20-01-2023

Neste and CINEA sign the EU Innovation Fund’s grant agreement for chemical recycling project

Neste has completed the grant agreement process with CINEA and the European Commission for 135 million euro funding to Neste’s chemical recycling project PULSE, following the earlier positive EU Innovation Fund grant decision in July 2022. The PULSE project aims to implement Neste’s proprietary technologies to pretreat and upgrade liquefied waste plastic and gradually integrate these technologies into the company’s refinery operations in Porvoo, Finland.

PULSE targets pretreatment and upgrading capacities of 400,000 tons of liquefied waste plastic per year, contributing to Neste’s goal of processing over 1 million tons of waste plastic per year from 2030 onwards. The project plays an important role in commercializing chemical recycling of waste plastic as it allows scaling up chemical recycling and bridging the quality gap between unprocessed liquefied waste plastic and the petrochemical industry’s raw material requirements. The project will also contribute to the transformation of carbon-intensive industries in Europe as targeted by the European Green Deal.

“PULSE is a major step in the advancement of chemical recycling technologies,” says Mercedes Alonso, Executive Vice President Renewable Polymers and Chemicals at Neste. “The Innovation Fund support will serve as a catalyst for the large scale up of chemical recycling, which enables a broader range of waste plastics to be recycled. At the same time, it highlights the importance of our work towards achieving higher recycling rates.”

“Project PULSE is an important part of the planned transitioning of our Porvoo refinery into a globally leading renewable and circular solutions site and ending crude oil refining, as outlined in the strategic study Neste announced in September 2022 on Porvoo refinery transformation,” added Markku Korvenranta, Executive Vice President Oil Products at Neste. “We are grateful to the EU Innovation Fund for recognizing the important role refineries will play in the circular economy for plastics.”

*Project PULSE is funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Climate Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.