United Kingdom – Emerson has been selected by UK-based advanced recycling business ReNew ELP as its digital automation partner for its new plastics recycling plant in Teesside, North East England.
End-of-life plastics can be converted back into their original feedstock to make new plastic products using Emerson’s superior automation technology and software, eliminating waste and pollution.
Many post-consumer plastics, such as flexible and multi-layer packaging materials like films, pots, tubs, and trays, are currently classified “unrecyclable” by standard mechanical recycling procedures and are instead disposed of in landfills or incinerators. According to the World Economic Forum, after a brief first-use cycle, 95 percent of the value of plastic packaging material, or $80–120 billion yearly, is lost to the economic.
Waste plastics will be converted to valuable chemicals and oils at the ReNew ELP plant using a ground-breaking advanced recycling process called HydroPRSTM (Hydrothermal Plastic Recycling System), which uses supercritical steam (high pressure and temperature) to generate supercritical steam. New polymers and other materials can be made from these by-products.
When it comes to automation, Emerson will be the go-to company for creating a system that can run the rigorous manufacturing process with the least amount of human interaction while also being safe and efficient to use. New ELP will use Emerson’s Project Certainty technique to help deliver the plant on budget and on time, while its Operating Certainty methodologies will help ReNew ELP achieve optimal operational performance and profitability throughout the facility’s lifecycle.
Embedded in the automation solution is Emerson’s DeltaVTM distributed control system, which includes a safety instrumented system for both process and emergency shutdown, in addition to fire and gas detection. Incorporating wired and wireless networks that support clusters of advanced measurement instrumentation, Emerson’s PlantwebTM digital environment will provide visibility into process performance and useful data on equipment health. Valves, on/off switches, and pressure regulators will all be part of the automation system. To improve equipment reliability and process availability and throughput, a variety of asset management systems will be implemented to cut down on the amount of time operators must spend completing manual inspections in the field.
First phase of the project is planned to be operational by the second half of 2022. It will have a single line processing 20,000 tonnes of plastic waste per year.
