Green tie-ups: Lummus/MOL start construction of recycling plant in Hungary; Wood to build US$40 mn EVOH resin plant for Kuraray in Singapore

Lummus Technology, a global provider of process technologies, and MOL Group, an integrated Central Eastern European oil and gas corporation, have announced the commencement of the design phase for the first Lummus Advanced Waste Plastic Recycling unit.

The first plant, which will be located at MOL Petrochemicals Co. Ltd. in Tiszaújváro, Hungary, will have a processing capacity of 40,000 tonnes/year of mixed waste plastics and will produce circular petrochemical building blocks which MOL will process in its petrochemical facility. The plant will also feature advanced greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction design elements, including a fully electric pyrolysis reactor which will result in zero direct scope 1 emissions from the unit during normal operation.

“This is another milestone for Lummus and MOL Group, and a significant step towards increasing the circularity of our industry,” said Leon de Bruyn, President/CEO of Lummus Technology. “We are leveraging Lummus’ innovative technology and MOL’s operational excellence to further our joint commitment of providing sustainable solutions that address global plastic waste challenges."

Chemical recycling of plastics is part of MOL’s commitment to collect close to 5 million tonnes of municipal solid waste, which includes the treatment and related investments. MOL has committed to drive circularity and has recently invested in addressing waste plastics recycling in Central Europe. As a result, MOL will be able to offer a wide range of sustainable compounds for various industries, including the automotive, construction, building and packaging sectors.

This project is part of the partnership Lummus and MOL announced in 2023 to deploy and integrate chemical recycling of plastics at MOL’s assets in Hungary and Slovakia. Lummus’ Green Circle business unit is providing MOL advanced waste plastic pyrolysis technology, which effectively converts plastic waste into high-value chemicals and feedstocks, creating circularity. This technology is a proven, reliable, economically attractive solution to address the global plastic waste problem, which offers additional environmental benefits such as a lower carbon footprint and the elimination of char production. Lummus will also provide its experience and expertise in steam cracking, catalytic cracking and residue processing technology to ensure that integration with MOL’s existing assets is optimized.

Green Circle concentrates and expands Lummus Technology’s capabilities to capture new opportunities in the energy transition and circular economy. Green Circle is a leader in providing economically and technically sound solutions to: process solid wastes containing plastics; process various renewable bio-based feedstocks to value-added chemicals, polymers and fuels; decarbonise refinery and petrochemicals assets; and expand production of blue hydrogen and biofuels.

In other news, technology firm Wood has been awarded a $US40million engineering design contract by Japanese materials firm Kuraray to build a new sustainable packaging production plant in Singapore.

Addressing the market shift towards more environmentally friendly food packaging materials, the new plant will produce Eval, Kuraray’s ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH) copolymer. Eval is widely used in food packaging to prevent oxygen from spoiling the contents and unlike other competing products is fully recyclable using traditional methods.

Following the successful completion of a front-end engineering and design (FEED) study, Wood will deliver engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) services for the new plant located on Jurong Island. In addition, Wood will carry out modifications to an existing poly-vinyl alcohol (PVA) facility adjacent to the new plant, enabling Kuraray to streamline the production and recovery process of acetic acid, a critical component of the new EVAL plant.

Giuseppe Zuccaro, President of Process & Chemicals at Wood, said: “Wood is committed to supporting the energy transition, and building a circular economy is a fundamental part of this process. This project will not only reduce food waste but increase the life of more sustainable plastics, ensuring materials are in use longer, reducing their environmental impact.”

Tomoyuki Watanabe, Kuraray’s Director and Managing Executive Officer, President, Vinyl Acetate Resin Company and Vinyl Acetate Film Company, said: “Eval is an important product for Kuraray showing strong growth triggered by increasing demand in emerging economies, increasing demand for food loss reduction, and increasing demand in the transition to a circular economy. Based on the successful FEED phase collaboration between Wood and Kuraray, we have decided to award Wood for their involvement in the EPC stage of the next expansion of global Eval production capacity. Kuraray is confident this partnership will lead to a successful project execution.”

Leveraging Wood’s global expertise in delivering large industrial and complex engineering projects, this contract will be delivered by Wood’s teams in Thailand and Singapore.

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