Chemical Recycling Gets Boost in Japan

Chemical Recycling Japan, a subsidiary of oil refiner Idemitsu Kosan, has completed construction of a chemical recycling plant for converting post-consumer and post-industrial recovered plastics into oil; at a site in Ichihara City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. The plant has aplastic processing capacity of 20,000 tonnes annual and is scheduled to commence commercial operations in April 2026.

The company’s proprietary chemical recycling technology is centered on a catalyst-based catalytic cracking system that generates the equivalent of light crude oil from recovered used plastics. The oil so produced can be used as feedstock in the petroleum refining and petrochemical units at the Idemitsu group's refineries and plants, where it is recycled into green products under a mass balance system.

Moving forward, Idemitsu and Chemical Recycling Japan will conduct trial runs of each facility and advance preparations for the start of commercial operations.

Image: Idemitsu Kosan