Shell acquires 21.25% stake in feedstock recycler BlueAlp

Shell Ventures BV and BlueAlp Holding BV have entered into a strategic partnership to develop, scale and deploy BlueAlp’s plastic waste-to-chemical feedstock technology, the companies have announced. The technology converts mixed plastics waste into pyrolysis oil, which can then be added as feedstock to s steam cracker for further refining.

Under the agreement, Shell will acquire a 21.25% equity stake in BlueAlp. In addition, the two companies 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.

“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.”

The partnership with BlueAlp follows a successful pilot using pyrolysis oil at the Moerdijk petrochemicals plant in August 2021. Shell als been using recycled feedstock at its Norco petrochemical complex in the U.S. since November 2019.

The planned units are scheduled 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 in 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.

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.

One challenge in the production of larger volumes of pyrolysis oil is the inconsistent purity of the 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.