Neste prepares for production ramp up of tire-driven ‘circular feedstock’

Helsinki – Neste Corp. is expanding the logistics infrastructure at its Porvoo refinery, on the southern coast of Finland, as it prepares to expand chemical recycling operations at the site.

The new infrastructure includes facilities for the storage of liquefied recycled raw materials, including those derived from end-of-life tires and waste plastics, Neste said 20 Aug.

At a harbor serving the refinery, Neste is building an unloading unit with a heating system as well as pipelines connecting the harbor with dedicated storage tanks.

The heated equipment is designed to maintain the recycled rubber and plastics in a controlled liquid state, according to Neste's announcement.

In addition to the unloading arm and pipelines, Neste is building a vapour-recovery unit, to support the control of emissions from the operations.

The upgrades are part of Neste’s chemical recycling project Pulse (pretreatment and upgrading of liquefied waste plastic to scale up circular economy) launched last year.

The initiative focuses on ‘pretreating and upgrading’ liquefied waste rubber and plastics: converting the recyclate into “high-quality" feedstock for petrochemical production.

In April, the Finnish refiner said it had completed trial runs  at the Porvoo site to process pyrolysis oil derived from end-of-life tires into new feedstock materials. 

Neste has been refining liquefied waste plastics on an industrial scale since 2020, with a project to raise capacity to 150 kilotonne per annum (ktpa) set to come on-stream in 2025.

The Pulse project is expected to contribute to scaling up the group's chemical recycling operations to 400ktpa by 2028.