Neste is set to receive around €135 million in EU funding to help it build a chemical recycling wing at its refinery in Porvoo, Finland, as it looks to refine plastic waste and prepare it for use in other products.
Neste. Image credit: Neste via Cision
Image credit: Neste via Cision
Through the EU's Innovation Fund, the firm hopes it can install treatment capacity to handle 400,000 tonnes of plastic waste per year - increasing to over a million by 2030.
Read more: Plastic from emissions - two birds with one stone
The news comes following the announcement of a feasibility study looking into the viability of refining plastic waste at this plant, which was unveiled back in March. Implementation of the tech is expected for early 2024.
Project PULSE - short for “Pretreatment and Upgrading of Liquefied Waste Plastic to Scale Up Circular Economy” is an important step in Neste's sustainability goals and the "commercialisation of chemical recycling of waste plastic".
The firm hopes this tech will not only allow for the scaling up of chemical recycling but also allow for the petrochemical industry, which is responsible for many of the raw materials used to make plastics, to require fewer overall materials.
The plan is, once scaled up, that it could also reduce overall plastic waste and increase recycling rates of plastics. This, in turn, will also lower carbon emissions.
"We are excited to be among the projects selected by the EU Innovation Fund", says Mercedes Alonso, Executive Vice President of Neste Renewable Polymers and Chemicals.
“While showing recognition for and faith in our work on chemical recycling, the funding also highlights the importance of the approach itself. If we want to move towards a circular economy for polymers and chemicals, chemical recycling will have a major role to play".
The EU Innovation Fund offers to fund burgeoning technologies designed to help the bloc meet the goals of the European Green Deal and the Fit for 55 package. Neste's project comes as part of a new funding wave by the bloc, totalling €1.8 billion.
Other projects that have funded through the scheme include HYBRIT green steel, and various energy projects, including geothermal, solar and wind, and carbon capture projects.
Neste itself was also awarded €88 million to allow it to develop green hydrogen and carbon capture projects in a bid to wean itself off fossil fuels.
Read more: Neste awarded €88-million EU grant to support its green transition
All this will go towards the EU's plans to become net-zero across all industrial sectors by 2050.
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