Plastics2Olefins General Assembly 2024: Advancing Plastic Recycling with 100% Renewable Energy

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.

The Plastics2Olefins project partners.

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.

Dr. Alemu Belay is Head of Energy Systems at Smart Innovation Norway and Work Package 8 leader.

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: