Less than 10% of plastic is recycled. The rest ends up in landfills or is incinerated. The EU-funded ELECTRO project, in which Borealis is an active partner, will demonstrate new technology that connects the waste and petrochemical industries to provide a sustainable and scalable circular solution with a low carbon footprint for olefin and polyolefin production. We talked to Manjunath Patil from Borealis, Austria, who shed light on this project.
Chemical Engineer Manjunath Patil is part of the ELECTRO project and taking care of the project on behalf of Borealis. He starts by stating that the overall targets of the project are well aligned with the SPIRIT programme – to boost recycling of plastics waste back to high value materials. The focus of the ELECTRO project is on chemical recycling of mixed plastics waste streams that are currently not recycled but rather either incinerated or dumped to landfill such as multilayer or mixed plastics containing typically polyolefins and polystyrene (PS) as well as waste PS. The key approach is utilizing renewable energy instead of fossil fuels for pyrolysis and cracking processes. This initiative, running from 2022 to 2026, brings together leading research institutes, universities and industry partners from across Europe to develop groundbreaking technology that converts plastic waste into valuable olefins, key building blocks for the chemical industry.
Pioneering electrochemical upcycling of plastics
ELECTRO is short for ”Electrochemical upcycling of plastics into ethylene and propylene” and addresses one of the major environmental challenges of our time: the accumulation of plastic waste. While traditional recycling methods are often costly, inefficient, or result in low-quality materials, the ELECTRO project seeks to revolutionise the field by using renewable electricity to break down plastic waste directly into ethylene and propylene. These olefins are essential raw materials for making new plastics and a wide range of other products.
The project aims to develop and scale up advanced electrochemical processes that can efficiently convert various types of plastic waste, including difficult-to-recycle streams, into high-value olefins, and demonstrate the feasibility of these processes in large scale (>50 kta). By making use of renewable electricity, ELECTRO’s technology promises to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional methods, aligning with the EU’s climate and sustainability goals.
Manjunath explains that ELECTRO approach combines novel technologies of several partners, e.g. an innovative modular two-step extrusion step for the optimal pre-treatment of plastic waste (VTT, Pryme) with an electrically heated reactor for the catalytic pyrolysis of plastic waste by Pryme. The main product, plastic waste pyrolysis oil (py-oil), will be then used as a feed for novel electrified steam cracker by Coolbrook and the resulted olefins polymerized by Borealis to polyethylene and polypropylene, processed further to products such as PE film.
The project aims to assess these technologies by techno-economic feasibility studies and with large scale trials in the whole value-chain. Real-world waste streams are used for these from the Republic of Korea and Indonesia.
On his own role Manjunath says: “Borealis is leading the work package focusing on optimised valorisation of hydrocarbon mix for steam cracking. This includes evaluating methods to valorise py-oil, evaluate its composition, demonstrate steam cracking of py-oils, and develop appropriate operating strategies for the steam cracking.”
Result highlight: Global first in cracking 100% plastic waste derived pyrolysis oil
One of the partners, Coolbrook, has reached a major milestone in circular materials. At its large-scale pilot facility, the company successfully cracked 100% plastic-waste-derived pyrolysis oil (py-oil) using its proprietary RotoDynamic Reactor™ (RDR) technology.
According to Dr. Tuomas Ouni, Head of Process Development at Coolbrook, cracking 100% pyrolysis oil directly without dilution simplifies operations and enhances traceability of circular materials. Coolbrook’s RDR delivers superior ethylene and propylene yields compared to conventional furnaces, without noticeable increases in coking. These results confirm the potential of RDR to become central in decarbonisation and circularity for petrochemicals.
The outcomes of ELECTRO could mark a significant leap toward the reduction of plastic pollution, the decoupling of plastic production from fossil resources and the creation of new business opportunities within Europe’s recycling and chemical industries.
For more information about the ELECTRO project and its partners, visit www.electro-project.eu.
Photo: Pyrolysis oil samples, © Borealis