December 21, 2024 – MAIRE Group’s NEXTCHEM Inks Innovative Recycling Agreement with Röhm
MAIRE Group has announced that its sustainable technology solutions division, NEXTCHEM, has reached a groundbreaking tolling agreement with renowned company Röhm through its subsidiary MyRechemical. Under the terms of the agreement, Röhm will supply PMMA waste as raw material, while MyRemono will process this waste using chemical conversion technology to restore it to its original quality as ultrapure monomers.
The cornerstone of this initiative is NEXTCHEM’s proprietary NXRe™ technology, an efficient and advanced depolymerization process specifically designed for the continuous chemical recycling of PMMA materials. Notably, Röhm will not only provide the raw material but also act as the offtaker of the recycled methyl methacrylate monomers (rMMA), enabling a fully circular reintegration into the production of new PMMA products. The agreement stipulates that Röhm will pay MyRemono a corresponding processing fee.
According to AsiaMB, this plan follows the establishment of a European-wide PMMA recycling network comprising MyRemono, Röhm, Pekutherm, and Polyvantis. Within this network, Pekutherm is responsible for logistics and sorting of PMMA materials, while Polyvantis focuses on mechanical recycling. MyRemono is currently developing the first industrial-scale PMMA waste chemical recycling plant in Italy, a project generously supported by the European Innovation Fund. Scheduled for completion and commissioning in 2026, the plant will initially have a processing capacity of 5,000 tons of PMMA per year, equivalent to the material required for producing approximately 10 million automotive tail lights, highlighting the vast potential of recycled materials to replace virgin resources in manufacturing.
Compared to traditional MMA production methods, the PMMA produced using NXRe™ PMMA technology boasts a carbon footprint reduction of over 90%. MyRemono’s total investment in technology development, scale-up, and construction of the first industrial-scale plant amounts to €15 million, with €4 million funded by the European Innovation Fund.
The signing of this agreement not only lays a solid foundation for the licensing of NEXTCHEM’s NXRe™ PMMA technology but also marks a significant step towards the future development of chemical depolymerization technologies for other materials such as polystyrene and polyolefins. MAIRE Group CEO Alessandro Bernini commented, “Our NXRe™ PMMA technology will play a crucial role in driving the circular economy and become one of the core pillars of our circular solutions and sustainable materials value proposition. The construction of this world-first advanced recycling plant and the formation of this industrial alliance demonstrate the relevance and effectiveness of disruptive technologies in addressing current challenges.”
Depolymerization, as a chemical recycling technique, involves converting acrylic solutions back into their constituent monomers, methyl methacrylate (MMA), through chemical reactions. This technology complements other recycling methods, collectively pushing towards the closure of the acrylic recycling loop. By utilizing depolymerization, not only can PMMA sheets that were previously unrecyclable through mechanical means be recovered, but additives and contaminants can also be removed from pre- and post-consumer acrylic products, significantly enhancing PMMA recycling rates. Temperature control is critical during the depolymerization process, with PMMA typically beginning to thermally decompose into MMA at 350°C, and pure PMMA fully depolymerizing into MMA monomers at 450°C. The purity and market price of the product are significantly influenced by different thermochemical techniques and purification process levels.