Sep 9, 2021 – Release here
- The investment will help deliver Shell’s ambition to recycle 1 million tonnes of plastic waste a year in its global chemicals plants by 2025
- BlueAlp technology will support early use of pyrolysis oil in Shell’s European and Asian facilities
- Shell to deploy its proprietary technology to upgrade pyrolysis oil purity
The Hague − Shell Ventures BV and BlueAlp Holding BV today announced a strategic partnership to develop, scale and deploy BlueAlp’s plastic waste to chemical feedstock technology. The technology transforms plastic waste which is tough to recycle into a recycled feedstock (i.e. pyrolysis oil) that can be used to make sustainable chemicals. Shell has taken a 21.25% equity stake in BlueAlp as part of the agreement.
“With BlueAlp’s innovative technology and Shell’s size and experience we can advance the plastic waste recycling technology needed to meet growing customer demand for sustainable chemicals. This partnership is one of the important steps Shell is taking to reach our ambition of recycling one million tonnes of plastics waste a year in our global chemicals plants by 2025,’’ said Robin Mooldijk, Executive Vice President of Shell Chemicals and Products.
“We are also working across the value chain to provide our customers with a secure supply of high-quality circular products including collaborating with industry partners to drive the development of the infrastructure needed to collect and sort plastic waste.”
Under the agreement, Shell and BlueAlp will form a joint-venture company to build two new conversion units in The Netherlands, which are forecast to convert more than 30 KT of plastic waste per year. The units are planned to be operational in 2023 and will supply 100% of their pyrolysis oil as feedstock to Shell’s Moerdijk and Rhineland crackers. Shell is exploring licensing a further two units for deployment within Asia to supply the Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Singapore.
“BlueAlp’s aim is to efficiently transform plastic waste into a useable and economic product, and we have developed an exciting and innovative technology. With Shell as a strategic partner, I believe BlueAlp has a great opportunity to grow into a global leader in the pyrolysis market” said Chris van der Ree, CTO of BlueAlp. “Our immediate focus is to increase the technology’s current processing capacity and then license our technology to third-parties. This I expect will help communities worldwide put hard to recycle plastic waste to better use.”
BlueAlp’s technology has already been developed to a commercial scale. Shell’s technology team, based in Amsterdam, will now work with BlueAlp to further improve and scale-up the technology’s capacity to recycle larger volumes of plastic waste. Production of larger volumes of pyrolysis oil are also hindered by inconsistent purity of feedstocks. Shell plans to deploy its own technology to upgrade the purity of pyrolysis oil at its assets. These technology developments are pivotal to achieving circularity by turning hard to recycle plastic waste into sustainable chemicals.
With today’s announcement Shell will be able to support more of its customers achieve their sustainability goals. It follows a successful pilot using pyrolysis oil at Moerdijk petrochemicals plant in August 2021; and the increased use of recycled feed at Shell’s Norco petrochemical complex in the U.S. since November 2019.
BlueAlp’s other shareholders include Dutch family owned Mourik, Rumali and Den Hartog companies and the Belgium Renasci company.
Notes to Editors
- Pyrolysis is a chemical recycling process of heating plastic waste without oxygen breaking down the longer chain polymers into shorter chain materials. These products can then be further processed into chemicals feedstocks or fuels. Pyrolysis can recycle low quality plastic waste that cannot not be recycled with the traditional mechanical recycling processes; furthermore, pyrolysis does not degrade the quality of the final plastic and requires less intensive sorting of the initial waste.
- Further details on the deployment of the two units in Asia will be subject to a separate announcement at the end of 2021.
Shell Chemicals
Shell’s global chemicals business supplies customers with a range of base, intermediate and performance chemicals used to make products that people use every day. These finished products contribute to society’s ability to live, work, care and respond to climate change. As global demand for chemicals increases, we plan to grow our business, by understanding and providing for our customers’ needs. Our business is versatile and resilient. We have strong market positions, integrated world-scale assets, leading technologies and a commitment to a sustainable future. References to the expressions “Shell”, “Shell’s chemicals business” or “Shell’s chemical plants” refer to multiple companies that are part of the Shell Group that are engaged in chemical or related businesses. For more information, please visit www.shell.com/chemicals.
BlueAlp
BlueAlp was founded in 2015 by the Eindhoven-based engineering firm Petrogas and owned by Mourik (NL), Renasci (BE), Den Hartog (NL) and Rumali (NL). Mourik invested via BlueAlp in the development of the technology. Renasci and Den Hartog invested in the first pyrolysis plant on commercial scale, which is located in Ostend (BE). The aim of the company is to efficiently transform plastic waste, which cannot technically or economically be recycled or re-used, into valuable oil, which can then be used as a fuel or as a feedstock for chemical processes. The BlueAlp Technology™ plastic-to-chemicals process has been developed to convert this waste stream into oil safely, effectively and reliably. BlueAlp handles the sale and construction of plastic-to-chemical installations worldwide on BlueAlp™ Technology.
Cautionary Note
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