Eastman Chemical Co. is considering the construction of yet another chemical recycling facility for plastics, this time in Texas.
The Kingsport, Tenn.-based company is seeking a tax break from the Texas City Independent School District for a proposed $850 million facility that would have the capacity to handle about 330 million pounds (150 kilotons) of plastics each year using methanolysis.
Eastman currently is constructing such a facility in Kingsport and recently announced plans for other site in France.
"Eastman is investigating future growth options for producing polymers and intermediates from recycled waste plastics, which may include an investment at one of its global manufacturing locations," the Texas application states. Feedstock for the facility would include "polyesters and mixed textiles" such as household packaging, textiles and industrial waste.
If the project moves forward, production would begin before the end of 2026 and the facility would employ 25 workers.
A letter to the school district indicates "an ultimate decision by Eastman Chemical Co. will be heavily influenced by the property tax benefits" achieved through an agreement with the district.
Eastman is eyeing the company's existing Texas City facility as a potential home for the chemical recycling location.
"Eastman currently employs over 120 skilled workers in our Texas City facility. Located on the Galveston Bay in one of the largest petrochemical complexes on the Gulf Coast, the site was purchased by Eastman in 2011 from Sterling Chemicals to produce Eastman 168 non-phthalate plasticizers," the company said in its application.
Chemical recycling is sometimes called molecular recycling, because the process returns plastics to their molecular level. The process also is called advanced recycling.
"The molecular recycling facility Eastman is looking to build is inclusive of mixed plastics processing, methanolysis, polymerization and includes capacity to produce intermediates. Eastman's proven technology delivers true circularity to plastic waste that is difficult to recycle and ends up being landfilled or incinerated because it cannot be mechanically recycled, or the performance degrades after being processed multiple times," the company explained in the application.
"The Eastman technology breaks this waste down to the molecular building blocks and then reassembles it into virgin quality materials, without compromising performance, thus extending the lifespan, and even enabling up-cycling," Eastman wrote.