Shell Chemicals to Build Pyrolysis Oil Upgrader for Bio-based Feedstocks

Shell Chemicals announces a new investment that supports its plan to transition the chemicals park into a site able to serve the changing needs of our customers. Customers want more low-carbon products and products made using recycled material.

The investment marks the first major step in transitioning the park, within ten years, by increasing the use of circular and bio-based feedstocks, growing its offer of low-carbon products, and becoming net-zero emissions through the application of hydrogen and CCS.

Investment for Circular Chemicals:

To achieve these ambitions, Shell intends to invest billions in Shell Moerdijk's chemical complex over the next decade, subject to investment decisions and within existing capital allocation frameworks.

"As our customers demand more low-carbon and circular chemicals we are seeing the reinvention of the chemical industry. At Shell Moerdijk and across our global chemicals business, Shell is investing to be ready to meet our customers’ needs as they change," said said Robin Mooldijk, executive vice president, Shell Chemicals and Products. Shell Moerdijk will build a new pyrolysis oil upgrader unit that improves the quality of pyrolysis oil, a liquid made from hard-to-recycle plastic waste and turns it into chemical feedstock for its plants.

“We are working together to deliver on shared decarbonisation and sustainability goals,” added Mooldijk. “This pyrolysis oil upgrader investment is part of our commitment to developing the chemical recycling industry, which can turn hard to recycle plastics into new and useful products, helping society tackle the key issue of plastic waste.”

The new pyrolysis oil upgrader unit treats liquid made from plastic waste that cannot be mechanically recycled and would otherwise be incinerated. Expected to start production in 2024, the unit will have a capacity of 50,000 tonnes per annum, which is the equivalent to the weight of about 7.8 billion plastic bags; and supports Shell’s ambition to recycle one million tonnes of plastic waste in its chemicals plants by 2025. Shell will use the treated pyrolysis oil to produce circular chemicals which are the ingredients used in many end products that are all around us. The investment responds to growing customer demand.

"Shell Chemicals Park Moerdijk wants to accelerate the energy transition, be a leader in the transformation of the Dutch chemical industry and grow by making more circular, low-carbon products for our customers and society. This comes with three major goals: net zero emissions within ten years, increasing the use of circular and bio-based feedstocks and doubling the number of chemical products by investing in new product lines.

Source: Shell Chemicals