Neste Successfully Concludes First Series of Processing Trial Runs at Industrial Scale with Liquefied Waste Plastic in Porvoo, Finland

January 13, 2022

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(Neste) Neste has successfully concluded its first series of trial runs processing liquefied waste plastic at its Porvoo refinery in Finland. After kicking the series off with its first-ever industrial scale trial run with liquefied waste plastic in 2020, Neste has conducted additional runs in 2021. In the course of the trial runs, Neste has been able to upgrade liquefied waste plastic to drop-in solutions for plastic production and develop industrial scale capabilities to upgrade recycled feedstocks.

Trials pave the way for continuous and commercial activities

Neste has set itself the goal of processing more than one million tons of plastic waste per year from 2030 onwards. To achieve that goal, the company is advancing chemical recycling to turn plastic waste into a valuable raw material, strengthening circularity. For the first time ever, Neste completed a successful trial run with 400 tons of plastic waste in 2020, marking a milestone when it comes to Neste’s goal of driving a circular economy to reduce the depletion of fossil resources.

In the course of 2021, additional trials were conducted to gain further insights into the processing of liquefied waste plastic, including the processes’ impact on the refinery operations. In addition to that, Neste also focused on proving the concept of closing the loop in the plastics value chain and making circularity a reality: The tests validate that Neste is already able to process significant quantities of recycled raw materials to drop-in products for petrochemical use, while developing the capabilities to upgrade even larger quantities of waste plastic into even higher quality feedstock for the petrochemicals uses.

“There is strong interest in feedstocks from recycled raw materials in the polymers and chemicals market,” says Mercedes Alonso, Executive Vice President, Renewable Polymers and Chemicals at Neste. “By processing liquefied waste plastic and upgrading waste into valuable resources, we thereby not only contribute to combating the plastic pollution challenge, but we also provide chemical and polymer companies with the means to advance the circular economy. To do so at a larger scale going forward, we’ll also require regulatory support. On the one hand, this includes the acceptance of chemical recycling as a complementary technology to achieve ambitious recycling targets. On the other hand, we need similarly ambitious targets for increasing the use of more sustainable materials.”

Circular economy for polymers

The trial runs are already reflecting a value chain that can contribute to processing larger volumes of plastic waste in due course. The plastic waste used for the trial runs comprised only mixed post-consumer waste that is otherwise hard to recycle.

“In total, we have processed about 800 tons of liquefied waste plastic at our refineries in Finland. With the latest trial runs in Porvoo, we are laying the foundation for replacing crude oil based raw materials with liquefied waste plastic and strengthening circularity together with our customers. Based on the successful trials, we can conclude that liquefied waste plastics is a viable alternative for fossil raw material. In order to gain the necessary confidence needed for larger-scale production, further trials with larger volumes are still needed, and runs with increased volumes will continue in 2022,” says Markku Korvenranta, Executive Vice President of Oil Products at Neste.

The 800 tons of waste plastic that have been processed by now equal the amount a small city in the EU generates* in a year. The output from the trial runs is already finding its way into the polymers cycle as feedstock for new polymer products - with the same properties and the same quality as those based on fossil feedstock, making the feedstock suitable even for food packaging or healthcare applications.

*) Based on figures from Eurostat and assuming a city size of 50,000 people.

Neste in brief

Neste (NESTE, Nasdaq Helsinki) creates solutions for combating climate change and accelerating a shift to a circular economy. We refine waste, residues and innovative raw materials into renewable fuels and sustainable feedstock for plastics and other materials. We are the world’s leading producer of renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel, developing chemical recycling to combat the plastic waste challenge. We aim at helping customers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with our renewable and circular solutions by at least 20 million tons annually by 2030. As a technologically advanced refiner of high-quality oil products with a commitment to reach carbon-neutral production by 2035, we are also introducing renewable and recycled raw materials such as waste plastic as refinery raw materials. We have consistently been included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices and the Global 100 list of the world’s most sustainable companies. In 2020, Neste's revenue stood at EUR 11.8 billion, with 94% of the company’s comparable operating profit coming from renewable products. Read more: neste.com READ MORE

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New pretreatment and upgrading capabilities: Neste works on next step towards commercializing chemical recycling of waste plastic in Porvoo, Finland (Neste)

Excerpt from Neste: Proceeding on the target of commercializing chemical recycling of waste plastic, Neste is conducting a feasibility study to examine investing in capacity for processing liquefied waste plastic at its refinery in Porvoo, Finland. The goal is to scale up processing capabilities for liquefied waste plastic by implementing proprietary technologies to pretreat and upgrade liquefied waste plastic and integrating the technologies into the refinery operations. The targeted pretreatment and upgrading capacity of this first step is 400,000 tons per year. This development would be a major step towards Neste’s target to process over 1 million tons of waste plastic per year from 2030 onwards.

To produce drop-in petrochemical feeds from liquefied waste plastic (e.g. pyrolysis oil), intermediate refining is needed to remove detrimental impurities as well as optimize the chemical composition of the material.

“To turn chemical recycling into a viable and industrial-scale feed source for our downstream partners in the polymers and chemicals value chain, we have to bridge the quality gap between unprocessed liquefied waste plastic oil and our customers’ raw material requirements,” explains Mercedes Alonso, Executive Vice President, Renewable Polymers and Chemicals at Neste. “We are a forerunner in refining liquefied waste plastic into drop-in petrochemical feeds. By scaling up our processing capabilities, we enhance our ability to process hard-to-recycle waste plastics and help enable our value chain partners to deliver substantial volumes of high-quality materials from recycled feedstock.”

Increased flexibility when processing waste plastics

In 2021, Neste successfully concluded the first series of trial runs processing liquefied waste plastic in its Porvoo refinery. Additional trial runs with larger volumes will continue in the course of 2022. While unprocessed liquefied waste plastic is usable for trial-scale runs, continuous processing at industrial scale will require the pretreatment and upgrading step to remove impurities and unwanted components.

“We are excited to continue to develop liquid waste plastic processing capabilities at our Porvoo refinery. The goal is to turn waste plastics into valuable resources and a sustainable replacement for crude oil. The planned new pretreatment and upgrading capabilities are part of our target to be the most sustainable refinery in Europe by 2030, while supporting the transition to circular polymers,” says Markku Korvenranta, Executive Vice President, Oil Products at Neste.

To develop and build up the capabilities at its Porvoo refinery, Neste will evaluate possible options for innovation funding and works together closely with local authorities supervising environmental aspects of the investment. Following the feasibility study, investment decision readiness is targeted for 2023 and the gradual implementation is expected to start in 2024. READ MORE