Shell Chemicals And Braskem Collaborate To Produce Circular Polypropylene

Shell Chemicals and Braskem will collaborate to increase the amount of circular content used in Braskem’s production of polypropylene as part of a wider value chain enhancement. The circular polypropylene will be produced using a ISCC PLUS-certified feedstock, based on a mass balance approach and will be used by Braskem’s customers in a variety of applications such as in the packaging and automotive sectors.

Shell plans to upgrade, and process pyrolysis oil made from plastic waste, at its new upgrader plant at Shell’s Chemicals Park at Moerdijk, Netherlands, before delivery and further conversion at Braskem’s polypropylene plant in Wesseling, Germany. The upgrader, which is under construction, has a capacity to process up to 50,000 tonnes of pyrolysis oil a year and will remove many of the impurities found within pyrolysis oil to produce higher quality feedstock for chemicals production. This upgraded feedstock can be used to replace conventional virgin fossil feedstocks for the chemicals industry.

Daniëlle Ebentreich, Chief Marketing & Sustainability Officer at Shell Chemicals states “This agreement emphasizes our commitment to addressing challenging environmental issues, like plastic waste and hard-to-recycle plastics. By using our investments in innovative, sustainable projects at Shell’s strategically positioned Energy and Chemical Parks we are able to play a key role, together with our partners throughout the value chain, in unlocking sustainable solutions for our customers and society.”

“Adopting initiatives that include plastic waste recovery, and mechanical and chemical recycling in our production processes is connected to our company’s purpose to provide a more circular and sustainable future, on top of the leading position Braskem has in biopolymers globally. This agreement represents an important step to combine Shell’s technology and infrastructure with Braskem’s polymer expertise and market knowledge towards more sustainable and scalable solutions”, says Walmir Soller, VP of Olefins and Polyolefins at Braskem Europe & Asia.

Pyrolysis oil is a liquid that replaces virgin hydrocarbons in the production of chemicals which are the building blocks of a wide range of products we use every day, including new plastic products, while pyrolysis is a special heating process that turns hard-to-recycle plastics into a pyrolysis oil. Mass balance is an independent accounting process and widely used across the industry which enables Shell to attribute the circular nature of pyrolysis oil to specific end products produced with mix of traditional and novel circular feedstocks. The product will be verified through independent and third-party ISCC PLUS-certification.

A complementary solution to mechanical recycling, chemical recycling can help improve recycling rates and introduce products with more recycled content to the market. An enabling policy framework that incentivises both demand and supply of circular products is critical to unlock investment, introduce more recycled products to everyday life and achieve a more circular economy for plastics. Recycling and recycled content targets are key to driving demand for circular products.

Shell’s net carbon footprint
Also, in this press release we may refer to Shell’s “Net Carbon Footprint” or “Net Carbon Intensity”, which include Shell’s carbon emissions from the production of our energy products, our suppliers’ carbon emissions in supplying energy for that production and our customers’ carbon emissions associated with their use of the energy products we sell. Shell only controls its own emissions. The use of the term Shell’s “Net Carbon Footprint” or “Net Carbon Intensity” are for convenience only and not intended to suggest these emissions are those of Shell plc or its subsidiaries.

Shell’s net-Zero Emissions Target
Shell’s operating plan, outlook and budgets are forecasted for a ten-year period and are updated every year. They reflect the current economic environment and what we can reasonably expect to see over the next ten years. Accordingly, they reflect our Scope 1, Scope 2 and Net Carbon Footprint (NCF) targets over the next ten years. However, Shell’s operating plans cannot reflect our 2050 net-zero emissions target and 2035 NCF target, as these targets are currently outside our planning period. In the future, as society moves towards net-zero emissions, we expect Shell’s operating plans to reflect this movement. However, if society is not net zero in 2050, as of today, there would be significant risk that Shell may not meet this target.