Chemical recycler Plastic Energy (London) said that its joint venture with Sabic at Geleen, the Netherlands, has produced its first batch of pyrolysis oil (pyoil), adding that the recycling facility is slated to begin full commercial production later this year, as per Chemweek.Sabic and Plastic Energy’s jointly developed chemical recycling unit, dubbed SPEAR (Sabic Plastic Energy Advanced Recycling), has a nameplate input capacity of 20,000 metric tons per year of mixed waste plastic. The waste plastic is used as feedstock to produce the pyoil.The recycling plant has been designed to integrate into Sabic’s petrochemical complex at Geleen for the onward production of polymers, using the pyoil volumes as a drop-in substitute for conventional naphtha. The specific volume of pyoil produced was not disclosed.Recycling plastic waste into new plastics is “critical to building a circular economy,” said Plastic Energy CEO Ian Temperton in an announcement on Aug. 27. “It boosts recycling rates, helps reduce CO2 emissions by diverting used plastic from incineration, and shows what’s possible when innovation meets scale,” he said.The announcement of successful trial production comes later than market expectations, with the facility having previously been described as being in the final stage of construction in June 2024, according to Platts. When originally announced in January 2021, the project was scheduled to start operations in the second half of 2022.Plastic Energy already operates two chemical recycling plants in Spain.Less than 30% of Europe’s 32 million metric tons of waste plastic is currently recycled, according to the company. The European Union has a current goal under its Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) for all packaging to be fully recyclable by 2030.Sabic wasn’t immediately available for comment on the matter. Last year Sabic closed down its Olefins 3 naphtha cracker at Geleen, citing challenged market conditions for the “strategic reorientation of the site,” and leaving its Olefins 4 cracker as the site’s sole ethylene plant.The plant’s initial pyoil production comes at a time when the European chemical recycling industry is facing headwinds, with at least two new projects having been scrapped since the beginning of August as chemical producers face severe demand challenges in the region.
Finnish sustainable aviation fuels producer Neste Oyj scrapped its plans to build an advanced recycling plant for mixed plastics waste jointly in the Netherlands with waste manager Ravago Group (Luxembourg), the company confirmed to Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, on Aug. 5.Dow, meanwhile, cancelled its plan to build a 120,000 metric tons per year chemical recycling plant for mixed waste plastics with its technology partner Mura at Bohlen, Germany, a Dow spokesperson told Platts on Aug. 6.Platts assessed European mixed plastic waste bales of at least 86% polyolefin content, which could be used as the feedstock for chemical recycling, at €250 per metric ton DDP northwest Europe on Aug. 26, stable day over day and week over week, as market participants gave feedback of seeing no major fundamental changes in the feedstock bale market. Platts is part of S&P Global Commodity Insights.
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