Diverting plastic waste away from landfill, incineration and our oceans.
PLASTIC ENERGY and SABIC are building a new plant in the Netherlands to convert end-of-life plastics into recycled oils to create virgin polymers.
Key information
- Location:
- Geleen, Netherlands
- Date started:
- 2021
- Completion date:
- 2022
- Client type:
- Real estate
- Main services:
- Advisory, controls and performance, cost and commercial management, procurement, programme strategy and set up, project management
Plastic conversion
A circular economy of plastic creates value from all plastic waste produced. Currently, most plastics follow a linear approach by being incinerated, landfilled, or ending up in our environment. World-leading chemical recycling company PLASTIC ENERGY currently has two plants, in Seville and Almeria in Spain, and is growing as a business, developing new plants and introducing new technological developments.
SABIC, a global leader in diversified chemicals, manufactures on a global scale in the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific, making distinctly different kinds of products: chemicals, commodity and high performance plastics, agri-nutrients and metals.
The new joint venture in Geleen, called SABIC Plastic Energy Advanced Recycling B.V., will receive up to 20,000 tonnes of plastics each year traditionally considered as difficult to recycle, such as mixed, multi-layer, or low-density plastics.
After the initial removal of some contaminants such as paper, carton and glass, the advanced recycling unit will use Plastic Energy’s patented Thermal Anaerobic Conversion (TAC) technology to melt the plastic at 300-400 degrees celsius to pyrolize the material and create an optimal hydrocarbon oil, or recycled oil called TACOIL. The TACOIL produced in the new commercial unit will be used by SABIC in their production process as an alternative to traditional fossil materials to create new certified circular polymers from SABIC’s TRUCIRCLE™ portfolio and services for circular innovations.
Complete programme set-up
The facility is due to be fully operational in 2022. We were appointed to set up the complete project on the new facility, including the programme, procurement strategy, value engineering, cost estimating, quantity surveying and project management. We also set up an approach for global programme and project delivery, as well as an integrated project set-up and schedule, and a cost plan within budget.
Long-term impact
The new plant in Geleen will contribute to reducing dependence on fossil fuels, contributing towards reaching certain recycling targets.
