Chemical Recycling Summit 2022 --- November 22, 2022 --- Moerdijk, Netherlands

Grasp your opportunity to explore the fast-growing sector & discover how chem. recycling is assisting the transition to a circular economy!

Europe wants to be climate-neutral, and that can only be achieved by investing fully in circularity. If we want to achieve impact, and we do, the chemical industry must also embrace circularity. Chemical recycling plays a growing role in this and that requires companies to take action now.

Discover the fast-growing sector and how chemical recycling is helping the transition to a circular economy in The Netherlands. Hear all about it at the Chemical Recycling Summit (CRS) on 22 November 2022 in Moerdijk. https://circularbiobaseddelta.nl/crs. Made possible by Shell, Port of Moerdijk and Circular Biobased Delta Foundation. Chemical Recycling is one of the focus themes of the Circular Biobased Delta Foundation, and the Summit builds on more than five inspiring events around this theme in the past period.

ATTENDEES

Our attendees are a true representation of the supply chain. The participants are industry leaders and market professionals sharing their unparalleled views into chemical recycling business and policy. READ MORE

Circular Biobased Delta was already at the forefront of chemical recycling around 2015, with the establishment of the Pyrolysis Experimentation Garden South Netherlands, together with Port of Moerdijk and Rewin. Since then, developments in the region have gained momentum: Shell is investing in pyrolysis technology to supply the company's crackers with bio-based naphtha within a few years, Neste and Ravago are planning the construction of a chemical recycling plant in Vlissingen and the start of the PyroChempark project including the Green Chemistry Campus in Bergen op Zoom.

Chemical Recycling is an umbrella term for a number of technologies in which a chemical process reduces plastics to the original building blocks of the material (polymers, oligomers (pyrolysis oil), monomers (e.g. styrene) and/or small molecules such as carbon monoxide and hydrogen). Four different techniques are often distinguished:

Join the leading experts from multinationals, government and SMEs; all working on the future of Chemical Recycling and making the chemical industry sustainable. The program includes speakers from companies: Shell, Port of Moerdijk, Unilever, Inovyn, Alfa Laval, Synova and more. Clusters: Smart Delta Resources, Groene Chemie Nieuwe Economie, Chemelot Circular Hub, Chemport Europe. And government: Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, Rijkswaterstaat.

The main topics: Value chain creation, political framework, vision of the regional clusters, pitches and networking. Learn from the experts, participate in the discussions and expand your network. READ MORE

Excerpt from Circular Biobased Delta: Chemical recycling involves turning mixed streams containing both biomass and waste plastics into new raw materials for the chemical and plastics industry. The switch to circular raw materials entails changes throughout the chain. National and European legislation, which traditionally focuses on clearly distinguishable sectors such as waste and chemistry, will also have to be amended. Collaboration is key. Not only within the chain, but also across the boundaries of sectors, regions and even countries.

Shell

Chemical recycling is about a global market, Paul de Hoog of Shell also emphasized during the meeting in Moerdijk. Shell has set itself the goal of processing one million tonnes of waste plastics into pyrolysis oil by 2030, as a replacement for petroleum in the production of chemical building blocks for new plastics. This can only be achieved by working on it at several production sites: in the Netherlands, Germany, the US and Singapore at the same time.

The current collection of packaging plastic does not yield enough to produce enough pyrolysis oil for the entire chemical industry. Kim Meulenbroeks of Renewi says that it is conceivable that the Netherlands will even have to import plastic waste for this purpose in the future. “Ultimately, waste is also a raw material that goes to the highest bidder.”

Responsible choice

On the other hand, the brand owners play a role: large brand manufacturers such as Unilever who choose to use circular plastics in the packaging of their products.

Light point

Arnold Stokking, initiator of the Green Chemistry, New Economy platform, points out that chemical recycling is certainly not just about technology, but about all the other preconditions surrounding it, such as the creation of value chains, financing, scaling up and legislation. One bright spot is that the government is seriously investing in innovation, for example via Invest-NL and the National Growth Fund. GCNE is involved in various Growth Fund projects relevant to chemical recycling, including Circular Plastics, Future Carbon and the new Biobased Circular (BBC) application. At the same time, the platform is building towards bridging the gap between small and medium-sized companies that want to scale and the big industrial players that are indispensable to make a real difference in the market.
In the meantime, we are waiting for new European directives for chemical recycling.

Practical help

In particular, the 'end-of-waste status' regulations (when does waste cease to be waste and can it be considered a clean raw material?) is one of the major challenges. READ MORE