The companies plan to jointly build and operate a sorting plant for mixed plastics that will be chemically recycled. Vienna, Austria-based oil, gas and chemicals group OMV and Berlin-based ALBA Recycling GmbH announce they are in exclusive talks to jointly build and operate a sorting plant for the further processing of mixed plastics for chemical recycling. The collaboration will combine mechanical and chemical recycling. A final investment decision is expected to be made in 2022. ALBA Recycling already operates five sorting plants for lightweight packaging in Germany and, according to its own information, processes 800,000 metric tons per year, around one-third of the lightweight packaging waste from German households. The new sorting plant, developed by Alba itself, is to be built at Alba's Walldürn site in Baden-Württemberg and will have an annual processing capacity of more than 200,000 tons of mixed waste plastics. The innovative sorting process, which Alba says has been tested on an industrial scale, makes it possible to recover polyolefins from a waste fraction that currently usually goes to incineration. The product will be processed as a feedstock at OMV's ReOil pilot plant in Schwechat, Austria, it said. OMV's ReOil plant is currently operating on a pilot scale, with expansion into a demonstration plant planned for next year. Further expansion to a full-scale plant is planned for 2026, according to OMV. Commenting on the agreement with Alba, Maximilian Grasserbauer, OMV Vice President Plastic to Plastic, says: "Chemical recycling such as the ReOil® process is the ideal complement to established mechanical recycling processes. In ALBA, we see a promising cooperation partner with many years of expertise in recycling used plastics, and with whom we want to invest in the future." Eric Schweitzer, owner of Alba Recycling, adds, "Chemical recycling does not compete with mechanical recycling, as mechanical recycling is the most efficient way to deal with mono fractions from the sorting process. However, chemical recycling is the only option for mixed plastic waste such as mixed and multilayer plastics."
Sources:
plastverarbeiter.de (Mar. 10, 2022)
Euwid Recycling und Entsorgung 11/2022 (Mar. 15, 2022)
Vienna, Austria-based oil, gas and chemicals group OMV and Berlin-based ALBA Recycling GmbH announce they are in exclusive talks to jointly build and operate a sorting plant for the further processing of mixed plastics for chemical recycling. The collaboration will combine mechanical and chemical recycling. A final investment decision is expected to be made in 2022. ALBA Recycling already operates five sorting plants for lightweight packaging in Germany and, according to its own information, processes 800,000 metric tons per year, around one-third of the lightweight packaging waste from German households. The new sorting plant, developed by Alba itself, is to be built at Alba's Walldürn site in Baden-Württemberg and will have an annual processing capacity of more than 200,000 tons of mixed waste plastics. The innovative sorting process, which Alba says has been tested on an industrial scale, makes it possible to recover polyolefins from a waste fraction that currently usually goes to incineration. The product will be processed as a feedstock at OMV's ReOil pilot plant in Schwechat, Austria, it said. OMV's ReOil plant is currently operating on a pilot scale, with expansion into a demonstration plant planned for next year. Further expansion to a full-scale plant is planned for 2026, according to OMV. Commenting on the agreement with Alba, Maximilian Grasserbauer, OMV Vice President Plastic to Plastic, says: "Chemical recycling such as the ReOil® process is the ideal complement to established mechanical recycling processes. In ALBA, we see a promising cooperation partner with many years of expertise in recycling used plastics, and with whom we want to invest in the future." Eric Schweitzer, owner of Alba Recycling, adds, "Chemical recycling does not compete with mechanical recycling, as mechanical recycling is the most efficient way to deal with mono fractions from the sorting process. However, chemical recycling is the only option for mixed plastic waste such as mixed and multilayer plastics."
