Sabic and Plastic Energy Together for a New Chemical Recycling Plant

Attention to the environment, the circular economy and waste materializes in the analysis of solutions that can actually use waste waste , i.e. those products that leave mechanical recycling plants as waste and which would be destined for landfill or waste disposal. 'incineration.

Chemical recycling is certainly a way to reuse these wastes by transforming them, as Sabic and Plastic Energy will do in the Netherlands, creating a value chain in sustainable polymers.

In late 2018, Saudi petrochemical group Sabic signed a memorandum of understanding with British Plastic Energy to build a plastic recycling unit in the Netherlands. The project was expected to be completed in 2021.

Although it is a little late, work is underway towards its realization. The two partners have just created a joint venture, Spear (Sabic Plastic Energy Advanced Recycling BV), of which they own equally, to start construction of this site in Geleen , a major petrochemical centre, near Maastricht, where Sabic is already present. It is expected to be operational in the second half of 2022. with the support of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs.

Various collaborations

Sabic and Plastic Energy have been collaborating since 2019 to produce and market "circular" polymers, included in Sabic's Trucircle catalog.

The Saudi group has thus been able to collaborate with converters, consumer goods groups and/or retail chains to produce various packaging: among these early users are, in particular, Albéa, Aptar, Avery Dennison, Berry Global, Huhtamaki, Sealed Air, Walki, Tupperware, Unilever and Tesco.

“The new unit will allow Sabic to significantly increase the production of certified circular polymers in order to provide customers with better access to sustainable materials that have been recycled, reused and produced in a way that can help protect natural resources from our planet, acting as a back-up solution,” says Fahad Al Swailem, vice president responsible for polyethylene and polymer sales at Sabic.

Thermal anaerobic conversion

Plastic Energy has developed a patented anaerobic thermal conversion (TAC) technology that transforms a wide range of end-of-life, dirty or contaminated plastics that are difficult to recycle using conventional processes, into synthetic pyrolysis oils that, when refined, yield It is possible to produce polymers with properties identical to those of the original materials.

The company already operates two chemical recycling plants for plastics in Seville and Almeria, Spain, since 2014 and 2017. The new unit will produce both this oil and resins.

A. Jadoul