Partners repurpose Rotterdam waste-to-chemicals project

Partners repurpose Rotterdam waste-to-chemicals project


As travel begins to pick up in the wake of the pandemic, the hard-to-decarbonise aviation sector will return to producing its share of about 3 percent of total global GHG emissions.

The production of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) is fundamental to reducing the aviation industry’s lifecycle carbon emissions by up to 80 percent compared to conventional fuel – allowing the world to fly, while emitting far less.

As new policy measures and ambitious CO2-targets are being introduced, demand for SAF is expected to increase substantially in the Netherlands and other EU Member States. New production pathways are therefore crucial to increase the supply of SAF; there are multiple technologies at various stages of maturity, and it is critical that we progress as many as possible as quickly as possible to meet growing demand.

With favourable support under Renewable Transport fuels regulations expected, the production of SAF from low-grade, post-recycling mixed waste has become an option.

In light of the above – and given the capacity for Enerkem, together with Shell, to provide an end-to-end technical solution for converting hard-to-recycle waste into jet fuel by combining Enerkem’s waste gasification technology and Shell’s Fischer-Tropsch technology – the partners in the project have decided to repurpose the current project to focus on SAF production.

The project would process up to 360,000 tonnes per annum of recycling rejects and produce up to 80,000 tonnes of renewable products, of which around 75 percent could be SAF and the remainder used for road fuels or to feed circular chemicals production.”

Development of the revised project is underway and the partners – Enerkem, Shell and the Port of Rotterdam – are looking to submit a permit application for the revised project by the end of 2021.

If the final investment decision has been taken, construction of the project could take approximately 3 years with production starting in 2025 or 2026.

For more information visit www.portofrotterdam.com

19th July 2021