Dutch chemical recycler Pryme announced it has delivered the first batch of pyrolysis oil from its Rotterdam plant.
The shipment contained the first 36 tonnes of the company’s production from its Pryme One facility.
Pryme said this first oil batch did not consist of pure pyrolysis oil, but rather a blend with the starter fluid of the installation. It said that justified the lower revenues of around €30,000. It expects higher pricing levels in the future when deliveries contain higher quality pyrolysis oil.
The company produced a total of 120 tonnes of pyrolysis oil during the second quarter of 2024, short of its 500 tonnes goal. Pryme said it expects to ship the remaining stock and its third quarter pyrolysis oil production throughout the third quarter.
The chemical recycler started building the Pryme One facility in 2021, with a capacity to process 40,000 tonnes/year of mixed plastic waste. It then expected production to start in 2023, which was subsequently pushed back to 2024.
In May 2023, the project received almost €13 million in funding from an investment consortium consisting of Infinity Recycling, Invest-NL, and LyondellBasell. At the time, LYB said the investment would open up a potential source of feedstock for the integrated hub it is now operating in the Cologne area, Germany.
Pryme says it has developed a cost-effective pyrolysis approach that allows used plastic to be recycled with a high conversion rate, on an industrial scale and with a lower carbon footprint. The Dutch research organisation TNO has calculated that 92,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions will be avoided annually by chemically recycling plastic waste versus incineration for each Pryme reactor line of 40,000 tonnes.