Pyrolysis production kicks off at major French facility

TotalEnergies has started production at an advanced plastics recycling plant in France with an annual capacity of 15 000 tonnes.

The innovation at the company’s Grandpuits site southeast of Paris, said to be the first of its kind in the country, marks another step in the conversion of the refinery into a zero-crude oil platform.

Feedstock agreement

The recycling technology has been supplied by Plastic Energy to process plastic waste from French households which is currently sent to landfill or incineration.

Pyrolysis, involving heating the waste to high temperatures in an oxygen-free environment and under pressure, produces a synthetic oil. TotalEnergies says the waste cannot be recycled mechanically. In 2023, TotalEnergies signed an agreement with French partners Citeo and Paprec to secure a long-term supply of plastic waste.

Milestone

‘The start-up of the first advanced plastics recycling plant in France is an important milestone in the conversion of our Grandpuits site into a zero-crude complex,’ says Valérie Goff, senior vp, renewables, fuels and chemicals at TotalEnergies. ‘Alongside Plastic Energy, contributing its technology, and our partners Citeo and Paprec, we are supporting the emergence of a brand-new French plastic recycling activity.’

Meanwhile, TotalEnergies and Holcim have inaugurated a floating solar power plant in Belgium with a capacity of 31 MW. It is located at Obourg on a former chalk quarry site that has been rehabilitated into a lake. The plant produces 30 GWh per year of renewable electricity which is consumed by Holcim’s neighbouring industrial facilities.