Pulse project: Neste doubles liquefied plastic waste processing in test run for €111M expansion

09 Jan 2024 --- Neste completed another series of tests processing liquefied plastic waste at its refinery in Porvoo, Finland, expanding its chemical recycling efforts. The test runs carried out in the second half of 2023 led to a doubled amount of liquefied plastic waste processed by Neste to more than 6,000 metric tons.

In the largest test run of the year, more than 2,000 metric tons of liquefied plastic waste were processed “for the first time.” Neste highlights that the converted product is an ISCC Plus-certified, high-quality raw material for plastic production. 

The tests are part of the Pulse project, an initiative aiming to process 450,000 metric tons annually by mid 2025, for which Neste has invested €111M (US$121 million). 

Heikki Färkkilä, vice president for Chemical Recycling at Neste Renewable Polymers and Chemicals, tells Packaging Insights that the company’s approach to chemical recycling allows it to refine a broad range of liquefied plastic waste, “which enables our partners to recycle varied and impure plastic waste streams that are difficult to recycle via mechanical recycling or in other chemical recycling processes.”

Neste’s new plant in Porvoo, aiming to process 150,000 tons of liquefied plastic waste annually.“Second, it allows us to produce virgin-quality raw materials for new plastics. This enables recycled content even in the most demanding applications, for example, food-contact packaging or medical applications.” 

“We therefore consider our chemical recycling approach a strong addition to the circularity of plastics and a complementary solution to existing recycling technologies.”

Test runs for recycling scale-up
The current test runs utilize Neste’s existing refining facilities, aiming at continuous commercial processing. A new plant is being built at the Neste refinery in Porvoo so that 150,000 tons of liquefied plastic waste can be processed yearly. 

This first phase of the Pulse project, supported by the EU Innovation Fund, is expected to be completed in the first half of 2025. Neste is investing €111 million (US$121 million). Overall, Pulse targets a total capacity of 400,000 metric tons of liquefied plastic waste annually.

Färkkilä asserts that the runs are an important part of the company’s strategy to advance and scale up chemical recycling. “They utilize Neste’s existing refinery equipment and pave the way for reaching capability to start continuous commercial processing and the runs are providing the basis for this kind of large-scale and continuous processing.”

Neste says it ensures the supply of liquefied plastic waste through various suppliers. The processing contributes to the general development of chemical recycling and helps Neste develop the Porvoo refinery into a renewable and circular solutions site.

Plastic waste processing 
Neste aims at advancing chemical recycling, asserts Färkkilä. Chemical recycling can turn hard-to-recycle plastic waste streams into high-quality raw material for new plastics.

“Chemical recycling allows us to turn hard-to-recycle plastic waste streams into high-quality raw material for new plastics. To achieve that goal, we are sourcing liquefied waste plastic from various suppliers and then processing it in our crude oil refinery in Porvoo into high-quality raw material for the chemicals industry. There are various ways, for example, pyrolysis or hydrothermal liquefaction.”

Neste started refining liquefied plastic waste on an industrial scale in 2020 and has since processed increasing volumes in several runs. Färkkilä explains that while unprocessed liquefied waste plastic is feasible in limited campaign runs, scaling up continuous processing requires the pretreatment and upgrading steps to remove impurities and optimize the chemical composition. 

“To get there, Neste has launched project Pulse, funded by the EU Innovation Fund, and aims to implement proprietary technologies to pretreat and upgrade liquefied waste plastic and integrate these technologies into Neste’s refinery operations in Porvoo,” she says. 

Färkkilä says chemical recycling will become an interesting and relevant technology for the packaging industry, particularly food packaging. 

“It will allow the industry to meet ambitious targets for recycled content due to its ability to provide virgin-quality materials from low-quality plastic waste streams. At the same time, it may help tackle plastic packaging waste streams that currently end up in incineration or landfill due to difficulties in recycling them, for example, multilayer materials.”

By Natalie Schwertheim