Neste has made its final investment decision to construct liquefied waste plastic upgrading facilities at its Porvoo refinery in Finland. With an investment of 111 million euros, the company aims to enhance its capacity to upgrade 150,000 tons of liquefied waste plastic annually. The new facility is expected to be completed by the first half of 2025.

Upgrading is a crucial step among the three processes involved in converting liquefied waste plastic into high-quality feedstock for new plastics, including pretreatment, upgrading, and refining. Pretreatment and upgrading of liquefied waste plastic to remove impurities and unwanted components play a significant role in Neste’s approach to chemical recycling. These processes enable the company to increase its flexibility in handling lower-quality plastic waste and scale up the conversion of liquefied waste plastic into high-quality petrochemical feedstock at its existing refinery in Porvoo. The upgraded liquefied waste plastic will be processed in the conventional refinery, replacing a portion of the fossil resources currently processed at the refinery.

The investment in the liquefied waste plastic upgrading facilities is part of the broader PULSE project (Pretreatment and Upgrading of Liquefied waste plastic to Scale up circular Economy), which has received a grant of 135 million euros from the EU Innovation Fund. If fully implemented, the PULSE project targets a total capacity of 400,000 tons per year.

• Neste Oyj, Espoo, Finland