OMV and Interzero jointly build Europe’s largest sorting facility for chemical recycling
OMV made a final investment decision to build an innovative sorting plant developed by Interzero to produce feedstock for chemical recycling.
In total, OMV will invest over EUR 170 million to build the facility in Walldürn, southern Germany. OMV will hold 89.9% of the shares in the joint venture while the remaining will belong to Interzero.
Europe’s largest, fully automated sorting facility
The new sorting facility developed by Interzero will be capable of processing up to 260,000 tons of mixed waste plastics per year, providing raw materials for the production of virgin polyolefins.
This innovative sorting process will allow recovering a polyolefin-rich fraction from a waste stream that currently ends up in thermal recycling.
“Our unique, fully automated sorting plant, which does not require any manual sorting, is an important step towards giving a second life to raw materials that were previously sent for incineration,” commented Dr Axel Schweitzer, Chairman and owner of Interzero.
Patented ReOil technology for chemical recycling
The sorting facility will be the first of its kind to produce feedstock for OMV’s chemical recycling on a large industrial scale. The patented ReOil technology, developed by OMV, is a chemical recycling innovation that converts plastic waste that cannot be mechanically recycled into pyrolysis oil.
OMV’s patented ReOil technology turns plastic waste into pyrolysis oil.
The sorting process used in the new facility has already been tested on an industrial scale and the product has been successfully processed as feedstock in OMV’s ReOil pilot plant.
“Our stated strategic goal is to become a leading provider of solutions for sustainable fuels, chemicals and materials, as well as to play a key role in the circular economy,” stated Dr Alfred Stern, CEO of OMV.
The groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for November 20 and production start of the new plant is expect to take place in 2026.
