Plastics are very useful materials finding many applications and sometimes hard to replace by other materials. Unfortunately, the recycling of plastics is difficult and still in its infancy. Mechanical recycling is possible for pure / sorted materials, but other mixed plastics streams require chemical recycling where we go back to pyrolysis oil and cracking to the original building blocks, ethylene and propylene. We see several chemical recycling processes reaching demonstration phase and looking for catalyst and process improvements. With our expertise in catalytic cracking and hydro-processing we are assisting several companies with catalyst sourcing, pilot plant testing and optimization of demonstration projects. We are excited to see that the fundamentals of the processes remain the same (carbon rejection, hydrogen addition), but as the feedstock changes so do the catalyst and the operating conditions. Eventually resulting in improved chemical recycling processes operating at larger capacities.
