Enerkem Advances Chemical Recycling Project

Recently, Enerkem Canada announced that the company successfully completed a round of financing earlier this month and is further advancing a joint chemical recycling project with Nova Chemicals.

It is reported that Nova Chemicals and Enerkem have reached an agreement in 2020 to explore the possibility of converting non-recyclable and non-compostable municipal waste into ethylene and to start building a pilot-scale reactor system that will be obtained from waste plastics. of syngas is converted into feedstock for the production of virgin-grade plastics.

In its latest funding round, the company has raised a total of C$255 million, with C$4.5 million provided by Alberta, with significant funding from Spain's Repsol, Enerkem said. Combining Enerkem's gasification expertise and Nova Chemical's petrochemical and plastics manufacturing experience, the project's goal is to make Alberta a development cycle by diverting waste from landfills, creating value-added products and reducing greenhouse gas emissions economic leader. Calculations show that successful implementation of this technology in Alberta could reduce local carbon dioxide emissions by about 165,000 tons per year, while diverting 230,000 tons of waste from landfills per year.

"The project aims to expand the types of recyclable materials and increase recycling rates, while reducing incineration and landfill emissions, and keeping plastics out of the environment," said Michel Chonet, executive vice president of engineering, innovation and operations at Enerkem.

Greg DeKunder, vice president of polyethylene marketing at Nova Chemicals, added that Nova Chemicals has a bold ambition to create a circular economy for plastics and is committed to designing a low carbon, zero plastic waste future.