Recycling: EU Commission approves French aid for chemical recycling; Oerlikon Barmag/Evonik partner for chemical recycling of PET

The European Commission has approved state aid rules for a EUR500 million French scheme to support the chemical recycling of plastic waste. The projects receiving state funding will process waste material such as trays, films, non-beverage bottles, and textile materials with a certain amount of polyester content.

The commission says the scheme aims to support chemical recycling technologies that convert mixed and/or contaminated plastic waste back into virgin-like raw materials. “The scheme will contribute to the EU's objective of circularity of production and consumption processes as part of a broader transformation of the industry towards climate neutrality," it added.

Under the French scheme, which is open to companies of all sizes and operating in all sectors, the state aid will take the form of direct grants covering up to 40% of the eligible costs. These are described by the commission as "extra investment costs", which are be calculated "by comparing the total investment costs of a project of chemical recycling of plastic waste with those of less environmentally friendly projects".

The EU Commission said that this was the first state aid scheme which it assessed under section 4.4 of the "Guidelines on State aid for climate, environmental protection and energy" (CEEAG) published in 2022. This section covers state aid for resource efficiency and for supporting the transition towards a circular economy.

The commission further said that it found the scheme to be "necessary and appropriate to allow for the deployment of chemical recycling of plastics". The scheme had an "incentive effect" as the beneficiaries would not carry out the relevant investments without the public support.

It also concluded that France had put in place sufficient safeguards to ensure that the scheme has a limited impact on competition and trade within the EU. In particular, the scheme is open to all companies operating in all sectors and the aid is limited to the minimum necessary to undertake the projects.

Several companies in France are working on large-scale chemical recycling projects that could benefit from the aid scheme. These include the biorecycling facility for PET/polyester planned by Carbios, which will use an enzymatic depolymerisation process. It recently postponed the start of construction, with restructuring measures and redundancies. The outstanding EU decision regarding the French state aid programme was named among the reasons for the measures.

Meanwhile, a chemical PET recycling project between environmental services group Suez, technology provider Loop Industries and South Korean company SK Geo Centric (SKGC) in Lorraine has been cancelled, with no reason given for the cancellation.

Elsewhere, in related news, German companies Oerlikon Barmag and Evonik are partnering to promote chemical recycling of PET waste. Both companies are committed to develop technologies for “efficient depolymerisation and purification processes, coupled with an integrated concept for repolymerisation and associated EPC business models”.

Remscheid-based machine/plant manufacturer Oerlikon Barmag contributes its expertise in polymer processing for the production of chemical fibres and packaging materials to the new partnership. In addition, as a core brand of Oerlikon Manmade Fibers Solutions of Swiss Oerlikon Group, the company says it has international market access in the polymer processing industry.

Speciality chemicals firm Evonik says the partnership with Oerlikon Barmag aims to advance technology and process solutions for the chemical recycling of PET, leveraging innovative catalytic processes.

The partners plan to fully launch and commercialise the jointly developed chemical recycling technology solution by the end of the current decade.

The PET recycling technology will bring numerous advantages. From a chemical perspective it is a highly efficient process, and it can be seamlessly integrated into existing PET production processes. Operational costs, investment cost and scalability are the key drivers in the development.

The combination of cooperational know-how in catalyst and process technologies will allow a chemical recycling of polyester materials from closed and open-loop sources, which need chemical technology to allow for high, fossil-like recyclate qualities.

“The strong and complementing technological knowhow and expertise of both companies in combination with Oerlikon Barmag’s market access and PET processing knowhow, establishes a competitive and unique partnership within the emerging chemical PET recycling industry. With the goal of creating a circular economy for all types of PET waste that is currently incinerated or landfilled, we want to scale our technology to a significant size and make it available to global PET producers and processors. In this way we will enable our customers to become more sustainable and contribute to a circular economy,” explained Lukas Adamek, Head of Strategy & Business Development of Oerlikon Manmade Fibers Solutions.

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