In its efforts to scale-up chemical recycling, Neste has successfully concluded another series of industrial-scale processing runs with increasing volumes of liquefied waste plastic at its refinery in Porvoo, Finland. The processing runs in the second half of 2023 doubled the total amount of liquefied waste plastic processed by Neste to more than 6,000 tons. For the first time, the largest run in 2023 exceeded 2,000 tons of liquefied waste plastic. The output of the runs is high-quality, ISCC PLUS certified material for new plastics.
“There is an urgent need to develop solutions to curb climate emissions, while simultaneously tackling the global plastic waste challenge,” said Heikki Färkkilä, vice president chemical recycling at Neste. “We are processing increasing volumes of waste plastic, which is testament to our commitment to scale up chemical recycling. At the same time, these volumes also demonstrate the commitment of our partners, suppliers and the industry as a whole: We are confident we will see chemical recycling become a commercial-scale contributor to the circularity of plastics in the upcoming years.”
The current runs utilize Neste’s existing refinery equipment and pave the way for reaching capability to start continuous commercial processing. A new facility is currently being constructed at Neste’s Porvoo refinery to enable the upgrading of 150,000 tons of liquefied waste plastic each year. This first phase of Neste’s EU Innovation Fund backed PULSE project, which sees Neste investing 111 million euros, is expected to be finalized in the first half of 2025. In total, PULSE is aiming for an annual capacity to process 400,000 tons of liquefied waste plastic.
Neste is securing liquefied waste plastic supply through various suppliers. Besides contributing to the overall development of chemical recycling, processing liquefied waste plastic is helping Neste take steps towards developing its Porvoo refinery into a renewable and circular solutions site.
