New strategic partnership to develop the first chemical recycling project in France
Canadian Plastics
Materials RecyclingThis plant, with a capacity of 15,000 tonnes annually, is being built by oil and natural gas producer Total and recycling firm Plastic Energy.
Oil and natural gas producer Total and recycling firm Plastic Energy have partnered to develop what’s being called the first chemical recycling project in France.
The plant, with a capacity of 15,000 tonnes annually, will be located on the new Total platform zéro crude in Grandpuits, France.
The project is expected to become operational in early 2023.
This first project in France represents the start of a possible longer term collaboration between Total and Plastic Energy to deploy chemical recycling. Also called advanced plastics recycling, chemical recycling converts difficult-to-recycle plastic waste back to their original monomer forms so they can be remade into new plastic materials, instead of being sent to landfills or incinerators.
“The collaboration with Total will help contribute to the emergence of an innovative new industrial sector for recycling, meeting both the rising demand for high-quality recycled materials, and the need for real circularity in plastics,” Carlos Monreal, Plastics Energy founder and CEO, said in a statement.
Total has also signed an agreement with Plastic Energy to purchase part of the pyrolysis oils (or TACOIL) produced in Plastic Energy’s plants in Spain from 2020. The TACOIL has already been successfully processed in Total’s petrochemical platform in Antwerp. The properties of the polymers produced will be identical to that of virgin polymers and will be specifically suitable for food contact applications.
