Watch photos from the 6th General Assembly in Alicante and visit to ACTECO’s facilities.

The Plastics2Olefins project gathered for its sixth General Assembly (GA) on November 20-21, 2024, in Alicante, Spain.

Hosted by ACTECO, the two-day meeting highlighted the progress made by the consortium in key technical work packages. The partners discussed challenges, agreed on solutions, and outlined next steps in the project’s goal towards transforming plastic waste into valuable resources. The event concluded with a valued visit to ACTECO’s state-of-the-art facilities, showcasing processes and know-hows implemented within the project and beyond.

“Important insights have been acquired in this gathering that will feed into the concept and design of the Plastics2Olefins demo plant,” comments Raquel Moreno from ARTTIC Innovation.

Day 1 Highlights: Technical Progress

Rebeca Yuste (coordinator from REPSOL) and Ángel Martinez (ACTECO) opened the meeting with a warm welcome and overview of the participants’ schedule. Further, the Work Package (WP) and task leads presented the progress on their respective tasks and activities and main achievements within the last period.

• WP1 – Project Coordination: Raquel Moreno (ARTTIC) provided an overview of WP1 objectives and tasks, including strategic decision-making, administrative management, and scientific and technical management. Key points of discussion from this WP included the review of changes to the upcoming amendment, and the development of a new data management plan collector and the upcoming interim report.
• WP2 – Pyrolysis Optimization: Julio Perez (ACTECO) and Curro Artillo (REPSOL) discussed the identification and supply of pre-treated materials, problems with water content in materials, and the impact of caustic scrubber on pyrolysis gas. They also discussed the potential solutions to the challenges, presented pyrolysis results and also discussed the next steps.
• WP3 – Downstream Process Optimisation: Michal Jeremias (VTT) presented an overview of WP3, including tasks related to the revalorisation of heavy tar-like fractions (CIEMAT), purifying gas (VTT), and char characterisation (LHE). Key points of discussion included the impact of water content on chloromethane adsorption and the use of char in cement plants.
• WP4 – Digitalisation and Renewable Energies Integration: Prashanth Nadukandi (REPSOL) and Noemi González Cobos (REPSOL) discussed the simulations done about the pyrolysis reactor and development of a planning tool for renewable energy integration including the validation of the tool within Repsol Tech Lab’s facilities.
• WP5 – Technical Integration and Engineering: Pablo de Hoyos and Bernardo Herrera (TRSA) provided an overview of WP5 objectives, including design basis, conceptual and basic engineering of the demo plant, and the review of tasks, deliverables, and milestones. They discussed the definition of the feeding system and the start conceptual engineering of the demo plant.
• WP7 – Sustainability Assessment and Replicability Potentials: Mikolaj Owsianiak (DTU) presented a brief overview of WP7 progress, including the initiation of tasks related to life cycle assessment (LCA) and the need for data confirmation from technical partners, Cost-benefit analysis and prefeasibility study on replication potential (lead by SIN).
• WP8 – Exploitation, Communications, Dissemination & Training: Alemu Belay (SIN) presented an overview of tasks and deliverables achievements. Key points included the status of communication and development of the dissemination materials, the development of learning modules, and the review of KPIs.

Day 2 Highlights: ACTECO’s Facilities Tour

On the second day we had a fruitful visit to ACTECO’s cutting-edge facilities in Almansa and Ibi, where we saw firsthand how they’re transforming plastic waste into valuable materials to be taken to the Repsol plant to go through an innovative pyrolysis process to obtain olefins.

“We saw first-hand waste storage, processes and final products processed in ACTECO’s facilities, which will contribute having a feasible concept and design of the Plastics2Olefins demo plant,” says REPSOL coordinator Rebeca Yuste.

Exciting things ahead as we continue working together to drive sustainability and create a more circular economy!

The Plastics2Olefins project, an EU-funded initiative, held its fifth General Assembly in Madrid, Spain, in June.

This milestone event brought together project partners and experts to assess the project’s progress and discuss the next steps in creating a demonstration plant at Repsol’s Puertollano site.

Designed to recycle unsorted plastic waste into high-value materials, the Plastics2Olefins demonstration plant will be powered exclusively by renewable energy and is set to pioneer a new era in sustainable waste management.

Key Meeting Highlights

Technical Progress & Innovations
Throughout the two-day event, updates were provided on each of the project’s Work Packages, marking significant milestones in the journey to advance circular solutions for plastic waste. Noteworthy progress included:

• Project Coordination: ARTTIC provided an update on reporting and coordination milestones for the current period.
• Pre-treatment and Pyrolysis Optimization: ETIA and REPSOL presented advancements in optimizing plastic waste pre-treatment and pyrolysis processes.
• Downstream Process Optimization: VTT discussed recent progress on downstream processing, focused on refining the quality of output.
• Digitalization and Renewable Energy Integration: REPSOL shared developments on integrating digital solutions and renewable energy into the demonstration plant.
• Sustainability Assessment: DTU led discussions on assessing the plant’s environmental impact and evaluating its scalability.

Strategic Focus: Replicability and Innovation
Beyond technical progress, the consortium discussed long-term goals of sustainability and scalability. Focused on replicability, the project aims to serve as a model for similar facilities worldwide, demonstrating that waste-to-material conversion can be economically and environmentally viable on a larger scale. Topics like intellectual property, technical synergies, and regulatory compliance were addressed to ensure streamlined growth.

Networking and Partnership
The meeting also fostered networking among partners, strengthening collaborative ties. In addition to formal sessions, an informal dinner at Restaurante Casa Mono enabled partners to exchange ideas in a relaxed setting.

Facility Visits
On Day 2, attendees toured CIEMAT’s laboratories, gaining insights into cutting-edge technologies that will support Plastics2Olefins. The visit underscored the project’s commitment to research-driven innovation and real-time applications that can impact the waste management sector at large.

Looking Ahead

As Plastics2Olefins continues, the team remains dedicated to delivering actionable solutions that embody the EU’s commitment to sustainability. This upcoming demonstration plant at Puertollano is not just a technological achievement; it’s a critical step in transforming waste management and promoting circularity in the plastics industry.

“It is exciting to see the progress of the project and the advancement of chemical recycling technology to tackle a crucial global challenge,” comments Dr. Alemu Belay, Head of Energy Systems at Smart Innovation Norway. He leads Work Package 8: Exploitations, communications, dissemination & training, as well as two tasks in Work Package 7: Sustainability assessment and replicability potentials.

Watch the video below to learn more about the Plastics2Olefins project and the pilot plant at Repsol Technology Lab:

During the fourth General Assembly of the Plastics2Olefins project in Madrid, Spain, the partners discussed the progress of the project and assessed results achieved during the last 18 months.

Plastics2Olefins is a project with a clear vision of circular economy and advancement of recycling technology through optimisation of the upstream processes waste (heterogeneous plastic waste).

The project will develop a novel plastics recycling process based on high temperature pyrolysis. This process reduces the lifecycle GHG emissions by more than 70% compared to existing plastics recycling processes for unsorted plastic waste, and by more than 80% compared to current end-of-life options for these wastes, i.e., incineration.

Pilot visit

As a part of the project milestone and continuous assessment of the project status, Repsol hosted the fourth general assembly of the Plastics2Olefins project, which was held on November 21-22, 2023, at the Repsol facility in Madrid, Spain. All partners gathered to discuss the results achieved in the last 18 months, and each partner shared the status of all activities and visited the installation and engineering work of the pilot plant at Repsol Technology Lab.

The pyrolysis pilot plant started to run in 2023 with the goal of demonstrating the Plastics2Olefins technology, testing different qualities of plastic wastes and optimizing the operating conditions to maximize the production of circular olefins.  The pilot aims to be an industrial application of the project on a medium scale. It uses renewable energy and won’t need permanent human supervision. Furthermore, it can be operated economically and already supports the goal achievement of the European Green Deal.

Inspired partners

Currently, the project progressed significantly on the technical installation of pilot, carried out major engineering works and some preliminary tests have been conducted. Partners presented and discussed the status of the project in major activities of all work packages, technical discussions and visited the pilot plant. The pilot is set up completely and several test runs were already performed. More than 24 hours of continuous operation were achieved. During the test runs, several issues were located and resolved.

In general, from the visit, all partners were inspired to contribute for the next steps of the project and put a concrete plan to execute the upcoming project phases.

During 2024, the validation of the technology will be done carrying out long duration trials for the demonstration of the reliability of the integration of the different stages of the technology.

The pilot will be continuously improved according to the results of the Plastics2Olefins project. The consortium is aiming to achieve a fully automated and uninterrupted operation.  After that it will start the scaling up of the technology with the engineering activities and phases of the Plastics2Olefins demo plant that will have a capacity of 8000 t/y of plastic wastes.

The Plastics2Olefins project will design, build, and run a demonstration plant for recycling of unsorted plastic waste at Repsol’s plant Puertollano (Spain). The process which will be digitalised, run on 100% renewable (electric) and estimated to reduce the GHG emission by 70-80% compared to incineration and existing plastics recycling processes.

VIDEO: Plastics2Olefins project will design, build and demonstrate new unsorted plastic recycling technology

VIDEO: The Plastics2Olefins project will develop a novel pyrolysis for recycling unsorted plastics

Arttic Innovation GmbH participates in a new Horizon Europe project which recycles plastic waste into high-value materials.

The Plastics2Olefins project (Recycling plastic waste into high-value materials- Closing the Loop) has been selected for the European Union’s Research and Innovation Framework Programme Horizon Europe with a budget of €28,2 million and a duration of 5 years. The project has now officially started.

In line with the European Green Deal goals, the European Commission has set a concrete action plan to transform the European economy towards a sustainable and circular economy to become climate neutral by 2050 and to take global leadership in climate-friendly technologies. In this connection, one cross-cutting action plan to drive the transition is through research, innovation, and digitalization. Typically, one promising technology to recycle unsorted heterogeneous plastic waste is pyrolysis, i.e. the thermal degradation of plastic waste in the absence of oxygen.

Today, about 4-8% of annual global oil consumption is associated with plastics, according to the World Economic Forum. Plastics2Olefins aims to demonstrate a novel plastics recycling process based on high-temperature pyrolysis, as the main product will be a gas stream instead of a liquid, so it will reduce the lifecycle GHG emissions by more than 70% compared to existing plastics recycling processes for unsorted plastic waste. It also will reduce by more than 80% compared to the current end-of-life options for these wastes, i.e., incineration.

The project will realize this in a two-step approach: first by adapting and testing a scaled pilot plant at Repsol Technology Lab to optimize the components and process conditions and finally, a pioneering full-scale industrial demonstration plant at Repsol’s petrochemical site, which will be finally operated in a six-months validation campaign. To optimize the carbon footprint of such a plant, the project will design and construct a plant that can be fully electrified by renewably generated electricity.

The project will validate Technology Readiness Level 7 (out of 10) and aims to:

• Define an optimal pre-treatment process and heterogeneous plastics waste streams to ensure a high yield of olefins during production.
• Optimize the pyrolysis downstream process to achieve quality products and valorize the outputs in the different markets (circular plastic/textiles, low carbon footprint solid fuel).
  Design, build and run a demonstration plant for recycling of unsorted plastic waste at Repsol’s petrochemical site (Spain), which will run on 100% renewable (electric) energy and be digitalized to achieve system integration and optimization.
• Develop the concept for scalability and replicability of the technology in Europe and other geographic regions (ASEAN countries).
  Co-create replicable learning modules and train current and future workforce at the local and regional levels.

The project involves 13 partners from 7 different countries, for a 5-years project duration (2022-2027). Its total budget is EUR 33,258,033 and it will receive funding from the EU of EUR 28,200,000.

Partners involved: Repsol, Técnicas Reunidas, ETIA, VTT, Lafarge Holcim, PreZero, Ciemat, Smart Innovation Norway, Arttic Innovation GmbH, Denmark Technical University, SCGC Chemicals, Universidad Castilla La Mancha. This project receives funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation programme under Grant Agreement No 101058032.

The information and views set out in this press release are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the European Union. Neither the European Union institutions and bodies nor any person acting on their behalf may be held responsible for the use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Arttic Innovation GmbH has been advising research and innovation projects for more than 33 years. As project management and communication partner, we make sure that our projects run successfully and that project results and events are disseminated in the best possible way. Arttic is a subsidiary of the PNO Group, one of the largest consultancies for publicly funded projects in research and development. For more information, please visit www.arttic-innovation.de.

Source: Arttic Innovation GmbH