The Houston-based chemical giant has pursued an aggressive strategy as it shifts its focus to circularity. | JHVE Photo/Shutterstock
Chemical giants LyondellBasell and Chevron Phillips Chemical have invested an undisclosed amount in recycling technology company Altera to help commercialize chemical recycling technology for plastics.
Finnish oil refiner Neste was also named as an investor, according to a press release.
Altera’s Akron, Ohio, plant uses a thermal liquefaction process to break down plastic polymers into their molecular components, which can then be used as feedstock for more plastics.
In early 2023, Altera entered into a licensing agreement with Freepoint Ecosystems Holdings to install its technology at a chemical recycling facility on the Gulf Coast that has a capacity of 192,000 tons per year. Shell has exclusive rights to the raw materials obtained to produce virgin quality polymers.
Headquartered in Texas, CPChem is a global producer of polyolefins and intermediate chemicals and is owned 50-50 by refiners Chevron and Phillips 66.
The Changing LyondellBasell Strategy
Houston-based LyondellBasell has actively invested in both mechanical and chemical recycling capabilities around the world, while divesting intermediate chemical assets as it pursues vertical integration in cyclic polymers.
Earlier this month, LyondellBasell announced it had completed its acquisition of German recycler APK AG. The company plans to build more plants and further develop solvent-based technology to process LDPE.
In September, LyondellBasell began construction of its first commercial-scale chemical recycling plant at an existing site in Wesseling, Germany. The plant is scheduled to start operating in 2026 and will be supplied with mixed plastics sorted at a new integrated recycling hub in Knapsack, Germany, which is expected to start operating in the first quarter of 2026.
This year, the company acquired California recycling assets from PreZero, sold ethylene oxide and derivative assets to chemical intermediates maker Ineos Oxides, and formed a plastics recycling joint venture with Genox Recycling in China.
And in early 2023, LyondellBasell entered into a long-term supply agreement with Nexus Circular to secure feedstock for its Circularen polymer product line.
LyondellBasell still plans to close its only refinery and make a second chemical recycling investment there by the end of the first quarter of 2025, executives said on a quarterly earnings call in August. The Houston refinery was originally scheduled to close by the end of 2023, but high gasoline profit margins delayed the closure.
