Canadian company tabs Chemex Global to help build its scrap tire processing plant in Oregon.

Vancouver-based Klean Industries Inc. says it has selected Chemex Global LLC, a subsidiary of the Houston-based Shaw Group LLC, to engineer, procure and fabricate the hydrocarbon upgrading system at Klean’s Boardman, Oregon, tire pyrolysis project.

That facility is being planned to process some 20,000 metric tons per year of scrap tires. The agreement between Klean and Chemex means “both parties intend to execute the design-build contract, which includes process and schedule guarantees in the first quarter of 2023,” according to Klean.

The Boardman facility is being designed to convert scrap tires into recovered carbon black (rCB) and recovered fuel oil (rFO) that can be blended with carbon black oil (CBO) to be blended in and used in the creation of new virgin bio-based carbon black products, according to Klean.

“It’s taken some time to find the right partners for Klean’s projects that have the depth of experience needed for the timely rollout of our integrated resource recovery projects,” Klean Industries CEO Jesse Klinkhamer says. “Our projects are capital-intensive and require cost-effective and highly technical solutions that can deliver specified output products on a guaranteed basis. With more than 40 projects under development, we believe Chemex offers the solutions that best fit our timelines and budget and we look for to expanding this relationship to develop more projects together.”

Matt Rodgers, chief commercial officer of Texas-based Chemex Global, says, “Our diverse engineering capabilities combined with world-class fabrication assets enabled us to assess the project and minimize field execution to the greatest extent possible while keeping project development plans on a fixed schedule”.

The fabrication of the modular oil upgrading system will be completed by Chemex Global’s parent company The Shaw Group at its shops in the United States, including its 440,000-square-foot module facility in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and its pipe fabrication facilities in Walker, Louisiana, and El Dorado, Arkansas.

Klean Industries is a designer, manufacturer and installer of alternative energy solutions involving “clean power production, waste management, recycling and resource recovery.”

Study commissioned by Alliance to End Plastic Waste sees polyethylene and polypropylene scrap as most suitable for pyrolysis plant operators.

A study commissioned by the Singapore-based Alliance to End Plastic Waste spells out what researchers determined to be nine requirements for feedstock deemed suitable for plastic scrap pyrolysis facilities.

The study, conducted by United Kingdom-based Eunomia Research & Consulting, is titled “Feedstock Quality Guidelines for Pyrolysis of Plastic Waste.” While the backers of some chemical or “advanced” recycling projects have portrayed their technology as able to handle essentially unsorted varieties of discarded plastic, the Eunomia study did not typically find this to be true for pyrolysis systems.

Instead, a characterization of the Eunomia study by the Alliance to End Plastic Waste says pyrolysis systems “generally required well-sorted, clean feedstock comprising about 85 percent polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).”

Moisture limits of around 7 percent are recommended in the study. “Indicative thresholds for contaminants should also not exceed 15 percent in total, with additional limits on various categories,” writes the alliance in a news release announcing the completion of the study.

The Eunomia research “further underscored the need for robust collection and sorting systems to supply quality feedstock to both chemical and mechanical recyclers as part of a plastic circular economy,” the alliance adds. More than 30 companies and organizations involved in the plastics sector in Asia, North America and Europe were interviewed, according to Eunomia.

“Improving our knowledge of feedstock requirements for pyrolysis can help progress the industry’s understanding of how chemical recycling and mechanical recycling can work alongside each other,” says Martyn Tickner, chief advisor of the Technical Solutions Centre at the alliance.

Tickner continues, “Stakeholder groups ranging from packaging manufacturers to government agencies are interested in the potential of chemical recycling to add a new dimension to plastic [scrap] recycling, with the expectation that the technologies will complement increasingly advanced mechanical recycling. We hope this white paper serves as a starting point for discussions between pyrolysis operators and material suppliers on the types of recycling systems and feedstock that need to be developed.”

Sarah Edwards of Eunomia says, “Specification guidelines largely exist for mechanical recycling, although final specifications are always agreed between the buyer and seller. The pyrolysis specification that resulted from the research is a guideline, and the technology providers and operators we consulted had slightly different requirements.”

She adds, “As the review was focused on pyrolysis, it is important to note that there are other advanced recycling technologies. As policy helps drive up recycling rate targets, understanding the specification of plastics that can be managed through other advanced recycling will be critical for sorters as well as mechanical recyclers.”

Eunomia and the Alliance to End Plastic Waste describe pyrolysis as the breaking down of plastic scrap at high temperatures without oxygen to produce pyrolysis oil, which can be used in the production of new plastics as a replacement for fossil feedstocks. The process can target flexible PE and PP to create market demand for these materials, which can be difficult to reprocess via mechanical recycling methods. “This further complements mechanical recycling processes which focus on rigid plastics,” the alliance says.

Regarding limitations, the two entities say not all packaging—especially multimaterial films—is suited for pyrolysis. “Overcoming this will require more circular design together with a transition to multimaterial or more simple films that fulfill the requirements above,” states the alliance.

Packaging items such as plastic bags, films, sachets and wrappers comprise as much as 45 percent of the discarded materials generated in households, according to the alliance.

The aim of the completed study was to provide “clarity on feedstock requirements and propose model specification guidelines that can be used to enable greater alignment across the recycling value chain,” states the Alliance to End Plastic Waste. Adds the group, “This is especially as feedstock considerations will continue to evolve, and clearer standards on optimal feedstock quality will emerge as the sector matures.”

The full report is available for downloaded from this web page.

Inaugural “Make the Case” competition yields two winning student teams, both in the Philippines.

The Commitments Accelerator for Plastic Pollution (CAPP) initiative of the Hong Kong-based Ocean Recovery Alliance has announced the winners of its first “Make the Case” Asia-wide student competition, which seeks ways to boost the proper handling of discarded plastic.

CAPP describes Make the Case as the only sustainability challenge for students focused on existing solutions that hold the potential to be applied elsewhere.

“Students quickly grasp that innovation also means identifying what is working and ensuring that good ideas do not get lost,” says Dr. Justin Robertson, an associate professor at City University of Hong Kong. That institution joined CAPP and Ocean Recovery Alliance as co-organizers of the contest.

“Through research, foresight and planning, university students from a range of different disciplines proved capable of uncovering high-impact projects and setting out a vision of how they could be replicated in other parts of the region,” adds Robertson.

Teams representing 22 universities in 10 countries participated by writing a case study on an initiative that reduces plastic waste and that potentially could be scaled to another location. Teams competed for $16,500 in prize money.

The two winning teams were both from Ateneo de Manila University. The overall winning team showcased the Aling Tindera Network, a scrap-to-cash program that involves “local networks of women micro-entrepreneurs, most of whom own sari-sari stores,” described as small, home-based convenience stores found in many Filipino neighborhoods. The team suggested Thailand as the country that could best benefit from a similar program.

The other prize-winning team profiled a zero waste initiative on Apo Island in the Philippines and offered a framework to extend the Apo Island model to other coastal islands in that nation as well as in other parts of Asia.

“As a long-term resident of Hong Kong and having carried out extensive programs within East Asia, it was exciting to see the attention to detail, the depth of their answers, passion shown by the student teams, and how much they understood the situations and opportunities,” says Doug Woodring, founder of Ocean Recovery Alliance. “Not only was this apparent in their case studies and presentations, but also in their essays on how the Plastic Atlas Asia could be expanded in future editions.”

Helping to sponsor the contest was the Singapore-based Pictet Group Foundation and supporting it was the not-for-profit Heinrich Böll Stiftung Hong Kong organization. Two previous Make the Case competitions took place in India.

CAPP says Make the Case-East Asia will become an annual competition and will be held again in 2023. More information on the contest can be found on this web page.

Agreement between steelmaker and United Steelworkers union covers some 12,000 employees at 13 facilities.

Cleveland-Cliffs, one of two blast furnace/basic oxygen furnace (BOF) steelmakers in the United States, says its new labor agreement with the United Steelworkers (USW) union has been ratified.

The contract covers approximately 12,000 USW-represented employees at 13 operating locations and has a four-year duration from its starting date of Sept. 1, 2022, says the Cleveland-based producer of steel and iron metallics.

“Combined with the previously ratified labor agreement covering 2,000 USW-represented employees at the company’s mining and pelletizing operations, Cliffs and the USW have concluded the renegotiating cycle with contracts valid through September of 2026,” states the company.

“Cleveland-Cliffs is a people-oriented company,” Lourenco Goncalves, board chair, president and CEO of the firm, says. “These labor agreements, covering more than half of our entire workforce, support that statement. Our workforce has made these past two years possible, including navigating a monumental transformation and growth, overcoming the challenges of a pandemic and adapting to an ever-changing business climate. Going forward, we will continue to promote our employees’ well-being as the basis of our success, for the benefit of our clients and our long-term shareholders.”

The agreement was announced during the same week a proposed resolution to a nationwide freight rail strike brokered by the Biden administration was met with a setback in the form of a thumbs down vote from one of the unions involved.

Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division votes to reject the deal brokered by the Biden administration.

The membership of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division (BMWED), the third-largest railroad union in the U.S., voted against ratification of the tentative national agreement reached with the Class I freight railroads. The vote sends the railroad companies and their workers back to the bargaining table and resets the countdown to a potential work stoppage.

The tentative deal was secured in mid-September after about 20 hours of talks brokered by the Biden administration to avert a rail shutdown that could have affected supply chains, freezing many cargo shipments and causing inflation to spike. Negotiations between the railroads, including Union Pacific, BNSF, CSX, Norfolk Southern and Kansas City Southern, and a dozen unions had been ongoing for more than two years.

“The majority of the BMWED membership rejected the tentative national agreement, and we recognize and understand that result,” President Tony D. Cardwell says in a news release following the vote. “I trust that railroad management understands that sentiment as well. Railroaders are discouraged and upset with working conditions and compensation and hold their employer in low regard. Railroaders do not feel valued. They resent the fact that management holds no regard for their quality of life, illustrated by their stubborn reluctance to provide a higher quantity of paid time off, especially for sickness. The result of this vote indicates that there is a lot of work to do to establish goodwill and improve the morale that has been broken by the railroads’ executives and Wall Street hedge fund managers.” The American Arbitration Association counted and verified the election results. In total, 11,845 BMWED members submitted ballots, 6,646 against ratification and 5,100 approving the tentative agreement. Ninety-nine remaining ballots were submitted blank or voided for some other user error. “The membership voted in record numbers on this tentative agreement, exhibiting that they are paying close attention and are engaged in the process,” Cardwell adds. “BMWED members are concerned with the direction of their employers and the mismanagement and greed in which they have consistently implemented and are united in their resolve to improve their working conditions across the entire Class I rail network.” The rejection of the tentative agreement results in a “status quo” period where the BMWED says it will reengage bargaining with the Class I freight carriers. That status quo period will extend to five days after Congress reconvenes, which is currently set for Nov. 14.

Billy Johnson, chief lobbyist at the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, Washington, previously told Recycling Today that if the tentative agreement isn’t ratified, it could spell problems for supply chains and the economy.