EUR 135mln Grant for Neste’s Chemical Recycling Project PULSE
Neste has completed the grant agreement process with CINEA (Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency of the European Commission) and the European Commission for EUR 135 million funding to Neste’s chemical recycling project PULSE (“Pretreatment and Upgrading of Liquefied waste plastic to Scale up circular Economy”), following the earlier positive EU Innovation Fund grant decision in July 2022. The PULSE project aims to implement Neste’s proprietary technologies to pretreat and upgrade liquefied waste plastic and gradually integrate these technologies into the company’s refinery operations in Porvoo, Finland.
PULSE targets pretreatment and upgrading capacities of 400,000 tons of liquefied waste plastic per year, contributing to Neste’s goal of processing over 1 million tons of waste plastic per year from 2030 onwards. The project plays an important role in commercializing chemical recycling of waste plastic as it allows scaling up chemical recycling and bridging the quality gap between unprocessed liquefied waste plastic and the petrochemical industry’s raw material requirements. The project will also contribute to the transformation of carbon-intensive industries in Europe as targeted by the European Green Deal.
“PULSE is a major step in the advancement of chemical recycling technologies,” says Mercedes Alonso, Executive Vice President Renewable Polymers and Chemicals at Neste. “The Innovation Fund support will serve as a catalyst for the large scale up of chemical recycling, which enables a broader range of waste plastics to be recycled. At the same time, it highlights the importance of our work towards achieving higher recycling rates.”
“Project PULSE is an important part of the planned transitioning of our Porvoo refinery into a globally leading renewable and circular solutions site and ending crude oil refining, as outlined in the strategic study Neste announced in September 2022 on Porvoo refinery transformation,” added Markku Korvenranta, Executive Vice President Oil Products at Neste. “We are grateful to the EU Innovation Fund for recognizing the important role refineries will play in the circular economy for plastics.”
Neste in brief
Neste (NESTE, Nasdaq Helsinki) creates solutions for combating climate change and accelerating a shift to a circular economy. They refine waste, residues and innovative raw materials into renewable fuels and sustainable feedstock for plastics and other materials. Neste is the world’s leading producer of sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel and developing chemical recycling to combat the plastic waste challenge. They aim at helping customers to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions with their renewable and circular solutions by at least 20 million tons annually by 2030. Neste’s ambition is to make the Porvoo oil refinery in Finland the most sustainable refinery in Europe by 2030.
Neste is introducing renewable and recycled raw materials such as liquefied waste plastic as refinery raw materials. They have committed to reaching carbon-neutral production by 2035 and will reduce the carbon emission intensity of sold products by 50% by 2040. Neste also has set high standards for biodiversity, human rights, and supply chain. Neste has consistently been included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices and the Global 100 list of the world’s most sustainable companies. In 2021, Neste’s revenue stood at EUR 15.1 billion.
Source: Neste
