BASF signs agreements with New Energy for uptake of pyrolysis oil derived from waste tires and for a joint feasibility study

BASF signed an uptake supply agreement with New Energy, a technology company specialized in the pyrolysis of waste tires, headquartered in Budapest, Hungary. According to the agreement, New Energy will supply BASF with up to 4,000 metric tons of pyrolysis oil per year derived from waste tires. In a pilot phase, first volumes of the pyrolysis oil have already been utilized successfully in BASF’s integrated chemical production site (Verbund) in Ludwigshafen, Germany.

The agreement is part of BASF’s ChemCyclingTM project which was started in 2018 and focusses on chemically reprocessing post-consumer plastic waste on an industrial scale. Since 2020, first commercial products are in the market.

The focus of the project remains the use of mixed plastic waste, which would otherwise end up in landfill or incineration. In addition, BASF also sees an opportunity to increase recycling rates for end-of-life tires. “So far, there was no technology that allowed the recycling of pyrolysis oil from tires into high value applications. By further broadening our raw material base to waste tires, we can create a new circular value stream. Moreover, we establish a second recycled feedstock in our ChemCycling project with which we can manufacture high- performance products for our customers’ demanding applications”, said Dr. Christian Lach, Project Leader ChemCycling at BASF.

BASF and New Energy are both committed to work on solutions for the global plastic waste problem. The two parties have therefore additionally signed an agreement for a feasibility study that targets the adaption of New Energy’s proprietary pyrolysis technology to the conversion of other plastic waste streams.

BASF feeds the pyrolysis oil supplied by New Energy into its integrated Verbund site in Ludwigshafen, thereby replacing fossil resources.