As part of its contribution to establishing chemical recycling as a viable concept for dealing with plastics waste, BASF (Ludwigshafen / Germany; www.basf.com) is making a fresh investment in technology. After starting its “ChemCycling” project late in 2018 – see Plasteurope.com of 21.11.2018 – the German chemicals and plastics giant has announced it will take a stake worth EUR 20m in Quantafuel (Oslo / Norway; www.quantafuel.com), a company specialising in the production of synthetic fuels and other products made from mixed plastics waste through pyrolysis. The transaction foresees issuing new shares in the Scandinavian company in combination with a convertible loan.

Together, the two companies will develop Quantafuel’s production process for purified hydrocarbon products, which is based on an integrated process of pyrolysis and purification. Further plans include the construction of jointly owned plants to produce hydrocarbons. By the end of 2019, the Norwegian firm plans to start up its first commercial plant using the technology at Skive / Denmark. In exchange for the capital injection, BASF will have the right of first refusal for the facility’s 16,000 t/y output of chemically recycled pyrolysis oil and purified hydrocarbons.

Separately, Quantafuel will have the right to license the two companies’ jointly developed technology to third parties, while BASF will have the opportunity to develop the market with selected customers. When the Danish plant has reached full run, the chemical and plastics group said it aims to deliver the first commercial volumes of its trademarked “Ccycled” products.

Developing the technology is not the only hurdle that will have to be taken on the path to making chemical recycling viable, BASF emphasised. To fully develop the market, regulatory questions will have to be clarified. To this end, said Hartwig Michels, president of Petrochemicals at BASF, authorities will need to “more broadly establish a technology-open definition of recycling.” In addition, incentives for using recycled content should apply to all types of recycling.