Novo Holdings, AP Moller back Circtec tyre pyrolysis

Market: Oil products, Petrochemicals
22/05/24

Tyre pyrolysis developer Circtec has raised €150mn for construction of a plant to process waste tyres into renewable drop-in marine fuel and circular petrochemical feedstock in Delfzijl, the Netherlands.

Denmark's AP Moller Holding, the parent company of the AP Moller Group, and investment company Novo Holdings, which is responsible for managing the assets and wealth of enterprise foundation Novo Nordisk Foundation, each supplied €75mn equity investment, they said. Circtec also received a €22.5mn grant from the Dutch government.

At full capacity the Delfzijl plant will be able to process 200,000 t/yr of end-of-life tyres, producing 54,000 t/yr or more of renewable drop-in marine fuel — branded 'HUPA' — and 15,000 t/yr of "circular naphtha" intended as feedstock for the petrochemical industry. This would make it the largest pyrolysis facility for end-of-life tyres in Europe.

Earlier this month, Circtec said it expects a first phase of the plant with 20pc of the eventual capacity to be commissioned in the summer of 2025, with full capacity planned for the second half of 2027.

Circtec said in May it had signed an offtake agreement with BP for up to 60,000 t/yr of HUPA and 15,000t/yr of circular naphtha. It has also signed a deal with carbon black producer Birla Carbon for recovered carbon black from the plant.

Circtec said HUPA is 50pc biogenic, with the biogenic portion ISCC certified as having a greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction effect of 87pc compared with fossil marine fuel. The product is compliant with marine fuels regulations and standards and can be used by shipping operators when blended with fossil marine fuels to meet requirements of legal mandates on marine decarbonisation under the EU's FuelEU Maritime Regulation and Renewable Energy Directive.

TotalEnergies' marine fuels division strategy and projects director Frederic Meyer told Argus this week that he sees tyre-derived pyrolysis oil as a possible alternative option for the marine fuel sector. He said this could avoid industry clashes with the aviation sector, where he said pyrolysis oil would not be attractive. Such fuel would also have to meet the RED criteria of a 65-70pc GHG reduction compared with conventional fossil fuels, Meyer said.

By Will Collins

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