TotalEnergies, Aramco, Sabic demonstrate successful production of certified circular polymers

Iranpolymer/ Baspar  Pyrolysis oil derived from the chemical recycling of non-sorted plastic waste has now, for the first time in the Middle East and North Africa been utilised as feedstock for the production of  ISCC+ certified circular polymers. The pyrolysis oil was first processed at the SATORP refinery, which is jointly owned by Aramco and TotalEnergies, in Jubail, Saudi Arabia. It was then used as a feedstock by Petrokemya, a Sabic affiliate, to produce certified circular polymers.

The project shows ‘collaboration across the petrochemical value chain to overcome upstream and downstream challenges in circular plastics’, said Sami Al-Osaimi, Sabic EVP Petrochemicals (A). The company recently announced its target of one million metric tons of Trucircle solutions by 2030.

The project aims to open the door for the creation of a domestic value chain for the advanced recycling of plastics to circular polymers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A first milestone for the project was obtaining ISCC+ certification to assure transparency and traceability of the recycled origin of feedstock and products. Three industrial plants were involved in the process: SATORP refinery, Aramco’s Ju’aymah NGL Fractionation Plant and Petrokemya. All successfully obtained ISCC+ certification.

Aramco is considering multiple ways of tapping into new technologies and using existing assets to support the deployment of circular, more sustainable and lower-carbon products, noted Mohammed Y. Al Qahtani, Aramco’s president of Downstream. “Our aim is to create circular solutions for plastic waste, while also making progress on our ambition to achieve net-zero Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions across our wholly-owned operated assets by 2050. By leveraging spare capacity of existing infrastructure, we aim to produce circular products that could be scaled up at low cost.”

For TotalEnergies, the initiative is a tangible mark of the company’s ambition to address the challenge of end-of-life of plastics. Several other circular economy projects are also being studied, said Bernard Pinatel, president, Refining & Chemicals, TotalEnergies, utilising the partners’ technical expertise and experience to further contribute to plastics recycling. The technology is a major pathway towards TotalEnergies’ target to produce 30% of circular polymers by 2030, he said, “and its strategy to build a multi-energy company with the ambition to get to net zero by 2050.”

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