Chemical recycling, Versalis (Eni) inaugurates first plant in Mantua

Versalis (Eni) presented at the Mantua plant the demonstration plant of Hoop, the new proprietary technology for the chemical recycling of mixed plastic waste. The process involves suitably prepared loads of plastics that cannot be mechanically recycled (and turned into granules) being thermally treated by pyrolysis: the bonds of the molecules are broken and pyrolysis oil is produced, a compound that can feed petrochemical processes instead of fossil raw materials.

Hoop is the result of a joint project with the Italian engineering company S.R.S. (Research and Development Services) and realises a technology capable of achieving the highest levels of yield in material recovery thanks to a high degree of flexibility with respect to the powered charge also achieved through artificial intelligence systems.

The construction site for the plant, which occupies an area of approximately 5,000 square metres within the factory, started at the end of October 2023 and involved more than 25 companies during the construction phases. In recent weeks, the first production tests were successfully completed.

The plant has the capacity to treat 6,000 tonnes of plastic per year and will allow its application to be validated on an industrial scale: in fact, under the Memorandum of Understanding on the Eni-Versalis Chemical Transformation Plan, signed last March with Mimit, the construction of a 40,000 tonne plant is planned at the Priolo plant in Sicily. The feasibility study has already been completed, 'at the end of May the request for the Environmental Impact Assessment was made. We expect thefinal investment decision by the end of 2026. And that the construction of the plant will be completed towards the end of 2028 and the beginning of 2029,' explains Adriano Alfani, CEO of Versalis.

Hoop's project is among the winners of the 2023 call for proposals of the Eu innovation Fund, a fund allocated by the European Commission and dedicated to innovative low carbon technologies, for which it received EUR 16.2 million. The patent was also selected by Mimit in the Italy of Patents exhibition finished in March and for display in the Italian pavilion at the Osaka Expo.