TotalEnergies, Aramco and SABIC have successfully converted oil derived from plastic waste into ISCC+ certified circular polymers in the Middle East and North Africa for the first time.
The plastic pyrolysis oil, also called plastic waste derived oil (PDO), was processed at the SATORP refinery 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 aims to pave the way for the creation of a domestic value chain for the advanced recycling of plastics to circular polymers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The process allows the use of non-sorted plastics, which can be difficult to recycle mechanically, and consequently contributes to solving the challenge of end-of-life plastics.
Mohammed Y. Al Qahtani, Aramco’s president of downstream, said: “This achievement illustrates the importance of the petrochemical sector in creating more sustainable products and solutions.”
Bernard Pinatel, president, refining and chemicals, TotalEnergies, said: “This advanced plastic recycling initiative reflects TotalEnergies’ ambition to concretely contribute to addressing the challenge of end-of-life of plastics. Several other circular economy projects are being studied, leveraging the partners’ technical expertise and experience to further contribute to plastics recycling.
“It is a major pathway towards TotalEnergies’ target to produce 30% of circular polymers by 2030, and its strategy to build a multi-energy company with the ambition to get to net zero by 2050, together with society.”
TotalEnergies, Aramco and SABIC complete first processing of oil from plastic waste
