Imagine a giant oven that can take a messy bag of mixed plastics—the kind that usually ends up in a landfill—and bake it into a gas. This gas is then cleaned up so it can be plugged directly into existing chemical factories. It's like turning old, dirty plastic trash back into the raw ingredients needed to make brand new plastic.
Over two-thirds of post-consumer plastic waste is incinerated or landfilled because it is too mixed or contaminated for mechanical recycling. This results in massive carbon loss and high greenhouse gas emissions.
A demonstration plant for high-temperature pyrolysis including a pretreatment system for mixed waste and a gas purification unit to remove contaminants for steam cracker integration.
If you are a refinery operator dealing with high fossil fuel costs and carbon taxes — this project developed a high-temperature pyrolysis process that provides a syngas stream. This allows you to integrate recycled carbon feedstock directly downstream of your furnace to produce olefins.
If you are a waste manager dealing with unsorted plastic waste that cannot be mechanically recycled — this project developed a pretreatment and feeding system. This allows you to valorize waste that is currently incinerated or landfilled, potentially reducing lifecycle GHG emissions by 70-80%.
If you are an energy company dealing with the electrification of industrial heat — this project developed a demonstration plant run on 100% renewable electric energy. This proves that chemical recycling can be decoupled from fossil fuels to achieve a 60% GHG avoidance.
Based on available project data, specific pricing or operational costs are not provided, though a techno-economic feasibility assessment was performed for renewable energy management.
Yes, the project designed and ran a demonstration plant at Repsol's plant in Puertollano, Spain, specifically to test the integration of pyrolysis gas into existing petrochemical plants.
Based on available project data, there is no specific mention of licensing terms, but the project is coordinated by Repsol SA with 14 partners, suggesting a consortium-led development.
The system is designed to feed pyrolysis gas into existing steam cracker units after an upgrading process to remove contaminants like heavy metals, sulphur, and halogens.
The project runs from 2022-06-01 to 2027-05-31, aiming to set a pathway for the commercialization of renewable plastic feedstock.
The project is heavily industry-driven, with 9 industrial partners (64% of the consortium) and 2 SMEs, indicating a strong focus on commercial viability rather than pure research. Led by Repsol SA, the group spans 7 countries, combining the scale of a major energy company with the specialized knowledge of 5 research/university entities to bridge the gap between lab-scale pyrolysis and refinery integration.
Contact Repsol SA's innovation department regarding the Puertollano demo plant results.
Contact us to find partners for scaling chemical recycling integration.
