Finnish refiner Neste said it sees the chemical recycling industry "emerging quickly in Europe", as different liquefaction technologies are developed.
The firm, which last week received EU funding for processing of liquefied waste plastic (LWP) at its 205,000 b/d Porvoo oil refinery, said it plans to add capacity to purify LWP from thermochemical liquefaction plants, such as pyrolysis oil, to enable the purified oil to be processed in the refinery into a suitable fossil-feedstock substitute for steam cracking.
The planned pretreatment and upgrading capacity is 400,000 t/yr, which would be a significant contribution to Neste's goal of processing over 1mn t/yr of waste plastic by 2030.
Neste told Argus it expects LWP availability to increase because of technology developments and "the commercialisation of chemical recycling" to combat climate change and pollution. The company is co-operating with different suppliers of LWP, it said.
Neste is also planning its own pyrolysis unit at Vlissingen, the Netherlands, in partnership with Belgian firm Ravago, which it expects to recycle around 55,000 t/yr of plastic waste into pyrolysis oil. It said there "might be additional [sites]" to come as a result of its partnership with Ravago.
The pyrolysis oil processing project, known as PULSE, was selected by the EU Innovation Fund last week to receive a grant of up to €135mn to build chemical recycling capacities.
"Following the positive grant decision, individual grant agreements will be prepared with the European Climate, Environment and Infrastructure Executive Agency," Neste said. "PULSE is currently in the feasibility study phase. Investment decision readiness is targeted for 2023 and gradual implementation is expected to start in 2024."
Thermochemical liquefaction involves breaking down plastic waste into an oil that can be processed and fed back into the petrochemical process. Pyrolysis, which involves heating the waste in an oxygen-free environment, is one process being used for this by a large proportion of companies that are developing chemical recycling plants in Europe. Europe's thermochemical liquefaction capacity is small, but will increase significantly in the next 1-2 years if a number of projects that are in the pipeline are realised on schedule.
