Nova Chemicals has decided not to move forward with a chemical recycling project in the Sarnia, Ontario, region.
"Upon completion of the feasibility study in 2024, Nova Chemicals and Plastics Energy ultimately decided not to pursue the project at this time," officials with Nova in Calgary said in an email to Plastics News.
"Nova continues to monitor technologies and innovations in the advanced recycling space and supports recycling policies that recognize the complementary roles of both mechanical and advanced recycling technologies," they added.
"We are actively investing in mechanical recycling while also advocating for advanced recycling as essential to processing hard-to-recycle plastics. Robust supply and demand policies are critical to ensuring the economic and environmental viability of both recycling streams."
Nova and London-based Plastic Energy Ltd. first announced an agreement to study a chemical recycling facility in the Sarnia region in June 2023. Officials said at the time that the proposed facility would be based on proprietary pyrolysis technology developed by Plastic Energy.
Plastic Energy's technology converts post-consumer plastics into a feedstock called Tacoil. For every ton of post-consumer plastic processed, 850 liters of Tacoil are produced. Tacoil then can serve as feedstock to make virgin-grade resins such as polyethylene for food contact and high-performance applications.
The proposed plant would have had annual production capacity of almost 150 million pounds, making it the largest of its kind in Canada. Plastic Energy operates two commercial recycling plants in Spain and has projects in the works in Europe and Asia.
Nova has set a goal of achieving 30 percent of sales from PE with recycled content and a 30 percent reduction in Scope 1 and 2 absolute carbon dioxide emissions by 2030.
In late February, Nova opened a major film recycling plant in Connersville, Ind. That plant is recycling PE pallet wrap and is expected to produce 150 million pounds of post-consumer recycled polyethylene resin per year.
At a media tour hosted by Nova in Connersville, officials said "there's a place" for both mechanical and chemical recycling in the plastics market, and that Nova is involved in both methods.
Nova is one of North America's largest PE resin makers. Earlier this month, the firm announced plans to be acquired for $13.4 billion by Borouge Group International, a newly formed combination of materials firms Borealis and Borouge.