Sumitomo, Sekisui to make Ethylene from Waste-Based Ethanol

Sumitomo Chemical and Sekisui Chemical are moving forward with a project to convert plastic waste into polyolefin, targeting to start up a pilot plant to produce ethylene as a first step.

Sumitomo Chemical has established a cooperative relationship with Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd. for the social implementation of the technology to manufacture polyolefin using waste as raw material.

Toyo Engineering Corporation has been awarded a contract for the said project to construct an Ethylene Pilot Plant.

Toyo has worked with Sumitomo Chemical since the basic design of the plant and currently carries out the detail engineering, procurement, and construction under the engineering, procurement, construction (EPC) lump-sum contract, aiming to start demonstration operation of the plant for a short period.

The pilot facility will be located at Sumitomo’s Chiba plant near Tokyo.

The commissioning is scheduled for some time during the April 2022-March 2023 fiscal year.

Sekisui will supply unspecified volumes of plastic waste-based ethanol to the pilot plant. The output capacity of the ethylene plant has not been disclosed.

The project partners plan to start trial production in 2022-23 and begin normal operations in 2025-26.