Plastic Energy relies on Siemens automation technology in chemical recycling plants

When building its current two plants in Spain, the London-headquartered chemical recycling company Plastic Energy opted to install automation and measurement technology from Siemens to ensure the smooth running of control systems and the plants’ output consistency.

That collaboration is now being expanded: to meet growing demand for plastic recycling, Plastic Energy is now building several larger facilities across Europe, Asia and the US, the first of which is in the Netherlands with partner Sabic. These plants will be significantly upscaled and again, incorporate technologies provided by Siemens, including Distributed Control Systems (DCS), process instrumentation and low voltage switchgear in the form of SIVACON S8 technology. Such end-to-end technology solutions make it possible for Plastic Energy to continually evolve its technology and process, implement improvements for better efficiencies and product quality, and achieve flexibility and scalability for its plant designs, the company said.

As well, Plastic Energy is also working with Siemens on the development of technology that makes use of a digital twin - a virtual model that provides insight into and closed loop optimisation of both process and plant performance. 

Siemens has viewed working with Plastic Energy as a long-term partnership from the beginning of our relationship, said Steve Leech, business manager for Siemens Process Control Systems.

“It is great to be involved with a company so focused on sustainability and contributing to a positive impact on the environment through recycling of plastic waste.”    

Plastic Energy has developed a thermal anaerobic conversion - TAC-  process, which converts plastic waste into a feedstock product called Tacoil. Tacoil has been incorporated into more than 10 products and packaging on the European market from brands such as Unilever, Tupperware and L’OCCITANE en Provence. Plastic Energy’s goal is to recycle five million tonnes of plastic waste by 2030.

A recent partnership is a recent project launched with Heinz, Tesco, Sabic and Berry Global, for example. Heinz has developed a new version of its Heinz Beanz Snap Pots made from 39% recycled soft plastic, collected from customers at Tesco’s in-store collection points. The collected packaging is then delivered to Plastic Energy, where it is converted into Tacoil feedstock. This feedstock is used by Sabic to manufacture food-contact approved resin after which Berry Global uses this to produce new, thermoformed post-consumer recyclable Snap Pots. The completed Snap Pots are sent to Heinz to be filled with Beanz and delivered back to Tesco stores. Once used, the pots can be recycled as part of kerbside collections.
Through Plastic Energy’s processing, plastic waste becomes a resource itself, with dedicated procedures for recycling that tackle the global challenges of disposal and benefit the circular economy.

The technology achieve two important results, said Carlos Monreal, CEO at Plastic Energy. “We prevent depletion of natural resources while simultaneously diverting plastics from incineration and landfill, thus protecting the environment from plastic pollution by decreasing the volume of end-of-life plastic waste that could end up as plastic pollution.

Utilising Siemens automation and processing software is important to ensure that our recycling plants are operating to their full potential and that we are able to continue to recycle as much plastic waste as possible.”