Mura Technology inks feedstock agreement for UK chemical recycling site
1403-03-11
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Iranpolymer/Baspar Mura Technology has signed a feedstock supply agreement with waste management company Elite Recycling Solutions. The UK-based companies did not disclose the size of the supply agreement.
Elite will supply post-use plastic packaging to Mura Technology’s chemical recycling facility at the Wilton International science park in Wilton, Teesside, UK. The plant will be the world’s first commercial-scale plastics recycling facility deploying Mura’s hydrocracking technology.
The agreement with Elite follows an existing agreement between Mura Technology and Geminor, who will act as the principal feedstock supplier for this first site.
Mura opened the facility in October 2023 when it expected to start delivering the first recycled hydrocarbon products in early 2024. Start-up has now been pushed to mid-2024, according to a statement by Mura.
The facility will initially have a capacity of 20,000 tonnes a year, with scope to triple the initial capacity. The purpose-built facility at the Wilton International industrial site will process flexible and rigid mixed plastics, including films, that cannot currently be mechanically recycled.
Unlike pyrolysis, the HydroPRS process utilises water under high pressure and high temperature to convert post-consumer, multi layered, flexible and rigid plastics such as films, pots, tubs and trays into high yields of hydrocarbon feedstocks. Independent Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) based on the first site at Teesside have shown the HydroPRS process provides 80% carbon emissions saving by diverting unrecyclable plastic away from incineration. When compared to fossil oil-based feedstock, however, HydroPRS produces products with an equivalent or lower Global Warming Potential, whilst saving up to five barrels of oil for every tonne of plastic waste processed.
“We’re really excited to be an approved UK-based commercial feedstock partner to Mura Technology,” said Chris Smits, managing director at Elite Recycling Solutions. “The relationship enables us to access this pioneering solution for our clients’ mixed, post-use and currently unrecyclable plastics. Mura Technology’s unique Hydro-PRT process will enable us to work closely with our clients to recycle unrecyclable plastics, reduce waste and increase recycling rates, and to deliver cost savings, as landfill and incineration taxes increase in the near future – all of which plays a key part in driving our clients environmental and sustainability credentials,” he concluded.
