20). Whether or not it is subjected to pretreatment, a certain amount of PET-containing material from one or more waste plastic sources is ultimately supplied to the solvolysis facility 30.

[0077]

[0088] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, at least a portion of one or more PET-containing materials is fed directly into a dissolver in a solvolysis facility 30, where the one or more PET-containing materials are mixed with solvent 212 and at least partially liquefied (see Figure 3). In one or more such embodiments, particularly when supplied directly to a dissolving machine, at least a portion of one or more PET-containing materials may include 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 2, or less by weight percent of nylon, polycarbonate, crosslinking agents (e.g., TMA), carpet adhesives, high filler component materials, non-reactive materials (i.e., materials that do not react in the solvolysis reactor or do not react to the extent that they form substantial reaction products), including acetate, spandex, latex, styrene-butadiene rubber, non-reactive metal oxides (e.g., titanium dioxide, silicon dioxide, and alumina), calcium carbonate, talc, silica, glass, glass beads, reactive metal oxides (which may be methylated or glycolated in the reactor), and / or materials that form azeotropic mixtures with water, methanol, and / or ethylene glycol. Corrosive components, such as hydroxide solutions or other corrosive solutions as defined herein, may also be added to the solvolysis facility, e.g., the solvolysis reactor and / or the solvolysis reactor outlet.

[0078]

[0089] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, at least a portion of one or more PET-containing materials can be liquefied, for example, by melting and / or by one or more other liquefaction processes described herein, and subsequently supplied to reaction 210 in solvolysis facility 30 (see Figure 3). In such embodiments, at least a portion of one or more PET-containing materials may also be supplied to a melt extruder, where it is used as a feed system to the solvolysis facility reactor.

[0079]

[0090] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, one or more PET-containing materials described above may be the sole plastic-containing feedstock to the solvolysis facility 30 (i.e., the PET-rich stream 112 from the pretreatment facility 20 described herein does not feed one or more PET-containing materials to the solvolysis facility 30). However, in one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, one or more PET-containing materials may be supplied to the solvolysis facility 30 together with one or more other plastic-containing feedstocks (e.g., the PET-rich stream 112 from the pretreatment facility 20 described herein). One or more PET-containing materials to the solvolysis facility 30 may contain at least 5, at least 10, at least 20, at least 40, at least 60, at least 80, or at least 90 weight percent of the plastic-containing feedstock.

[0080]

[0091] As described above, one or more PET-containing materials may be subjected to one or more pretreatment steps before being supplied to the solvolysis facility 30. The pretreatment step may include supplying one or more PET-containing materials to the pretreatment facility 20 described herein, and / or carrying out one or more of the processes described in the pretreatment section herein. In one or more embodiments, the pretreatment includes one or more of the following: (i) separating at least a portion of the PET from the PET-containing material using one or more density separation processes (e.g., buoyancy or centrifugal force); and / or (ii) drying the PET-containing material; and / or (iii) densifying (e.g., pelletizing) at least a portion of the PET-containing material.

[0081]

[0092] One or more types of PET-containing materials may be supplied to the chemical recycling facility 10 by various transport methods and in various forms. For example, in one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the PET-containing material may be transported to the chemical recycling facility by truck, rail, and / or transport in the form of whole articles, particles, bundled bales, unbundled articles, containers, and / or piles. For example, the PET-containing material can be supplied to the chemical recycling facility 10 directly from a reclaimer facility and / or MRF facility using a transport system that interconnects the chemical recycling facility 10 with the reclaimer and / or city recycling facilities.

[0082]

[0093] The composition of one or more PET-containing materials varies depending on the specific source of the material, as described in more detail below. However, in one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, a portion of the PET-containing material may contain at least 10, at least 20, at least 40, at least 60, at least 80, or at least 90 weight percent of PET on a dry basis. A portion of the PET-containing material may contain 10 weight percent or less, 8 weight percent or less, 6 weight percent or less, 4 weight percent or less, 2 weight percent or less, or 1 weight percent or less of halogens on a dry basis. A portion of the PET-containing material may contain 90 weight percent or less, 80 weight percent or less, 70 weight percent or less, 60 weight percent or less, 50 weight percent or less, 40 weight percent or less, 30 weight percent or less, 20 weight percent or less, 10 weight percent or less, 5 weight percent or less, or 1 weight percent or less of polyolefins on a dry basis.

[0083] Selected plastic-containing mixture

[0094] As more municipalities increasingly promote or mandate the recycling of a variety of materials, including plastics, the supply of PET-containing sorted plastic-containing mixtures is growing. As used herein, the term “sorted plastic-containing mixture” refers to a certain amount of mixed plastic waste sorted by consumers and placed at roadsides or major convenience stations for collection, and may include clear and / or colored plastic articles, or may be sorted by garbage trucks or municipalities. In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, sorted plastic-containing mixtures do not include waste plastics from state deposit return facilities as described above. However, in one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, sorted plastic-containing mixtures may include waste plastics from state deposit return facilities. Sorted plastic-containing mixtures typically require further processing and / or purification before the plastic material can be used in mechanical recycling processes, although this need is not always present.

[0084] PET-containing MRF products and / or co-products

[0095] The sorted plastic-containing mixtures are collected by public health providers and transported to municipal recycling facilities (also known as material recovery facilities or MRFs) where at least several attempts are made to separate the mixture into certain amounts of similar materials. Often, at least some initial aspects of this sorting are carried out manually. In other aspects, equipment including optical separators, magnetic separators, and eddy current separators is used to perform more sophisticated sorting and removal of various materials present in the plastic-containing mixtures. For example, colored plastics can be separated from clear plastics. Generally, "clear plastics" are considered to be plastics that appear colorless to the average human observer but are generally transparent to light in the visible spectrum. "Colored plastics" are generally considered to be any plastic that is not transparent. Glass, paper, and metals can also be separated from plastics.

[0085]

[0096] PET-containing plastics can be separated from other types of plastics to form plastic materials that are rich in a certain amount of PET. Any other materials from the MRF (i.e., products other than PET-rich products) can be recovered from the MRF co-products. However, one or more types of MRF co-products generally contain some amount of PET. The MRF products and / or co-products may be in the form of whole articles, particles (e.g., pulverized, pelletized, fibrous plastic particles), bundled bales (e.g., whole articles compressed and tied together), unbundled articles (i.e., not in bales or packaged), containers (e.g., boxes, sacks, trailers, wagons, loader buckets), piles (e.g., on concrete slabs in buildings), and / or physically transported free material (e.g., particles on a conveyor belt) or pneumatically transported free material (e.g., particles mixed with air in a transport pipe).

[0086] Co-products of PET-containing reclaimers

[0097] Reclaimer facilities, particularly PET reclaimers, are typically operated by receiving plastic waste from, for example, MRFs, and producing r-PET containing at least 99 or at least 99.9 weight percent PET, which is then used in mechanical recycling facilities to produce r-PET products. Reclaimer facilities produce r-PET by subjecting plastic waste to various processes that separate PET from non-plastic components and non-PET plastic materials. However, these separation processes typically have less than 100% efficiency and result in some amount of PET that is normally present in the co-products. Reclaimer facilities may also include processes that produce reclaimer co-products of high purity PET (at least 99 or at least 99.9 weight percent) in forms undesirable for mechanical recycling facilities. As used herein, the term “reclaimer co-products” refers to any material, including colored rPET, that is separated or recovered by a reclaimer facility and not recovered as clear rPET products. The reclaimer co-products described above and below are generally considered waste products and can normally be sent to landfills and / or incinerators.

[0087] PET-containing waste plastics from plastic product manufacturing facilities

[0098] Another source of PET-containing waste plastic includes plastic article manufacturing facilities. These facilities can produce, for example, plastic bottles, plastic containers, plastic caps, plastic lids, plastic straws, plastic bags, plastic films, and a variety of standard and customized plastic articles. A variety of manufacturing methods can be used, but are not limited to, casting, rotational molding, injection molding, blow molding, thermoforming (vacuum forming), extrusion, and 3D printing. These processes may generate waste plastic due to errors in the process or as a result of process-specific factors. For example, waste plastic may include parts of defective plastic articles that have deformation, surface defects, and / or brittle parts. Waste plastic may also include other products of the molding process, such as intermediate molded parts, such as bottle pre-molded parts or sheets. Waste plastic may also be scrap plastic removed from plastic articles during the manufacturing process, such as edge trim from film or sheet plastic. These waste plastics may generally contain some amount (or more primarily) PET. Waste plastic may also be removed or discharged from manufacturing equipment used to produce plastic articles as part of the manufacturing start-up or end-up process.

[0088] PET Reclaimer Facility

[0099] As described above, one or more PET-containing materials used as feedstock for chemical recycling facilities, and in particular solvolysis facilities, may include one or more co-products from reclaimer facilities, and in particular PET reclaimer facilities. In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, a portion of the PET-containing material may include co-products of at least two PET-containing reclaimers.

[0089]

[0100] Figure 4 shows a schematic diagram of an exemplary reclaimer facility 800 illustrating typical rPET products and co-products derived from the reclaimer facility 800. As shown, for example, a plastic feed 802 from the MRF may be fed into the reclaimer zone 810. The reclaimer zone 810 typically includes various separation processes (described below) to produce a substantially pure r-PET plastic stream 812 containing at least 99, or at least 99.9 weight percent, of PET relative to dry plastic. The reclaimer zone 810 may also produce one or more reclaimer co-products including wet granules 803, colored plastic 804, eddy flow rejects 805, flake sorter rejects 806, and / or dry granules 807.

[0090]

[0101] The r-PET plastic stream 812 may contain a certain amount of rPET plastic flakes, which can be recovered as an rPET flake stream 814. Alternatively, at least a portion of the r-PET plastic stream 812 may be fed into a densification (e.g., pelletization) zone 820. The densification zone 820 generally includes various processes (described below) for converting the rPET flakes from the stream 812 into desired rPET pellets 818. The densification zone 820 may also produce one or more reclaimer co-products including PET purging material 815, wet granules 816, and / or dry granules 817.

[0091]

[0102] Figure 5 shows a schematic diagram of an exemplary reclaimer facility 800 illustrating some specific processing steps performed within the reclaimer facility 800 and the products produced and co-products derived therefrom. The processing steps are shown and described below in a specific order, but it should be understood that other reclaimer facilities may perform one or more processing steps in a different order than that shown in the figure and described herein, and / or may omit the shown and described processing steps, and / or may include additional processing steps that are not shown or described.

[0092]

[0103] As shown in Figure 5, a certain amount of baled plastic 801 can be supplied from the MRF facility to the reclaimer facility 800 and fed to a wire-cutting device 830 and / or a debaler 832 to produce a certain amount of free plastic waste. The use of the wire-cutting device 830 avoids the risk of injury associated with manual wire cutting. The debaler 832 typically includes one or more broad blades that come into contact with the wire-cut bale and break it down into free plastic waste. The free plastic waste can then be transported 834 to a heavy waste removal process 836, for example, on a belt or pneumatic conveyor. The heavy waste removal 836 can use gravity and / or pneumatic conveyors to drop "heavier" components (e.g., densities greater than 2 g / cc) from the transported flow. Such heavier components may include metals, rocks, sand, etc. However, some amounts of PET and / or other plastic materials may also be intentionally or unintentionally removed along with heavier components, and thus the metals, plastics and other components removed at this stage may be recovered as a co-product 837 of a reclaimer containing heavier components (e.g., metal-containing).

[0093]

[0104] Next, the plastic waste, from which heavier components have been removed, can be passed to a friction washer 838, where food or other substances adhering to the plastic waste are washed away with a stream of water and / or brought into contact with a bumper, thereby removing food or material from the plastic. In this and other steps, including the water washing or rinsing step, the resulting stream of water 839 can be filtered 840 separately from or together with the streams of water from the other steps described herein. The filter 840 is washed from time to time, and the removed solids may include PET. Further or alternately, the filtrate may contain some amount of PET and / or other plastic material. Either or both of the solids and / or PET-containing filtrate from the filtration process may be in the form of wet granules 841, which can be recovered as a co-product of the reclaimer. Where used herein, the terms “filter,” “filter,” and “filtered” refer to processes and / or apparatus for carrying out solid / liquid separation, which include, but are not limited to, the use of media, centrifugation, and / or precipitation.

[0094]

[0105] After friction washing 838, the plastic waste is then subjected to one or more near-infrared (NIR), optical, and / or manual sorting steps to remove colored plastics and / or other plastic and non-plastic materials that were not recognized as PET-containing plastic material by the sorter (manual or mechanical). As shown, the process involves two NIR sorters 842, 844 and manual sorting steps 846, 848, resulting in four flows of colored plastic mixtures 843, 845, 847, 849 as reclaimer co-products. NIR and optical sorters typically reject anything that the sensors do not recognize as completely transparent PET material. This rejection may include PET bottles with labels and / or colored caps. However, certain NIR and / or optical sorters do not have the ability to "see" and may not reject black colored plastics, such as clamshell containers that are partially carbon black. Therefore, in many cases, black colored plastics are not rejected by these sorters. Furthermore, an air blower is located downstream of the sensor, and some amount of clear PET material may be rejected along with the colored PET material. Manual sorting machines typically "pull out" or reject any material that is clearly not clear PET bins or material, as well as PET bins containing liners or other known problematic components, for the downstream reclaimer process. Thus, the colored plastic mixtures derived from these processes typically contain some amount of PET and / or other plastic material in the form of colored plastic-containing mixtures, which can be recovered as co-products of the reclaimer.

[0095]

[0106] After NIR, optical, and / or manual sorting steps, the plastic waste is then passed to an optional vortex separator 850 to remove any metals remaining with the waste plastic and protect downstream processes from damage. The vortex separator uses an electric field at the end of the conveyor belt to repel conductive, non-ferrous metals, such as aluminum, while not affecting non-conductive materials, such as plastics. As the flow of plastic waste approaches the end of the conveyor belt, the vortex alters the natural, gravity-induced trajectories of the non-ferrous metals, releasing them from the flow along different trajectories than the non-conductive materials. A splitting plate is positioned between the paths defined by the two trajectories, which separates the discharged and non-discharged components. During separation, some amounts of plastic articles and / or plastic flakes come into contact with the non-ferrous metal components and may be unintentionally discharged along the wrong trajectories. Thus, the separated non-ferrous metals may also contain some amounts of PET and / or other plastic materials, which can be recovered as a co-product of the metal-containing reclaimer 851. Furthermore, the vortex separator can also be coupled with a pulverizer 852 (upstream or downstream of the vortex separator 850), which may generate plastic granules, which can also be recovered as a by-product of the reclaimer.

[0096]

[0107] After an optional vortex separator 850 and / or pulverizer 852, the plastic waste can then be moved to a density separation stage 854, for example, a buoyancy separation stage, in which components of lower density than PET (e.g., polyolefins) are separated from the plastic waste and mechanical dewatering process 856. As described above, wastewater from such processes is filtered 840, 860, and the solid and / or filtrate can be recovered as a by-product of moist granules 841, 861, or other reclaimers (e.g., polyolefin stream 859).

[0097]

[0108] Next, the plastic waste can be passed to another NIR 862 and / or optical sorter, where it is typically rejected any material that the sensors do not recognize as completely transparent PET. At this stage, the plastic waste is typically subjected to a micronization process, e.g., grinding, and the rejected material is generally in the form of plastic flakes (as defined below). This process is intended to remove PVC, e.g., labels, and other plastic materials that have a similar density to PET and were not removed during density separation. However, as with the previous NIR and optical sorters, the rejected flakes may also contain some amount of PET, which can be recovered as a co-product 863 of the flake rejection reclaimer.

[0098]

[0109] At this point, the plastic waste typically has a high PET content (e.g., at least 99 or at least 99.9% by weight) and can be dried 864 and prepared for packaging 870 as rPET flake product 814. If a dryer 864 is used, some amount of dried granules (as defined below) may be separated from the flake product in the dryer 864 or in the downstream conveyor 866 and / or dust collector 868. The dried granules also typically have a high PET content, but these are undesirable as rPET feedstock for mechanical recycling facilities. However, the dried granules can be recovered as co-products 865, 869 of the dried granule reclaimer. It should be understood that the dryer and dust collector may be used elsewhere upstream or downstream within the reclaimer facility, and the dried granules recovered from these locations can also be recovered as co-products of the reclaimer.

[0099]

[0110] Some reclaimer facilities also include a densification process that converts rPET flakes into desired rPET pellets. As used herein, “densification” refers to the process of condensing, pelletizing, agglomerating, or partially melting a certain amount of plastic particles having a D90 particle size of less than 0.32 cm (1 / 8 inch) to form solid particles (e.g., pellets) having a D90 particle size of 0.32 cm (1 / 8 inch) to 2.54 cm (1 inch). The densification process generally involves an extruder 880, where the rPET flakes are melted and passed through an extrusion barrel. A pelletizer 882 is then operated to extrude the rPET to form pellets (typically having a D90 of 2.54 cm (1 inch) or less). The pellets are then rinsed (which may result in wet granules containing recyclable PET), dried (which may result in dry granules containing recyclable PET), and packaged 890 as rPEt pellet products 892 for shipment to a mechanical recycling facility. However, when the extruder is switched off, some of the molten rPET is purged and solidified into a large mass of PET material without being converted into pellets, for example. This purging material may be recovered as a co-product 881 of the PET purging material reclaimer. Furthermore, pelletization is usually carried out in water, and the solid from the filtrate and / or filtered water stream can be recovered as a co-product of the reclaimer (e.g., wet granules 883). Finally, the dryers 884 and conveyors 886, 888 used in the pellet packaging process are usually equipped with dust collectors, and the dried granules can also be recovered as a co-product 885, 887, 889 of the dried granule reclaimer.

[0100]

[0111] The composition of the reclaimer's co-products and the processing steps within the chemical recycling facility are described in more detail below. However, it should be understood that the following description may also describe, within the scope of the art of the present invention, other compositions and processing of PET-containing materials (i.e., PET-containing MRF products or co-products, sorted plastic-containing mixtures, and / or PET-containing waste plastics from plastic article manufacturing facilities).

[0101] moist granules

[0112] As described above, the wet granules of the reclaimer can be separated from plastic waste and recovered from a filtration process, for example, as a filtrate and / or solid. As used herein, “wet granules of the reclaimer” refers to a stream or batch of PET-containing plastic particles having at least 2% by weight moisture based on the total weight of the wet granules of the reclaimer and having a D90 of less than 0.32 cm (1 / 8 inch) when initially separated from waste plastic within a reclaimer facility. In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, a certain amount of wet granules of the reclaimer is supplied to a chemical recycling facility, and at least a portion of the wet granules of the reclaimer therein is depolymerized.

[0102]

[0113] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the amount of moist granules in the PET-containing reclaimer may contain at least 2, at least 5, at least 10, at least 20, at least 30, at least 40, or at least 50 weight percent of moisture. The amount of moist granules in the PET-containing reclaimer may contain at least 1, at least 5, at least 10, at least 20, at least 30, at least 40, or at least 50 weight percent of plastic particles having a D90 of less than 0.32 cm (1 / 8 inch). The amount of moist granules in the PET-containing reclaimer may contain at least 90, at least 95, or at least 99 weight percent of PET on a dry basis (i.e., excluding moisture).

[0103]

[0114] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, at least 40, at least 50, at least 60, at least 70, at least 80, at least 90, at least 95, or at least 99 percent by weight of moisture can be removed from the wet granules of the PET-containing reclaimer before depolymerization. The moisture may be removed by passive drying (e.g., by leaving it in storage) or by using a dryer or other active drying process. In one or more embodiments, at least a portion of the plastic particles can be densified (e.g., agglomerated or pelletized) from the wet granules of the PET-containing reclaimer before depolymerization to form a certain amount of densified PET-containing particles having a D90 of 0.32 cm (1 / 8 inch) to 2.54 (1 inch). The certain amount of densified PET-containing particles can also be liquefied (e.g., dissolved or melted) before depolymerization to form a liquefied plastic material. One or more of the following can be performed: water removal, densification, and / or liquefaction, either within the chemical recycling facility or before supplying a certain amount of the moist granules to the chemical recycling facility.

[0104]

[0115] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the amount of wet granules of the PET-containing reclaimer (including the amount of high-densification PET-containing particles and / or liquefied plastic material) may be supplied to a solvolysis facility within a chemical recycling facility where depolymerization occurs. The amount of wet granules of the PET-containing reclaimer (including the amount of high-densification PET-containing particles and / or liquefied plastic material) may contain at least 90, at least 95, or at least 99 percent by weight of PET on a dry basis. The amount of wet granules of the PET-containing reclaimer (including the amount of high-densification PET-containing particles and / or liquefied plastic material) may contain 10 percent or less by weight, 8 percent or less by weight, 6 percent or less by weight, 4 percent or less by weight, 2 percent or less by weight, or 1 percent or less by weight of halogen on a dry basis. The amount of wet granules in the PET-containing reclaimer (including the amount of high-density PET-containing particles and / or liquefied plastic material) may contain, on a dry basis, 50% by weight or less, 40% by weight or less, 30% by weight or less, 20% by weight or less, 10% by weight or less, 5% by weight or less, or 1% by weight or less of polyolefin.

[0105] A mixture containing colored plastic.

[0116] As described above, colored plastic-containing mixtures may be separated from plastic waste and recovered in a PET reclaimer. Alternatively, the colored plastic-containing mixtures may be separated and similarly recovered in an MRF facility. As used herein, the term “colored plastic-containing mixture” means: (a) plastic-containing material identified as colored plastic by a reclaimer or MRF, or identified as opaque rPET by a reclaimer or MRF; or (b) any plastic-containing material separated by a reclaimer or MRF, other than dry granules, wet granules, opaque rPET products of the reclaimer, rock, biomass, metal, or fiber. In one embodiment, or in combination with any embodiment described herein, a certain amount of PET-containing reclaimer colored plastic-containing mixture and / or MRF colored plastic-containing mixture is supplied to a chemical recycling facility, where at least a portion of the PET-containing reclaimer colored plastic-containing mixture and / or MRF colored plastic-containing mixture is depolymerized.

[0106]

[0117] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the amount of the colored plastic-containing mixture may include, on a dry basis, at least 1, at least 10, at least 20, at least 40, at least 60, at least 80, or at least 90 weight percent and / or 99.9 weight percent or less or 99 weight percent or less of PET. The amount of the colored plastic-containing mixture may include, on a dry basis, 1 to 99.9 or 50 to 99 weight percent of PET. The amount of the colored plastic-containing mixture may include, on a dry basis, at least 1, at least 10, at least 20, at least 40, at least 60, at least 80, at least 90, at least 95, at least 99, or at least 99.9 weight percent of opaque PET (e.g., green PET). The amount of the colored plastic-containing mixture may include, on a dry basis, 10 weight percent or less, 8 weight percent or less, 6 weight percent or less, 4 weight percent or less, 2 weight percent or less, or 1 weight percent or less of halogen. The amount of colored plastic-containing mixture may contain, on a dry basis, at least 1, at least 2, at least 4, at least 6, or at least 8 weight percent and / or 90 weight percent or less, 80 weight percent or less, 70 weight percent or less, 60 weight percent or less, 50 weight percent or less, 40 weight percent or less, 30 weight percent or less, 20 weight percent or less, or 10 weight percent or less of polyolefin. The amount of colored plastic-containing mixture may contain 1 to 90, 2 to 70, 4 to 50, 6 to 30, or 8 to 10 weight percent of polyolefin on a dry basis. The amount of colored plastic-containing mixture may contain at least 0.1, at least 1, at least 10, at least 20, at least 30, at least 40, at least 50, at least 60, at least 70, at least 80, or at least 90 weight percent of opaque PET and / or other colored plastic material based on dry plastic.The amount of the colored plastic-containing mixture may include, on a dry basis, at least 0.1, at least 1, at least 10, at least 20, at least 30, at least 40, at least 50, at least 60, at least 70, at least 80, or at least 90 percent by weight of PVC, nylon, and / or copolyester.

[0107]

[0118] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, a certain amount of the colored plastic-containing mixture may be supplied directly to a solvolysis facility within a chemical recycling facility without being supplied to a pretreatment and / or separation facility, or within or away from the chemical recycling facility without undergoing any pretreatment and / or separation process. However, at least a portion of the colored plastic-containing mixture may be supplied to at least one density separation step before depolymerization, thereby generating a PET-rich flow to be supplied to the solvolysis facility within the chemical recycling facility. At least one density separation step may include at least two density separation steps.

[0108] Co-products of PET and metal-containing reclaimers

[0119] As described above, the metallic components are separated from the plastic waste in a reclaimer facility, for example, in a heavy removal process and / or eddy current separator, and these metallic components may include some amount of PET material and may be recovered as a co-product of PET and metal-containing reclaimer. As used herein, the term “co-product of PET and metal-containing reclaimer” refers to material from a magnetic separator, eddy current separator, or other metal separator in a PET reclaimer facility that is not recovered as rPET product. In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, some amount of PET and metal-containing reclaimer co-product may be fed into a chemical recycling facility, where at least a portion of the PET and metal-containing reclaimer co-product may be depolymerized.

[0109]

[0120] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the amount of the co-product of PET and the metal-containing reclaimer contains, on a dry basis, at least 0.1, at least 1, at least 5, at least 10, or at least 15 weight percent of metal. However, the metal content supplied to the solvolysis facility for depolymerization may be limited. Thus, at least a portion of the metal, at least 90 weight percent, at least 95 weight percent, at least 99 weight percent, or at least 99.9 weight percent, may be separated and removed from the plastic before depolymerization, as described below. Separation or removal may be carried out as a continuous separation process (e.g., a solid / liquid separator) and / or as a batch separation process (e.g., a purging process), or may be carried out in a pretreatment facility and / or solvolysis facility (e.g., a pre-process of the solvolysis facility). Whether or not a separation step is used, the feedstock supplied to the solvolysis facility and / or depolymerization process may contain, on a dry basis, 10 weight percent or less, 8 weight percent or less, 6 weight percent or less, 4 weight percent or less, 2 weight percent or less, or 1 weight percent or less of metal. The metal may consist of one or more types of metals, and may include iron and / or non-ferrous metals. The metal may consist of one or more non-ferrous metals, e.g., aluminum, copper, lead, nickel, tin, titanium, zinc, and / or alloys thereof. The metal may consist of one or more ferrous metals, e.g., iron, steel, stainless steel, carbon steel, austenitic, martensitic, double-strand stainless steel, ferritic stainless steel, and / or alloys thereof. The amount of the PET and metal-containing reclaimer co-product may consist of at least 0.1, at least 1, at least 10, at least 20, at least 40, at least 60, or at least 80 weight percent of PET on a dry basis.

[0110]

[0121] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the amount of the PET and metal-containing reclaimer co-product is, on a dry basis, plastic flakes and at least 0.1, at least 1, at least 5, at least 10, or at least 15 weight percent of metal. As used herein, the term “plastic flakes” refers to plastic particles having a D90 particle size of 0.32 cm (1 / 8 inch) to 2.54 cm (1 inch). At least a portion of the plastic flakes can be separated from the metal before depolymerization. This separation may be performed within a chemical recycling facility, for example, in a pretreatment facility and / or a solvolysis facility, or before the PET and metal-containing reclaimer co-product is supplied to the chemical recycling facility. The separation may include supplying at least a portion of the reclaimer co-product to at least one density separation step to separate at least a portion of the plastic flakes from the metal. The separated portion of the plastic flakes may be supplied to a solvolysis facility within the chemical recycling facility. The metal may contain a portion of the plastic flakes separated from it, and may be supplied to a partial oxidation (POX) gasification unit.

[0111]

[0122] In one embodiment, or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the co-product of a certain amount of PET and metal-containing reclaimer is not separated before being supplied to a chemical recycling facility. For example, both the metal and plastic flakes may be supplied to a solvolysis facility within the chemical recycling facility, where the metal may be removed by a solid / liquid separator (e.g., by filtration) and / or purged within the solvolysis facility. Furthermore, the unseparated metal, along with a portion of the plastic flakes, may be supplied to a POX gasifier.

[0112]

[0123] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the amount of the co-product of the PET and metal-containing reclaimer is, on a dry basis, the plastic article and at least 0.1, at least 1, at least 5, at least 10, or at least 15 weight percent of metal. As used herein, the term “plastic article” refers to a bailing or debailing plastic material having a D90 particle size greater than 2.54 cm (1 inch). The plastic article may be in the form of a compressed bale. The plastic article may be processed, for example, by debailing, crushing, shredding, and / or pulverizing to produce a debailing amount of plastic article and metal, and / or by reducing the size of the plastic article to form a solid of plastic particles having a D90 particle size less than 2.54 cm (1 inch).

[0113]

[0124] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, at least a portion of the plastic article and / or plastic particle solid can be separated from the metal before depolymerization. This separation may be performed within a chemical recycling facility, for example, in a pretreatment facility and / or a solvolysis facility, or before the co-product of the PET and metal-containing reclaimer is supplied to the chemical recycling facility. The separation may include supplying at least a portion of the plastic article and / or plastic particle solid to at least one density separation step for separating at least a portion of the plastic article and / or plastic particle solid from the metal. The separated portion of the plastic article and / or plastic particle solid may be supplied to a solvolysis facility within the chemical recycling facility. The metal, having a portion of the plastic article and / or the plastic particle solid separated therefrom, may be supplied to a partial oxidation (POX) gasifier.

[0114]

[0125] Similar to plastic flakes, in one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, both the metal and the plastic article and / or plastic particle solids may be fed into a solvolysis facility within a chemical recycling facility, where the metal may be removed by filtration and / or purging within the solvolysis hydrolysis facility. Furthermore, the metal may be fed into a POX gasifier without separating any portion of the plastic article and / or plastic particle solids from it.

[0115]

[0126] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the amount of the PET and metal-containing reclaimer co-product is, on a dry basis, plastic granules and at least 0.1, at least 1, at least 5, at least 10, or at least 15 weight percent of metal. As used herein, the term “plastic granules” refers to plastic particles having a D90 particle size of less than 0.32 cm (1 / 8 inch). At least a portion of the plastic granules may be densified (e.g., by agglomeration or pelletization) to produce densified PET-containing particles before depolymerization. Densification may be performed within the chemical recycling facility or before the PET and metal-containing reclaimer co-product is supplied to the chemical recycling facility. The densified PET-containing particles may have a D90 particle size of 1–10 mm, 2–8 mm, or 3–5 mm. Densification may be performed without separating all or part of the metal in the reclaimer product, so that the densified PET-containing particles may contain at least a portion of the metal. The high-density PET-containing particles may be supplied directly to the solvolysis facility within the chemical recycling facility (i.e., without pretreatment or a separation process within or separate from the chemical recycling facility).

[0116]

[0127] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, metals separated from the plastic material of the PET and metal-containing reclaimer co-product (i.e., metals separated from plastic flakes, plastic articles, and / or plastic granules using any one or more of the pretreatment or separation methods described in this section or elsewhere in this application) may be recovered in a metal-containing stream, e.g., a metal-containing stream having a portion of the plastic flakes, plastic articles, and / or plastic granules or other plastic material, and supplied to a pyrolysis facility, and in one or more embodiments to a pyrolysis reactor within the pyrolysis facility.

[0117] Reclaimer Flake Rejection

[0128] As described above, PET and PVC-containing reclaimer flake rejects may be separated from the plastic waste in the PET reclaimer and recovered. As used herein, “reclaimer flake rejects” refers to a mixture of plastic waste containing at least PET and, on a dry basis, at least 0.1 weight percent PVC from a reclaimer facility, and having a D90 particle size of 0.32 cm (1 / 8 inch) to 2.54 cm (1 inch). In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, a certain amount of PET and PVC-containing flake rejects is fed into a chemical recycling facility, where at least a portion of the PET and PVC-containing flake rejects is depolymerized.

[0118]

[0129] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the amount of reclaimer flake rejection for plastic waste is rich in PVC and depleted in polyolefins. The amount of reclaimer flake rejection may contain at least 0.1, at least 1, at least 10, at least 20, at least 40, at least 60, or at least 80 weight percent of PET on a dry basis. The amount of reclaimer flake rejection may contain at least 1, at least 5, at least 10, or at least 15 weight percent of PVC on a dry basis. The amount of reclaimer flake rejection may contain at least 0.1, at least 1, or at least 5 weight percent and / or 20 weight percent or less, 15 weight percent or less, or 10 weight percent or less of polyolefins on a dry basis. The amount of reclaimer flake rejection may contain 0.1 to 20, 1 to 15, or 5 to 10 weight percent of polyolefins on a dry basis.

[0119]

[0130] In one embodiment, or in combination with any embodiment described herein, at least a fraction of the reclaimer flake rejects may be fed to at least one density separation stage before depolymerization, so that PET-rich and polyolefin-rich flows can be generated from a waste plastics stream containing flake rejects. In one embodiment, or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the fraction of the reclaimer flake rejects may be the sole plastic material in the waste plastics stream fed to at least one density separation stage. However, in other embodiments, the fraction of the reclaimer flake rejects may be mixed with one or more other plastic materials in the waste plastics stream fed to at least one density separation stage. The PET-rich flow may be fed to a solvolysis facility. The polyolefin-rich flow may be fed to a partial oxidation (POX) gasifier. The polyolefin-rich flow may be fed to a pyrolysis facility, or to a pyrolysis reactor within a pyrolysis facility. Furthermore, or alternatively, the polyolefin-rich flow may be fed to an energy recovery facility.

[0120]

[0131] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, at least a portion of the PET and PVC-containing reclaimer flake rejects may be fed into a mechanical dehydrator before depolymerization. The portion of the reclaimer flake rejects may then be fed into a hot dryer after mechanical dehydration.

[0121]

[0132] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, at least a portion of the PET and PVC-containing reclaimer flake rejects may be supplied directly to the solvolysis facility within the chemical recycling facility (i.e., without pretreatment or a separation process within or separate from the chemical recycling facility).

[0122] Purge solidification material

[0133] As described above, purging solidified material may be derived from liquefied plastic material that is unsuitable or undesirable for use, for example, from PET (rPET) reclaimer facilities, PET product manufacturers (molding machines), and / or polymer manufacturing facilities, which can be solidified and recovered. As used herein, the term “purging solidified material” refers to plastic waste removed from any molten polymer processing apparatus or its parts while the apparatus, including but not limited to extruders, filters, pelletizers, reactors, conduits, etc., is not producing the intended product (e.g., pellets, bottles, and other plastic articles), which was melted within the molten polymer processing apparatus but solidified outside the apparatus. The solidified material is generally amorphous and / or may not be pelletized, and may be in the form of large chunks of solid plastic (e.g., large chunks of plastic removed from an extruder barrel that did not pass through an extruder die). The solidified plastic material may also include intermediate molded articles. The solidified plastic material may include clear and / or colored plastics. In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, a certain amount of PET-containing purging solidification material is supplied to a chemical recycling facility, where at least a portion of the PET-containing purging solidification material is depolymerized.

[0123]

[0134] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the amount of PET-containing purging solidification material may include at least 90, at least 95, at least 99, or at least 99.9 weight percent of PET on a dry basis. The amount of PET-containing purging solidification material may also include at least 0.1, at least 1, at least 10, at least 20, at least 40, at least 60, or at least 80 weight percent of copolyester on a dry basis. The amount of PET-containing purging solidification material may also include at least 95, at least 98, at least 99, or at least 99.9 weight percent of material (e.g., glass, metal, and other fillers) that is solid at the processing temperature of the molten polymer apparatus. The amount of PET-containing purging solidification material may also include 50 weight percent or less, 40 weight percent or less, 30 weight percent or less, 20 weight percent or less, 10 weight percent or less, or 1 weight percent or less of polyolefin on a dry basis. The amount of PET-containing purging solidification material may include 20% by weight or less, 15% by weight or less, 10% by weight or less, 5% by weight or less, or 1% by weight or less of PVC on a dry basis.

[0124]

[0135] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, at least a portion of the PET-containing purging solidification material may be supplied directly to a solvolysis facility within a chemical recycling facility (i.e., without pretreatment or a separation process within or separate from the chemical recycling facility). At least a portion of the PET-containing purging solidification material may be reduced in size by, for example, a mechanical pulverization process. The mechanical pulverization process may include, before depolymerization, shredding (e.g., using a plastic shredder), chopping, grinding, guillotine cutting, dropping, and / or crushing the portion of the purging solidification material to form a certain amount of plastic particle solids.

[0125]

[0136] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the resulting plastic particle solid may have a D90 particle size of less than 15.24 cm (6 inches), 12.7 cm (5 inches) or less, 10.16 cm (4 inches) or less, 7.62 cm (3 inches) or less, 5.08 cm (2 inches) or less, or 2.54 cm (1 inch) or less. When a shredder is used, the purging solid material can yield plastic particle solids having a D90 particle size of less than 5.08 cm (2 inches) or less, or less than 2.54 cm (1 inch). In the pulverization process described above, or in the collection of the purging material, a certain amount of dry granules, threads, strands, and / or fibrous material may be generated and recovered from the purging solid material. For example, when a shredder is used, the method may produce a certain amount of plastic granules. However, the use of a pulverizer can be avoided, and thus the method can produce less than 10%, less than 5%, less than 2%, or less than 1% plastic granules. A certain amount of the recovered material can be densified into plastic particles with a D90 particle size ranging from 0.32 cm (1 / 8 inch) to 2.54 cm (1 inch) before depolymerization. For example, a screener can be used to recover larger particles (above 2.54 cm (1 inch)) and finer particles (less than 0.32 cm (1 / 8 inch)). The larger particles can be returned to the shredder. The finer particles can be densified as described above.

[0126] dry granules

[0137] As described above, dry granules can be generated from processing (e.g., conveying, drying, densification, extrusion, packaging, centrifugal processes, and / or grinding) and / or from the conveying of plastic materials, which can be collected and recovered in a dryer or dust collector. As used herein, the term “dry granules” refers to waste plastic particles from PET reclaimer facilities and / or manufacturers of PET products having an average particle size of less than 0.32 cm (1 / 8 inch) and a water content of less than 2% by weight. In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, a certain amount of PET-containing dry granules is supplied to a chemical recycling facility, where at least a portion of the PET-containing dry granules is depolymerized.

[0127]

[0138] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the amount of PET-containing dry granules may contain at least 90, at least 95, at least 99, or at least 99.9 weight percent of PET on a dry basis. The amount of PET-containing dry granules may contain at least 0.1, at least 1, at least 10, at least 20, at least 40, at least 60, or at least 80 weight percent of copolyester on a dry basis. The amount of PET-containing dry granules may contain 50 weight percent or less, 40 weight percent or less, 30 weight percent or less, 20 weight percent or less, 10 weight percent or less, or 1 weight percent or less of polyolefin on a dry basis. The amount of PET-containing dry granules may contain 20 weight percent or less, 15 weight percent or less, 10 weight percent or less, 5 weight percent or less, or 1 weight percent or less of PVC on a dry basis.

[0128]

[0139] In one embodiment, or in combination with any embodiment described herein, at least a portion of the PET-containing dry granules is supplied directly to a chemical recycling facility (i.e., without pretreatment or separation processes within or separate from the chemical recycling facility). This can be achieved using a conveying system that interconnects the chemical recycling facility with a PET reclaimer facility, a PET product manufacturer, and / or a polymer manufacturing facility. The dry granules may also be delivered in sacks or bags.

[0129]

[0140] Dry granules may pose some explosive risk. While dry granules generally do not arrive in an explosive state, transporting them causes separation and exposure to the atmosphere, making them potentially explosive. Explosive concentrations may also be present in the storage pile. Therefore, dry granules can be screened to remove and recover those with particle sizes less than 1000 μm, less than 800 μm, less than 600 μm, or less than 420 μm. At least a portion of the PET-containing dry granules recovered in the above screening or other processes can be densified (e.g., agglomerated or pelletized) to produce densified PET-containing particles before depolymerization, thereby reducing or eliminating the explosive risk. In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the densified plastic particles have a D90 particle size of 0.32 cm (1 / 8 inch) to 2.54 cm (1 inch). In one or more embodiments, the densified plastic particles may be supplied to a solvolysis facility within a chemical recycling facility.

[0130] Delivery of waste plastics

[0141] The chemical recycling facility 10 may also include infrastructure for receiving waste plastics such as those described herein (e.g., co-products of PET-containing reclaimers, PET-containing products or co-products of municipal recycling facilities (MRFs), sorted plastic-containing mixtures, PET-containing waste plastics from plastic article manufacturing facilities, and / or other MPWs) to facilitate the delivery of waste plastics by any suitable means of transport, including, for example, trains, trucks, and / or ships. Such infrastructure may include facilities to assist in unloading loads of waste plastics from transporters, as well as one or more conveying systems for transporting waste plastics from storage facilities and unloading zones to downstream processing zones. Examples of such conveying systems include pneumatic conveyors, belt conveyors, bucket conveyors, vibratory conveyors, screw conveyors, cart-on-track conveyors, tow conveyors, trolley conveyors, front-end loaders, trucks, and chain conveyors.

[0131]

[0142] The waste introduced into the chemical recycling facility 10 (e.g., co-products of PET-containing reclaimers, PET-containing products or co-products from the city's recycling facility (MRF), sorted plastic-containing mixtures, PET-containing waste plastics from plastic article manufacturing facilities, and / or other MPWs) may take several forms, but are not limited to, whole articles, particles (e.g., finely ground, pelletized, fibrous plastic particles), bundled bales (e.g., whole articles compressed and tied together), unbundled articles (i.e., not in bales or packaged), containers (e.g., boxes, sacks, trailers, freight cars, loader buckets), piles (e.g., on concrete slabs within a building), solid / liquid slurries (e.g., plastic slurries in water, pumped in), and / or physically transported free material (e.g., particles on a conveyor belt) or by air pressure (e.g., particles mixed with air and / or inert gas in a transport pipe).

[0132]

[0143] As used herein, the term “waste plastic particles” refers to waste plastic having a D90 of less than 2.54 cm (1 inch). In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, waste plastic particles may be MPW particles. Waste plastic or MPW particles may include, for example, shredded or diced, finely ground plastic particles or plastic pellets. When an entire article or nearly an entire article is introduced into the chemical recycling facility 10 (or pretreatment facility 20), one or more grinding or pelletizing steps may be used therein to form waste plastic particles (e.g., MPW particles). Alternatively, or in addition, at least a portion of the waste plastic introduced into the chemical recycling facility 10 (or pretreatment facility 20) may already be in the form of particles.

[0133]

[0144] The general configuration and operations of each facility that may exist within the chemical recycling facility shown in Figure 1 are described in more detail below, starting with the pretreatment facility. Optionally, although not shown in Figure 1, at least one of the flows from the chemical recycling facility may be sent to an industrial landfill or other similar type of treatment or waste disposal facility.

[0134] Pre-treatment

[0145] As shown in Figure 1, untreated and / or partially treated waste plastics, such as mixed plastic waste (MPW), may be initially introduced into a pretreatment facility 20 via flow 100. In the pretreatment facility 20, the flow is prepared for chemical recycling by undergoing one or more treatment steps. As used herein, the term “pretreatment” refers to preparing waste plastics for chemical recycling using one or more of the following steps: (i) grinding; (ii) particleization; (iii) washing; (iv) drying; and (v) separation. As used herein, the term “pretreatment facility” refers to a facility that includes all the equipment, lines, and controls necessary for pretreatment of waste plastics. A pretreatment facility as described herein may utilize any method appropriate for preparing waste plastics for chemical recycling using one or more of these steps, which are described in further detail below.

[0135] Fine grinding and particle formation

[0146] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, waste plastic (e.g., MPW) may be provided in the form of bales or other large, aggregated forms of unsorted or presorted plastic. The bales or aggregated plastic undergo a first process to break them apart. The plastic bales may be sent to a debaler machine, for example, which includes one or more rotating shafts equipped with teeth or blades designed to break apart the bales, in some cases to finely chop the plastic constituting the bales. In one or more other embodiments, the bales or aggregated plastic can be sent to a guillotine cutting machine, where they are cut into smaller pieces of plastic. The debaled and / or guillotine-cut plastic solids can then be subjected to a sorting process, where various non-plastic, heavy materials, such as glass, metal, and rock, are removed. This sorting process can be carried out manually or by machine. Sorting equipment can identify and remove heavy materials by relying on pneumatic lifts or conveyors, or sheaves, that separate based on optical sensors, magnets, eddy currents, or drag coefficients.

[0136]

[0147] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the waste plastic feedstock includes plastic solids having a D90 greater than 2.54 cm (1 inch), greater than 1.91 cm (0.75 inches), or greater than 1.27 cm (0.5 inches), e.g., used containers. Alternatively, or in addition, the waste plastic feedstock may also include a plurality of plastic solids having at least one dimension greater than 2.54 cm (1 inch) at some point, but the solids may be compressed, compressed, or otherwise aggregated into larger units, e.g., bales. In such embodiments where at least a portion or all of the plastic solids have at least one dimension greater than 2.54 cm (1 inch), greater than 1.91 cm (0.75 inches), or greater than 1.27 cm (0.5 inches), the feedstock may be subjected to a mechanical size reduction operation, e.g., grinding / granulation, shredding, guillotine cutting, chopping, or other pulverization processes to obtain MPW particles having smaller sizes. Such mechanical size reduction operations may include size reduction steps other than crushing, compacting, or forming a plastic bale.

[0137]

[0148] In one or more other embodiments, the waste plastic has already undergone several initial separation and / or pulverization processes. In particular, the waste plastic may be in the form of particles or flakes and may be supplied in some kind of container, e.g., a sack or a box. Depending on the composition of these plastic solids and the type of pretreatment they may be supplied with, the plastic feed material may bypass a debuler, guillotine cutter, and / or heavy material removal station and proceed directly to a granulator for further size reduction.

[0138]

[0149] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the devailed or broken plastic solid may be sent to a grinder or granulator, where the plastic solid is ground, shredded, or otherwise reduced in size. The plastic material can be made into particles having a D90 particle size of less than 2.54 cm (1 inch), less than 1.91 cm (3 / 4 inch), or less than 1.27 cm (1 / 2 inch). In one or more other embodiments, the D90 particle size of the plastic material exiting the granulator is 0.16 cm (1 / 16 inch) to 2.54 cm (1 inch), 0.32 cm (1 / 8 inch) to 1.91 cm (3 / 4 inch), 0.64 cm (1 / 4 inch) to 1.59 cm (5 / 8 inch), or 0.95 cm (3 / 8 inch) to 1.27 cm (1 / 2 inch).

[0139] Washing and drying

[0150] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, untreated or partially treated waste plastics provided to a chemical recycling facility may contain various organic contaminants or residues that may be associated with the waste plastics' previous use. For example, waste plastics may contain food or beverage contaminants, particularly if the plastic material was used for food or beverage packaging. Thus, waste plastics may also contain microbial contaminants and / or compounds produced by microorganisms. Exemplary microorganisms that may be present on the surface of the plastic solids constituting waste plastics include Escherichia coli, Salmonella, C. difficile, Staphylococcus aureus, L. monocytogenes, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and P. fluorescein.

[0140]

[0151] Various microorganisms can produce odor-causing compounds. Exemplary odor-causing compounds include hydrogen sulfide, dimethyl sulfide, methanethiol, putrescine, cadaverine, trimethylamine, ammonia, acetaldehyde, acetic acid, propanoic acid, and / or butyric acid. Therefore, it can be recognized that waste plastics may pose an odor-related hazard. Accordingly, waste plastics can be stored in a sealed space, such as a shipping container, a sealed railcar, or a sealed trailer, until further processing is possible. In certain embodiments, untreated or partially treated waste plastics can be stored in a sealed space for up to one week, five days, three days, two days, or one day, once they reach a site where further processing (e.g., grinding, washing, and sorting) of the waste plastics will take place.

[0141]

[0152] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the pretreatment facility 20 also includes apparatus or processing steps for processing waste plastics with a chemical composition having antimicrobial properties, thereby forming a processed particulate plastic solid. In some embodiments, this may include processing the waste plastics with sodium hydroxide, a high pH salt solution (e.g., potassium carbonate), or other antimicrobial compositions.

[0142]

[0153] Furthermore, in one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, waste plastic (e.g., MPW) can be optionally washed to remove inorganic, non-plastic solids, such as dirt, glass, fillers and other non-plastic solids, and / or biological elements, such as bacteria and / or food. The resulting washed waste plastic can also be dried to a water (or liquid) content of 5% by weight or less, 3% by weight or less, 2% by weight or less, 1% by weight or less, 0.5% by weight or less, or 0.25% by weight or less, based on the total weight of the waste plastic. Drying can be carried out by any suitable method, including the addition of heat and / or airflow, mechanical drying (e.g., centrifugal), or by evaporating the liquid over a specified time.

[0143] separation

[0154] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the steps of the pretreatment facility 20 or the chemical recycling process or facility 10 may include at least one separation step or zone. The separation step or zone may also be designed to separate the waste plastic stream into two or more streams rich in a particular type of plastic. Such separation is particularly advantageous when the waste plastic supplied to the pretreatment facility 20 is MPW.

[0144]

[0155] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the separation zone 22 of the pretreatment facility 20 (see Figure 2) may separate waste plastics (e.g., MPW) into a PET-rich flow 112 and a PET-depleted flow 114, as shown in Figure 2. As used herein, the term “rich” means having a concentration of a particular component greater than the concentration of that component in a reference material or flow (based on undiluted dry weight). As used herein, the term “depleted” means having a concentration of a particular component lower than the concentration of that component in a reference material or flow (based on undiluted dry weight). As used herein, all weight percentages are given based on undiluted dry weight unless otherwise specified.

[0145]

[0156] If the abundant or depleted component is a solid, the concentration is based on the undiluted, dry solid weight; if the abundant or depleted component is a liquid, the concentration is based on the undiluted, dry liquid weight; and if the abundant or depleted component is a gas, the concentration is based on the undiluted, dry gas weight. In addition, abundant and depleted can be expressed in terms of mass balance rather than concentration. Thus, a flow that is abundant in a particular component may have a mass of that component greater than the mass of that component in the reference flow (e.g., the feed flow or other product flow), while a flow that is depleted of a particular component may have a mass of that component lower than the mass of that component in the reference flow (e.g., the feed flow or other product flow).

[0146]

[0157] Referring to Figure 2, the PET-rich stream 112 of the waste plastics detached from the pretreatment facility 20 (or separation zone 22) may have a higher concentration or mass of PET than the PET concentration or mass in the waste plastics feed stream 100 introduced into the pretreatment facility 20 (or separation zone 22). Similarly, the PET-depleted stream 114 detached from the pretreatment facility 20 (or separation zone 22) may be PET-depleted and have a lower concentration or mass of PET than the PET concentration or mass in the waste plastics introduced into the pretreatment facility 20 (or separation zone 22). The PET-depleted stream 114 may also be PO-rich and have a higher concentration or mass of PO than the PO concentration or mass in the waste plastics (e.g., MPW) stream introduced into the pretreatment facility 20 (or separation zone 22).

[0147]

[0158] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, when MPW flow 100 is supplied to a pretreatment facility 20 (or separation zone 22), the PET-rich flow may be concentrated in terms of PET concentration or mass compared to the concentration or mass of PET in the MPW flow or the PET-depleted flow, or both, on an undiluted solid dry weight basis. For example, if the PET-rich flow is diluted with a liquid or other solid after separation, the concentration is based on the undiluted PET-rich flow and its concentration on a dry basis. In one embodiment or in combination with any of the embodiments described herein, the PET-rich flow 112 is given a concentration of PET based on the MPW feed flow (PET concentration %) relative to the feed, the PET-depleted product flow 114 (PET concentration %) relative to the product, or both, by the formula:

[0148]

number

[0149] (In the formula, PETe is the concentration of PET in the PET-rich product stream 112 on an undiluted dry weight basis.) PETm is the concentration of PET in MPW feed stream 100 on a dry weight basis. PETd is the concentration of PET in the depleted product stream 114 on a dry weight basis. If determined by the above, it has a PET concentration percentage of at least 10, at least 20, at least 40, at least 50, at least 60, at least 80, at least 100, at least 125, at least 150, at least 175, at least 200, at least 225, at least 250, at least 300, at least 350, at least 400, at least 500, at least 600, at least 700, at least 800, at least 900, or at least 1000%.

[0150]

[0159] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, when a flow containing MPW 100 is supplied to the pretreatment facility 20 (or separation zone 22), the PET-rich flow is also rich in halogens, e.g., fluorine (F), chlorine (Cl), bromine (Br), iodine (I), and astatine (At), and / or halogen-containing compounds, e.g., PVC, relative to the concentration or mass of halogens in the MPW feed flow 100, or the PET-depleted product flow 114, or both. In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the PET-rich flow 112 is rich in the MPW feed flow 100 (feed-based PVC concentration %), the PET-depleted product flow (product-based PVC concentration %), or both, with respect to the formula:

[0151]

number

[0152] (In the formula, PVCe is the concentration of PVC in the PET-rich product stream 112 on an undiluted dry weight basis.) PVCm is the concentration of PVC in MPW feed stream 100 on an undiluted dry weight basis. PVCd is the concentration of PVC in the PET-depleted product stream 114 on an undiluted dry weight basis. If determined by the above, it has a PVC concentration percentage of at least 1, at least 3, at least 5, at least 7, at least 10, at least 15, at least 20, at least 40, at least 50, at least 60, at least 80, at least 100, at least 125, at least 150, at least 175, at least 200, at least 225, at least 250, at least 300, at least 350, at least 400, or at least 500%.

[0153]

[0160] In one embodiment or in combination with any of the embodiments described, when MPW flow 100 is supplied to the pretreatment facility 20 (or separation zone 22), the PET-depleted flow 114 is polyolefin-rich on an undiluted solid-dry basis with respect to the concentration or mass of polyolefin in the MPW feed flow 100, the PET-rich product flow 112, or both. In one embodiment or in combination with any of the embodiments described, the PET-depleted flow 114 is polyolefin-rich on an undiluted solid-dry basis with respect to the MPW feed flow 100 (feed-based PO concentration %), or the PET-rich product flow 112 (product-based PO concentration %), or both, according to the formula:

[0154]

number

[0155] (In the formula, POd is the concentration of polyolefin in the depleted product stream 114 of PET on an undiluted dry weight basis.) POm is the concentration of PO in MPW feed stream 100 on a dry weight basis. POe is the concentration of PO in the PET-rich product stream 112 on a dry weight basis. When determined by [the specified method], it has a polyolefin concentrate percentage of at least 10, at least 20, at least 40, at least 50, at least 60, at least 80, at least 100, at least 125, at least 150, at least 175, at least 200, at least 225, at least 250, at least 300, at least 350, at least 400, at least 500, at least 600, at least 700, at least 800, at least 900, or at least 1000%.

[0156]

[0161] In one embodiment or in combination with any other embodiment, when MPW flow 100 is supplied to the pretreatment facility 20 (or separation zone 22), the PET-depleted flow 114 is also depleted of halogens, e.g., fluorine (F), chlorine (Cl), bromine (Br), iodine (I), and astatine (At), and / or halogen-containing compounds, e.g., PVC, relative to the concentration or mass of halogens in MPW flow 100, PET-rich flow 112, or both. In one embodiment or in combination with any of the embodiments described, the PET-depleted flow 114 is depleted of halogens, e.g., fluorine (F), chlorine (Cl), bromine (Br), iodine (I), and astatine (At), and / or halogen-containing compounds, e.g., PVC, relative to the MPW feed flow 100 (feed-based PVC depletion %) or the PET-rich product flow 112 (product-based PVC depletion %), by the formula:

[0157]

number

[0158] (In the formula, PVCm is the concentration of PVC in MPW feed stream 100 on an undiluted dry weight basis.) PVCd is the concentration of PVC in the PET-depleted product stream 114 on an undiluted dry weight basis. PVCe is the concentration of PVC in the PET-rich product stream 112 on an undiluted dry weight basis. If determined by the method, it has a PVC depletion percentage of at least 1, at least 3, at least 5, at least 7, at least 10, at least 15, at least 20, at least 25, at least 30, at least 35, at least 40, at least 50, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, or at least 90%.

[0159]

[0162] A PET-depleted flow 114 is PET-depleted relative to the concentration or mass of PET in the MPW flow 100, the PET-rich flow 112, or both. In one embodiment or in combination with any of the embodiments described, the PET-depleted flow 114 is PET-depleted relative to the MPW feed flow 100 (feed-based PET depletion %) or the PET-rich product flow 112 (product-based PET depletion %), according to the formula:

[0160]

number

[0161] (In the formula, PETm is the concentration of PET in MPW feed stream 100 on an undiluted dry weight basis.) PETd is the concentration of PET in the depleted product stream 114 on an undiluted dry weight basis. PETe is the concentration of PET in the PET-rich product stream 112 on an undiluted dry weight basis. If determined by the method, the PET depletion percentage is at least 1, at least 3, at least 5, at least 7, at least 10, at least 15, at least 20, at least 25, at least 30, at least 35, at least 40, at least 50, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, or at least 90%.

[0162]

[0163] The concentration or depletion percentage in any of the above embodiments may be an average over a week, three days, or one day, and the measurement may be performed to reasonably correlate a sample taken at the process outlet with the MPW bulk, and the MPW sample from this MPW bulk takes into account the residence time during which the MPW flows from inlet to outlet. For example, if the average residence time of the MPW is 2 minutes, the outlet sample is taken 2 minutes after the sample input so that the samples correlate with each other.

[0163]

[0164] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, a PET-rich flow escaping the separation zone 22 or pretreatment facility 20 may contain at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, at least 95, at least 97, at least 99, at least 99.5, or at least 99.9 weight percent of PET, based on the total weight of plastics in the PET-rich flow 112. The PET-rich flow 112 may also be PVC-rich and may contain halogens including PVC in amounts of, for example, at least 0.1, at least 0.5, at least 1, at least 2, at least 3, at least 5 weight percent and / or 10 weight percent or less, 8 weight percent or less, 6 weight percent or less, 5 weight percent or less, or 3 weight percent or less, based on the total weight of plastics in the PET-rich flow, or halogens may be in the range of 0.1 to 10 weight percent, 0.5 to 8 weight percent, or 1 to 5 weight percent, based on the total weight of plastics in the PET-rich flow. The PET-rich flow may contain at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, at least 95, at least 99, or at least 99.5 weight percent of the total amount of PET introduced into the pretreatment facility 20 (or separation zone 22).

[0164]

[0165] Flow 112, which is rich in PET, also contains PO and / or heavier plastics, such as polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), polyamides (PA12, PA46, PA66), polyacrylamide (PARA), polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), polycarbonate polybutylene terephthalate blend (PC / PBT), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyimide (PI), polycarbonate (PC), polyethersulfone (PESU), polyetheretherketone (PEEK), polyamideimide (PAI), polyethyleneimine (PEI), polysulfone (PSU), polyoxymethylene (POM), polyglycolide (poly(glycolic acid), PGA), and polyphenylene The materials may be depleted of lanceolsulfide (PPS), thermoplastic styrene elastomer (TPS), amorphous thermoplastic polyimide (TPI), liquid crystal polymer (LCP), glass fiber reinforced PET, chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (CPVC), polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), polyphthalamide (PPA), polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC), ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE), polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP), polymonochlorotrifluoroethylene (PCTFE), and perfluoroalkoxy (PFA), any of which may contain carbon, glass, and / or mineral fillers, and have a higher density than PET and PVC.

[0165]

[0166] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the PET-rich stream 112 may contain PO in amounts of 45% by weight or less, 40% by weight or less, 35% by weight or less, 30% by weight or less, 25% by weight or less, 20% by weight or less, 15% by weight or less, 10% by weight or less, 5% by weight or less, 2% by weight or less, 1% by weight or less, or 0.5% by weight or less, based on the total weight of plastics in the PET-rich stream 112. The PET-rich stream 112 may contain 10% by weight or less, 8% by weight or less, 5% by weight or less, 3% by weight or less, 2% by weight or less, or 1% by weight or less of the total amount of PO introduced into the pretreatment facility 20 (or separation zone 22). The PET-rich stream 112 may contain non-PET components in amounts of 45% by weight or less, 40% by weight or less, 35% by weight or less, 30% by weight or less, 25% by weight or less, 20% by weight or less, 15% by weight or less, 10% by weight or less, 5% by weight or less, 2% by weight or less, or 1% by weight or less, based on the total weight of the PET-rich stream 112.

[0166]

[0167] Furthermore, or in an alternative manner, PET-rich flow 112 may contain adhesives in amounts of 2% by weight or less, 1% by weight or less, 0.5% by weight or less, or 0.1% by weight or less, on a dry basis. Typical adhesives include carpet adhesives, latex, styrene-butadiene rubber, etc. In addition, PET-rich flow 112 may contain plastic fillers and solid additives in amounts of 4% by weight or less, 3% by weight or less, 2% by weight or less, 1% by weight or less, 0.5% by weight or less, or 0.1% by weight or less, on a dry basis. Exemplary fillers and additives include silicon dioxide, calcium carbonate, talc, silica, glass, glass beads, alumina, and other solid inert substances, which do not chemically react with plastics or other components in the methods described herein.

[0167]

[0168] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, a PET-depleted (or PO-rich) stream 114 escaping the separation zone 22 or pretreatment facility 20 may contain at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, at least 95, at least 97, at least 99, or at least 99.5 weight percent of PO, based on the total weight of plastics in the PET-depleted (or PO-rich) stream 114. The PET-depleted (or PO-rich) stream may also be PVC-depleted and may contain halogens, including chlorine in PVC, in amounts of, for example, 5 weight percent or less, 2 weight percent or less, 1 weight percent or less, 0.5 weight percent or less, 0.1 weight percent or less, 0.05 weight percent or less, or 0.01 weight percent or less, based on the total weight of plastics in the PET-depleted (or PO-rich) stream. A flow that is depleted of PET or rich in PO may contain at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, at least 95, at least 99, or at least 99.9 percent by weight of the total amount of PO introduced into the pretreatment facility 20 or separation facility 22.

[0168]

[0169] The PO-rich flow 114 may also be depleted of other plastics, including PET and / or PVC. In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the PET-depleted (or PO-rich flow) may contain 45% by weight or less, 40% by weight or less, 35% by weight or less, 30% by weight or less, 25% by weight or less, 20% by weight or less, 15% by weight or less, 10% by weight or less, 5% by weight or less, 2% by weight or less, 1% by weight or less, or 0.5% by weight or less of PET, based on the total weight of plastics in the PET-depleted or PO-rich flow. The PO-rich (or PET-depleted) flow 114 may contain 10% by weight or less, 8% by weight or less, 5% by weight or less, 3% by weight or less, 2% by weight or less, or 1% by weight or less of the total amount of PET introduced into the pretreatment facility.

[0169]

[0170] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the PET-depleted or PO-rich flow 114 may also contain, based on the total weight of the PET-depleted or PO-rich flow 114, components other than PO in amounts of 45% by weight or less, 40% by weight or less, 35% by weight or less, 30% by weight or less, 25% by weight or less, 20% by weight or less, 15% by weight or less, 10% by weight or less, 5% by weight or less, 2% by weight or less, or 1% by weight or less. The PET-depleted or PO-rich flow 114 may also contain adhesive in amounts of 4% by weight or less, 2% by weight or less, 1% by weight or less, 0.5% by weight or less, or 0.1% by weight or less, based on the total weight of the flow.

[0170]

[0171] In one embodiment, or in combination with any embodiment described herein, a PET-depleted or PO-rich flow 114 is provided with a Brookfield V80-40 blade spindle operating at a shear rate of 10 rad / sec and a temperature of 350°C. It can have a melt viscosity of at least 1, at least 5, at least 50, at least 100, at least 200, at least 300, at least 400, at least 500, at least 600, at least 700, at least 800, at least 900, at least 1000, at least 1500, at least 2000, at least 2500, at least 3000, at least 3500, at least 4000, at least 4500, at least 5000, at least 5500, at least 6000, at least 6500, at least 7000, at least 7500, at least 8000, at least 8500, at least 9000, at least 9500, or at least 10,000 poises, as measured using an R / S rheometer. Alternatively, or in addition, flows depleted of PET or rich in PO may have a melt viscosity (measured at 10 rad / sec and 350°C) of 25,000 poise or less, 24,000 poise or less, 23,000 poise or less, 22,000 poise or less, 21,000 poise or less, 20,000 poise or less, 19,000 poise or less, 18,000 poise or less, or 17,000 poise or less. Or flows may have a melt viscosity (measured at 10 rad / sec and 350°C) in the range of 1 to 25,000 poise, 500 to 22,000 poise, or 1,000 to 17,000 poise.

[0171]

[0172] Using any suitable type of separation device, system, or facility, waste plastics can be separated into two or more flows rich in a particular type of plastic, for example, a PET-rich flow 112 and a PO-rich flow 114. Examples of suitable types of separation include mechanical separation and density separation, with density separation including buoyancy separation and / or centrifugal density separation. As used herein, the term “buoyancy separation” refers to a density separation process in which the separation of materials is primarily caused by flow or sedimentation in a selected liquid medium, while the term “centrifugal density separation” refers to a density separation process in which the separation of materials is primarily caused by centrifugal force. Generally, the term “density separation method” refers to a method for separating materials into at least higher density products and lower density products, at least in part based on the respective densities of the materials, and includes both buoyancy separation and centrifugal density separation.

[0172]

[0173] When buoyancy separation is used, the liquid medium may include water. Salts, sugars, and / or other additives can be added to the liquid medium, for example, to increase the density of the liquid medium and adjust the target separation density in the buoyancy separation stage. The liquid medium may include a concentrated salt solution. In one or more such embodiments, the salt is sodium chloride. However, in one or more other embodiments, the salt is a non-halogenated salt, such as acetate, carbonate, citrate, nitrate, nitrite, phosphate, and / or sulfate. The liquid medium may include a concentrated salt solution containing sodium bromide, sodium dihydrogen phosphate, sodium hydroxide, sodium iodide, sodium nitrate, sodium thiosulfate, potassium acetate, potassium bromide, potassium carbonate, potassium hydroxide, potassium iodide, calcium chloride, cesium chloride, iron chloride, strontium chloride, zinc chloride, manganese sulfate, magnesium sulfate, zinc sulfate, and / or silver nitrate. In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the salt is a corrosive component. The salt may include sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, and / or potassium carbonate. The concentrated salt solution may have a pH greater than 7, greater than 8, greater than 9, or greater than 10.

[0173]

[0174] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the liquid medium may include sugars, such as sucrose. The liquid medium may also include carbon tetrachloride, chloroform, dichlorobenzene, dimethyl sulfate, and / or trichloroethylene. Specific components and concentrations of the liquid medium can be selected according to the desired target separation density of the separation step. Centrifugal density separation methods can also be used with liquid media as described above to improve separation efficiency at the target separation density.

[0174]

[0175] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, a waste plastic separation method comprises at least two density separation steps. In a particular such embodiment, the method generally includes introducing waste plastic particles into a first density separation step and feeding the output from the first density separation step to a second density separation step. A density separation step can be any system or unit operation that implements the density separation method as defined herein. At least one of the density separation steps comprises a centrifugal separation step or a flotation / sinking separation step. Each of the first and second density separation steps comprises a centrifugal separation step and / or a flotation / sinking separation step.

[0175]

[0176] To generate a flow of PET-rich material, one of the density separation steps may include a low-density separation step, while the others generally include a high-density separation step. As defined herein, the low-density separation step has a target separation density lower than that of the high-density separation step. The low-density separation step has a target separation density lower than that of PET, and the high-density separation step has a target separation density higher than that of PET.

[0176]

[0177] As used herein, the term “target separation density” refers to the density above which a material subjected to a density separation method is preferentially separated into a higher-density product, and below which the material is separated into a lower-density product. The target separation density specifies a density value, and it is intended that all plastics and other solids with a density higher than this value will be separated into a higher-density product, and all plastics and other solids with a density lower than this value will be separated into a lower-density product. However, the actual separation efficiency of materials in density separation methods may depend on the residence time and the relative proximity of the density of a particular material to its target density separation value, as well as various factors related to the morphology of the particles, including, for example, the area-to-mass ratio, degree of sphericity, and porosity.

[0177]

[0178] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the low-density separation step has a target separation density of less than 1.35 g / cc, less than 1.34 g / cc, less than 1.33 g / cc, less than 1.32 g / cc, less than 1.31 g / cc, or less than 1.30 g / cc and / or at least 1.25, at least 1.26, at least 1.27, at least 1.28, or at least 1.29 g / cc. The high-density separation step has a target separation density at least 0.01, at least 0.025, at least 0.05, at least 0.075, at least 0.1, at least 0.15, or at least 0.2 g / cc greater than the target separation density of the low-density separation step. The target separation density in the high-density separation stage is at least 1.31, at least 1.32, at least 1.33, at least 1.34, at least 1.35, at least 1.36, at least 1.37, at least 1.38, at least 1.39, or at least 1.40 g / cc and / or 1.45 g / cc or less, 1.44 g / cc or less, 1.43 g / cc or less, 1.42 g / cc or less, or 1.41 g / cc or less. The target separation density in the low-density separation stage is in the range of 1.25 to 1.35 g / cc, and the target separation density in the high-density separation stage is in the range of 1.35 to 1.45 g / cc.

[0178]

[0179] Referring again to Figure 1, both the PET-rich flow 112 and the PO-rich flow 114 may be introduced into one or more downstream processing facilities within the chemical recycling facility 10 (or through one or more downstream processing steps). In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, at least a portion of the PET-rich flow 112 may be introduced into a solvolysis facility 30, while at least a portion of the PO-rich flow 114 may be introduced directly or indirectly into one or more of the pyrolysis facility 60, cracking facility 70, partial oxidation (POX) gasification facility 50, energy recovery facility 80, or other facilities 90, such as solidification or separation facilities. Additional details of each step and type of facility, as well as the general integration of each of these steps or facilities with one or more other steps or facilities according to one or more embodiments of the technology of the present invention, are discussed in further detail below.

[0179] Solvolysis

[0180] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, at least a portion of the PET-rich stream 112 from the pretreatment facility 20 may be introduced into the solvolysis facility 30. As used herein, the terms “solvolysis” or “ester solvolysis” refer to a reaction in which an ester-containing feed is chemically decomposed in the presence of a solvent to form a major carboxyl product and a major glycol product. A “solvolysis facility” is a facility that includes all the equipment, lines, and controls necessary to perform solvolysis of waste plastics and feed materials derived from waste plastics.

[0180]

[0181] If the ester subjected to solvolysis contains PET, the solvolysis carried out in the solvolysis facility may be PET solvolysis. As used herein, the term “PET solvolysis” refers to the reaction in which a polyester terephthalate-containing feed is chemically decomposed in the presence of a solvent to form a major terephthalyl product and a major glycol product. As used herein, the term “major terephthalyl” refers to the major or significant terephthalyl product recovered from the solvolysis facility. As used herein, the term “major glycol” refers to the major glycol product recovered from the solvolysis facility. As used herein, the term “glycol” refers to a component containing two or more -OH functional groups per molecule. As used herein, the term “terephthalyl” refers to the following groups:

[0181] [ka]

[0182] This refers to molecules that contain this substance.

[0182] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the main terephthalyl product comprises terephthalyl, e.g., terephthalic acid or dimethyl terephthalate (or its oligomer), and the main glycol comprises glycol, e.g., ethylene glycol and / or diethylene glycol. The main steps of the PET solvolysis facility 30 according to one or more embodiments of the technology of the present invention are generally shown in Figure 3.

[0183]

[0183] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the primary solvent used for solvolysis comprises a chemical compound having at least one -OH group. Examples of suitable solvents, but not limited to these, may include (i) water (in which case solvolysis may be called "hydrolysis"), (ii) alcohol (in which case solvolysis may be called "alcolysis"), e.g., methanol (in which case solvolysis may be called "methylolysis") or ethanol (in which case solvolysis may be called "ethanololysis"), (iii) glycol, e.g., ethylene glycol or diethylene glycol (in which case solvolysis may be called "glycolysis"), or (iv) ammonia (in which case solvolysis may be called "ammonialysis").

[0184]

[0184] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the solvolysis solvent may include at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, at least 95, or at least or at least 99 weight percent of the main solvent, based on the total weight of the solvent stream. In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the solvent may include other solvents or components in a weight of 45 weight percent or less, 40 weight percent or less, 35 weight percent or less, 30 weight percent or less, 25 weight percent or less, 20 weight percent or less, 15 weight percent or less, 10 weight percent or less, 5 weight percent or less, 2 weight percent or less, or 1 weight percent or less, based on the total weight of the solvent stream.

[0185]

[0185] When the solvolysis facility 30 utilizes glycol, for example, ethylene glycol, as the primary solvent, the facility can be called a glycolysis facility. In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the chemical recycling facility of Figure 1 may include a glycolysis facility. In the glycolysis facility, PET can be chemically decomposed to form ethylene glycol (EG) as the primary glycol and dimethyl terephthalate (DMT) as the primary terephthalyl. When PET contains waste plastic, both EG and DMT formed in the solvolysis facility may contain recycled components ethylene glycol (r-EG) and recycled components dimethyl terephthalate (r-DMT). When formed by glycolysis, EG and DMT can be present in a single product stream.

[0186]

[0186] When a solvolysis facility uses methanol as the main solvent, the facility can be called a methanolysis facility. The chemical recycling facility in Figure 1 may include a methanolysis facility. In a methanolysis facility, one example of which is schematically shown in Figure 3, PET can be chemically decomposed to form ethylene glycol (EG) as the main glycol and dimethyl terephthalate (DMT) as the main terephthalyl. If the PET contains waste plastic, both the EG and DMT formed in the solvolysis facility may contain recycled components ethylene glycol (r-EG) and dimethyl terephthalate (r-DMT).

[0187]

[0187] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the stream 154 of recycled component glycol (r-glycol) released from the solvolysis facility 30 may contain at least 45, at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, or at least 95 percent by weight of the major glycol formed in the solvolysis facility. The flow may also contain, based on the total weight of the flow, 99.9% by weight or less, 99% by weight or less, 95% by weight or less, 90% by weight or less, 85% by weight or less, 80% by weight or less, or 75% by weight or less of a major glycol (e.g., EG), and / or contain at least 0.5%, at least 1, at least 2, at least 5, at least 7, at least 10, at least 12, at least 15, at least 20, or at least 25% by weight and / or other components other than major glycols in amounts of 45% by weight or less, 40% by weight or less, 35% by weight or less, 30% by weight or less, 25% by weight or less, 20% by weight or less, or 15% by weight or less, or these may be present in amounts ranging from 0.5 to 45% by weight, 1 to 40% by weight, or 2 to 15% by weight, based on the total weight of the flow. r-glycol may be present in flow 154 in amounts ranging from 45 to 99.9 weight percent, 55 to 99.9 weight percent, or 80 to 99.9 weight percent based on the total weight of flow 154.

[0188]

[0188] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the stream 158 of major terephthalyl (r-terephthalyl) of the recycled component released from the solvolysis facility may contain at least 45, at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, or at least 95 weight percent of major terephthalyl (e.g., DMT) formed in the solvolysis facility 30. The stream may also contain 99 weight percent or less, 95 weight percent or less, 90 weight percent or less, 85 weight percent or less, 80 weight percent or less, or 75 weight percent or less of major terephthalyl based on the total weight of the stream, or the major terephthalyl may be present in amounts of 45 to 99 weight percent, 50 to 90 weight percent, or 55 to 90 weight percent. Furthermore, or in an alternative manner, the flow may contain, based on the total weight of the flow, at least 0.5, at least 1, at least 2, at least 5, at least 7, at least 10, at least 12, at least 15, at least 20, or at least 25 weight percent and / or 45 weight percent or less, 40 weight percent or less, 35 weight percent or less, 30 weight percent or less, 25 weight percent or less, 20 weight percent or less, or 15 weight percent or less of the main non-terephthalyl component. r-terephthalyl (or terephthalyl) may be present in flow 154 in amounts ranging from 45 to 99.9 weight percent, 55 to 99.9 weight percent, or 80 to 99.9 weight percent, based on the total weight of flow 154.

[0189]

[0189] In addition to providing a major glycol stream of the recycled component and a major terephthalyl stream of the recycled component, the solvolysis facility may also provide a stream of one or more solvolysis co-products, shown as stream 110 in Figure 1, which stream may also be diverted from one or more locations within the solvolysis facility. As used herein, the terms “co-product” or “solvolysis co-product” refer to any compound from the solvolysis facility that is not the major carboxyl(terephthalyl) product of the solvolysis facility, the major glycol product of the solvolysis facility, or the major solvent supplied to the solvolysis facility. A solvolysis co-product stream may contain one or more solvolysis co-products in an amount of at least 40, at least 45, at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, at least 95, or at least 99 percent by weight of the total weight of the stream.

[0190]

[0190] The solvolysis co-products may include streams of heavy organic solvolysis co-products or streams of light organic solvolysis co-products. As used herein, the term “heavy organic solvolysis co-products” refers to solvolysis co-products having a boiling point higher than the boiling point of the main terephthalyl product of the solvolysis facility, and the term “light organic solvolysis co-products” refers to solvolysis co-products having a boiling point lower than the boiling point of the main terephthalyl product of the solvolysis facility.

[0191]

[0191] If the solvolysis facility is a methanolysis facility, one or more methanolysis co-products may be released from the facility. As used herein, the term “ethanolysis co-product” refers to any compound from the methanolysis facility that is not DMT, EG, or methanol. The methanolysis co-product stream may contain at least 40, at least 45, at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, at least 95, or at least 99 weight percent of one or more solvolysis co-products based on the total weight of the stream. In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the methanolysis co-product stream may contain heavy organic methanolysis co-products or light organic methanolysis co-products. As used herein, the term "heavy organic methanolysis co-product" refers to a methanolysis co-product having a boiling point higher than DMT, and the term "light methanolysis co-product" refers to a methanolysis co-product having a boiling point lower than DMT.

[0192]

[0192] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the solvolysis facility may produce a stream of at least one heavy organic solvolysis coproduct. The heavy organic solvolysis coproduct stream may contain, based on the total weight of organic matter in the stream, at least 40, at least 45, at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, or at least 95 percent by weight of organic compounds having a boiling point higher than the boiling point of the main terephthalyl (e.g., DMT) produced from the solvolysis facility 30.

[0193]

[0193] Furthermore, or in an alternative manner, the solvolysis facility can produce a stream of at least one solvolysis coproduct of a light organic. The stream of solvolysis coproducts of a light organic may contain, based on the total weight of organic matter in the stream, at least 40, at least 45, at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, or at least 95 percent by weight of organic matter, organic compounds having a boiling point lower than the boiling point of the main terephthalyl (e.g., DMT) produced from the solvolysis facility 30.

[0194]

[0194] Referring again to Figure 3, during operation, the mixed plastic waste and solvent stream (separately or together) introduced into the solvolysis facility may first pass through an optional non-PET separation zone 208, where at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, or at least 95 percent by weight of the total weight of the non-PET components is separated. The non-PET components may have a lower boiling point than PET and may be removed as vapor from zone 208. Alternatively, or in addition, at least a portion of the non-PET components may have a density slightly higher or lower than PET and may be separated by forming a two-phase liquid stream, after which one or both non-PET phases may be removed. Finally, in some embodiments, the non-PET components may be separated as a solid from the PET-containing liquid phase.

[0195]

[0195] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, or at least 95 percent of the non-PET components separated from the PET-containing stream include polyolefins, such as polyethylene and / or polypropylene. As generally shown by dashed lines in Figure 3, all or part of the non-PET separation zone 208 may be upstream of the reaction zone 210, while all or part of the non-PET separation zone 208 may be downstream of the reaction zone 210. Separation techniques, such as extraction, solid / liquid separation, decanting, cyclone or centrifugation, manual removal, magnetic removal, eddy removal, chemical decomposition, evaporation and degassing, distillation, and combinations thereof, can be used to separate the non-PET components from the PET-containing stream in the non-PET separation zone 208.

[0196]

[0196] As shown in Figure 3, the PET-containing stream 138 escaping the non-PET separation zone 208 may contain components other than PET (or its oligomeric and monomeric decomposition products) and solvent in amounts of 25% by weight or less, 20% by weight or less, 15% by weight or less, 10% by weight or less, 5% by weight or less, 2% by weight or less, 1% by weight or less, or 0.5% by weight or less, based on the total weight of the PET-containing stream. The PET-containing stream 138 escaping the non-PET separation zone 208 may contain other types of plastics (e.g., polyolefins) in amounts of 25% by weight or less, 20% by weight or less, 15% by weight or less, 10% by weight or less, 5% by weight or less, 2% by weight or less, or 1% by weight or less. The PET-containing stream 138 escaping the non-PET separation zone 208 may contain 45% by weight or less, 40% by weight or less, 35% by weight or less, 30% by weight or less, 25% by weight or less, 20% by weight or less, 10% by weight or less, 5% by weight or less, or 2% by weight or less of the total amount of non-PET components introduced into the non-PET separation zone 208.

[0197]

[0197] Non-PET components may be removed from the solvolysis (or methanolysis) facility 30 as a polyolefin-containing co-product stream 140, as generally shown in Figure 3. The polyolefin-containing co-product stream (or decanter-olefin co-product stream) 140 may contain at least 35, at least 40, at least 45, at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, at least 92, at least 95, at least 97, at least 99, or at least 99.5 weight percent of polyolefin, based on the total weight of the co-product stream 140.

[0198]

[0198] The polyolefins present in the polyolefin-containing co-product stream may consist mainly of polyethylene, mainly of polypropylene, or a combination of polyethylene and polypropylene. The polyolefins in the polyolefin-containing co-product stream contain at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, at least 92, at least 94, at least 95, at least 97, at least 98, or at least 99 percent by weight of polyethylene, based on the total weight of polyolefins in the polyolefin-containing co-product stream 140. Alternatively, the polyolefins in the polyolefin-containing co-product stream contain at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, at least 92, at least 94, at least 95, at least 97, at least 98, or at least 99 percent by weight of polypropylene, based on the total weight of polyolefins in the polyolefin-containing co-product stream 140.

[0199]

[0199] The polyolefin-containing co-product stream contains PET in amounts of 10% by weight or less, 5% by weight or less, 2% by weight or less, 1% by weight or less, 0.75% by weight or less, 0.50% by weight or less, 0.25% by weight or less, 0.10% by weight or less, or 0.05% by weight or less, based on the total weight of the polyolefin-containing co-product stream 140. Furthermore, the polyolefin-containing co-product stream contains non-polyolefin components in amounts of at least 0.01, at least 0.05, at least 0.10, at least 0.50, at least 1, or at least 1.5% by weight and / or 40% by weight or less, 35% by weight or less, 30% by weight or less, 25% by weight or less, 20% by weight or less, 15% by weight or less, 10% by weight or less, 5% by weight or less, or 2% by weight or less, based on the total weight of the polyolefin-containing co-product stream 140.

[0200]

[0200] Overall, the polyolefin-containing co-product stream 140 contains at least 40, at least 45, at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, at least 95, or at least 99 weight percent of organic compounds based on the total weight of the polyolefin-containing co-product stream 140. The polyolefin-containing co-product stream 140 may contain at least 0.5, at least 1, at least 2, at least 3, at least 5, at least 10, or at least 15 weight percent and / or 40 weight percent or less, 35 weight percent or less, 30 weight percent or less, 25 weight percent or less, 20 weight percent or less, 15 weight percent or less, 10 weight percent or less, 5 weight percent or less, 2 weight percent or less, or 1 weight percent or less of inorganic components based on the total weight of the polyolefin-containing co-product stream 140.

[0201]

[0201] The polyolefin-containing co-product flow may contain, based on the total weight of the polyolefin-containing co-product flow 140, at least 0.1, at least 0.5, at least 1, at least 1.5, at least 2, at least 2.5, at least 3, at least 3.5, at least 4, at least 4.5, at least 5, at least 8, at least 10, at least 12, at least 15, at least 18, at least 20, at least 22, or at least 25 weight percent and / or 50 weight percent or less, 45 weight percent or less, 40 weight percent or less, 35 weight percent or less, 30 weight percent or less, 25 weight percent or less, 20 weight percent or less, 15 weight percent or less, 10 weight percent or less, 5 weight percent or less, or 2 weight percent or less of one or more non-reactive solids. Non-reactive solids refer to solid components that do not chemically react with PET. Examples of non-reactive solids, but not limited to, include sand, dirt, glass, plastic fillers, and combinations thereof.

[0202]

[0202] The polyolefin-containing co-product stream 140 contains, based on the total weight of the polyolefin co-product stream 140, at least 100, at least 250, at least 500, at least 750, at least 1000, at least 1500, at least 2000, at least 2500, at least 5000, at least 7500 ppm by weight or at least 1, at least 1.5, at least 2, at least 5, at least 10, at least 15, at least 20, or at least 25 percent by weight) and / or 50 percent by weight or less, 45 percent by weight or less, 40 percent by weight or less, 35 percent by weight or less, 30 percent by weight or less, 25 percent by weight or less, 20 percent by weight or less, 15 percent by weight or less, 10 percent by weight or less, 5 percent by weight or less, 2 percent by weight or less, or 1 percent by weight or less of one or more fillers. The polyolefin-containing co-product flow 140 may contain fillers in amounts of 100 ppm to 50 weight percent, 500 ppm to 10 weight percent, or 1000 ppm to 5 weight percent.

[0203]

[0203] Examples of fillers include, but are not limited to, thixotropic agents such as fumed silica and clay (kaolin), pigments, colorants, flame retardants such as alumina trihydrate, bromine, chlorine, borate, and phosphorus, inhibitors such as wax-based materials, UV inhibitors or stabilizers, conductive additives such as metal particles, carbon particles, or conductive fibers, release agents such as zinc stearate, wax, and silicone, calcium carbonate, and calcium sulfate.

[0204]

[0204] In one embodiment or in combination with any of the embodiments described herein, the flow 140 of the polyolefin-containing copolymer has a density, measured at 25° C, of at least 0.75, at least 0.80, at least 0.85, at least 0.90, at least 0.95, at least 0.99 g / cm 3 and / or 1.5 g / cm 3 Hereinafter, 1.4 g / cm 3 Hereinafter, 1.3 g / cm 3 Hereinafter, 1.2 g / cm 3 Hereinafter, 1.1 g / cm 3 Hereinafter, 1.05 g / cm 3 Hereinafter or 1.01 g / cm 3 Hereinafter and can have a density of 0.80 to 1.4, 0.90 to 1.2, or 0.95 to 1.1 g / cm 3It may be. When removed from the non-PET separation zone 208, the polyolefin-containing co-product stream 140 may have temperatures of at least 200, at least 205, at least 210, at least 215, at least 220, at least 225, at least 230, or at least 235°C and / or below 350°C, below 340°C, below 335°C, below 330°C, below 325°C, below 320°C, below 315°C, below 310°C, below 305°C, or below 300°C. The polyolefin-containing co-product stream 140 may contain at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, or at least 95 percent by weight of components with higher boiling points than the major terephthalyl or DMT, based on the total weight of the stream.

[0205]

[0205] As discussed in more detail herein, all or part of a polyolefin-containing co-product stream may be introduced into one or more downstream chemical recycling facilities, alone or in combination with one or more other co-product streams, streams generated from one or more other downstream chemical recycling facilities, and / or waste plastic streams including untreated, partially treated, and / or treated mixed plastic waste.

[0206]

[0206] Referring again to Figure 3, the PET-containing stream 138 (containing dissolved PET and its decomposition products) escaping the non-PET separation zone 208 (upstream of the reaction zone 210) may then be transferred to the reaction zone 210, where at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, or at least 95 percent of the decomposition of the PET introduced into the reaction zone occurs. In some embodiments, the reaction medium in the reaction zone 210 may be stirred or agitated, and one or more temperature control devices (e.g., heat exchangers) may be used to maintain the target reaction temperature. In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the target reactant temperature in the reaction zone 210 can be at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, or at least 85°C and / or 350°C or less, 345°C or less, 340°C or less, 335°C or less, 330°C or less, 325°C or less, 320°C or less, 315°C or less, 310°C or less, 300°C or less, or 295°C or less.

[0207]

[0207] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the solvolysis method may be a low-pressure solvolysis method, and the pressure in the solvolysis reactor (or reaction zone) 210 may be within 5 psi, 10 psi, 15 psi, 20 psi, 25 psi, 30 psi, 35 psi, 40 psi, 45 psi, or 50 psi of atmospheric pressure, or the pressure may be within 55 psi, 75 psi, 90 psi, 100 psi, 125 psi, 150 psi, 200 psi, or 250 psi of atmospheric pressure. The pressure inside the solvolysis reactor (or reaction zone) 210 may be within 0.35 bar gauge (bars) of air, within 0.70 bar, within 1 bar, within 1.4 bar, within 1.75 bar, within 2 bar, within 2.5 bar, within 2.75 bar, within 3 bar, within 3.5 bar, within 3.75 bar, within 5 bar or within 6.25 bar and / or 6.9 bar or less, 8.6 bar or less or 10.35 bar or less. The pressure inside the solvolysis reactor (or reaction zone) 210 may be at least 100 psig (6.7 barg), at least 150 psig (10.3 barg), at least 200 psig (13.8 barg), at least 250 psig (17.2 barg), at least 300 psig (20.7 barg), at least 350 psig (24.1 barg), at least 400 psig (27.5 barg) and / or 725 psig (50 barg) or less, 650 psig (44.7 barg) or less, 600 psig (41.3 barg) or less, 550 psig (37.8 barg) or less, 500 psig (34.5 barg) or less, 450 psig (31 barg) or less, 400 psig (27.6 barg) or less, or 350 psig (24.1 barg) or less.

[0208]

[0208] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the solvolysis method carried out in reaction zone 210 or facility 30 may be a high-pressure solvolysis method, where the pressure in the solvolysis reactor is at least 50 barg (725 psig), at least 70 barg (1015 psig), at least 75 barg (1088 psig), at least 80 barg (1161 psig), at least 85 barg (1233 psig), at least 90 barg (1307 psig), and at least 95 bar It can be g (1378 psig), at least 100 barg (1451 psig), at least 110 barg (1596 psig), at least 120 barg (1741 psig), or at least 125 barg (1814 psig) and / or 150 barg (2177 barg) or less, 145 barg (2104 psig) or less, 140 barg (2032 psig) or less, 135 barg (1959 psig) or less, 130 barg (1886 psig) or less, or 125 barg (1814 psig) or less.

[0209]

[0209] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the average residence time of the reaction medium in reaction zone 210 can be at least 1, at least 2, at least 5, at least 10, or at least 15 minutes and / or 12 hours or less, 11 hours or less, 10 hours or less, 9 hours or less, 8 hours or less, 7 hours or less, 6 hours or less, 5 hours or less, or 4 hours or less. At least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, at least 95, or at least 99 percent of the total weight of PET introduced into the solvolysis or methanolysis facility 30 can be decomposed in the reactor outflow 144 when leaving reaction zone 210.

[0210]

[0210] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the reactor purge flow 142 may be removed from the reaction zone 210 and at least a portion of it may be diverted as the reactor purge co-product flow 142 to one or more downstream facilities within the chemical recycling facility 10. The reactor purge co-product flow 142 may have a boiling point higher than the boiling point of the main terephthalyl (or DMT in the case of methanolysis) produced from the solvolysis facility 30.

[0211]

[0211] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the reactor purge co-product flow 142 may contain, based on the total weight of the flow 142, at least 25, at least 30, at least 35, at least 40, at least 45, at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, at least 95, or at least 99 weight percent of major terephthalyl. If the solvolysis facility is a methanolysis facility, the reactor purge co-product flow 142 may contain, based on the total weight of the flow 142, at least 1, at least 5, at least 10, at least 15, at least 20, at least 25, at least 30, at least 35, at least 40, at least 45, at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, at least 95, or at least 99 weight percent of DMT.

[0212]

[0212] In addition, the reactor purge co-product flow 142 may contain at least 100 ppm and 25 weight percent or less of one or more non-terephthalyl solids based on the total weight of the flow 142. In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the total amount of non-terephthalyl solids in the reactor purge co-product flow 142 is at least 150, at least 200, at least 250, at least 300, at least 350, at least 400, at least 500, at least 600, at least 700, at least 800, at least 900, at least 1000, at least 1500, at least 2000, at least 2500, at least 3000, at least 3500, at least 4000, and less than 1000, at least 1500, at least 2000, at least 2500, at least 3000, at least 3500, at least 4000, based on the total weight of the flow. At least 4500, at least 5000, at least 5500, at least 6000, at least 7000, at least 8000, at least 9000, at least 10,000, or at least 12,500 ppm and / or 25% by weight or less, 22% by weight or less, 20% by weight or less, 18% by weight or less, 15% by weight or less, 12% by weight or less, 10% by weight or less, 8% by weight or less, 5% by weight or less, 3% by weight or less, 2% by weight or less, or 1% by weight or less.

[0213]

[0213] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the reactor purge co-product flow 142 is at least 100, at least 250, at least 500, at least 750, at least 1000, at least 1500, at least 2000, at least 2500, at least 3000, at least 3500, at least 4000, at least 4500, at least 5000, at least 5500, at least 6000, at least 6500, at least 7000, at least 7500, at least 8000, at least 8500, at least 9000, based on the total weight of the flow. It has a total solids content of at least 9500 ppm by weight or at least 1, at least 2, at least 5, at least 8, at least 10, or at least 12 percent by weight and / or 25 percent by weight or less, 22 percent by weight or less, 20 percent by weight or less, 17 percent by weight or less, 15 percent by weight or less, 12 percent by weight or less, 10 percent by weight or less, 8 percent by weight or less, 6 percent by weight or less, 5 percent by weight or less, 3 percent by weight or less, 2 percent by weight or less, or 1 percent by weight or less, or 7500 ppm by weight or less, 5000 ppm by weight or less, or 2500 ppm by weight or less.

[0214]

[0214] Examples of solids include, but are not limited to, non-volatile catalyst compounds. In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the reactor purge coproduct flow may include at least 100, at least 250, at least 500, at least 750, at least 1000, at least 1500, at least 2000, at least 2500, at least 3000, at least 3500, at least 4000, at least 4500, at least 5000, at least 7500, at least 10,000, or at least 12,500 ppm and / or 60,000 ppm or less, 50,000 ppm or less, 40,000 ppm or less, 35,000 ppm or less, 30,000 ppm or less, 25,000 ppm or less, 20,000 ppm or less, 15,000 ppm or less, or 10,000 ppm or less of non-volatile catalyst metals.

[0215]

[0215] Examples of suitable non-volatile catalyst metals, but not limited to these, include titanium, zinc, manganese, lithium, magnesium, sodium, methoxide, alkali metals, alkaline earth metals, tin, residual esterification or transesterification catalysts, residual polycondensation catalysts, aluminum, depolymerization catalysts, and combinations thereof. As discussed in further detail herein, all or part of the reactor purge co-product flow 142 may be introduced into one or more downstream chemical recycling facilities, alone or in combination with one or more other co-product flows, flows generated from one or more other downstream chemical recycling facilities, and / or waste plastic flows containing untreated, partially treated, and / or treated mixed plastic waste.

[0216]

[0216] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, as generally shown in Figure 3, the effluent 144 from the reaction zone 210 in the solvolysis facility 30 may optionally be sent through a non-PET separation zone 208 located downstream of the reactor, as previously discussed. The generated effluent 144 from the reactor, or if present, the non-PET separation zone 208, may also pass through a product separation zone 220, and at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, at least 95, or at least 99 percent by weight of heavy organic matter will be separated from the feed stream 144 to form a stream 146 mainly of light organic matter and a stream 148 of heavy organic matter. Any suitable method can be used to separate such streams, and any suitable method may include, for example, distillation, extraction, decanting, crystallization, membrane separation, solid / liquid separation, for example, filtration (e.g., belt filter), and combinations thereof.

[0217]

[0217] As shown in Figure 3, the heavy organic matter stream 148 that has left the product separation zone 220 may contain, for example, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, at least 95, or at least 99 percent by weight of heavy organic components based on the total weight of the stream, which can be introduced into the heavy organic matter separation zone 240. In the heavy organic matter separation zone 240, the main terephthalyl product stream 158 may be separated from the terephthalyl bottom or "sludge" co-product stream 160. Such separation can be achieved, for example, by distillation, extraction, decantation, membrane separation, melt crystallization, zone refining, and combinations thereof. As a result, a flow 158 is obtained that contains at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, at least 95, or at least 99 weight percent of major terephthalyl (or DMT) based on the total weight of the flow. In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, at least a portion or all of the major terephthalyl may include recycled component terephthalyl (r-terephthalyl), for example, recycled component DMT (r-DMT).

[0218]

[0218] Also leaving the heavy organic matter separation zone 240 is the terephthalyl bottom-end co-product flow (also called the "terephthalyl column bottom-end co-product flow," "terephthalyl sludge co-product flow," or "terephthalyl dreg co-product flow"), and the co-product flow 160 can also be removed from the heavy organic matter separation zone 240. If the solvolysis facility is a methanolysis facility, the flow can be called the DMT bottom-end co-product flow, the DMT column bottom-end co-product flow, the DMT sludge co-product flow, or the DMT dreg flow.

[0219]

[0219] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the co-product flow may include an oligomer, such as a PET oligomer, containing a polyester portion that undergoes solvolysis in an amount of, for example, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, at least 92, at least 95, at least 97, at least 98, at least 99, or at least 99.5 percent by weight, based on the total weight of the composition. As used herein, the terms “polyester portion” or “polyester portion” refer to a polyester portion or residue, or a reaction product of a polyester portion or residue. These oligomers may have a number-average chain length of at least 2, at least 3, at least 4, at least 5, at least 6, at least 7, or at least 8 monomer units (acid + glycol) and / or 30 or fewer, 27 or fewer, 25 or fewer, 22 or fewer, 20 or fewer, 17 or fewer, 15 or fewer, 12 or fewer, or 10 or fewer monomer units (acid + glycol), and may include a treated polyester portion (e.g., PET).

[0220]

[0220] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the coproduct stream 160 at the bottom of the terephthalyl column (or DMT column) may include oligomers and at least one substituted terephthalyl component. As used herein, the term “substituted terephthalyl” means a terephthalyl component having at least one substituted atom or group. The terephthalyl column bottom-compound flow 160 may contain, based on the total weight of the terephthalyl column bottom-compound flow 160, at least 1, at least 100, at least 500 weight parts pervilions, or at least 1, at least 50, at least 1,000, at least 2,500, at least 5,000, at least 7,500, or at least 10,000 weight parts permillions, or at least 1, at least 2, or at least 5 weight percent and / or 25 weight percent or less, 20 weight percent or less, 15 weight percent or less, 10 weight percent or less, 5 weight percent or less, 2 weight percent or less, 1 weight percent or less, 0.5 weight percent or less, 0.1 weight percent or less, or 0.01 weight percent or less of substituted terephthalyl components.

[0221]

[0221] As discussed in more detail herein, all or part of the terephthalyl column bottom co-product flow 160 may be introduced into one or more downstream chemical recycling facilities, alone, or in combination with one or more other co-product flows, flows generated from one or more other downstream chemical recycling facilities, and / or waste plastic flows including untreated, partially treated, and / or treated mixed plastic waste.

[0222]

[0222] Referring again to Figure 3, the stream 146 mainly of light organic matter from the product separation zone 220 may be introduced into the light organic matter separation zone 230. In the light organic matter separation zone 230, the stream 146 may be separated to remove the main solvent (e.g., methanol in methanolysis) and separate the main glycol (e.g., ethylene glycol in methanolysis) from lighter and heavier organic co-products (or co-products) than the main glycol.

[0223]

[0223] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the solvent stream 150 that has left the light organic matter separation zone 230 may contain at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, at least 95, or at least 99 weight percent of the main solvent, based on the total weight of the stream 150. If the solvolysis facility 30 is a methanolysis facility, the stream 150 may contain at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, at least 95, or at least 99 weight percent of methanol, based on the total weight of the stream. All or part of the stream may be recycled to one or more locations within the solvolysis facility for further use.

[0224]

[0224] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the stream 152 of at least one light organic solvolysis coproduct (also called the “light organic” stream) can also be released from the light organic separation zone 230 and may contain at least 40, at least 45, at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, or at least 95 weight percent of components having a boiling point lower than the boiling point of the major terephthalyl (or DMT) which is neither the major glycol (or ethylene glycol) nor the major solvent (or methanol). Furthermore, or in alternative methods, the co-product stream may contain components having a boiling point higher than the boiling point of DMT, such as 60% by weight or less, 55% by weight or less, 50% by weight or less, 45% by weight or less, 40% by weight or less, 35% by weight or less, 30% by weight or less, 25% by weight or less, 20% by weight or less, 15% by weight or less, 10% by weight or less, 5% by weight or less, 3% by weight or less, 2% by weight or less, and 1% by weight or less, and the stream 152 itself may have a boiling point lower than the boiling point of the main terephthalyl (or DMT).

[0225]

[0225] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the stream 152 of light organic solvolysis coproducts may be produced in a solvolysis facility containing a primary solvent (e.g., methanol). For example, the stream 152 of light organic solvolysis coproducts may contain at least 2, at least 5, at least 10, at least 15, at least 20, at least 25, at least 30, at least 35, at least 40, at least 45, at least 50, or at least 55 weight percent and / or 90 weight percent or less, 85 weight percent or less, 80 weight percent or less, 75 weight percent or less, 70 weight percent or less, 65 weight percent or less, 60 weight percent or less, 55 weight percent or less, 50 weight percent or less, 45 weight percent or less, 40 weight percent or less, 35 weight percent or less, or 30 weight percent or less of a primary solvent.

[0226]

[0226] In addition, the co-product stream 152 also contains acetaldehyde at a concentration of at least 1, at least 5, at least 10, at least 50, at least 100, at least 250, at least 500, at least 750, or at least 1000 ppm and / or 90% by weight or less, 85% by weight or less, 80% by weight or less, 75% by weight or less, 70% by weight or less, 65% by weight or less, 60% by weight or less, 55% by weight or less, 50% by weight or less, 45% by weight or less, and 40% by weight. It may contain less than or equal to 35% by weight, 30% by weight, 25% by weight, 20% by weight, 15% by weight, 10% by weight, 5% by weight, 3% by weight, 2% by weight, 1% by weight, 0.5% by weight, 0.1% by weight or less, or 0.05% by weight or less, or acetaldehyde may be present in amounts of 1 ppm to 50% by weight, 50 ppm to 0.5% by weight, or 100 ppm to 0.05% by weight, based on the total weight of the co-product flow.

[0227]

[0227] Furthermore, the stream of light organic co-products 152 also contains, based on the total weight of the co-product stream, at least 1, at least 5, at least 10, at least 50, at least 100, at least 250, at least 500, at least 750, or at least 1000 ppm and / or 60 weight percent or less, 55 weight percent or less, 50 weight percent or less, 45 weight percent or less, 40 weight percent or less, 35 weight percent or less, 30 weight percent or less, It may be included in amounts of 25% by weight or less, 20% by weight or less, 15% by weight or less, 10% by weight or less, 5% by weight or less, 3% by weight or less, 2% by weight or less, 1% by weight or less, 0.5% by weight or less, 0.1% by weight or less, or 0.05% by weight or less, or p-dioxane may be present in amounts of 1 ppm to 50% by weight, 50 ppm to 0.5% by weight, or 100 ppm to 0.05% by weight, based on the total weight of the co-product flow.

[0228]

[0228] This light organic co-product flow 152 is tetrahydrofuran (THF), methyl acetate, silicate, 2,5-methyldioxolane, 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol, 2-ethyl-1-hexanol, 2,2,4,4-tetramethyl-1,3-cyclobutanediol, 2,2,4-trimethyl-3-pentenal, 2,2,4-trimethyl-3-pentenol, 2,2,4-trimethylpentane, 2,4-dimethyl-3-pentanone (DIPK), i Isobutyl butyrate, methyl formate, n-butanol, acetic acid, dibutyl ether, heptane, dibutyl terephthalate, dimethyl phthalate, dimethyl 1,4-cyclohexane dicarboxylate, 2-methoxyethanol, 2-methyl-1,3-dioxolane, 1,1-dimethoxy-2-butene, 1,1-dimethoxyethane, 1,3-propanediol, 2,5-dimethyl-1,3,5-hexadiene, 2,5-dimethyl-2,4-hexadiene, alpha-methylstyrene, diethyl The material may further contain at least one additional component selected from the group consisting of methyl ethylene glycol ether, diethylene glycol formal, dimethoxydimethylsilane, dimethyl ether, diisopropyl ketone, EG benzoate, hexamethylcyclotrisiloxane, hexamethyldisiloxane, methoxytrimethylsilane, methyl 4-ethyl benzoate, methyl caprylate, methyl glycolate, methyl lactate, methyl laurate, methyl methoxyethyl terephthalate, methyl nonanoate, methyl oleate, methyl palmitate, methyl stearate, methyl-4-acetyl benzoate, octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane, styrene, trimethylsilanol, 1,1-dimethoxy(dimethyoxy)-2-butene, 4-methylmorpholine, 1,3,3-trimethoxypropane, methyl myristate, dimethyl adipate, N-methyl-caprolactam, dimethyl azelaate, neopentyl glycol, and combinations thereof.

[0229]

[0229] As discussed in more detail herein, all or part of a stream(s) of light organic co-products may be introduced into one or more downstream chemical recycling facilities, either alone or in combination with one or more other co-product streams, streams generated from one or more other downstream chemical recycling facilities, and / or streams of waste plastics including mixed plastic waste (untreated, partially treated, or treated).

[0230]

[0230] Furthermore, the stream 154, which mainly contains major glycols, can also be separated from the light organic matter separation zone 230. In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the stream 154 of major glycols (e.g., ethylene glycol) can contain at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, at least 95, or at least 99 weight percent of major glycol, based on the total weight of the stream 154. The stream 154 of major glycols can also contain recycled components, such that the stream 154 of major glycol products has at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, or at least 95 weight percent of recycled components, based on the total weight of the stream. The major glycol (or ethylene glycol) can contain r-glycol (or r-ethylene glycol).

[0231]

[0231] As shown in Figure 3, the glycol-containing column bottom co-product stream 156 can also deviate from the light organic matter separation zone 230. The terms “glycol column bottom” or “glycol column sludge” (or, more specifically, EG column bottom or EG column sludge in methanolysis) refer to components (or azeotropes) having a boiling point higher than that of the major glycol and lower than that of the major terephthalyl.

[0232]

[0232] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the glycol column bottom co-product stream 156 may contain at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, or at least 95 weight percent of components having a boiling point higher than the boiling point of the main glycol (e.g., ethylene glycol) and a boiling point lower than the boiling point of the main terephthalyl. The glycol column bottom co-product stream 156 may contain 60 weight percent or less, 55 weight percent or less, 50 weight percent or less, 45 weight percent or less, 40 weight percent or less, 35 weight percent or less, 30 weight percent or less, 25 weight percent or less, 20 weight percent or less, 15 weight percent or less, 10 weight percent or less, 5 weight percent or less, 2 weight percent or less, or 1 weight percent or less of components having a boiling point lower than the boiling point of the main glycol (e.g., ethylene glycol). The glycol bottom-of-column co-product stream 156 may have a boiling point higher than that of the major glycol (e.g., EG) and a boiling point lower than that of the major terephthalyl (e.g., DMT).

[0233]

[0233] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the glycol bottom co-product stream 156 may include a major glycol and at least one other glycol. For example, the glycol column bottom co-product stream 156 may include at least 0.5, at least 1, at least 2, at least 3, at least 5, or at least 8 weight percent and / or 30 weight percent or less, 25 weight percent or less, 20 weight percent or less, 15 weight percent or less, 12 weight percent or less, or 10 weight percent or less of major glycol (or ethylene glycol) based on the total weight of the co-product stream 156. The major glycol (or ethylene glycol) may exist on its own (in a free state) or as part of another compound.

[0234]

[0234] Examples of other possible major glycols (depending on the PET or other polymer being processed) include, but are not limited to, diethylene glycol, triethylene glycol, 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol, propane-1,3-diol, butane-1,4-diol, pentane-1,5-diol, hexane-1,6-diol, neopentyl glycol, 3-methylpentanediol-(2,4), 2-methylpentanediol-(1,4), 2,2,4-trimethylpentane-diol-(1,3), 2-ethylhexanediol-(1,3), 2,2-diethylpropane- Examples include diol-(1,3), hexanediol-(1,3), 1,4-di-(hydroxyethoxy)-benzene, 2,2-bis-(4-hydroxycyclohexyl)-propane, 2,4-dihydroxy-1,1,3,3-tetramethylcyclobutane, 2,2,4,4-tetramethylcyclobutanediol, 2,2-bis-(3-hydroxyethoxyphenyl)-propane, 2,2-bis-(4-hydroxypropoxyphenyl)-propane, isosorbide, hydroquinone, BDS-(2,2-(sulfonylbis)4,1-phenyleneoxy))bis(ethanol), and combinations thereof. Other glycols may be ethylene glycol or not contain ethylene glycol. These glycol portions may also be present in any oligomer of polyester in this or other co-product streams. Furthermore, other non-terephthalyl and / or non-glycol components may also be present in these streams. Examples of such components include isophthalates and other acid residues that have higher boiling points than the main component, terephthalyl.

[0235]

[0235] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, glycols other than the main glycol (or ethylene glycol in the case of methanolysis) may be present in the glycol column bottom co-product stream 156 in amounts of at least 15, at least 20, at least 25, at least 30, at least 35, at least 40, at least 45, at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, or at least 75 weight percent and / or 99 weight percent or less, 95 weight percent or less, 90 weight percent or less, 85 weight percent or less, 80 weight percent or less, 75 weight percent or less, 70 weight percent or less, 65 weight percent or less, 60 weight percent or less, 55 weight percent or less, 50 weight percent or less, 45 weight percent or less, 40 weight percent or less or 35 weight percent or less, based on the total weight of glycol in the glycol column bottom co-product stream 156.

[0236]

[0236] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the weight ratio of at least one glycol other than the main glycol in the glycol column bottom co-product stream 156 to the main glycol is at least 0.5:1, at least 0.55:1, at least 0.65:1, at least 0.70:1, at least 0.75:1, at least 0.80:1, at least 0.85:1, at least 0.90:1, at least 0.95:1, at least 0.97:1, at least 0.99:1, at least 1:1, at least 1.05:1, at least 1.1:1, at least 1.15:1, at least 1.2:1, or at least 1.25:1. Furthermore, or in an alternative method, the weight ratio of at least one glycol other than the major glycol to the major glycol in the glycol column bottom-component stream 156 is in the range of 5:1 or less, 4.5:1 or less, 4:1 or less, 3.5:1 or less, 3:1 or less, 2.5:1 or less, 2:1 or less, 1.5:1 or less, 1.25:1 or less, or 1:1 or less, or in the range of 0.5:1 to 5:1, 0.70:1 to 3:1, or 0.80:1 to 2.5:1.

[0237]

[0237] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, the solvolysis facility 30 can generate two or more co-product flows, which may include two or more heavy organic co-product flows, two or more light organic co-product flows, or a combination of light and heavy organic co-product flows. All or part of one or more solvolysis co-product flows (shown in flow 110 in Figure 1) may be introduced into at least one downstream treatment facility, which may include, for example, a pyrolysis facility 60, a cracking facility 70, a POX gasification facility 50, an energy recovery facility 80, and any other optional facilities described previously.

[0238]

[0238] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, two or more (or two or more partial) solvolysis co-product flows may be introduced into the same downstream processing facility, but in other cases, two or more (or two or more partial) solvolysis co-product flows may be introduced into different downstream processing facilities. In some embodiments, at least 90, at least 95, at least 97, at least 99 weight percent, or all of a single co-product flow may be introduced into one downstream facility, and in other embodiments, the flow may be divided into two or more downstream facilities, such that 60 weight percent or less, 55 weight percent or less, 50 weight percent or less, 45 weight percent or less, 40 weight percent or less, 35 weight percent or less, or 30 weight percent or less of a single co-product flow may be introduced into one of the downstream processing facilities.

[0239]

[0239] Referring again to Figure 1, in one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein, at least a portion of the stream 110 of at least one solvolysis co-product may be combined with at least a portion of the PO-rich plastic stream 114 that has been removed from the pretreatment facility 20, as shown in Figure 1. The amount of a single co-product stream 110 (or all co-product streams if two or more are combined) in the combined stream having the PO-rich plastic may vary, based on the total weight of the combined stream, for example, at least 1, at least 5, at least 10, at least 15, at least 20, at least 25, at least 30, at least 35, at least 40, at least 45, or at least 50 weight percent and / or 90 weight percent or less, 85 weight percent or less, 80 weight percent or less, 75 weight percent or less, 70 weight percent or less, 65 weight percent or less, 60 weight percent or less, 55 weight percent or less, 50 weight percent or less or 40 weight percent or less. As shown in Figure 1, the combined flow may then be introduced into one or more locations within the chemical recycling facility, including, for example, a POX gasification facility 50, a pyrolysis facility 60, a cracker facility 70, and / or an energy generation facility 80.

[0240] Liquefaction / Halogenation

[0240] As shown in Figure 1, the PO-rich waste plastic stream 114 (combined with or not combined with the solvolysis co-product stream 110) may be introduced into a liquefaction zone or step before being introduced into one or more downstream treatment facilities. As used herein, the term “liquefaction” zone or step means a chemical treatment zone or step in which at least a portion of the incoming plastic is liquefied. The step of liquefying the plastic may include chemical liquefaction, physical liquefaction, or a combination thereof. Exemplary methods of liquefying a polymer introduced into the liquefaction zone may include (i) heating / melting; (ii) dissolving in a solvent; (iii) depolymerizing; (iv) plasticizing, and combinations thereof. Furthermore, one or more of the options (i) to (iv) may also be accompanied by the addition of compounding agents or liquefaction agents to help promote the liquefaction (reduction of viscosity) of the polymer material. Thus, various rheological modifiers (e.g., solvents, depolymerizers, plasticizers, and compounding agents) can be used to improve the flow and / or dispersibility of the liquefied waste plastic.

[0241]

[0241] When added to the liquefaction zone 40, at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, at least 95, or at least 99 percent by weight of the plastic (usually waste plastic) undergoes a decrease in viscosity. In some cases, the decrease in viscosity can be accelerated by heating (e.g., by adding steam in direct or indirect contact with the plastic), but in other cases, it can be accelerated by combining it with a solvent that can dissolve the plastic. Examples of suitable solvents, but are not limited to, alcohols such as methanol or ethanol, glycols such as ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, triethylene glycol, neopentyl glycol, cyclohexanedimethanol, glycerin, pyrolysis oil, motor oil, and water. As shown in Figure 1, the solvent stream 141 can be added directly to the liquefaction zone 40 or combined with one or more streams (not shown in Figure 1) supplied to the liquefaction zone 40.

[0242]

[0242] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the solvent may include a stream drawn from one or more other facilities within the chemical recycling facility. For example, the solvent may include a stream drawn from at least one of the solvolysis facility 30, the pyrolysis facility 60, and the cracking facility 70. The solvent may be or include at least one of the solvolysis coproducts described herein, or it may be or include a pyrolysis oil.

[0243]

[0243] In some cases, the plastic may be depolymerized such that the number mean chain length of the plastic is reduced, for example by contact with a depolymerizer. In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, at least one of the previously listed solvents may be used as a depolymerizer, but in one or more other embodiments, the depolymerizer may be an organic acid (e.g., acetic acid, citric acid, butyric acid, formic acid, lactic acid, oleic acid, oxalic acid, stearic acid, tartaric acid, and / or uric acid) or an inorganic acid such as sulfuric acid (for polyolefins). The depolymerizer may reduce the melting point and / or viscosity of the polymer by reducing the number mean chain length.

[0244]

[0244] Alternatively, or in addition, plasticizers can be used in the liquefaction zone to reduce the viscosity of the plastic. Plasticizers for polyethylene include, for example, dioctyl phthalate, dioctyl terephthalate, glyceryl tribenzoate, polyethylene glycol with a molecular weight of 8,000 daltons or less, sunflower oil, paraffin wax with a molecular weight of 400 to 1,000 daltons, paraffinic oils, mineral oil, glycerin, EPDM, and EVA. Plasticizers for polypropylene include, for example, dioctyl sebacate, paraffinic oils, isooctyl tallate, plasticizing oil (Drakeol 34), naphthenic and aromatic processed oils, and glycerin. Plasticizers for polyesters include, for example, polyalkylene ethers with molecular weights ranging from 400 to 1500 daltons (e.g., polyethylene glycol, polytetramethylene glycol, polypropylene glycol, or mixtures thereof), glyceryl monostearate, octyl epoxy soyate, epoxidized soybean oil, epoxy talate, epoxidized linseed oil, polyhydroxyalkanoates, glycols (e.g., ethylene glycol, pentamethylene glycol, hexamethylene glycol, etc.), phthalates, terephthalates, trimellitates, and polyethylene glycol di-(2-ethylhexoate). When used, the plasticizer may be present in amounts of at least 0.1, at least 0.5, at least 1, at least 2, or at least 5 weight percent and / or 10, 8, 5, 3, 2, or 1 weight percent or less relative to the total weight of the flow, or in the range of 0.1 to 10 weight percent, 0.5 to 8 weight percent, or 1 to 5 weight percent relative to the total weight of the flow.

[0245]

[0245] Furthermore, one or more methods for liquefying a waste plastic stream may also include adding at least one compounding agent to the plastic before, during, or after the liquefaction process. Such compounding agents may include, for example, emulsifiers and / or surfactants, which can help to blend the liquefied plastic into a single phase, in particular when density differences between the plastic components of the plastic stream being mixed result in multiple liquid or semi-liquid phases. When used, the compounding agent may be present in an amount of at least 0.1, at least 0.5, at least 1, at least 2, or at least 5 weight percent and / or 10 or less, 8 or less, 5 or less, 3 or less, 2 or less, or 1 weight percent or less relative to the total weight of the stream, or in the range of 0.1 to 10 weight percent, 0.5 to 8 weight percent, or 1 to 5 weight percent relative to the total weight of the stream.

[0246]

[0246] When combined with a PO-rich plastic stream 114 as generally shown in Figure 1, a solvolysis co-product stream (which may include one or more solvolysis co-products described herein) may be added before the introduction of the PO-rich waste plastic stream 114 into the liquefaction zone 40 (indicated by line 113) and / or after the liquefied plastic stream is removed from the liquefaction zone 40 (indicated by line 115). In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, at least a portion or all of one or more co-product streams may also be introduced directly into the liquefaction zone as shown in Figure 1. In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, at least a portion of the PO-rich waste plastic stream 114 can be routed completely around the liquefaction zone 40 via line 117 and may optionally be combined with at least one solvolysis co-product stream 110 as similarly shown in Figure 1.

[0247]

[0247] In addition, as shown in Figure 1, a portion of the pyrolysis oil stream 143 drawn from the pyrolysis facility 60 can be combined with a PO-rich plastic stream 114 to form a liquefied plastic. Although shown to be introduced directly into the liquefaction zone 40, all or a portion of the pyrolysis oil stream 143 may be combined with the PO-rich plastic stream 114 before introduction into the liquefaction zone 40, or after the PO-rich plastic stream 114 has left the liquefaction zone 40. When used, the pyrolysis oil can be added alone or in combination with one or more other solvent streams at one or more locations as described herein.

[0248]

[0248] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any embodiment described herein, the feed stream from the liquefaction zone 40 to one or more downstream chemical recycling facilities may include one or more solvolytic co-products in a feed stream of at least 1, at least 5, at least 10, at least 15, at least 20, at least 25, at least 30, at least 35, at least 40, at least 45, at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, or at least 95 percent by weight of the feed stream introduced to one or more downstream processing facilities. For example, the feed streams 116, 118, 120, and 122 to each of the POX facility 50, pyrolysis facility 60, cracking facility 70, energy recovery facility 80, and / or other facilities 90 of the chemical recycling facility 10 may contain PO-rich waste plastics and some amount of one or more solvolytic co-products described herein.

[0249]

[0249] In addition, or otherwise, the feed stream to the pyrolysis facility 60, POX facility 50, cracking facility 70, energy recovery facility 80, and / or other facilities 90 may contain one or more solvolysis co-product streams in an amount of 95% or less, 90% or less, 85% or less, 80% or less, 75% or less, 70% or less, 65% or less, 60% or less, 55% or less, 50% or less, 45% or less, 40% or less, 35% or less, 30% or less, 25% or less, 20% or less, 15% or less, 10% or less, 5% or less, 2% or less, or 1% or less by weight of the total weight of the feed stream introduced into one or more downstream processing facilities.

[0250]

[0250] Alternatively, or in addition, the liquefied (or reduced viscosity) plastic flow drawn out from the liquefaction zone 40 may contain PO of at least 1, at least 5, at least 10, at least 15, at least 20, at least 25, at least 30, at least 35, at least 40, at least 45, at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, or at least 95 weight percent and / or 95 or less, 90 or less, 85 or less, 80 or less, 75 or less, 70 or less, 65 or less, 60 or less, 55 or less, 50 or less, 45 or less, 40 or less, 35 or less, 30 or less, 25 or less, 20 or less, 15 or less, 10 or less, 5 or less, 2 or less, or 1 weight percent or less, or the amount of PO may be in the range of 1 to 95 weight percent, 5 to 90 weight percent, or 10 to 85 weight percent, relative to the total weight of the flow.

[0251]

[0251] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any embodiment described herein, the liquefied plastic flow exiting the liquefaction zone 40 may have a viscosity of less than 3,000, less than 2,500, less than 2,000, less than 1,500, less than 1,000, less than 800, less than 750, less than 700, less than 650, less than 600, less than 550, less than 500, less than 450, less than 400, less than 350, less than 300, less than 250, less than 150, less than 100, less than 75, less than 50, less than 25, less than 10, less than 5, or less than 1 poise, as measured using a Brookfield R / S rheometer having a V80-40 vane spindle operating at a shear rate of 10 rad / s and a temperature of 350°C. In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the viscosity of the liquefied plastic flow exiting the liquefaction zone (measured at 350°C and 10 rad / s and expressed in poise) is 95% or less, 90% or less, 75% or less, 50% or less, 25% or less, 10% or less, 5% or less, or 1% or less of the viscosity of the PO-rich flow introduced into the liquefaction zone.

[0252]

[0252] Figure 6 shows the basic components of a liquefaction system that may be used as the liquefaction zone 40 of the chemical recycling facility shown in Figure 1. Figure 6 should be understood as showing an exemplary embodiment of the liquefaction system. Some features shown in Figure 6 may be omitted, and / or additional features described elsewhere in this specification may be added to the system depicted in Figure 6.

[0253]

[0253] As shown in Figure 6, a waste plastic feed such as the PO-rich waste plastic stream 114 may originate from a waste plastic source such as the pretreatment facility 20 described herein. The waste plastic feed such as the PO-rich waste plastic stream 114 may be introduced into a liquefaction zone 40 depicted in Figure 6, which includes at least one melting tank 310, at least one circulating loop pump 312, at least one external heat exchanger 340, at least one stripping column 330, and at least one release container 320. These various exemplary components in the liquefaction zone 40 and their functionality will be discussed in more detail below.

[0254]

[0254] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, and as shown in Figure 6, the liquefaction zone 40 includes a melting tank 310 and a heater. The melting tank 310 receives a waste plastic feed, such as a PO-rich waste plastic stream 114, and the heater heats the waste plastic. In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the melting tank 310 may include one or more continuously agitated tanks. When one or more rheological modifiers (e.g., solvents, depolymerizers, plasticizers, and compounding agents) are used in the liquefaction zone, such rheological modifiers may be added to and / or mixed with the PO-rich plastic in or before the melting tank 310.

[0255]

[0255] In one embodiment or in combination with any embodiment described herein (not shown in Figure 6), the heater of the liquefaction zone 40 may take the form of an internal heat exchange coil located within the molten tank 310, an external casing of the molten tank 310, a heat trace outside the molten tank 310, and / or an electric heating element outside the molten tank 310. Alternatively, as shown in Figure 6, the heater of the liquefaction zone 40 may include an external heat exchanger 340 that receives a flow of liquefied plastic 171 from the molten tank 310, heats it, and returns at least a portion of the liquefied and heated plastic flow 173 to the molten tank 310.

[0256]

[0256] As shown in Figure 6, when an external heat exchanger 340 is used to provide heat for the liquefaction zone 40, a circulation loop can be used to continuously heat the PO-rich material. In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the circulation loop includes a melting tank 310, an external heat exchanger 340, a conduit shown as a line 171 connecting the melting tank and the external heat exchanger, and a pump 151 for circulating the liquefied waste plastic into the circulation loop. When the circulation loop is used, the liquefied PO-rich material produced can be continuously drawn out of the liquefaction zone 40 via the conduit 161 shown in Figure 6 as part of a circulating PO-rich flow.

[0257]

[0257] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the liquefaction zone 40 may optionally include equipment for removing halogens from the PO-rich material. When the PO-rich material is heated in the liquefaction zone 40, halogen-rich gases may be generated. By releasing the emitted halogen-rich gases from the liquefied PO-rich material, the halogen concentration in the PO-rich material can be reduced.

[0258]

[0258] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, dehalogenation can be facilitated by spraying a stripping gas (e.g., steam) into a material rich in liquefied PO, either within the melting tank 310 or at another location in the circulation loop. As shown in Figure 6, the stripper 330 and the release container 320 may be provided in the circulation loop downstream of the external heat exchanger 340 and upstream of the melting tank 310. As shown in Figure 6, the stripper 330 can receive a liquefied and heated plastic flow 173 from the external heat exchanger 340 and provide spraying of the stripping gas 153 into the liquefied plastic. Spraying of the stripping gas 153 into the liquefied plastic can create a two-phase medium within the stripper 330.

[0259]

[0259] The two-phase medium introduced into the release vessel 320 via flow 175 can then flow through the release vessel 320 (for example, by gravity), in which the halogen-rich gaseous phase is released from the halogen-depleted liquid phase and taken out of the release vessel 320 via flow 162. Alternatively, a portion of the liquefied and heated plastic 173 from the external heat exchanger 340 may bypass the stripper 330 and be introduced directly into the release vessel 320. In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, a first portion of the halogen-depleted liquid phase discharged from the outlet of the release vessel can be returned to the melt tank 310 via line 159, while a second portion of the halogen-depleted liquid phase can be discharged from the liquefaction zone as a PO-rich, liquefied, and dehalogenated product flow 161. The halogen-rich gas streams released from the release container 162 and the melting tank 310 can be taken out of the liquefaction zone 40 in line 164 for further processing and / or disposal.

[0260]

[0260] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the liquefied and dehalogenated waste plastic stream 161 exiting the liquefaction zone 40 may have a halogen content of less than 500, less than 400, less than 300, less than 200, less than 100, less than 50, less than 10, less than 5, less than 2, less than 1, less than 0.5, or less than 0.1 ppmw. The halogen content of the liquefied plastic stream 161 exiting the liquefaction zone 40 is 95% or less, 90% or less, 75% or less, 50% or less, 25% or less, 10% or less, or 5% by weight percent or less of the halogen content of the PO-rich stream introduced into the liquefaction zone.

[0261]

[0261] As shown in Figure 6, at least a portion of the liquefied and dehalogenated waste plastic stream 161 may be introduced into a POX gasifier of a downstream POX gasification facility 50 to produce a synthesis gas composition, and / or into a pyrolysis reactor of a downstream pyrolysis facility 60 to produce pyrolysis vapor (i.e., pyrolysis gas and pyrolysis oil) and pyrolysis residue. Alternatively, or in addition, at least a portion of the liquefied and dehalogenated waste plastic stream 161 may be introduced into an energy recovery facility 80 and / or one or more other facilities 90, such as a separation or solidification facility.

[0262]

[0262] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the chemical recycling facility 10 may not include the liquefaction zone 40. Alternatively, the chemical recycling facility may include the liquefaction zone 40 but may not include any kind of dehalogenation zone or equipment.

[0263] Referring again to FIG. 1, at least a portion of the plastic stream 114 rich in PO from the pretreatment facility 20 and / or the liquefaction zone 40 can be introduced (alone or in combination with one or more of the co - pyrolysis co - product streams 110) into one or more downstream processing facilities, including, for example, a pyrolysis facility 60, a cracking facility 70, a POX gasification facility 50, an energy recovery facility 80, and any other optional facilities 90 discussed in detail below.

[0264] Pyrolysis In one embodiment or an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the chemical recycling facility 10 shown generally in FIG. 1 can include a pyrolysis facility. As used herein, the term "pyrolysis" refers to the thermal decomposition of one or more organic materials at elevated temperature in an inert (i.e., substantially oxygen - free) atmosphere. A "pyrolysis facility" is a facility that includes all of the equipment, lines, and control devices necessary to carry out the pyrolysis of waste plastics and feedstocks derived therefrom.

[0265] FIG. 7 shows an exemplary pyrolysis facility 60 for converting a waste plastic stream 116, such as liquefied waste plastics from the liquefaction zone, into pyrolysis gas, pyrolysis oil, and pyrolysis residue. It should be understood that FIG. 7 shows one exemplary embodiment of the present technology. Thus, some of the features shown in FIG. 7 may be omitted and / or additional features described elsewhere herein may be added to the system shown in FIG. 7.

[0266]

[0266] In one embodiment or an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the feed stream 116 to the pyrolysis facility 60 can include (i) at least one of the previously described co - product streams from the solvolysis, and (ii) at least one stream rich in the PO of the waste plastic. One or more of these streams may be introduced continuously into the pyrolysis facility 60, or one or more of these streams may be introduced intermittently. When there are multiple types of feed streams, each may be introduced separately, or all or a portion of the streams may be combined and this combined stream may be introduced into the pyrolysis facility 60. The combination, when performed, can be carried out continuously or batch - wise. The feed introduced into the pyrolysis facility 60 can be in the form of liquefied plastic (e.g., liquefied, melted, plasticized, depolymerized, or combinations thereof), plastic pellets or fine particles, or a slurry thereof.

[0267]

[0267] Generally, as depicted in FIG. 7, the pyrolysis facility 60 includes a pyrolysis reactor 510 and a separation device 520 for separating the product stream from the reactor. Although not depicted in FIG. 7, the separation device 520 of the pyrolysis facility 60 can include various types of equipment including, but not limited to, a filter system, a multi - stage separation device, a condenser, and / or a quench tower.

[0268]

[0268] In the pyrolysis reactor 510, at least a portion of the feed can be subjected to a pyrolysis reaction that produces a pyrolysis effluent comprising pyrolysis oil, pyrolysis gas, and pyrolysis residue. As used herein, the term “pyrolysis gas” refers to a composition obtained from pyrolysis that is a gas at 25°C and 1 atm. As used herein, the term “pyrolysis oil” or “pyrolysis oil” refers to a composition obtained from pyrolysis that is a liquid at 25°C and 1 atm. As used herein, the term “pyrolysis residue” refers to a composition obtained from pyrolysis that is neither pyrolysis gas nor pyrolysis oil, but mainly comprises pyrolysis char and pyrolysis heavy wax. As used herein, the term “pyrolysis char” refers to a carbon-containing composition obtained from pyrolysis that is solid at 200°C and 1 atm. As used herein, the term “pyrolysis heavy wax” refers to a C2O+ hydrocarbon obtained from pyrolysis that is neither pyrolysis char nor pyrolysis gas or pyrolysis oil. The pyrolysis gas and pyrolysis oil can be discharged from the pyrolysis reactor 500 as a pyrolysis vapor stream 170.

[0269]

[0269] Pyrolysis is a process that involves the chemical and thermal decomposition of an introduced feedstock. While all pyrolysis processes can generally be characterized by a substantially oxygen-free reaction environment, pyrolysis processes can be further defined by, for example, the pyrolysis reaction temperature in the reactor, the residence time in the pyrolysis reactor, the type of reactor, the pressure in the pyrolysis reactor, and the presence or absence of a pyrolysis catalyst.

[0270]

[0270] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the pyrolysis reactor 510 may be, for example, a membrane reactor, a screw extruder, a tubular reactor, a tank, a stirred-tank reactor, a riser reactor, a fixed-bed reactor, a fluidized-bed reactor, a rotary furnace, a vacuum reactor, a microwave reactor, or an autoclave. The pyrolysis reactor 510 includes a membrane reactor such as a downward-flow membrane reactor or an upward-flow membrane reactor.

[0271]

[0271] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the pyrolysis reaction may include heating and converting the feed material in a substantially oxygen-free atmosphere or in an atmosphere containing less oxygen than the ambient air. For example, the atmosphere inside the pyrolysis reactor 510 may contain 5 percent or less, 4 percent or less, 3 percent or less, 2 percent or less, 1 percent or less, or 0.5 percent or less of oxygen gas relative to the internal volume of the reactor 510.

[0272]

[0272] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, a lift gas and / or feed gas may be used to introduce feed material into the pyrolysis reactor 510 and / or to facilitate various reactions within the pyrolysis reactor 510. For example, the lift gas and / or feed gas may include, essentially consist of, or consist of nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and / or steam. The lift gas and / or feed gas may be added with the waste plastic stream 116 prior to its introduction into the pyrolysis reactor 510 and / or added directly to the pyrolysis reactor 510. The lift gas and / or feed gas may include steam and / or reducing gases such as hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and combinations thereof.

[0273]

[0273] Furthermore, the temperature inside the pyrolysis reactor 510 can be adjusted to promote the formation of certain final products. In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the pyrolysis temperature inside the pyrolysis reactor 510 can be at least 325°C, at least 350°C, at least 375°C, at least 400°C, at least 425°C, at least 450°C, at least 475°C, at least 500°C, at least 525°C, at least 550°C, at least 575°C, at least 600°C, at least 625°C, at least 650°C, at least 675°C, at least 700°C, at least 725°C, at least 750°C, at least 775°C, or at least 800°C.

[0274]

[0274] In addition, the pyrolysis temperature of the pyrolysis reactor may be 1,100°C or lower, 1,050°C or lower, 1,000°C or lower, 950°C or lower, 900°C or lower, 850°C or lower, 800°C or lower, 750°C or lower, 700°C or lower, 650°C or lower, 600°C or lower, 550°C or lower, 525°C or lower, 500°C or lower, 475°C or lower, 450°C or lower, 425°C or lower, or 400°C or lower. More specifically, the pyrolysis temperature in the pyrolysis reactor can be in the range of 325-1,100°C, 350-900°C, 350-700°C, 350-550°C, 350-475°C, 425-1,100°C, 425-800°C, 500-1,100°C, 500-800°C, 600-1,100°C, 600-800°C, 650-1,000°C, or 650-800°C.

[0275]

[0275] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the residence time of the feed material in the pyrolysis reactor can be at least 0.1, at least 0.2, at least 0.3, at least 0.5, at least 1, at least 1.2, at least 1.3, at least 2, at least 3, or at least 4 seconds. Alternatively, the residence time of the feed material in the pyrolysis reactor can be at least 1, at least 2, at least 3, at least 4, at least 5, at least 6, at least 7, at least 8, at least 9, at least 10, at least 20, at least 30, at least 45, at least 60, at least 75, or at least 90 minutes. In addition, or alternatively, the residence time of the feed material in the pyrolysis reactor can be less than 6, less than 5, less than 4, less than 3, less than 2, less than 1, or less than 0.5 hours. Furthermore, the residence time of the feed material in the pyrolysis reactor can be less than 100, less than 90, less than 80, less than 70, less than 60, less than 50, less than 40, less than 30, less than 20, less than 10, less than 9, less than 8, less than 7, less than 6, less than 5, less than 4, less than 3, less than 2, or less than 1 second. More specifically, the residence time of the feed material in the pyrolysis reactor can be in the range of 0.1 to 10 seconds, 0.5 to 10 seconds, 30 minutes to 4 hours, or 30 minutes to 3 hours, or 1 hour to 3 hours, or 1 hour to 2 hours.

[0276]

[0276] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any embodiment described herein, the pressure inside the pyrolysis reactor can be maintained at a pressure of at least 0.1, at least 0.2, or at least 0.3 bar and / or 60 or less, 50 or less, 40 or less, 30 or less, 20 or less, 10 or less, 8 or less, 5 or less, 2 or less, 1.5 or less, or 1.1 bar or less. The pressure inside the pyrolysis reactor can be maintained at atmospheric pressure or within the range of 0.1 to 100 bar, or 0.1 to 60 bar, or 0.1 to 30 bar, or 0.1 to 10 bar, or 1.5 bar, 0.2 to 1.5 bar, or 0.3 to 1.1 bar. The pressure inside the pyrolysis reactor may be at least 10, at least 20, at least 30, at least 40, at least 50, at least 60, or at least 70 bar and / or 100 or less, 95 or less, 90 or less, 85 or less, 80 or less, 75 or less, 70 or less, 65 or less, or 60 or less. As used herein, the term “bar” refers to gauge pressure unless otherwise specified.

[0277]

[0277] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the pyrolysis catalyst may be introduced into the feed stream 116 prior to its introduction into the pyrolysis reactor 510, and / or directly into the pyrolysis reactor 510. The catalyst may be homogeneous or heterogeneous and may include, for example, certain types of zeolites and other mesostructure catalysts. In some embodiments, the pyrolysis reaction may be uncatalyzed (e.g., carried out in the absence of a pyrolysis catalyst), but a non-catalytic, heat-insulating, inert additive such as sand may be included in the reactor 510 to facilitate heat transfer. Such a catalyst-free pyrolysis process can be called "thermal pyrolysis".

[0278]

[0278] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the pyrolysis reaction in the pyrolysis reactor 510 may occur in the substantially absence of a pyrolysis catalyst, at a temperature in the range of 350 to 600°C, a pressure in the range of 0.1 to 100 bar, and a residence time of 0.2 seconds to 4 hours, or 0.5 hours to 3 hours.

[0279]

[0279] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the pyrolysis effluent or pyrolysis vapor may contain at least 1, at least 5, at least 10, at least 15, at least 20, at least 25, at least 30, at least 35, at least 40, at least 45, at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, or at least 75 weight percent of pyrolysis oil, which may be in the form of vapor in the pyrolysis effluent as it leaves the heated reactor, however these vapors may then condense to obtain pyrolysis oil. In addition, or or otherwise, the pyrolysis effluent or pyrolysis vapor may contain 99 or less, 95 or less, 90 or less, 85 or less, 80 or less, 75 or less, 70 or less, 65 or less, 60 or less, 55 or less, 50 or less, 45 or less, 40 or less, 35 or less, 30 or less, or 25 weight percent or less of pyrolysis oil, which may be in the form of vapor in the pyrolysis effluent as it leaves the heated reactor. The pyrolysis effluent or pyrolysis vapor may contain pyrolysis oil in amounts ranging from 20 to 99 weight percent, 25 to 80 weight percent, 30 to 85 weight percent, 30 to 80 weight percent, 30 to 75 weight percent, 30 to 70 weight percent, or 30 to 65 weight percent based on the total weight of the pyrolysis effluent or pyrolysis vapor.

[0280]

[0280] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any embodiment described herein, the pyrolysis effluent or pyrolysis vapor may contain at least 1, at least 5, at least 10, at least 15, at least 20, at least 25, at least 30, at least 35, at least 40, at least 45, at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, or at least 80 weight percent of pyrolysis gas. In addition, or otherwise, the pyrolysis effluent or pyrolysis vapor may contain 99 or less, 95 or less, 90 or less, 85 or less, 80 or less, 75 or less, 70 or less, 65 or less, 60 or less, 55 or less, 50 or less, or 45 weight percent or less of pyrolysis gas. The pyrolysis effluent may contain pyrolysis gases in amounts of 1–90 weight percent, 10–85 weight percent, 15–85 weight percent, 20–80 weight percent, 25–80 weight percent, 30–75 weight percent, or 35–75 weight percent relative to the total weight of the flow.

[0281]

[0281] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the pyrolysis effluent or pyrolysis vapor may contain at least 0.5, at least 1, at least 2, at least 3, at least 4, at least 5, at least 6, at least 7, at least 8, at least 9, or at least 10 weight percent of pyrolysis residue. In addition, or otherwise, the pyrolysis effluent may contain 60 or less, 50 or less, 40 or less, 30 or less, 25 or less, 20 or less, 15 or less, 10 or less, 9 or less, 8 or less, 7 or less, 6 or less, or 5 weight percent or less of pyrolysis residue. The pyrolysis effluent may contain pyrolysis residue in the range of 0.1 to 25 weight percent, 1 to 15 weight percent, 1 to 8 weight percent, or 1 to 5 weight percent of the total weight of the flow.

[0282]

[0282] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the pyrolysis effluent or pyrolysis vapor may contain 15% or less, 14% or less, 13% or less, 12% or less, 11% or less, 10% or less, 9% or less, 8% or less, 7% or less, 6% or less, 5% or less, 4% or less, 3% or less, 2% or less, 1% or less, or 0.5% by weight of free water. As used herein, “free water” refers to water previously added to the pyrolysis apparatus (as liquid or steam) and water produced within the pyrolysis apparatus.

[0283]

[0283] The pyrolysis systems described herein may produce pyrolysis effluents, which can be separated into a pyrolysis oil stream 174, a pyrolysis gas stream 172, and a pyrolysis residue stream 176, each of which may be used directly for various downstream applications based on their composition. Various features and properties of the pyrolysis oil, pyrolysis gas, and pyrolysis residue are described below. Although the following features and properties may all be described separately, it should be noted that the following features and / or properties of the pyrolysis gas, pyrolysis oil, and / or pyrolysis residue are not mutually exclusive and may exist in any combination.

[0284]

[0284] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the pyrolysis oil may primarily consist of hydrocarbons having 4 to 30 carbon atoms per molecule (e.g., C4-C30 hydrocarbons). As used herein, the term "Cx" or "Cx hydrocarbon" means a hydrocarbon compound containing "x" total carbon atoms per molecule, encompassing all olefins, paraffins, aromatic compounds, heterocyclic compounds, and isomers having that number of carbon atoms. For example, normal, iso, and tert-butane and butene and butadiene molecules are each generally represented as "C4". The pyrolysis oil may have a C4-C30 hydrocarbon content of at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, or at least 95 percent by weight of the pyrolysis oil flow 174.

[0285]

[0285] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the pyrolysis oil may mainly contain C5-C25 hydrocarbons, C5-C22 hydrocarbons, or C5-C20 hydrocarbons. For example, the pyrolysis oil may contain at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, or at least 95 weight percent of C5-C25 hydrocarbons, C5-C22 hydrocarbons, or C5-C20 hydrocarbons based on the total weight of the pyrolysis oil. The pyrolysis oil may have a C5-C12 hydrocarbon content of at least 5, at least 10, at least 15, at least 20, at least 25, at least 30, at least 35, at least 40, at least 45, at least 50, or at least 55 weight percent based on the total weight of the pyrolysis oil. In addition, or otherwise, the pyrolysis oil may have a C5-C12 hydrocarbon content of 95% or less, 90% or less, 85% or less, 80% or less, 75% or less, 70% or less, 65% or less, 60% or less, 55% or less, or 50% or less by weight. The pyrolysis oil may have a C5-C12 hydrocarbon content in the range of 10-95% by weight, 20-80% by weight, or 35-80% by weight relative to the total weight of the flow.

[0286]

[0286] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the pyrolysis oil may also contain varying amounts of olefins and aromatic compounds, depending on the reactor conditions and whether or not a catalyst is used. The pyrolysis oil contains at least 1, at least 5, at least 10, at least 15, at least 20, at least 25, at least 30, at least 35, or at least 40 weight percent of olefins and / or aromatic compounds relative to the total weight of the pyrolysis oil. In addition, or otherwise, the pyrolysis oil may contain 90 or less, 80 or less, 70 or less, 60 or less, 50 or less, 45 or less, 40 or less, 35 or less, 30 or less, 25 or less, 20 or less, 15 or less, 10 or less, 5 or less, or 1 weight percent or less of olefins and / or aromatic compounds. As used herein, the term “aromatic compound” refers to the total amount (by weight) of any compound containing an aromatic moiety such as benzene, toluene, xylene, and styrene.

[0287]

[0287] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the pyrolysis oil may have a paraffin (e.g., linear or branched alkane) content of at least 5, at least 10, at least 15, at least 20, at least 25, at least 30, at least 35, at least 40, at least 45, at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, or at least 65 weight percent of the total weight of the pyrolysis oil. In addition, or or, the pyrolysis oil may have a paraffin content of 99 or less, 97 or less, 95 or less, 93 or less, 90 or less, 85 or less, 80 or less, 75 or less, 70 or less, 65 or less, 60 or less, 55 or less, 50 or less, 45 or less, 40 or less, 35 or less, or 30 weight percent or less. The pyrolysis oil may have a paraffin content in the range of 25 to 90 weight percent, 35 to 90 weight percent, or 50 to 80 weight percent.

[0288] In one embodiment or an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the pyrolysis oil may have a mid-boiling point measured in accordance with ASTM D-5399 of at least 75 °C, at least 80 °C, at least 85 °C, at least 90 °C, at least 95 °C, at least 100 °C, at least 105 °C, at least 110 °C, or at least 115 °C and / or 250 °C or lower, 245 °C or lower, 240 °C or lower, 235 °C or lower, 230 °C or lower, 225 °C or lower, 220 °C or lower, 215 °C or lower, 210 °C or lower, 205 °C or lower, 200 °C or lower, 195 °C or lower, 190 °C or lower, 185 °C or lower, 180 °C or lower, 175 °C or lower, 170 °C or lower, 165 °C or lower, 160 °C or lower, 155 °C or lower, 150 °C or lower, 145 °C or lower, 140 °C or lower, 135 °C or lower, 130 °C or lower, 125 °C or lower, or 120 °C or lower. The pyrolysis oil may have a mid-boiling point in the range of 75 to 250 °C, 90 to 225 °C, or 115 to 190 °C. As used herein, "mid-boiling point" refers to the median boiling temperature of the pyrolysis oil, at which 50 volume percent of the pyrolysis oil boils at a temperature higher than the mid-boiling point and 50 volume percent boils at a temperature lower than the mid-boiling point.

[0289] In one embodiment or an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the boiling range of the pyrolysis oil may be such that at least 90 percent of the pyrolysis oil boils off at a temperature of 250 °C, 280 °C, 290 °C, 300 °C, or 310 °C measured in accordance with ASTM D-5399.

[0290]

[0290] Next, with respect to the pyrolysis gas, the pyrolysis gas may have a methane content of at least 1, at least 2, at least 3, at least 4, at least 5, at least 6, at least 7, at least 8, at least 9, at least 10, at least 11, at least 12, at least 13, at least 14, or at least 15 and / or 50 or less, 45 or less, 40 or less, 35 or less, 30 or less, 25 or less, or 20 weight percent or less, relative to the total weight of the pyrolysis gas. In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the pyrolysis gas may have a methane content in the range of 1 to 50 weight percent, 5 to 50 weight percent, or 15 to 45 weight percent.

[0291]

[0291] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the pyrolysis gas may have a C3 and / or C4 hydrocarbon content (including all hydrocarbons having 3 or 4 carbon atoms per molecule) of at least 5, at least 10, at least 15, at least 20, at least 25, at least 30, at least 35, at least 40, at least 45, at least 50, at least 55, or at least 60 and / or 99, 95, 90, 85, 80, 75, 70, or 65 weight percent or less based on the total weight of the pyrolysis gas. The pyrolysis gas may have a C3 hydrocarbon content, a C4 hydrocarbon content, or a combined C3 and C4 hydrocarbon content ranging from 10 to 90 weight percent, 25 to 90 weight percent, or 25 to 80 weight percent.

[0292]

[0292] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the pyrolysis gas may constitute at least 10, at least 20, at least 30, at least 40, or at least 50 weight percent of the total effluent from the pyrolysis reactor, and the pyrolysis gas may have a combined ethylene and propylene content of at least 25, at least 40, at least 50, at least 60, at least 70, or at least 75 percent of the total weight of the pyrolysis gas.

[0293]

[0293] With respect to the pyrolysis residue, in one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the pyrolysis residue contains at least 20, at least 25, at least 30, at least 35, at least 40, at least 45, at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, or at least 85 weight percent of the total weight of the pyrolysis residue. As used herein, "C20+ hydrocarbon" means a hydrocarbon compound containing at least 20 total carbon atoms per molecule and includes all olefins, paraffins and isomers having that number of carbon atoms.

[0294]

[0294] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the pyrolysis residue contains at least 1, at least 2, at least 5, at least 10, at least 15, at least 20, at least 25, at least 30, at least 35, at least 40, at least 45, at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, at least 95, or at least 99 weight percent of carbon-containing solids based on the total weight of the pyrolysis residue. In addition, or or, the pyrolysis residue contains 99 or less, 90 or less, 80 or less, 70 or less, 60 or less, 50 or less, 40 or less, 30 or less, 20 or less, 10 or less, 9 or less, 8 or less, 7 or less, 6 or less, 5 or less, or 4 weight percent or less of carbon-containing solids. As used herein, “carbon-containing solids” refers to a composition containing carbon derived from pyrolysis that is solid at 25°C and 1 atm. The carbon-containing solid contains at least 20, at least 30, at least 40, at least 50, at least 60, at least 70, at least 80, or at least 90 weight percent of carbon relative to the total weight of the carbon-containing solid.

[0295]

[0295] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, at least a portion of the pyrolysis gas, pyrolysis oil, and pyrolysis residue may be sent to one or more other chemical processing facilities, including, for example, the energy recovery facility 80, partial oxidation facility 50, one or more other facilities 90, and cracking facility 70, as described above. In some embodiments, at least a portion of the pyrolysis gas stream 172 and / or at least a portion of the pyrolysis oil (pi-oil) stream 174 may be introduced into the energy recovery facility 80, cracking facility 70, POX gasification facility 50, and combinations thereof, while the pyrolysis residue stream 176 may be introduced into the POX gasification facility 50 and / or energy recovery facility 80. In some embodiments, at least a portion of the pyrolysis gas stream 172, the pyrolysis oil stream 174, and / or the pyrolysis residue stream 176 may be sent to one or more separation facilities (not shown in Figure 1) to form a more refined stream of pyrolysis gas, pyrolysis oil, and / or pyrolysis residue, which may then be sent to an energy recovery facility 80, a cracking facility 70, and / or a POX gasification facility 50. In addition, or / or, all or a portion of the pyrolysis oil stream 176 may be combined with a PO-rich waste plastics stream 114 to provide a liquefied plastics stream to be supplied to one or more downstream facilities discussed herein.

[0296] cracking

[0296] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, at least a portion of one or more flows from the pyrolysis facility 60 or from one or more of the other facilities shown in Figure 1 may be introduced into the cracking facility 70. As used herein, the term “cracking” refers to the breakdown of complex organic molecules into simpler molecules by breaking carbon-carbon bonds. A “cracking facility” is a facility that includes all the equipment, lines and control devices necessary to carry out the cracking of feedstock derived from waste plastics. A cracking facility may include one or more cracker furnaces, as well as a downstream separation zone that includes equipment used to process the effluent from the cracker furnaces. As used herein, the terms “cracker” and “cracking” are used interchangeably.

[0297]

[0297] Referring here to Figure 8a, a cracking facility 70 configured according to one or more embodiments of the present technology is shown. Generally, the cracking facility 70 includes a cracker furnace 720 and a separation zone 740 downstream of the cracker furnace 720 for separating the furnace effluent into various final products such as a recycled component olefin (r-olefin) stream 130. As shown in Figure 8a, at least a portion of the pyrolysis gas stream 172 and / or pyrolysis oil stream 174 from the pyrolysis facility 60 can be sent to the cracking facility 70. The pyrolysis oil stream 174 may be introduced into the inlet of the cracker furnace 720, while the pyrolysis gas stream 172 may be introduced at an upstream or downstream location of the furnace 720. As also shown in Figure 8a, a stream of paraffin 132 (e.g., ethane and / or propane) may be drawn out of the separation zone and may contain recycled component paraffin (r-paraffin). All or part of the paraffin can be recycled to the inlet of the cracker furnace 720 via flow 134, as also shown in Figure 8a. When in use, the pyrolysis oil flow, pyrolysis gas flow 172, and the recycled paraffin flow 174 may be combined with the cracker feed flow 136 to form a feed flow 119 to the cracking facility 720.

[0298]

[0298] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the supply flow 119 to the cracking facility 70 may include (i) one or more solvolysis byproduct flows 110 described above, (ii) a flow 114 rich in PO from waste plastics, and (iii) at least one of a pyrolysis flow (e.g., pyrolysis gas 172 and / or pyrolysis oil 174). One or more of these flows may be introduced into the cracking facility 70 continuously, or one or more of these flows may be introduced intermittently. When there are multiple types of supply flows, each may be introduced separately, or all or part of the flows may be combined to form a combined flow introduced into the cracking facility 70. When combinations are made, the combinations may occur continuously or in batches. The supply flows or multiple flows introduced into the cracking facility 70 may be in the form of a predominantly gaseous flow, a predominantly liquid flow, or a combination thereof.

[0299]

[0299] As shown in Figure 8a, the pyrolysis gas flow 172 and / or pyrolysis oil 174 may be introduced into the cracker facility 70 along or as part of the cracker feed flow 136. In some embodiments, the cracker feed flow 119 may contain at least 1, at least 5, at least 10, at least 15, at least 20, at least 25, at least 30, at least 35, at least 40, at least 45, at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, or at least 95 weight percent of pyrolysis gas, pyrolysis oil, or a combination of pyrolysis gas and pyrolysis oil, relative to the total weight of the flow 119. Alternatively, or in addition, the cracker supply flow 119 may contain pyrolysis gas, pyrolysis oil, or a combination of pyrolysis gas and pyrolysis oil in amounts of 95, 90, 85, 80, 75, 70, 65, 60, 55, 50, 45, 40, 35, 30, 25, or 20 weight percent or less of pyrolysis gas, pyrolysis oil, or a combination of pyrolysis gas and pyrolysis oil, relative to the total weight of the flow 119, or these components may be contained in amounts ranging from 1 to 95 weight percent, 5 to 90 weight percent, or 10 to 85 weight percent relative to the total weight of the flow 119.

[0300]

[0300] In some embodiments, the cracker feed stream 119 may contain at least 5, at least 10, at least 15, at least 20, at least 25, at least 30, at least 35, at least 40, at least 45, at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, or at least 95 weight percent and / or 95 or less, 90 or less, 85 or less, 80 or less, 75 or less, 70 or less, 65 or less, 60 or less, 55 or less, 50 or less, 45 or less, 40 or less, 35 or less, 30 or less, 25 or less, or 20 weight percent or less of hydrocarbon feed other than pyrolysis gas and pyrolysis oil, or the hydrocarbon feed other than pyrolysis gas and pyrolysis oil may be contained in an amount of 5 to 95 weight percent, 10 to 90 weight percent, or 15 to 85 weight percent of the total weight of the cracker feed stream 119.

[0301]

[0301] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the cracker feed stream 119 may include a composition primarily containing C2-C4 hydrocarbons. As used herein, the term “primarily C2-C4 hydrocarbons” refers to a stream or composition containing at least 50 weight percent of C2-C4 hydrocarbon components. Examples of specific types of C2-C4 hydrocarbon streams or compositions include propane, ethane, butane, and LPG. The cracker feed stream 119 may contain, in each case, at least 50, or at least 55, or at least 60, or at least 65, or at least 70, or at least 75, or at least 80, or at least 85, or at least 90, or at least 95 wt.% of the total weight of the feed, and / or in each case, 100, or 99, or 95, or 92, or 90, or 85, or 80, or 75, or 70, or 65, or 60 wt.% of the total weight of the feed, C2-C4 hydrocarbons or linear alkanes. The cracker feed stream 119 may contain primarily propane, primarily ethane, primarily butane, or combinations of two or more of these components.

[0302]

[0302] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the cracker feed stream 119 may include a composition mainly containing C5-C22 hydrocarbons. As used herein, “mainly C5-C22 hydrocarbons” refers to a stream or composition containing at least 50 weight percent of C5-C22 hydrocarbon components. Examples include gasoline, naphtha, middle distillates, diesel, and kerosene.

[0303]

[0303] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any embodiment described herein, the cracker feed flow 119 may contain, in each case, at least 20, or at least 25, or at least 30, or at least 35, or at least 40, or at least 45, or at least 50, or at least 55, or at least 60, or at least 65, or at least 70, or at least 75, or at least 80, or at least 85, or at least 90, or at least 95 wt.% and / or in each case 100, or 99, or 95, or 92, or 90, or 85, or 80, or 75, or 70, or 65, or 60 wt.% of C5-C22 or C5-C20 hydrocarbons, or may contain C5-C22 in amounts ranging from 20-100 wt.%, 25-95 wt.%, or 30-85 wt.%, based on the total weight of the flow.

[0304]

[0304] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the cracker feed stream 119 may have a C15 and heavier (C15+) content of at least 0.5, or at least 1, or at least 2, or at least 5 weight percent and / or 40, or 35, or 30, or 25, or 20, or 18, or 15, or 12, or 10, or 5, or 3 weight percent in each case, or may be in the range of 0.5 to 40 weight percent, 1 to 35 weight percent, or 2 to 30 weight percent of the total weight of the flow.

[0305]

[0305] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the feed to the cracker furnace may include vacuum gasoline (VGO), hydrovacuum gasoline (HVGO), or atmospheric gasoline (AGO). The cracker feed stream 119 may contain at least 5, at least 10, at least 15, at least 20, at least 25, at least 30, at least 35, at least 40, at least 45, at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, or at least 90 and / or 99 or less, 95 or less, 90 or less, 85 or less, 80 or less, 75 or less, 70 or less, 65 or less, 60 or less, 55 or less, or 50 weight percent or less of at least one type of gasoline, or may be present in amounts ranging from 5 to 99 weight percent, 10 to 90 weight percent, or 15 to 85 weight percent, or 5 to 50 weight percent of the total weight of the stream 119.

[0306]

[0306] As shown in Figure 8a, the cracker feed flow 119 is introduced into the cracker furnace 720. Now referring to Figure 8b, a schematic diagram of a cracker furnace 720 suitable for use in the chemical recycling facility and / or cracker facility described herein is shown. As shown in Figure 8b, the cracker furnace 720 may include a transmission section 746, a radiating section 748, and a cross section 750 located between the transmission section 746 and the radiating section 748. The transmission section 746 is a part of the furnace that receives heat from the hot flue gas and includes a bank 752 of pipes or coils through which the cracker flow passes. In the transmission section 746, the cracker flow is heated by the transmission from the hot flue gas passing through it. Figure 8b includes a horizontally oriented transmission section pipe 752a and a vertically oriented radiating section pipe 752, but it should be understood that the pipes can be made of any suitable structure. For example, the transmission section pipe 752a may be vertical. The radiating tube 752b may be horizontal. In addition, although shown as a single tube, the cracker furnace 720 may include one or more tubes or coils that may include at least one split, bend, U-shape, elbow, or combination thereof. When multiple tubes or coils are present, they may be arranged in parallel and / or in series.

[0307]

[0307] The radiant section 748 is the part of the furnace 720 where heat is transferred to the heating tubes primarily by radiation from the high-temperature gas. The radiant section 748 also includes a number of burners 756 for introducing heat to the lower part of the furnace 720. The furnace 720 includes a firebox 754 that surrounds and houses the tubes 752b within the radiant section 748, and the burners 756 are oriented within it. The cross section 750 includes piping for connecting the transmission section 746 and the radiant section 748, which can transfer the heated cracker flow from one part of the furnace 720 to another part inside or outside the furnace.

[0308]

[0308] As the hot combustion gases rise upward through the stack of the furnace, the gases may pass through a transfer section 746, where at least a portion of the waste heat may be recovered and used to heat the cracker flow passing through the transfer section 746. The cracking furnace 720 may have a single transfer (preheating) section and a single radiant section, but in other embodiments the furnace may include two or more radiant sections sharing a common transfer section. At least one induced draft (ID) fan 760 near the stack may control the flow of hot flue gases and the heating profile within the furnace 720, and one or more heat exchangers 761 may be used to cool the furnace effluent. In addition to, or instead of, the exchanger 761 at the furnace outlet shown in Figure 8b (e.g., a transfer line heat exchanger or TLE) may be used to cool the effluent 125 containing the cracked olefins, a liquid quench (not shown) may be used.

[0309]

[0309] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the cracker facility 70 may include a single cracking furnace, or it may have at least two, or at least three, or at least four, at least five, or at least six, at least seven, at least eight or more cracking furnaces operating in parallel. Any one or each of the furnaces may be a gaseous cracker, or a liquid cracker, or a split furnace. The furnace may be a gaseous cracker that receives a cracker feed stream containing at least 50 wt.%, or at least 75 wt.%, or at least 85 wt.%, or at least 90 wt.% of the total weight of cracker feed material to the furnace, via the furnace, or via at least one coil in the furnace, or via at least one tube in the furnace, in the form of ethane, propane, LPG, or a combination thereof.

[0310]

[0310] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the cracking furnace 720 may be a liquid or naphtha cracker that receives a cracker feed stream containing at least 50 wt.%, or at least 75 wt.%, or at least 85 wt.%, of a liquid hydrocarbon having C5-C22 carbon numbers (measured at 25°C, 1 atm).

[0311]

[0311] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any embodiment described herein, the cracker feed stream 119 can be cracked in a gas furnace. The gas furnace is a furnace having at least one coil ("gas coil") at the coil inlet of the transfer zone that receives (or is operated to receive or configured to receive) a feed mainly of the vapor phase (more than 50% of the weight of the feed being vapor). The gas coil can receive feed mainly of C2-C4 feed material to the coil inlet of the transfer section, or mainly of C2-C3 feed material, or has at least one coil that receives 50 wt.% more ethane and / or 50% more propane and / or 50% more LPG relative to the weight of the cracker feed to the coil, or at least 60 wt.%, or at least 70 wt.%, or at least 80 wt.%, or at least 80 wt.%, or at least 60 wt.%, or at least 760 wt.%, or at least 70 wt.%, or at least

[0312]

[0312] A gas furnace may have more than one gas coil. In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, at least 25% of the coils in the transfer zone or transfer box of the furnace, or at least 50% of the coils, or at least 60% of the coils, or all of the coils are gas coils. The gas coils receive a vapor phase feed at the coil inlet located at the inlet of the transfer zone, where at least 60 wt.%, or at least 70 wt.%, or at least 80 wt.%, or at least 90 wt.%, or at least 95 wt.%, or at least 97 wt.%, or at least 98 wt.%, or at least 99 wt.%, or at least 99.5 wt.%, or at least 99.9 wt.% of the feed is vapor.

[0313]

[0313] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the feed flow can be cracked in a split furnace. The split furnace is a type of gas furnace. The split furnace contains at least one gas coil and at least one liquid coil in the same furnace, or in the same transfer zone, or in the same transfer box. The liquid coil is a coil ("liquid coil") that receives a feed that is primarily in the liquid phase (more than 50% of the weight of the feed is liquid) at the inlet of the coil at the inlet to the transfer zone.

[0314]

[0314] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the cracker supply stream 119 can be cracked with a thermal gas cracker.

[0315]

[0315] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the cracker feed stream 119 can be cracked in a thermal steam gas cracker in the presence of steam. Steam cracking refers to high-temperature cracking (decomposition) of hydrocarbons in the presence of steam. When present, steam can be introduced through line 121 shown in Figure 8b.

[0316]

[0316] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, when two or more flows from the chemical recycling facility 10 shown in Figure 1 are combined with another flow from the facility 10 to form a cracker feed flow 119, such combination may occur upstream of the cracking furnace 720 or within the cracking furnace. Alternatively, the different feed flows may be introduced into the furnace 720 separately, pass through part or all of the furnace 720 simultaneously, and be isolated from each other by supplying to separate pipes within the same furnace 720 (e.g., a split furnace). Alternatively, at least a portion of one or more flows from the chemical recycling facility may be introduced into the cracker facility downstream of the cracker furnace but upstream of one or more parts of the equipment in the separation facility.

[0317]

[0317] The heated cracker flow 119 then passes through a cracking furnace 720, where the hydrocarbon components are thermally cracked to form lighter hydrocarbons, including olefins, such as ethylene, propylene, and / or butadiene. The residence time of the cracker flow in the furnace 720 can be at least 0.15 seconds in each case, or at least 0.2, or at least 0.25, or at least 0.3, or at least 0.35, or at least 0.4, or at least 0.45 seconds, and / or 2 seconds or less, or 1.75 seconds or less, or 1.5 seconds or less, or 1.25 seconds or less, or 1 second or less, or 0.9 seconds or less, or 0.8 seconds or less, or 0.75 seconds or less, or 0.7 seconds or less, or 0.65 seconds or less, or 0.6 seconds or less, or 0.5 seconds or less, or can be in the range of 0.15 to 2 seconds, 0.20 to 1.75 seconds, or 0.25 to 1.5 seconds.

[0318]

[0318] The temperature of the spill 125 containing cracked olefins drawn out from the furnace outlet is at least 640, or at least 650, or at least 660, or at least 670, or at least 680, or at least 690, or at least 700, or at least 720, or at least 730, or at least 740, or at least 750, or at least 760, or at least 770, or at least 780, or at least 790, or at least 800, in each case. At least 810, or at least 820, and / or in each case 1000 or less, or 990 or less, or 980 or less, or 970 or less, or 960 or less, or 950 or less, or 940 or less, or 930 or less, or 920 or less, or 910 or less, or 900 or less, or 890 or less, or 880 or less, or 875 or less, or 870 or less, or 860 or less, or 850 or less, or 840 or less, or 830 or less, 730 to 900°C, 750 to 875°C, or 750 to 850°C.

[0319]

[0319] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any embodiment described herein, the yield of an olefin, e.g., ethylene, propylene, butadiene, or a combination thereof, can be at least 15, or at least 20, or at least 25, or at least 30, or at least 35, or at least 40, or at least 45, or at least 50, or at least 55, or at least 60, or at least 65, or at least 70, or at least 75, or at least 80 in weight percent in each case. As used herein, the term “yield” means mass of product produced from mass of feedstock / mass of feedstock × 100%. The efflux logistics containing an olefin can be at least 30, or at least 40, or at least 50, or at least 60, or at least 70, or at least 75, or at least 80, or at least 85, or at least 90, or at least 95, or at least 97, or at least 99 in weight percent of the total weight of the efflux logistics in each case.

[0320]

[0320] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the olefin-containing spillage 125 may contain at least 10, at least 15, at least 20, at least 25, at least 30, at least 35, at least 40, at least 45, at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, or at least 90 weight percent of C2-C4 olefins. The spillage 125 may contain primarily ethylene, primarily propylene, or primarily ethylene and propylene, relative to the total weight of the olefin-containing spillage 125. The weight ratio of ethylene to propylene in the olefin-containing spill logistics 125 can be at least 0.2:1, at least 0.3:1, at least 0.4:1, at least 0.5:1, at least 0.6:1, at least 0.7:1, at least 0.8:1, at least 0.9:1, at least 1:1, at least 1.1:1, at least 1.2:1, at least 1.3:1, at least 1.4:1, at least 1.5:1, at least 1.6:1, at least 1.7:1, at least 1.8:1, at least 1.9:1, or at least 2:1 and / or 3:1 or less, 2.9:1 or less, 2.8:1 or less, 2.7:1 or less, 2.5:1 or less, 2.3:1 or less, 2.2:1 or less, 2.1:1 or less, 2:1 or less, 1.7:1 or less, 1.5:1 or less, or 1.25:1 or less.

[0321]

[0321] Referring again to Figure 8a, in one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, when introduced into the cracker facility 70, the pyrolysis gas 172 may be introduced at the inlet of the cracker furnace 720, or all or part of the pyrolysis gas may be introduced downstream of the furnace outlet in or upstream of the separation zone 740 of the cracker facility 70. When introduced in or upstream of the separation zone 740, the pyrolysis gas may be introduced upstream of the final stage of compression, or before the inlet of at least one rectification column in the rectification section of the separation zone 740.

[0322]

[0322] Before entering the cracker facility 70, in one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any embodiment described herein, the untreated pyrolysis gas stream from the pyrolysis facility may pass through one or more separation steps to remove one or more components from the stream. Examples of such components include, but are not limited to, halogens, aldehydes, oxygenated compounds, nitrogen-containing compounds, sulfur-containing compounds, carbon dioxide, water, evaporated metals, and combinations thereof. The pyrolysis gas stream 172 introduced into the cracker facility 70 contains one or more aldehyde components in an amount of at least 0.1, at least 0.5, at least 1, at least 1.5, at least 2, at least 2.5, at least 3, at least 3.5, at least 4, at least 4.5, or at least 5 and / or 30 or less, 25 or less, 20 or less, 15 or less, 10 or less, 5 or less, 3 or less, 2 or less, or 1 weight percent or less based on the total weight of the pyrolysis gas stream 172.

[0323]

[0323] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any embodiment described herein, the total ethylene content of the pyrolysis gas stream 172 may be at least 1, at least 2, at least 5, at least 7, at least 10, at least 15, at least 20, at least 25, or at least 30 weight percent and / or 60, 55, 50, 45, 40, or 35 weight percent or less based on the total weight of the stream 172. Alternatively, or in addition, the total propylene content of the pyrolysis gas stream 172 may be at least 1, at least 2, at least 5, at least 7, at least 10, at least 15, at least 20, at least 25, or at least 30 weight percent and / or 60, 55, 50, 45, 40, or 35 weight percent or less based on the total weight of the stream 172. The combined amount of ethylene and propylene in the pyrolysis gas flow 172 can be at least 2, at least 5, at least 10, at least 15, at least 20, at least 25, at least 30, at least 35, at least 40, or at least 45 percent by weight and / or 85% or less, 80% or less, 75% or less, 70% or less, 65% or less, 60% or less, 55% or less, 50% or less, or 45% or less by weight, relative to the total weight of the flow.

[0324]

[0324] As the olefin-containing spillage 125 exits the cracker furnace, it may be rapidly cooled (e.g., quenched) to prevent the generation of large amounts of undesirable by-products and minimize contamination of downstream equipment. In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the temperature of the olefin-containing spillage exiting the furnace may be reduced to a temperature of 500-760°C by 35-485°C, 35-375°C, or 90-550°C during the quenching or cooling step.

[0325]

[0325] The resulting cooled effluent flow can then be separated in a vapor-liquid separator, and the vapor can be compressed in a gas compressor having 1 to 5 compression stages with cooling and liquid removal between any stages, for example. The pressure of the gas flow at the outlet of the first set of compression stages is in the range of 7 to 20 gauge bars, 8.5 to 18 barg, or 9.5 to 14 barg. The resulting compressed flow is then treated by contact with an acid gas remover for the removal of acidic gases including halogens, CO, CO2, and H2S. Examples of acid gas removers include, but are not limited to, various types of caustic amines. In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, a single contactor may be used, but in other embodiments, a double-column absorber-stripper configuration may be used.

[0326]

[0326] The stream containing the compressed and processed olefin may then be further compressed in another compressor, which may optionally include interstage cooling and liquid separation. The resulting compressed stream has a pressure in the range of 20–50 barg, 25–45 barg, or 30–40 barg. Any suitable water removal method can be used, including, for example, molecular sieving or other similar processes. The resulting stream may then be sent to a rectification section, where the olefin and other components may be separated into various high-purity products or intermediate streams. In some embodiments, all or part of the pyrolysis gas may be introduced before and / or after one or more stages of the second compressor. Similarly, the pressure of the pyrolysis gas is within 20, 50, 100, or 150 psi of the pressure of the combined stream.

[0327]

[0327] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the feed stream from the quench section may be introduced into at least one column in the rectification section of the separation zone. As used herein, the term “fractionation” refers to a general process of separating two or more substances having different boiling points. Examples of equipment and processes that utilize fractionation include, but are not limited to, distillation, rectification, stripping, and vapor-liquid separation (single step).

[0328]

[0328] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the rectification section of a cracker facility may include one or more of the following: a demethane column, an ethane column, a depropane column, an ethylene splitter, a propylene splitter, a debutane column, and combinations thereof. As used herein, the term “demethane column” refers to a column whose low boiling limit component is methane. Similarly, “ethane column” and “propane column” refer to columns whose low boiling limit components are ethane and propane, respectively.

[0329]

[0329] Appropriate arrangement of the column may be used so that the rectification section provides at least one olefin product stream and at least one paraffin stream. In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the rectification section can provide at least two olefin streams, e.g., ethylene and propylene, and at least two paraffin streams, e.g., ethane and propane, and additional streams, e.g., methane and lighter components, and butane and heavier components.

[0330]

[0330] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any embodiment described herein, the olefin stream drawn from the rectification section may contain at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, or at least 95 percent by weight and / or 100, 99, 97, 95, 90, 85, or 80 percent by weight of olefins with respect to the total weight of the olefin stream. The olefins may be mainly ethylene or mainly propylene. The olefin stream may contain at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, or at least 95 percent by weight and / or 99, 97, 95, 90, 85, 80, 75, or 65 percent by weight of ethylene with respect to the total weight of olefins in the olefin stream. The olefin stream may contain at least 20, at least 25, at least 30, at least 35, at least 40, at least 45, at least 50, at least 55, or at least 60 weight percent and / or 80 or less, 75 or less, 70 or less, 65 or less, 60 or less, 55 or less, 50 or less, or 45 weight percent of ethylene relative to the total weight of the olefin stream, or may be present in amounts ranging from 20 to 80 weight percent, 25 to 75 weight percent, or 30 to 70 weight percent relative to the total weight of the olefin stream.

[0331]

[0331] Alternatively, or in addition, the olefin stream may contain at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, or at least 95 percent by weight and / or 99 or less, 97 or less, 95 or less, 90 or less, 85 or less, 80 or less, 75 or less, 70 or less, or 65 percent by weight of propylene with respect to the total weight of olefins in the olefin stream. In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the olefin stream may contain at least 20, at least 25, at least 30, at least 35, at least 40, at least 45, at least 50, at least 55, or at least 60 weight percent and / or 80 or less, 75 or less, 70 or less, 65 or less, 60 or less, 55 or less, 50 or less, or 45 weight percent of propylene relative to the total weight of the olefin stream, or may be present in amounts ranging from 20 to 80 weight percent, 25 to 75 weight percent, or 30 to 70 weight percent relative to the total weight of the olefin stream.

[0332]

[0332] As the compressed flow passes through the rectification section, it passes through the demethane column, where methane and lighter (CO, CO2, H2) components are separated from ethane and heavier components. The demethane column can be operated at temperatures of at least -145 °C, or at least -142 °C, or at least -140 °C, or at least -135 °C, and / or below -120 °C, below -125 °C, below -130 °C, or below -135 °C, in each case. The bottom flow from the demethane column contains at least 50, or at least 55, or at least 60, or at least 65, or at least 70, or at least 75, or at least 80, or at least 85, or at least 90, or at least 95, or at least 99 of the total amount of ethane and heavier components in each case.

[0333]

[0333] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, all or part of the flow introduced into the rectification section may be introduced into a deethane column, where C2 and lighter components are separated from C3 and heavier components by fractional distillation. The deethane column may be operated at an overhead temperature of at least -35 °C, or at least -30 °C, or at least -25 °C, or at least -20 °C, and / or -5 °C or less, -10 °C or less, -15 °C or less, or -20 °C, in each case, and an overhead pressure of at least 3 °C, or at least 5 °C, or at least 7 °C, or at least 8 °C, or at least 10 °C, and / or 20 °C or less, or 18 °C or less, or 17 °C or less, or 15 °C or less, or 14 °C or less, or 13 °C, in each case. The de-ethane column recovers at least 60, or at least 65, or at least 70, or at least 75, or at least 80, or at least 85, or at least 90, or at least 95, or at least 97, or at least 99 percent of the total amount of C2 and lighter components introduced into the column in the overhead flow in each case. The overhead flow removed from the de-ethane column contains at least 50, or at least 55, or at least 60, or at least 65, or at least 70, or at least 75, or at least 80, or at least 85, or at least 90, or at least 95 percent by weight of ethane and ethylene in each case, relative to the total weight of the overhead flow.

[0334]

[0334] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the overhead flow of C2 and lighter components from the ethane-de-ethane column can be further separated in an ethane-ethylene fractionation column (ethylene fractionator or ethylene splitter). In the ethane-ethylene fractionation column, the flow of ethylene and lighter components can be withdrawn from the overhead of the column or as a side flow from the upper half of the column, while ethane and any remaining heavier components are withdrawn as a bottom flow. The ethylene fractionator may be operated at an overhead temperature of at least -45 °C, or at least -40, or at least -35, or at least -30, or at least -25, or at least -20, and / or -15 °C or less, or -20, or -25 °C or less, and an overhead pressure of at least 10, or at least 12, or at least 15, and / or 25, 22, or 20 barg or less, in each case. An overhead flow that may be rich in ethylene may contain at least 70, or at least 75, or at least 80, or at least 85, or at least 90, or at least 95, or at least 97, or at least 98, or at least 99 percent by weight of the total weight of the flow in each case, and may be sent to a downstream processing unit for further processing, storage, or sale.

[0335]

[0335] The bottom flow from the ethane-ethylene fractionator may, in each case, contain at least 40, or at least 45, or at least 50, or at least 55, or at least 60, or at least 65, or at least 70, or at least 75, or at least 80, or at least 85, or at least 90, or at least 95, or at least 98 by weight relative to the total weight of the bottom flow. All or part of the recovered ethane may be recycled to the inlet of the cracker furnace as additional feedstock, either alone or in combination with the pyrolysis oil and / or pyrolysis gas discussed previously.

[0336]

[0336] In some embodiments, at least a portion of the compressed flow may be separated in a depropane column, where C3 and lighter components are removed as an overhead vapor stream, while C4 and heavier components exit the column as a liquid bottom. The depropane column may be operated at an overhead temperature of at least 20, or at least 35, or at least 40 °C, and / or 70, 65, 60, 55 °C or less, and at least 10, or at least 12, or at least 15 barg, and / or at least 20, or at least 17, or at least 15 barg, in each case. The depropane column recovers at least 60, or at least 65, or at least 70, or at least 75, or at least 80, or at least 85, or at least 90, or at least 95, or at least 97, or at least 99 percent of the total amount of C3 and lighter components introduced into the column in each case into the overhead stream. In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the overhead flow removed from the depropane column contains, in each case, at least 50, at least 55, at least 60, at least 65, at least 70, at least 75, at least 80, at least 85, at least 90, at least 95, or at least 98 percent by weight of propane and propylene, relative to the total weight of the overhead flow.

[0337]

[0337] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the overhead flow from the depropane column may be introduced into a propane-propylene fractionator (propylene fractionator or propylene splitter) where propylene and any lighter components are removed into the overhead flow, and propane and any heavier components exit the column as a bottom flow. The propylene fractionator may be operated at an overhead temperature of at least 20, or at least 25, or at least 30, or at least 35, and / or 55, 50, 45, or 40°C in each case, and at an overhead pressure of at least 12, or at least 15, or at least 17, or at least 20, and / or 20, 17, 15, or 12 barg in each case. A propylene-rich overhead flow may contain at least 70, or at least 75, or at least 80, or at least 85, or at least 90, or at least 95, or at least 97, or at least 98, or at least 99 percent by weight of propylene relative to the total weight of the flow in each case, and may be sent to downstream processing equipment for further processing, storage, or sale.

[0338]

[0338] The bottom flow from the propane-propylene fractionator may, in each case, contain at least 40, or at least 45, or at least 50, or at least 55, or at least 60, or at least 65, or at least 70, or at least 75, or at least 80, or at least 85, or at least 90, or at least 95, or at least 98 percent by weight of propane relative to the total weight of the bottom flow. All or part of the recovered propane may be recycled to the cracker furnace as additional feedstock, either alone or in combination with the pyrolysis oil and / or pyrolysis gas discussed previously.

[0339]

[0339] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, at least a portion of the compressed flow may be sent to a debutane column for separating C4 and lighter components, including butene, butane and butadiene, from C5 and heavier (C5+) components. The debutane column may be operated at an overhead temperature of at least 20, or at least 25, or at least 30, or at least 35, or at least 40 °C in each case, and / or at least 60, or at least 65, or at least 60, or at least 55, or at least 50 °C in each case, and an overhead pressure of at least 2, or at least 3, or at least 4, or at least 5 barg in each case, and / or at least 8, or at least 6, or at least 4, or at least 2 barg in each case. The debutane column recovers in the overhead flow at least 60, or at least 65, or at least 70, or at least 75, or at least 80, or at least 85, or at least 90, or at least 95, or at least 97, or at least 99 percent of the total amount of C4 and lighter components introduced into the column in each case.

[0340]

[0340] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the overhead flow taken out of the debutane column contains, in each case, at least 30, or at least 35, or at least 40, or at least 45, or at least 50, or at least 55, or at least 60, or at least 65, or at least 70, or at least 75, or at least 80, or at least 85, or at least 90, or at least 95 percent by weight of butadiene relative to the total weight of the overhead flow. The bottom flow from the debutane column contains mainly C5 and heavier components in amounts of at least 50, or at least 60, or at least 70, or at least 80, or at least 90, or at least 95 percent by weight of the total weight of the flow. The bottom flow of the debutane column may be sent for further separation, processing, storage, sale, or use. In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the overhead flow from the debutane column, i.e., C4, can be subjected to any conventional separation method, such as extraction or distillation, to recover a more concentrated butadiene flow.

[0341]

[0341] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, one or more portions of the above flow may be introduced into one or more of the facilities shown in Figure 1, but in other embodiments, all or a portion of the flow drawn out of the separation zone of the cracking facility may be sent for further separation and / or storage, transport, sale and / or use.

[0342] Partial oxidation (POX) gasification

[0342] In one embodiment or in combination with any of the embodiments described herein, a chemical recycling facility may also include a partial oxidation (POX) gasification facility. As used herein, the term “partial oxidation” means the high-temperature conversion of a carbon-containing feed to synthesis gas (carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide), where the conversion takes place in the presence of a quasi-stoichiometric amount of oxygen. The conversion may be the conversion of a hydrocarbon-containing feed and may be carried out using less oxygen than the stoichiometric amount of oxygen required for the complete oxidation of the feed, i.e., for all carbon to be oxidized to carbon dioxide and all hydrogen to be oxidized to water. Reactions occurring in a partial oxidation (POX) gasification facility include the conversion of a carbon-containing feed to synthesis gas, and specific examples include, but are not limited to, partial oxidation, water-gas shift, water-gas-first reaction, Boudouard, oxidation, methane production, hydrogen reforming, steam reforming, and carbon dioxide reforming. Feeds to POX gasification may include solids, liquids, and / or gases. A “partial oxidation facility” or “POX gasification facility” is a facility that includes all the equipment, lines, and control devices necessary to carry out the POX gasification of waste plastics and their derived feedstocks.

[0343]

[0343] In a POX gasification plant, the feed stream can be converted into synthesis gas in the presence of a quasi-stoichiometric amount of oxygen. In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the feed stream to the POX gasification plant may include one or more of the following: waste plastics rich in PO, at least one solvolysis byproduct stream, pyrolysis streams (including pyrolysis gas, pyrolysis oil, and / or pyrolysis residue), and at least one stream from a cracking plant. One or more of these streams may be introduced into the POX gasification plant continuously, or one or more of these streams may be introduced intermittently. When there are many types of feed streams, each may be introduced separately, or all or some of the streams may be combined to form a combined stream introduced into the POX gasification plant. When combining, it may occur continuously or in batches. The feed stream may be in the form of gas, liquid or liquefied plastic, solid (usually finely crushed), or slurry.

[0344]

[0344] A POX gasification facility includes at least one POX gasification reactor. An exemplary POX gasification reactor 52 is shown in Figure 9. A POX gasification facility may include a gas feed, liquid feed, or solid feed reactor (or gasifier). In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, a POX gasification facility may perform liquid feed POX gasification. As used herein, “liquid feed POX gasification” refers to a POX gasification process in which the feed to the process includes components that are primarily liquid (by weight) at 25°C and 1 atm. In addition, or separately, a POX gasification facility may perform gas feed POX gasification. As used herein, “gas feed POX gasification” refers to a POX gasification process in which the feed to the process includes components that are primarily gaseous (by weight) at 25°C and 1 atm.

[0345]

[0345] In addition, or alternatively, the POX gasification apparatus may perform solid-feed POX gasification. As used herein, “solid-feed POX gasification” refers to a POX gasification process in which the feed to the process consists of components that are solid (by weight) at 25°C and 1 atm.

[0346]

[0346] Gas-supplied, liquid-supplied, and solid-supplied POX gasification processes can be supplied with smaller amounts of other components having different phases at 25°C and 1 atm. Thus, a gas-supplied POX gasifier can be supplied with liquid and / or solid, but only in amounts less (by weight) than the amount of gas supplied to a gas-phase POX gasifier; a liquid-supplied POX gasifier can be supplied with gas and / or solid, but only in amounts less (by weight) than the amount of liquid supplied to a liquid-supplied POX gasifier; and a solid-supplied POX gasifier can be supplied with gas and / or liquid, but only in amounts less (by weight) than the amount of solid supplied to a solid-supplied POX gasifier.

[0347]

[0347] In one embodiment or in an embodiment combined with any of the embodiments described herein, the total feed to a gas supply POX gasifier may include at least 60, at least 70, at least 80, at least 90, or at least 9...

Claims

1. A method of recycling plastic waste, (a) In the metanolysis facility, (i) Co-products of PET-containing reclaimers, and / or (ii) PET-containing MRF products or co-products, and / or (iii) Selected plastic-containing mixtures, and / or (iv) PET-containing waste plastics from plastic article manufacturing facilities, A step of supplying at least a portion of one or more PET-containing materials, wherein (i) to (ii) are separated from the plastic waste, and (b) A step in which at least a portion of the PET-containing material is depolymerized using methanol in the methanolysis facility. Methods that include...

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the PET-containing material comprises a co-product of at least two PET-containing reclaimers.

3. (i) The PET-containing material, at least a portion thereof, contains at least 10% by weight of PET on a dry basis, (ii) At least a portion of the PET-containing material contains 10% by weight or less of halogen on a dry basis, and / or (iii) At least a portion of the PET-containing material contains 90% by weight or less of polyolefin on a dry basis, The method according to claim 1.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the PET-containing material is directly supplied to a dissolving machine in the methanolysis facility.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein at least a portion of the PET-containing material supplied to the dissolving machine includes less than 10 weight percent of nylon, polycarbonate, crosslinking agents, carpet adhesives, materials with high filler content, acetates, spandex, latex, styrene-butadiene rubber, non-reactive materials including non-reactive metal oxides, calcium carbonate, talc, silica, glass, glass beads, reactive metal oxides, and / or materials that form an azeotrope with water, methanol, and / or ethylene glycol.

6. The method according to claim 1, 4, or 5, wherein at least a portion of the PET-containing material is the sole plastic-containing feed to the methanolysis facility.

7. The method according to claim 1, 4, or 5, wherein at least a portion of the PET-containing material comprises at least 5 weight percent of a feed to the methanolysis facility.

8. The method according to claim 1, 4, or 5, further comprising the step of pre-treating at least a portion of the PET-containing material before supplying it to the methanolysis facility.

9. The aforementioned preprocessing step may be one or more of the following: (i) a step of separating at least a portion of the PET content of the PET-containing material using one or more density separation processes, and / or (ii) drying at least a portion of the one or more PET-containing materials, and / or (iii) The step of densifying at least a portion of the one or more PET-containing materials. The method according to claim 8, including the method described in claim 8.

10. The method according to claim 1, 4, or 5, wherein the plastic waste is supplied directly from the reclaimer and / or the municipal recycling facility to the metanolysis facility using a transport system that interconnects the metanolysis facility to the reclaimer and / or the municipal recycling facility.

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