BASF and US-based chemical recycler Braven Environmental have signed a supply agreement for pyrolysis oil.
Under the agreement, Braven will supply BASF with pyrolysis oil produced at a facility that Braven is planning to build in Texarkana, Texas.
The long-term feedstock agreement is expected to help BASF partially replace fossil feedstock at the BASF TotalEnergies Petrochemical (BTP) facility in Port Arthur, Texas. That plant operates one of the largest steam crackers in the world, turning naphtha and light hydrocarbons into ethylene, propylene, and other chemical raw materials.
Braven’s PyChem pyrolysis oil is ISCC PLUS certified and manufactured using the company’s proprietary pyrolysis technology, produced from plastic waste streams diverted from landfills and incineration.
BASF will use PyChem in its ChemCycling process, which allocates recycled content via the mass balance method to products marketed as Ccycled.
In February 2024, BASF started manufacturing Ccycled products in US soil, marking the first the Germany-based chemical giant moved its ChemCycling activities outside of home ground.
The company is producing monomers that can be used for many BASF products manufactured in the US, including super absorbent polymers, engineered plastics, or polyurethanes, from pyrolysis oil processed at the BTP plant in Port Arthur.
“Solving the challenge of plastic waste and creating a more circular economy requires innovation and collaboration across the value chain,” said Christoph Gahn, vice president of circularity & sustainable raw materials petrochemicals at BASF.
“This offtake agreement with Braven is an important step toward the commercialisation of our Ccycled portfolio in North America. By using recycled feedstock in a mass balance approach, we can save fossil resources, and by using Ccycled products, BASF customers are enabling plastics circularity," he added.