Category: Plastic2Olefins

Improving the recycling process of unsorted plastic waste

There is an urgent need to develop new technologies to valorise unsorted plastic and other waste in large quantities to yield high-value material streams that can replace fossil ones. The Plastic2Olefins project will contribute to that by using a novel high-temperature pyrolysis process at an industrial scale. 

Plastics2Olefins is an EU-funded project aiming to design, build, and run a demonstration plant to recycle unsorted plastic waste.

On June 13-15, one of the project partners, the Technical Research Centre of Finland, VTT, organised the second General Assembly meeting of the project.

Moving towards the pilot stage

During the meeting in Helsinki, the consortium visited the Bioruukki piloting facility, where VTT operates gasification and pyrolysis units, including the downstream gas processing systems.

During the meeting in Helsinki, the consortium visited the Bioruukki piloting facility, where VTT operates gasification and pyrolysis units, including the downstream gas processing systems.
From the Bioruukki piloting facility in Helsinki. PHOTO: Kjetil Lier Svendsen

The core task for VTT in the project is to purify the olefin-rich gas that originates from the pyrolysis of plastic waste. VTT’s target, in close collaboration with the Spanish energy and petrochemical company Repsol, is to meet the industrial standards to ensure the production of new virgin plastic from the resulting gas stream. 

– We are moving towards the piloting stage in the Plastic2Olefins project, where we feed real gas into the gas processing system. We aim to purify the gas and have very clean ethylene gas coming from the system, says Research Scientist at VTT, Ville Nikkanen.

The assembly had an exciting meeting and good discussions about the project results from the last 12 months. 

– We have been doing different trials to validate the chemical recycling technology based on pyrolysis at high temperatures with different plastic waste of different quality. We have tested the performance of different qualities of plastic waste at various operating conditions to validate and optimise the production of circular olefins, explains Rebeca Yuste from Repsol. 

The GA in Helsinki were held at VTT's facility which gave the partners a look into how VTT is purifying the olefin-rich gas that originates from the pyrolysis of plastics waste. PHOTO: Kjetil Lier Svendsen
During the GA in Helsinki, gave the partners were informed about how VTT is purifying the olefin-rich gas that originates from the pyrolysis of plastics waste. PHOTO: Kjetil Lier Svendsen

From waste to virgin quality

As difficult-to-recycle mixed waste fractions are used as feedstock in the Plastics2Olefins project, the produced gas contains multiple different impurities that are absent in the current plastic production systems that rely on fossil-based feedstocks.

The new impurities originating from waste processing must be removed, and novel methods for cleaning the streams must be created to enable the full circularity of plastic waste. 

One year into the project, the test results regarding many of these new impurities have been promising. VTT has been able to remove most of them, and one of the objectives is to deliver completely purified gas as the Plastics2Olefins project will demonstrate the value chain from waste plastics to virgin quality plastics.

By doing so, the Plastics2Olefins partners have obtained to demonstrate the circularity of difficult-to-recycle wastes.

– We have good ideas on how to proceed with the project. The ongoing work will continue, and new solutions will be tested. I am quite confident that we will find a good solution to the challenges, says Ville Nikkanen.

Passing in knowledge

Smart Innovation Norway is among 13 project partners responsible for validation and exploitation activities, including cost-benefit analysis and scalability, feasibility study on replication potential, communication, dissemination, stakeholder engagement, and coordinating the learning and training modules.

Section Head of Energy Systems at Smart Innovation Norway, Dr Alemu Moges Belay. PHOTO: Kjetil Lier Svendsen
Dr Alemu Moges Belay. PHOTO: Kjetil Lier Svendsen

Section Head of Energy Systems at Smart Innovation Norway, Dr Alemu Moges Belay, is thrilled to participate in such an essential project. 

He and his colleagues bring competence and knowledge from former EU projects to the Plastics2Olefins project.

– RESOLVD and INVADE are relevant to the Plastics2Olefins project because they used the European Commission Joint Research Centre proposed methodology to perform a cost-benefit analysis aiming to improve distribution networks’ efficiency and hosting capacity, says Belay.

– The methodology is suitable for innovation action projects and can be used in the Plastic2Olefins project, he continues.

Developing a necessary methodology

A chemical recycling route is seen as a necessary tool in achieving the recycling targets set by the EU. To support VTT’s efforts to enable societies to achieve these ambitious recycling and sustainability targets, exploitation activities and communication and dissemination activities will be crucial.

The project estimates to reduce the lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 70-80% compared to incineration and existing plastics recycling processes. This is providing an important contribution to the EU reaching climate neutrality by 2050 and setting a pathway for the commercialisation of renewable plastic feedstock replacing fossil fuels.

The project partners are excited to contribute to the development work of sustainable technologies in the Plastics2Olefins project.

FACTS ABOUT Plastics2Olefins

Duration:
60 months (2022-2027)

Abstract:
Globally 359 million metric tons of plastic were produced in 2018, and Europe produced 17% of this amount. In the same year, 29,1mio tons of plastic waste was generated in the EU, and only a third was recycled.

While sorted and pure plastic waste can be recycled relatively well, a major problem is the recycling of unsorted plastic waste. Such waste still holds a large share of valuable carbon feedstock but is currently either landfilled or energetically valorised, i.e., incinerated, both producing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions instead of recovering the precious carbon feedstock contained.

Hence, there is an urgent need to develop new technologies that can not only valorise unsorted plastic but also other waste in large amounts to yield material streams that can replace fossil material streams.

One promising technology to recycle unsorted heterogeneous plastic waste is pyrolysis.

Objective:
The Plastics2Olefins project will design, build, and run a demonstration plant for recycling unsorted plastic waste.

The process will be digitalised and run on 100% renewable (electric) energy.

The project estimates to reduce the lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 70-80% compared to incineration and existing plastics recycling processes.

This will be providing an important contribution to the EU reaching climate neutrality by 2050 and set a pathway for the commercialisation of renewable plastic feedstock replacing fossil fuels.

Participating organisations:
– Repsol SA, Spain
– Repsol Química SA, Spain
– E.T.I.A. – Evaluation Technologique Ingenieurie et Applications SA, France
– Tecnicas Reunidas SA, Spain
– Centro de Investigaciones Energeticas, Medioambientales y Tecnologicas-Ciemat, Spain
– ACTECO, Spain
– PREZERO, Spain
– ARTTIC Innovation GmbH, Germany
– Lafargeholcim España SAU, Spain
– Teknologian Tutkimuskeskus VTT OY, Finland
– Danmarks Tekniske Universitet, Denmark
– Smart Innovation Norway AS, Norway
– SCG Chemicals Company Limited, Thailand
– Universidad de Castilla – La Mancha, Spain

Plastics2Olefins project officially launched on June 2022

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