Eastman to use thermal batteries

Eastman Chemical will use thermal batteries to power a plastics recycling plant it is building in Longview, Texas. The batteries, made by Rondo Energy, use thousands of tons of brick to store heat at up to 1,500 °C. The technology will allow the recycling plant to run 24/7 using solar and other intermittent renewable power sources. Eastman says the plant will be able to process 110,000 metric tons per year of hard-to-recycle polyester waste. PepsiCo has already signed on to buy some of the resulting plastic.