The energy company TotalEnergies and the chemical recycling firm New Hope announced on May 18 a partnership agreement under which New Hope Energy will develop an advanced recycling plant in Texas, US, to convert end-of-life plastic waste into recycled feedstock that TotalEnergies will partly purchase and change into virgin-quality polymers, used for food-grade packaging. 

The New Hope Energy plant is due to start production in 2025 and will process and convert more than 310 000 tpy of mixed plastic waste that would otherwise end up in landfill or incineration. It will use its proprietary patented pyrolysis technology that was developed in partnership with Lummus Technology. 

TotalEnergies will use 100,000 t of recycled polymer feedstock (RPF) to manufacture high grade polymers, which can be used in food applications such as flexible and rigid food packaging containers. 

“We are pleased to partner with New Hope Energy, which offers a promising technology and the ability to scale. This new project is another concrete and significant step TotalEnergies is taking to address the challenge of plastic recycling and meet our goal of producing 30% circular polymers by 2030,” said Valérie Goff, Senior Vice President, Polymers at TotalEnergies.

“TotalEnergies understands the need to increase recycling in the US and abroad, and their 2030 renewable polymer goal is a testament of their commitment to the circular economy,” said Rusty Combs, Chief Executive Officer of New Hope Energy. “Our partnership with Lummus has allowed us to provide the scale and reliability necessary to support them in this mission.”

“The ability to effectively and economically convert waste plastics to pyrolysis oil for further use is a critical step in achieving a true circular economy,” said Leon de Bruyn, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lummus Technology. “Supporting TotalEnergies in reaching their sustainability goals is exactly what our integrated processing solutions are designed to do.”