Decarbonisation Technology November 2025 Issue

By combining technical foresight with regulatory and financial expertise, the team de-risks investment and ensures projects align with regional environmental objectives. Technical innovation in action Case study 1: Advanced waste upgrading – Middle East refining and petrochemicals In oil and gas hubs where

Holistic Covering the complete value chain* Full understanding of regulations & markets

Technology e xpert Largest portfolio of technologies Evaluate dierent decarbonisation pathways with access to expert knowledge

* Technical, economical and life cycle analysis

Flexible Quick mobilisation & completion Adapt to changes in demands & scopes

Collaborative Developing decarbonisation studies tailored to customer’s needs

Agile Quick denition of ‘typical’ feedstock Multi-criteria analyses requiring various skills

Walking together Support during all life of your project Support in partnership meetings

Figure 1 Axens Horizon integrates technical, regulatory, and economic expertise

Beyond Europe, regulatory momentum is building: • In North America, California’s SB 54 has created binding obligations for producers to ensure recyclability and reduce single-use plastics. • In Canada, the national plastics ban is triggering investment in circular alternatives. • In Asia, Japan and South Korea are reforming their Extended Producer Responsibility schemes to promote closed-loop systems. While timelines and enforcement vary, the direction is consistent: industries must adopt sustainable, circular models – or risk obsolescence. Axens Horizon Technology alone does not guarantee a successful circular economy transition. Projects must also be economically viable, aligned with market demand, and resilient to policy shifts. Axens Horizon operates as a multidisciplinary team combining technology experts, process engineers, economists, market analysts, and regulatory specialists (see Figure 1 ). Their mandate is to guide clients through the full value chain, including: u Feedstock strategy : Assessing the quality, variability, and logistics of waste streams. v Technology selection and integration : Identifying the optimal configuration for retrofits or greenfield projects. w Offtake partnerships : Securing buyers for recycled outputs, ensuring bankability. x Investor engagement : Structuring financing models, often involving public-private. partnerships.

refining and petrochemical production are deeply integrated, heavy residues and off-spec materials often end up as low-value fuel oil. Residue upgrading is not new, but the context has shifted dramatically: • The IMO 2020 sulphur regulations sharply reduced demand for high-sulphur bunker fuel. • The expected rise of sustainable marine fuels (methanol, ammonia, LNG) will further shrink this market. This means that refineries face an urgent need to manage their heavy ends, which otherwise will now be waste. Axens has developed a flexible technology suite – pretreatment, separation, and hydrotreating – to convert these waste streams into high-value products, such as clean fuels and petrochemical intermediates. Key benefits include: • Reduction in fossil feedstock demand by substituting with recycled hydrocarbons. • CO₂ footprint reduction through optimised hydrogen consumption and heat integration. • Scalability: modules can be added without major plant overhauls. In this project, the objective is to treat approximately 100,000 tons per annum (TPA) of raw waste streams from several industrial sites, producing high-value naphtha and diesel while ensuring the plant’s economic viability. The main challenges are sorting and deep analysis of the wastes as they are coming from petrochemical and refining different sites and units polluted with other contaminants due to transportation (chlorines, water). For refiners confronting shrinking fuel oil