OMV announced it has secured up to €81.6 million in funding from the EU Innovation Fund for its planned industrial-scale pyrolysis plant at its Schwechat refinery in Austria.
It is the first time the Austria-based petrochemical giant receives a grant from the EU Innovation Fund. The support for the pyrolysis project is also the largest public funding OMV has ever received for a stand-alone project.
The ReOil facility is expected to process up to 200,000 tonnes of used plastics that would otherwise be taken to landfill sites or incineration plants. OMV has not yet made a final investment decision in the industrial-scale plant, which it has been planning for years.
OMV’a patented ReOil process operates under moderate pressure and temperatures of 400 C to 450 C. The company has been operating a ReOil pilot plant at Schwechat since 2018 and has started operations at a new ReOil plant at the same site with a planned capacity of 16,000 tonnes/year. Between 2018 and November 2024, OMV have achieved over 29,000 cracking hours at the Schwechat pilot plant. The Austrian petrochemical was one of the first companies to develop a chemical recycling technology for used plastics more than a decade ago.
The unprecedented EU funding for its technology marks a new chapter for OMV’s chemical recycling journey. The European Union’s Innovation Fund focusses on highly innovative technologies and flagship projects in Europe, aimed at achieving significant CO2 emission reductions.
“We are delighted to receive this substantial grant from the EU Innovation Fund,” said Martijn van Koten, member of the OMV Executive Board. “It is a testament to the innovation power of OMV. By processing mixed plastic waste that cannot be mechanically recycled and converting it subsequently into valuable raw materials, our groundbreaking ReOil technology contributes to the circular economy. It is an important part of our goal to become climate-neutral by 2050 at the latest.”
OMV joins LyondellBasell in receiving substantial funds from the EU Innovation Fund for a chemical recycling project. In January 2024, LyondellBasell secured €40 million for its planned chemical recycling plant at its Wesseling site in Germany. Overall, the EU is committing €3.6 billion to fund innovative clean-tech projects to support decarbonisation.
As the EU directs rising amounts of funding for chemical recycling, the industry continues to wait for a decision on mass balance recognition for recycled content allocation. EU-funding recipients like LYB are confident the measure will go ahead.
The €81.6 million funding announcement comes as OMV and ADNOC agreed to merge their shareholdings in Borealis and Borouge. The new entity, Borouge Group International, will also acquire Nova Chemicals for $13.4 billion, establishing the world’s fourth-largest polyolefins player.