Neste has purchased the European rights to Alterra Energy’s liquefaction technology, further solidifying the company’s efforts to advance chemical recycling. Alterra Energy is a US-based company that has developed a proprietary thermochemical solution for liquefaction of hard-to-recycle plastic. In Akron, Ohio, the company is already running an industrial-scale facility that transforms end-of-life plastics into an intermediate product, which can be further refined into raw material for new plastics and other petrochemical products.
In 2020, Neste acquired a minority stake in Alterra Energy. Neste has further processed liquefied waste plastic sourced from, among others, Alterra Energy in a series of trial runs at its refinery in Finland. Together with Ravago, Neste also plans to set up a joint venture to deploy the Alterra Energy technology in Vlissingen, the Netherlands. Furthermore, to scale up processing capacities for liquefied waste plastic at its Porvoo refinery in Finland, Neste is currently conducting a feasibility study to examine investing in proprietary pretreatment and upgrading capabilities.
