Periodic Reporting for period 2 - ELECTRO (Electrified conversion of plastic waste into olefins & downstream integration)
Reporting period: 2024-03-01 to 2025-08-31
Less than 20% of plastic waste is recycled in Europe. The rest ends up in landfills or is incinerated. In this context, the EU-funded eLECTRO project will demonstrate new technology that convert mixed waste plastic (MPW) to recycled feedstock for petrochemical industries to provide a sustainable and scalable circular solution with a low carbon footprint for olefin and polyolefin production. eLECTRO will prioritise chemically recycling MPW streams that are not suitable for mechanical recycling by combining an innovative modular extruder for the optimal pre-treatment of MPW with an electrically heated reactor for the catalytic pyrolysis of plastic waste. The main product, MPW pyrolysis oil, will be used as a feed for steam crackers. The project will test the technology using waste streams from the Republics of Korea and Indonesia. In order to overcome several achievements and progresses, the EU project eLECTRO, or “Electrified conversion of MPW into olefins and downstream integration”, has started on September 2022.
The main objective of the eLECTRO project is to demonstrate a revolutionary technology concept that recycle and link MPO to petrochemical industry and provides them with a sustainable, low GHG footprint and scalable circular solution for olefin and polyolefin production.
It resulted in seven sub-objectives:
• Demonstrate eLECTRO’s integrated waste to olefin process at TRL 7,
• Leverage eLECTRO’s electrified value chain to reduce CO2 emissions by 90%,
• Maximize renewable energy use through electrification and grid integration,
• Guide eLECTRO’s scalability to economically viable valorization of 200 kta MPW,
• Replicability by considering MPW streams from different EU countries (e.g. Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands), Korea and Indonesia and assessing key locations for eLECTRO circular hubs,
• Dissemination, learning and training next generation Waste management engineers,
• Closing the full cycle by transforming MPW back into materials (polyolefins).
To reach these objectives, eLECTRO brings together 12 European partners and 1 extra-European partner (Figure 1): Industrials, small and medium enterprises, research institutes and universities working on the 7 independent Work Packages. Besides the “Ethics requirements”, the “Project management”, and the “Dissemination, training, exploitation and communication”, all the other Work Packages are technical. They correspond to the whole chain of plastic recycling starting from the MPW collection and supply up to the downstream integration (Figure 2).
The main objective of the eLECTRO project is to demonstrate a revolutionary technology concept that recycle and link MPO to petrochemical industry and provides them with a sustainable, low GHG footprint and scalable circular solution for olefin and polyolefin production.
It resulted in seven sub-objectives:
• Demonstrate eLECTRO’s integrated waste to olefin process at TRL 7,
• Leverage eLECTRO’s electrified value chain to reduce CO2 emissions by 90%,
• Maximize renewable energy use through electrification and grid integration,
• Guide eLECTRO’s scalability to economically viable valorization of 200 kta MPW,
• Replicability by considering MPW streams from different EU countries (e.g. Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands), Korea and Indonesia and assessing key locations for eLECTRO circular hubs,
• Dissemination, learning and training next generation Waste management engineers,
• Closing the full cycle by transforming MPW back into materials (polyolefins).
To reach these objectives, eLECTRO brings together 12 European partners and 1 extra-European partner (Figure 1): Industrials, small and medium enterprises, research institutes and universities working on the 7 independent Work Packages. Besides the “Ethics requirements”, the “Project management”, and the “Dissemination, training, exploitation and communication”, all the other Work Packages are technical. They correspond to the whole chain of plastic recycling starting from the MPW collection and supply up to the downstream integration (Figure 2).
The eLECTRO team undertook comprehensive efforts to sort, characterize, and pre-treat a diverse range of MPW streams, focusing particularly on the efficient removal of impurities. These preparatory steps enabled the development and refinement of an upgraded catalytic system, which proved robust enough to process mixed, contaminated plastics with minimal sorting requirements. Using a TRL 7 demo plant in Rotterdam (the Netherlands), the project demonstrated scalable production of pyrolysis oil from plastic waste. This pyoil was then subjected to thorough evaluation, with a special emphasis on maximizing its valorisation potential. Researchers examined the pyoil’s composition, its tendency for fouling, and optimized operational strategies for subsequent steam cracking. Notably, they found that careful prefractionation of the pyoil can enhance its suitability and yield in downstream processes, although economic factors must be considered before implementation.
A central highlight of the period was the successful demonstration of electrified steam cracking at TRL 7 using Coolbrook’s pilot RDR facility. This marked the starting point of processing a full spectrum of plastic waste-derived pyoil using this advanced, electrified approach.
The project’s life cycle and process analyses revealed that full electrification of the steam cracking process, particularly when integrated with other plant operations and powered by renewable electricity, could drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This finding points to a clear pathway for industrial decarbonization.
Beyond the technical achievements, the eLECTRO project placed strong emphasis on communication and knowledge dissemination.
A central highlight of the period was the successful demonstration of electrified steam cracking at TRL 7 using Coolbrook’s pilot RDR facility. This marked the starting point of processing a full spectrum of plastic waste-derived pyoil using this advanced, electrified approach.
The project’s life cycle and process analyses revealed that full electrification of the steam cracking process, particularly when integrated with other plant operations and powered by renewable electricity, could drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This finding points to a clear pathway for industrial decarbonization.
Beyond the technical achievements, the eLECTRO project placed strong emphasis on communication and knowledge dissemination.
To enhance efficiency in feedstock analysis, the project introduced innovative analytical methods, enabling a more precise assessment of elemental composition, additives, and the distribution of polymer properties such as tacticity and molar mass. Refined protocols were established for comprehensive product spectrum analysis across PRYME’s R&D and TRL7 pyrolysis facilities, allowing for accurate quantification of metal contaminants and evaluation of feedstocks and outputs from Coolbrook’s pilot operations. Early feasibility studies indicate that, with optimised grid integration and drive solutions, full electrification of large-scale cracking facilities is achievable. For the GHG Emissions Reduction, scenario analyses reveal that integrating electrification and co-location can achieve greenhouse gas emission reductions exceeding 90%, especially when powered by renewable energy sources. The project has already completed initial pyoil trials, and a newly designed RotoDynamic Reactor™ (RDR™) geometry has demonstrated enhanced operational performance in pilot-scale testing. Furthermore, catalytic upgrades using both synthetic and natural zeolites have effectively reduced wax content, minimised gas by-products, and increased production of lighter, more valuable hydrocarbon fractions.