Abstract
HOOP® is the advanced chemical recycling technology via pyrolysis of mixed plastics developed by Versalis. With this technology it is possible to recover as raw material the fraction of mixed plastic waste that cannot be mechanically recycled and is sent to waste-to-energy or landfill. With this technology it is possible to convert the mixed plastic waste into a raw material to be used as feedstock in the production cycles of the chemical industry replacing the traditional raw material based on fossil sources to produce new plastic exactly equivalent to the virgin one and suitable for any application (e.g. food contact, high tech, etc.). In this way the plastic cycle is theoretically endless.HOOP® technology foresees two-step pyrolysis with separate reactors with an advanced reactor heating system that makes the temperature extremely homogeneous throughout the reactor. The operating conditions are continuously tuned on the basis of "online" monitoring of the composition of the input material made with spectroscopic techniques, making the system flexible on the characteristics of the plastic material fed and maximizing the yield and quality of the produced oil in all conditions. The result is a material recovery above 80 %. Versalis will build a first plant with 6,000 ton/y capacity at the Mantova site, with the aim of a subsequent scale-up in its national production sites.
