Neste and Lotte Chemical reach agreement on supply of renewable feedstocks

Although debates over the feasibility of chemical recycling continue to intensify, corporate partnerships leveraging this technology to help meet demand for fossil-based virgin plastic alternatives keep emerging. The latest collaboration involves Finnish company Neste supplying its renewable Neste RE feedstock to South Korea’s Lotte Chemical, which will use the material as a raw input for producing chemicals and plastics at its Korean manufacturing facilities. Neste RE consists of bio-based carbon derived from waste plastics and used cooking oil via Neste’s ‘Next-Generation Biomass-to-Liquid’ (NEXTBL) process. According to the company’s website, the technology purifies feedstocks during pre-treatment, removes oxygen through hydrotreating, and applies isomerization to control branching. 【For more industry knowledge on ‘plastics’, ‘engineering plastics’, ‘modified plastics’, extensive material property databases, abundant case studies for material selection, and cost-saving & efficiency-enhancing solutions, visit ‘PlasticLibrary.com’!】 Neste claims that using its renewable feedstocks reduces greenhouse gas emissions by over 85% compared to fossil-based feedstocks—while delivering plastics of identical quality. Suitable for Diverse Applications In a press release, Lotte stated that the plastics and chemicals produced using Neste RE are suitable for a wide range of applications—and for supply chains spanning packaging, construction, textiles, and electronics. However, the company did not disclose the volume of feedstock to be supplied. Prior to this announcement, news emerged last month that Eastman is building its second recycling facility in the U.S., applying its molecular recycling technology. The facility in Longview, Texas aims to produce recycled PET with over 70% lower carbon emissions than fossil-based PET production. The project receives partial funding from the U.S. Department of Energy. Feasibility Remains Questionable Despite these deals, many observers remain skeptical about the economic viability of the technology. An article published today by the Environmental Health Sciences (EHS) Newsroom reports that Regenyx’s Oregon plant will shut down by the end of this month, 【For more industry knowledge on ‘plastics’, ‘engineering plastics’, ‘modified plastics’, extensive material property databases, abundant case studies for material selection, and cost-saving & efficiency-enhancing solutions, visit ‘PlasticLibrary.com’!】 raising renewed questions about the effectiveness and practicality of the process.

Industrial-scale chemical recycling: Has the ‘alchemy’ of plastic waste become reality?

Mechanical recycling works well—but it often falters when confronted with the enormous annual volumes of plastic waste that are complex in composition (e.g., multi-material laminates), heavily contaminated (with oils, dirt, or other impurities), and low in economic value. Oil-soaked food packaging, mixed industrial plastics composed of multiple materials, and agricultural mulch films tainted with soil and debris frequently end up incinerated or landfilled. The bottlenecks of mechanical recycling—both in processing capacity and in its limited applicability to low-value plastic waste—are precisely the key barriers that industrial-scale chemical recycling seeks to overcome. 1. Molecular Reconstruction: The Core Magic of Industrial Chemical Recycling Unlike mechanical recycling—which shreds and melts plastics into secondary products—chemical recycling targets the very essence of plastic: its high-molecular-weight polymer structure. Its core lies in deploying chemical reactions such as ‘pyrolysis, catalytic cracking, and depolymerization’ to achieve ‘molecular-level disassembly and reconstruction’ of plastic waste at an industrial scale. Facing low-value, mixed plastic waste—including agricultural mulch films, industrial plastic scrap, and aged municipal solid waste—chemical recycling demonstrates remarkable inclusivity: it does not discriminate by plastic type, color, contamination level, or whether the material is a composite. In theory, it can convert virtually all plastic waste back into valuable feedstocks for producing new plastics or other chemicals—truly enabling closed-loop circularity. Yet bridging the gap from laboratory experiments to large-scale industrial application remains a formidable challenge—the so-called ‘capacity chasm’. Currently, most chemical recycling projects handle only tens of thousands of tons annually. Scaling up—from processing tens of thousands of tons per year, to hundreds of thousands, and ultimately to millions of tons—requires not only continuous technological breakthroughs but also coordinated efforts across the entire value chain and the development of robust industrial support systems. 2. From Lab to Factory: Commercial-Scale Deployment Is Emerging Chemical recycling is no longer just theoretical—it has already moved beyond paper. Globally, industrial-scale chemical recycling projects are transitioning from pilot demonstrations to commercial-scale operations, revealing substantial real-world potential: Europe – BASF’s ‘ChemCycling™’ Project: Its ChemCycling™ technology feeds pyrolysis oil derived from mixed, low-value plastics into its integrated Verbund site, replacing part of the fossil feedstock used to manufacture new plastics (e.g., PA, PP). These products have already entered end markets—including automotive components and food packaging—and have received rigorous third-party certifications. USA – Eastman’s Molecular Recycling Technology: Investing over $1 billion in a large-scale facility in Kingsport, Tennessee, Eastman employs methanolysis to depolymerize hard-to-recycle polyester waste (e.g., colored PET bottles, carpets, textiles) into virgin-grade monomers for new polyester production—capable of processing dozens of thousands of tons annually. China – Huicheng Environmental Protection’s One-Step Catalytic Cracking Technology: In Guangdong Province, China, Huicheng has built a 200,000-ton-per-year integrated resource recovery project for mixed low-value plastics. Its pioneering ‘one-step’ process—Combined Plastic Deep Catalytic Cracking (CPDCC)—directly converts mixed plastic waste into high-value outputs including liquefied plastic cracking gas (LPCG) and plastic cracking light oil (PCLO). These projects demonstrate that industrial-scale chemical recycling plants are technically viable—and their economic viability is steadily improving through scaling, process optimization, and supportive policy frameworks.

US reinstates grant for Eastman PET recycling plant

5 days ago

The US Department of Energy reinstated a $375 million grant to Eastman Chemical for polyester recycling. The USDA also allocated $573 million for fertilizer expansion projects to improve competition and lower emissions.

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