Green expansions: Cyclyx to invest in second circularity centre in US; Tosoh starts production of CO2-isocyanates in Japan

Cyclyx International LLC, a post-use plastic-to-feedstock innovator and joint venture among Agilyx, ExxonMobil, and LyondellBasell, has reached a final investment decision for a second Cyclyx Circularity Centre (CCC2). The new facility will be located at an existing distribution centre in the Fort Worth, Texas, area and will help to create further necessary infrastructure for a plastic circular economy.

Together, Agilyx, ExxonMobil, and LyondellBasell are investing US$135 million into Cyclyx to fund the construction and operations for CCC2, which has an expected startup in the second half of 2026.

Once operational, the facility will have the capacity to produce approximately 300 million pounds of plastic waste feedstock per year for customers using mechanical and advanced recycling technologies. Similar to the first-of-its-kind Cyclyx Circularity Center (CCC1) progressing towards startup in 2025 in Houston, CCC2 operations are expected to create more than 100 jobs in the local economy.

“This new world-class facility will significantly expand our capability to supply the growing industry demand for feedstock for both mechanical and advanced recycling,” said Joe Vaillancourt, CEO of Cyclyx. “CCC2 will help enable the aggregation and recycling of post-consumer, commercial, and industrial plastic waste often destined for landfills or incineration. We look forward to working with the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex community as well as our feedstock customers to deliver sustainable solutions.”

Cyclyx Circularity Centers are uniquely designed to accept a wide range of plastic waste streams, including plastics that are not typically accepted in current industry recycling programs. Combined, CCC1 and CCC2 will have the capacity to produce an estimated 600 million pounds/year of plastic waste feedstock.

As part of its strategy, Cyclyx continues to explore the development of additional CCCs, each placed in major hubs across the US.

In other news, Japanese petrochemical producer Tosoh has started the production of isocyanates by using captured carbon dioxide (CO2) at its Nanyo plant in Yamaguchi prefecture, in line with its decarbonisation efforts.

Tosoh's new facility, which can capture 40,000 tonnes/year of CO2 and generate unspecified volumes of carbon monoxide (CO), started operations recently.

Before converting CO2 into CO, the firm will capture CO2 from the conventional facility that uses naphtha to manufacture CO — a feedstock used to manufacture isocyanate goods such as methylene bisphenyl isocyanate (MDI) and hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI). Isocyanates are used to manufacture polyurethane.

Tosoh's reliance on the new feedstock will curb its existing use of petroleum feedstock naphtha. But the firm declined to disclose how much naphtha usage it has reduced.

Tosoh produces 400,000 tonnes/year of MDI and 43,000 tonnes/year of HDI at the Nanyo plant.

Tosoh adds it targets to curb 3% of its GHG emissions by 2030-31 through the conversion of CO2 into petrochemical feedstock.

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