Pyrolysis innovators and operator companies advance recycling plastic as circular products
Licensors and process name
Client and projects
Unique features
• SOCAR and Technip Energies S.p.A. for 23,000 tpy recycling unit at the Sumgayit
• Continuous process and reactor system
Alterra
• Operates at 400-550°C
chemical industrial park • Uses industry-standard equipment • Abundia’s grassroots unit at Houston Ship Channel • Industrially proven runtime at 90%+ • 80,000 tpy grassroots US Gulf Coast • Product accepted and processed in refineries and petrochemical facilities
• JV with Sacyr for 30,000 mtpy facility at
• Moderate, non-catalytic pyrolysis conditions • Standardise 30,000 mtpy design • Pretreatment removes metals and Cl • 80-90% conversion of waste plastics • Pyrolysis products are a drop-in raw material
Honeywell UOP UpCycle
Andalusia, Spain
• Award from Egypt’s Environ Adapt and is Egypt’s first chemical recycling project • Other agreements with companies in the US,
China, Korea, and Turkey
to steam cracker or FCC units
• Mol’s Tiszaṹjvắros, Hungary, 40,000 tpy
• Electric-powered reactor
Lummus Technology large- scale advanced pyrolysis
• Vertical reactor enables continuous operation • Pyrolysis oil can be processed in steam
of mixed plastic
• Dongyang Environmental, South Korea • Several US Gulf Coast projects are
technology
cracking and catalytic cracking units
under development
without additional treatment
• Modular, compact skid-mounted design • More efficient and faster conversion rates • Pyrolysis oil meets refinery standards • Lower carbon footprint with up to 68% reduction of CO₂ eq • TAC process yields suitable polyolefin feedstocks • Industrial-scale TAC units have been in operation
Lummus Technology and Resynergi Continuous
Microwave Assisted Pyrolysis (CMAP)
• JV with TotalEnergies at the Grandpuits refinery complex, France, for 15,000 mtpy • Commercial-scale TAC facilities in Almeria and Seville, Spain, operating since 2016 TAC unit • JV with SABIC at Geleen, The Netherlands. The 20,000 mtpy TAC began commercial production in September 2025 and 2017, respectively
Plastic Energy Thermal Anaerobic Conversion
(TAC)
for 10 years
• TACOIL can be fed directly into ethylene
crackers in limited quantity to replace virgin naphtha • Hydrotreating TACOIL is needed for increased
replacement of virgin feedstocks
Table 2
technology in both pilot and plant settings. Between 2018 and 2025, approximately 30,000 cracking hours processed 3.1 million kg of post-consumer plastic. In 2025, OMV commissioned the next-scale ReOil demon- stration unit and is part of the Schwechat 204,000 bpd inte- grated refinery complex. The latest ReOil plant can process 16,000 metric tons per year (mtpy) of end-of-life plastic (see Figure 3 ). Both ReOil facilities are ISCC Plus recognised. “We leverage infrastructural synergies, ensure the safe handling of pyrolysis oil, and seamlessly integrate into the material cycle for plastic production,” said Andreas Lechleitner, Senior Expert in Circular Economy Innovation at OMV. The company’s key initiative is producing more chemically recycled monomers (ethylene and propylene). Borealis is partnering with OMV to provide new polymers incorporating end-of-life plastics and advancing chemical recycling capacity. LyondellBasell is pursuing both mechanical and advanced chemical recycling process routes. The company’s propri - etary pyrolysis technology, MoReTec (Molecular Recycle
Technology), operates at lower reaction temperatures to improve the plastic-to-plastic yields. More importantly, the MoReTec process converts the reaction gas fraction into feedstocks, thus lowering Scope 1 greenhouse gas emissions (Table 1). This catalytic pyroly - sis process incorporates 100% renewable power and elec- trically heated systems, resulting in MoReTec’s pyrolysis products having a 50% lower carbon footprint compared to fossil-based feedstocks. In late 2024, LyondellBasell began construction of the first commercial-scale MoReTec facility at its Wesseling, Germany, complex. The single-train advanced recycling unit can process 50,000 tpy of mixed waste plastics. Start-up of the commercial-scale facility is expected by the end of 2026. LyondellBasell is evaluating a second MoReTec facility at its Houston, Texas, refinery. In Q1 2025, the company ceased motor fuel production at the refinery. The Houston- based facility will have a processing capacity of 100,000 tpy. A final investment decision (FID) is expected in 2026. More importantly, the Houston recycling facility will reuse
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PTQ Q1 2026
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