Purecycle sends first shipments of recycled resin

Florida-based polypropylene (rPP) recycler Purecycle has sent out its first shipments of recycled resin after a force majeure and months of delay during construction.

Purecycle, which has built its first recycling plant in Ironton, Ohio, says its unique solvent-based recycling technology allows the company to create rPP that has properties closer to virgin material.

Purecycle said they have recycled 409,000 lbs, or 204.5t, of used polypropylene so far at its Ironton plant. The company has sent its first shipments of rPP to Formerra and Milliken, two US-based polymer producers.

Purecycle aims to increase its production to 4.45mn lbs of input capacity per year by 31 December.

"Ironton is the first facility of its kind and as expected, we are working through many challenges in getting the facility to run on a continuous basis," Chief executive Dustin Olson said. "We have identified a set of reliability and operational improvements that are expected to be addressed during a two-week outage in November, including the installation of an automatic screen changer on the final product extruder, which has impacted continuous run times."

The company noted that most of its production issues have been as a result of mechanical issues that are part of an "operational learning curve".

In September, Purecycle declared a force majeure following a thunderstorm that damaged some equipment and slowed operations for four days until a part could be replaced.

By Zach Kluver