LOTTE Chemical – Every Step for Green

Back to News
Written by Paul Hendriks on 13 January 2022Time to read: 3 minutes

In Europe, 58 million tons of plastic and 25 million tons of plastic waste is produced every year.
Only 30% of the plastic waste is currently being recycled. 39% is incinerated and 31% ends up on landfills.

De Monchy’s collaboration with LOTTE currently focuses on materials such as ABS, PP, PC, ASA and blends such as PC/ABS and PC/ASA, which are basically all prime materials. In different industries like automotive and building & construction, recycled materials have been used for a long time and are further taking off in other industries as well. For that reason LOTTE has set a ‘Green Vision 2030’ target. This vision contains of 4 different pillars, shown below:
 

image 1 lotte.jpg

Recycled Materials

In this article, we will highlight LOTTE Chemical’s Plastic Recycle Solution. LOTTE aims to create a culture of properly using and recycling resources and to construct an environment for virtuous cycles of plastics. There’s two different types of recycling that they utilize: Mechanical Recycling and Chemical Recycling. How do both recycling processes work and what are the pros and cons of both?
 

Mechanical Recycling: ABS, ABS/PET

Washing, grinding and sorting to produce raw materials for recycling such as high-purity flakes. Then, extrude by mixing with recycled and virgin materials.

Mechanical recycling is the process of re-processing Waste Plastic flakes into new products (pellets) without changing their chemical structure. The key point is meet the same physical properties as virgin materials by using recycled materials.
 
The cycle of Mechanical Recyling:
 
 
image 2 lotte.jpg
 
What’s good to understand is that there are certain pros and cons when it comes to Mechanical Recycling: 
 
Pros:
  • It has relatively low investment cost 
  • Simple Process: it Only requires the recycling equipment.
Cons:
  • It has a limitation of feedstock : Only high quality of flakes 
  • Finitely recyclable (Recyclable limitation): Quality loss 
 
LOTTE’s goal is to increase the sales of Mechanical recycled products up to 262KT by 2030. This is about 10% of their compounding products. 
 

Chemical Recycling

Convert the collected recycled polymers (PMMA) into monomers (MMA). Then, compound into MABS.

Chemical Recycling is the process of converting PET flakes into its original monomer form through chemical decomposition. There’s a significant growth in rPET demand due to stricter sustainability regulations. In Europe, by 2025 it’s mandatory that r-PET contains over 25% waste. The goals is to solve the recycling problem of PET waste by Chemical Recycling PET Technology.
 
The cycle of Chemical Recycling:
 
 
image 3 lotte.jpg
 
Chemical recycling also has pros and cons that are important to highlight: 
 
Pros:
  • Colored flake can be used as a feedstock
  • Recyclable without loss in quality
  • Wide range of applications are available (including food contact application)
Cons:
  • Relatively high investment cost
  • High manufacturing cost
  • More complicated process (De-polymerization & Re-polymerization) 
Want to know what LOTTE Chemical’s Green solutions could do for you? The team of plastic specialists at De Monchy are ready for you. Contact Albert Jan, Paul, Tony and Jasmin!

Home ← About us ← News ← LOTTE Chemical – Every Step for Green

News
Nieuwsoverzicht bekijken
Our customers
Our certificates
Open Offerte aanvragen (EN)
Open Teams-afspraak maken (EN)