Green news: LNJ GreenPET/Sumitomo partner for r-PET project in India; Tubis rolls out 2nd pyrolysis oil plant in Germany

LNJ GreenPET, a division of India-based LNJ Bhilwara Group, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Japanese chemical firm Sumitomo Corporation to enhance the recycled polyethylene terephthalate (r-PET) sector in India.

The MoU covers commercial development, raw material procurement, marketing strategies and potential investment opportunities for LNJ GreenPET's upcoming r-PET project.

The companies will conduct a joint market study on the r-PET landscape in India to provide insights through market sizing, customer segmentation, technical assessments, supply chain benchmarking and regulatory feasibility analysis.

Its findings will be crucial for LNJ GreenPET as it prepares to commence commercial production in 2026.

Sumitomo will assist in sourcing r-PET flakes from Southeast Asia and other regions globally to facilitate the project's pre-production phase.

The partnership will extend to pre-marketing activities, customer engagement and the establishment of sales channels, catering to domestic and international markets.

The collaboration aligns with the country's sustainability objectives and aims to contribute to the reduction of plastic waste by leveraging advanced technologies and international partnerships.

In other news, German recycler Tubis AG is pushing ahead with plans to chemically recycle more mixed plastic waste in Germany, having broken ground on a second pyrolysis plant in Nobitz, Thuringia. The 18,000 sq m facility is scheduled to come onstream by the end of 2026 with a capacity of about 24,500 tonnes/year. Tubis has earmarked about EUR15 million for the first construction phase and expects to create around 15 new jobs.

The first pyrolysis plant for recycling mixed plastic waste will start up in Plauen, Saxony, also with a capacity of 24,500 tonnes/year. The facility, which uses a proprietary continuous pyrolysis technology, is currently undergoing commissioning tests and is expected to reach full operational capacity in the third quarter of this year.

Until now, the company says it has hardly been possible to make mixed plastic waste economically viable and return it to the raw material cycle. Tubis uses a controllable, continuous production process, allowing for crude oil of the highest quality to be produced at process temperatures of up to 570°C. The new pyrolysis technology enables efficient and therefore economical output on an industrial scale – production is clean and virtually residue-free, it claims.

With the new plant in Nobitz, Tubis adds it is creating additional capacity, strengthening its sites and sending a clear signal for the further development of the entire group of companies.

Also, parallel to the start of construction in Nobitz, Tubis adds it also received approval for the construction and operation of a further plant at its fourth site in Ochtrup in accordance with the Federal Immission Control Ordinance (BImSchV).

With these projects, the group will grow to a total of four approved plants. Together, it will have a cumulative feedstock volume of around 100,000 tonnes/year.

Tubis, a technology company founded in 2015 and headquartered in Munich, develops and operates continuous pyrolysis plants on a scalable industrial scale.

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