INDUSTRY
Plastic Energy says it is continuing to increase its
portfolio of European projects, with a 20,000 tonnes/yr plant currently under construction in the Netherlands with partner SABIC in a joint venture called SPEAR (SABIC Plastic Energy Advanced Recycling), and a 25,000 tonnes/yr plant that has recently started construction in France, along with a collaboration offtake agreement with ExxonMobil. The company also has a joint venture with
TotalEnergies (previously Total) for a 15,000 tonnes/yr recycling plant at the latter’s Grandpuits “zero-crude platform” site in France, with construc- tion expected to start soon. This will be France’s first chemical recycling plant using pyrolysis to produce Tacoil. The plant in the Netherlands is expected to become operational in 2022, with SABIC building a treatment facility to purify the pyrolysis oil coming from this joint venture, before feeding the oil into its own processes. Both plants in France should be operational in 2023. This October, Plastic Energy also announced a
Below: BP and SABIC are working to drive a circular economy in petrochemical activities at the Gelsenkirchen chemical complex
partnership with Freepoint Eco-systems and its first recycling project in the US, with plans to build a 33,000 tonnes/yr plant in Texas, and a collaboration offtake agreement with TotalEnergies; it should be operational by mid-2024. In addition to this, Plastic Energy has an MoU with Petronas for a recycling project in Malaysia, and says it is working towards expanding in other parts of Asia. SABIC is also exploring opportunities in other
regions. It is for example working with Saudi Investment Recycling Company (SIRC). The two companies are cooperating in Saudi Arabia to build the first chemical recycling facility in the country, producing feedstock for SABIC’s local polymer units. SABIC is also doing something similar in Asia and in the Americas, but no an- nouncements have yet been made. In March, BP and SABIC signed a new agree-
ment to work together to drive a circular economy in the petrochemical activities at the Gelsenkirchen chemical complex. The two companies have a long history of cooperation on the site, dating back to when the SABIC operations were owned by DSM. Pyrolysis oil will be processed at BP’s Gelsen-
kirchen refining site and then used by SABIC in its Gelsenkirchen polymer plants to produce certified circular products, which SABIC brands as Trucircle. After successful trials in December 2020, polymer production using the alternative feedstock started at the site early this year. BP and Brightmark, a global waste solutions company that has proprietary chemical recycling technology, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly evaluate opportuni- ties for development of the next generation of plastic waste renewal plants in Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium. BP is already the offtaker for Brightmark’s 100,000 tonnes/yr pyrolysis plant in Ashley, Indiana, USA, which is currently undergoing final commissioning. The Ashley facility produces plastics-to-fuel and waxes. “Moving forward, all facilities will be designed for circular end products,” says a representative. In January, Brightmark and SK Global Chemical,
headquartered in South Korea, signed an MoU to create a partnership to build a commercial scale pyrolysis plant in South Korea with a 100,000 tonnes/yr capacity. Both parties are currently carrying out a feasibility study. By the end of this year, they should have completed evaluation of the most optimal methods to operate, scale and develop the technology within South Korea. In September, Shell Ventures and BlueAlp Holding announced a strategic partnership to develop, scale and deploy BlueAlp’s pyrolysis technology. Shell has taken a 21.25% equity stake in BlueAlp as part of the agreement. Shell and BlueAlp will form a joint-venture company to build two new conversion units in The Netherlands, which are forecast to convert more than 30,000 tonnes/yr of plastic waste. The units are planned to be operational in 2023 and will supply 100% of their pyrolysis oil as feedstock to Shell crackers in The Netherlands and Germany. Shell is exploring licensing a further two units for deployment within Asia to supply the Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Singapore. In October Shell Chemicals Europe also an- nounced a strategic cooperation and offtake agreement for pyrolysis oil made by Rotterdam- based company Pryme from recycled plastic waste. Pryme will supply Shell from its first plant located in Rotterdam. Currently under construction, the plant
12 Chemical Recycling – Global Insight 2022
IMAGE: SABIC
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