Borealis has announced a €4.5M investment in the cracker furnaces of its olefins unit in Porvoo, Finland.
The investment will enable the steam cracker to increase the share of renewable and chemically recycled materials used in its ethylene and propylene production.
Currently, the steam cracker has a capacity of 430,000 tonnes of ethylene and 263,000 tonnes of propylene per year. The investment will fund the modification of three of the 10 cracker furnaces, increasing the total annual production of base chemicals based on renewable and recycled feedstocks to 120,000 tonnes.
"With a focus on reinventing essentials for sustainable living, our €4.5M investment in our steam cracker in Porvoo moves us closer towards a future of circular economy transformation,” said Wolfram Krenn, Borealis Executive vice president operations and base chemicals. “Through strategic furnace modifications and a commitment to renewable and chemically recycled base chemicals, we are poised to elevate annual production to 120 kilotons, forging a path of environmental stewardship and economic resilience," he added.
Borealis has been producing base chemicals at Porvoo since 1995, when it introduced its first Borstar PE plant at the olefins unit. Since 2023, all of Borealis' European polyolefin and polyolefin compounding sites are ISCC PLUS certified, covering circular polyolefin products manufactured with renewable feedstocks and chemically recycled feedstock.
Despite recent economic and geopolitical challenges, Borealis has said circularity is ‘still the way to go’.
Its total capacity for circular solutions hit 195,200 tonnes in 2023, up from 148,000 tonnes the year before. The Austria-based company processed 116,300 tonnes of circular feedstock last year.