PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
Today’s world is overwhelmed by the urgent need to address a growing flux of unsustainably produced and disposed materials. In 2018 alone 12.5 million tonnes of waste plastics were burned and 7.3 million tonnes landfilled in Europe, further raising concern regarding microplastics dispersion. PLASTIC2WAXLIFE will demonstrate and bring to market an innovative chemical recycling process based on pyrolysis for the conversion of waste plastics into sustainable wax, thus displacing current unsustainable practises of plastics disposal while at the same time unlocking a a market opportunity for a large-scale production of sustainable specialty wax, replacing polyolefin waxes. Wax is in fact a material globally used in many manufacturing sectors essential for Europe, currently obtained from foreign fossil resources, whose demand is expected to exceed supply by 20%. PLASTIC2WAXLIFE will do so by scaling up a proprietary pyrolysis process already validated at LAB (Belfast, UK) and PILOT (Portlaoise, Ireland) scale, from 4,000 to 12,000 tonnes/year DEMO capacity, further deploying the same at 40,000 tonnes/year INDUSTRIAL scale, in close collaboration with waste feedstock provider (Bord na Mona / AES, SABRINA/SIS, Whirlpool) and end-users (H&R Group (DE), DOW Chemicals (NL)), in order to ensure a fully secured a sustainable value chain from feedstock till client. By doing so the project is expected to deliver an industrial plant able to prevent up to 24,000 tonnes/year of waste plastics incineration, 23,000 tonnes of CO2eq/year of GHG emission as well as make possible up to 354 GWh/year of energy savings every year. Overall, such value chain will satisfy corporate social responsibilities from a shareholder and customer perspective, as well as being in line with the SDGs, the EU Green Deal and the LIFE Programme goals.