Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is among the world’s most widely used polymers. Recycling PVC via mechanical and high-temperature chemical processes is challenging due to its chlorine content.The startup company Plastic Back (Tel Aviv, Israel; www.plastic-back.com) aims to raise the rates of recycling for PVC waste with a novel recycling process originally investigated at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Jerusalem, Israel; en.huji.ac.il).
The company is currently building a first-of-its-kind PVC-recycling pilot plant at the Freepoint Eco-Systems (www.freepointecosystems.com) waste-recycling facility in Hebron, Ohio to test the process and demonstrate a scalable circular solution for PVC. Building on the research at Hebrew University, Plastic Back has developed a proprietary low-temperature chemical-recycling process that first dechlorinates PVC, producing a sodium chloride solution that can be re-used in chlor-alkali processes, then depolymerizes PVC into C5–C30 hydrocarbon oils that can be refined into fuels and chemical feedstocks.
The process is carried out at 100˚C, which is substantially lower than many other advanced recycling processes, and can be used on mixed-waste plastic streams, as well as on PVC alone.
“The key piece of technology in the process is the method used to generate superoxide radicals in-situ,” explains Tal Cohen, CEO of Plastic Back. The superoxide (O2∙–) radicals first attack the C-Cl bonds in the de-chlorination step, removing Cl atoms with over 95% efficiency, according to the company. The proprietary system then breaks down C–C bonds in the polymer chain, again using the in-situ superoxide radicals. “The process also recovers additives in the original PVC, such as fillers and stabilizers, which can be reused in the PVC production value chain,” Cohen adds.
The pilot plant, to be started up in Q1 2026 with a capacity of 50 tons/yr, will process real-world PVC waste from the Freepoint facility.