UK-headquartered chemical recycling company Itero Technologies have been awarded a €240k Topsector Energie Industrie Study grant from the the Netherlands Enterprise Agency RVO, the company has announced. Topsector Energie Industrie Study grants are designed to support investigation into the feasibility of innovative pilot or demonstration projects that can cost-effectively reduce CO2 emissions by 2030.
Itero plans to apply the funds towards the development of a 27k tonnes per annum plastic-to-product demonstration plant at the Brightlands Chemelot Campus, in Sittard-Geleen, Netherlands, based on its proprietary, patented technology.
The plant will use a modular pyrolysis process to convert contaminated mixed plastic waste into virgin-quality chemical building blocks. These can be used to create new high quality plastics. Meanwhile, Itero’s pilot plant in the UK continues to test a variety of mixed feedstocks.
“This grant is further recognition of the potential for our technology to deliver an environmental upside for hard-to-recycle plastic waste,” said Head of Product and Partnerships, Abi Mountain.
This project will further deepen Itero’s knowledge of the waste landscape in the Benelux region, and help identify opportunities to optimise the equipment and process related to waste handling. Through research and development, Itero aims to limit energy consumption, waste output and contaminants, therefore minimising the environmental impact of the demonstration plant.
“Supportive environments like the Netherlands enable the research and development that new technologies, such as ours, need to make them as sustainable and circular as possible,” said Mountain.