Japan Develops Miscellaneous Waste Plastics for Methanol Synthesis

In December 2003, CleanJapanCenter will start developing recovery technologies for the synthesis of methanol from CO and hydrogen extracted from mixed waste plastics including polyvinyl chloride (PVC). The methanol synthesis process used is a liquid phase process, a process considered cost-effective for small-scale production facilities.
In addition, the chlorine evolved from PVC will be recovered as hydrochloric acid and used for steel pickling in steel plants. The project focuses on the development of technologies for the production of high-purity syngas and the ability to continuously synthesize high-purity methanol in high yields.