Page 47 - Plastics News June 2023

BUSINESS NEWS

Is electric furnace technology the future?
Greenback works with
Nestle to open its first
advanced recycling plant

K firm Greenback claims it
Ucloses the loop with its first
advanced plastic recycling plant
yondellBasell, Technip Energies The eFurnace technology would also
Land Chevron Phillips Chemical enable LyondellBasell to use renew- that becomes operational in part-
n in Cuautla,
collabo to fin out. able electricity as a heat source for the Mexico. The advanced recycling
LyondellBasell, Technip Energies and olefins cracking process, to further technology turns hard-to-recycle
Chevron Phillips Chemical have signed cut greenhouse gas emissions during plastics circular and tracks the ori-
a Memorandum of Understanding olefin production proc ‘u gins of the material.
(MoU) for the design, construction to 90% compared with a convention-
and operation of a demonstration al furnace’, LyondellBasell CEO Peter The lighthouse project counts with
electric-heated cracking furnace to Vanacker said. the support of Alliance to End Plas-
produc olefins. join developmen The unit, a first for LyondellBasell, will tic Waste advance and scale it. The
agreement is expected to be signed serve as a test of the technology and plant will reportedly process the
later this year. with the aim of confirming that con- annu flex plastic packaging
The demonstration unit will use Tech- tinuous olefin production is possible waste of 250,000 people.
nip Energies’ electric steam cracking using electricity as a heat source. The outcome of the low emission
furnace technology - eFurnace by "Consistent with our purpose to en- recycling process is recycled raw
T.E.N. - and will be designed to prove gineer a much-needed sustainable fu- material for new food-grade pack-
the technology at industrial scale. ture, Technip Energies is making huge aging. Greenback Recycling Tech-
Steam cracking furnaces play a signifi- strides toward reducing the CO2 nologies (Greenback) opened its
cant role in the production of basic emissions resulting from the produc- advanced recycling plant on 25 May
chemicals by breaking down hydro- tion of ethylene and this design will 2023 in Cuautla, Mexico together
carbon into olefin an aromatics. en olefin produc to tak ad- Mexico.
This cracking process requires a tem- vantage of the growing supply of avail-
perature of more than 850°C. The able renewable energy to operate With a global mission to reduce
demonstration unit would achieve this the most energy-intensive part of the plastic waste, Greenback has al-
temperature using electricity. plant,” said Arnaud Pieton, CEO of ready scale out plans in other parts
Technip Energies. of Mexico, Latin America, and other
Planned at LyondellBasell’s Chan- regions where the same challenge
nelview site in Texas, which offers, LyondellBasell is committed to reach- exists. “I founded Greenback to
among others, feedstock flexibility, ing net zero scope 1 and scope 2 reduce the environmental impact
electric grid infrastructure, proximity GHG emissions by 2050 and has set of the growing amounts of plastic
to the other MOU parties and access ambitious interim targets to reduce packaging that is not recycled.
to expertise at LyondellBasell’s Hou- scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions 42%,
ston Technology Center, the project and scope 3 GHG emissions 30% by We have created the first industrial,
will be managed and implemented by 2030, relative to a 2020 baseline. fully circular value chain for flexible
a joint development team. post-consumer packaging.

June 2023 PLASTICS NEWS 47