Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) ended 2023 on a high note. The Mumbai-based conglomerate, which operates energy and petrochemical businesses, has become the first in India to produce ISCC-Plus certified chemically recycled polymers.
RIL announced on Dec. 29 that it shipped its first batch of ISCC-Plus certified circular polymers, named CircuRepol (polypropylene) and CircuRelene (polyethylene), to an undisclosed client.
The ISCC-Plus certification applies to RIL’s Jamnagar refinery, located in the state of Gujarat. RIL has developed a continuous catalytic pyrolysis technology that converts plastics waste, including single-use and multi-layered plastics, into pyrolysis oil. The company says the technology provides ‘high yields of good quality pyrolysis oil’, without specifying values.
The technology has been successfully validated at demonstration scale. The Jamnagar refinery has a capacity to output up to 600 tonnes of pyrolysis oil per month. RIL said in a statement that its long-term plans include establishing in-house technology plants and scaling up its capacities.
RIL is the largest integrated petrochemical producer in India and the world’s largest integrated polyester producer.
Internationally recognised, ISCC Plus is the leading global certification system that provides supply chain transparency and traceability for sustainable feedstocks used to manufacture chemically recycled polymers. With ISCC PLUS, producing companies ensure that the sustainability of their raw materials can be fully and transparently traced, from the field to the store. The certification requires companies to follow the mass balance or material segregation chain of custody models. This helps to ensure that the amount of bio-based, circular, or renewable content is tracked across the value chain.