The company is to receive up to €135 million in funding for capacity building.
The money from the EU Innovation Fund, a support program for innovative low-carbon technologies, will go toward a project to build capacity for chemical recycling at the refinery in Poorvo, Finland, according to Neste: The Pulse project (Pretreatment and Upgrading of Liquefied Waste Plastic to Scale Up Circular Economy) are said to be implemented the company's proprietary technologies for pretreatment and upgrading of liquefied waste plastic into its existing facilities and integrated into the refinery's operations. The goal was a processing capacity of 400,000 metric tons per year, according to Neste. The project plays an important role in the commercialization of chemical recycling of plastic waste, it says. It will enable capacity expansion and close the quality gap between unprocessed liquefied plastic waste and the feedstock requirements of the petrochemical industry, Neste adds. Mercedes Alonso, executive vice president of Neste's Renewable Polymers and Chemicals business, says: "The grant not only signifies recognition for and confidence in our work, rather it also highlights the importance of the technology itself: if we really want to establish a circular economy for plastics and chemical products, chemical recycling will play an important role in that."
