Page 70 - Plastics News Issue June 2025

PRODUCT NEWS
Plastic pyrolysis: Producing liquid
fuels from waste plastic
lastic pyrolysis promises to make usable
fuel from waste, but some claim that the
Pindustry is not as green as it makes out.
Florence Jones talks to Stellar 3 CEO and Co-
Founder Dan Nienhauser about the challenges
of plastic pyrolysis.
In the energy transition, diversifying power
sources is often seen as a necessary step on the
route to net zero. According to the International
Energy Agency, if we are going to meet zero
emissions by the middle of the century, then a
“dramatic transformation” of our energy sys-
tem is needed, and the inclusion of new energy
sources is necessary.
While renewable electricity generation shows
promising growth, much existing energy infra-
structure was designed for liquid or gas fuels.
Industries such as shipping, construction and
manufacturing still rely heavily on crude oil and
natural gas. For consumers, much of our global
energy infrastructure and pipelines, notably in
the global south, was designed for the transpor-
tation of crude products. Decarbonising these
70 PLASTICS NEWS
liquid fuels provides a cheaper route to net-zero
for these consumers, even if it only fills a gap on
the way to renewables.
As such, some have looked into producing alter-
native liquid fuels from a variety of sources, from
plants and organic matter to waste material.
Plastic, which is originally produced using crude
oil, can also be used to produce synthetic oil and
gas through a process called pyrolysis.
Through pyrolysis, the plastic is heated to ex-
tremely high temperatures, between 300 C and
0
900 C, with a lack of oxygen. This causes it to
0
break down into smaller molecules and trans-
forming it into pyrolysis oil or gas. This product
can then be used as a fuel or to create new, sec-
ond-life plastic products.
Supporters of pyrolysis claim that it holds the
answer to the dual challenge of plastic waste
and excessive fossil fuel consumption. Pyroly-
sis company Stellar 3 has developed a “particu-
lar pyrolysis technology that is the most flexible
and efficient with the highest quality outputs”,
CEO Dan Nienhauser says. However, the pro-
cess is not without its detractors.
Plastic degradation, through pyrolysis, uses dif-
fering types of plastic, such as polyethylene or
polystyrene, to produce a variety of liquid gas
fuel products. Plastics can be added individually
or as a mix in order to produce a diverse range
of products. Differing types of catalysts are used
to improve the pyrolysis process, including ZSM-
5, zeolite, Y-zeolite, FCC, and MCM-41. While
high temperatures are used, pyrolysis avoids in-
June 2025