05-11-2024

Neste, Alterra and Technip Energies collaborate to offer standardizsed solution to build chemical recycling plants

Neste, Alterra and Technip Energies have signed a collaboration agreement to advance the circularity of plastics by providing the industry a standardised technology solution for chemical recycling, also referred to as 'advanced recycling'. The partners aim to globally offer a standardised modular solution, based on Alterra’s proprietary liquefaction technology, to parties interested in building capacity for chemical recycling. This solution will come in the form of readily designed and engineered liquefaction plant modules, which will allow for lower pre-investment costs, accelerated implementation time, high predictability on project economics and reduced overall capital costs. Contributing to more effective execution of chemical recycling capacity projects, the solution helps the industry to reduce dependency on virgin fossil resources and accelerate the circularity of polymers and chemicals.

Alterra’s technology is a thermochemical liquefaction process, which converts hard-to-recycle plastics into a liquid hydrocarbon product. This liquid intermediate product can then be further refined into high-quality raw materials for new plastics and chemicals. As of today, Neste alone has processed more than 6,000 tons of plastic-derived feeds, including ISCC PLUS certified oil from Alterra’s industrial-scale site in Akron, Ohio.

Combining the expertise of three companies in one solution

Alterra and Neste started collaborating in chemical recycling in 2021, jointly improving aspects of Alterra’s technology and creating respective value chains. Alterra and Technip Energies started their collaboration in chemical recycling in 2022. The three companies now join efforts in a unique endeavor: Alterra and Neste will license the liquefaction technology and Technip Energies will design, engineer and deliver the standardized liquefaction plant solution to interested parties globally.

“We have a proven technology for liquefaction that encompasses 15 years of research, development and improvement,” says Frederic Schmuck, Chief Executive Officer at Alterra Energy. “Now we are reducing the hurdles for companies interested in investing in liquefaction. We are ultimately enabling a copy-paste solution for liquefaction plants, allowing for a fast scale-up of economically viable recycling capacities globally.”

“There is strong demand for more sustainable solutions, and we are ready to serve this demand,” says Andreas Teir, who is in charge of chemical recycling at Neste. “We have already established our role in processing circular feedstocks into high-quality raw materials for the petrochemicals industry, and our ambition is to grow these processed volumes over the upcoming months and years. We are therefore looking forward to offering a robust and easy-to-deploy liquefaction technology to also contribute to meeting our own increasing demand for liquefied waste plastic.”

“We have seen a recent trend in the circularity market wanting lower pre-investment costs and proven, in-use technology, while allowing adopters to maintain their 2030 climate commitments,” says Bhaskar Patel, SVP Sustainable Fuels, Chemicals & Circularity at Technip Energies. “We look forward to supporting the market with Alterra’s proven technology, improved with Neste, and our standard modular solution, both seen as key enablers for scalable projects. We are confident that this solution, along with Neste’s brand power and expected increasing demand for liquefied waste plastic, will contribute to fast deployment of new chemical recycling capacity.”