Neste, Ravago to build pyrolysis-based chemical recycling unit in The Netherlands

LONDON (ICIS)–Neste and Ravago will build a joint-venture pyrolysis based chemical recycling plant in North Sea Port in Vissingen, The Netherlands, Neste announced in a press release on Wednesday.

The plant will process around 55,000 tonnes/year of mixed plastic waste. Alterra Energy will provide the technology for the facility. The expected start date for the plant was not given.

In 2019, Neste and Ravago announced a joint target to process 200,000 tonnes/year of mixed plastic waste by 2030. The release did not state the grade of mixed plastic waste that will be used.

Mixed plastic waste encompasses multiple grades of material, including partially sorted bales, such as mixed-polyolefins, and completely unsorted bales such as reject bales from materials recovery facilities (MRFs).

Pyrolysis based chemical recyclers typically need to limit polyvinyl chloride (PVC) content in waste, with many targeting below 0.1%. Limiting chlorine content in RDF-suitable reject bales is becoming more challenging for waste managers due to the increased presence of PVC content and the rising use of polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC) in products such as films and cheese trays

Along with tight PVC tolerances, pyrolysis-based chemical recyclers also typically aim to limit PET content in a bale – because it needs transesterification to depolymerise and because it produces oxygen in the reaction – nylon content and flame retardants, because of the radicals created during the pyrolysis process using these materials.

As a result, pyrolysis-based chemical recyclers have typically sought 90% mixed polyolefin waste bales as the input for the process. Nevertheless, increased interest for this grade of material from mechanical recyclers has meant chemical recyclers are beginning to look at using grades such as PVC-free reject bales currently going to the refuse derived fuel (RDF) sector.

ICIS is currently prototyping a mixed-plastic waste report, covering mixed-polyolefin, MRF reject, and PVC-free reject bale grades of mixed-plastic waste, along with wider supply and demand trends in the chemical and mechanical recycling markets. To find out more about the new report, or to receive a copy of the prototype, please contact Mark Victory at mark.victory@icis.com