Finnish oil refiner Neste is expanding logistics capacities at its Porvoo site to allow the company to handle larger amounts of liquefied recycled raw materials derived from plastic waste and rubber tyres. The move is a step in support of the company's long-term strategy to advance chemical recycling and transform the refinery into a renewable and circular solutions hub, Neste said on Tuesday.
The new logistics installations are scheduled for completion in 2024, meaning that they will be available when Neste completes the upgrading unit for liquefied waste plastic at the Porvoo refinery that it is building as part of its "Pulse" project. This upgrading plant is to convert up to 150,000 tonnes per year of pyrolysis oil derived from plastic waste into high-quality feedstocks for the plastics and chemical industry starting in 2025.
The new logistics infrastructure will include dedicated unloading facilities in the refinery's harbour. An unloading arm with a heating system and a network of pipelines connecting the harbour to special storage tanks are to be installed. These systems will be designed for transporting pyrolysis oil produced from plastic waste and rubber tyres, which unlike regular crude oil needs to be heated to stay liquid. The facilities must also be built with a higher level of corrosion resistance. In addition, Neste is building a vapour recovery plant to control emissions.
"The transformation of our Porvoo refinery into a renewable and circular solutions hub will require many individual steps and adjustments," said Jori Sahlsten, senior vice president of refinery and terminal operations at the Porvoo refinery in Neste’s Oil Products business unit. "The new logistics infrastructure is one of these steps. It puts us in a good position to process larger and continuous volumes of liquefied recycled raw materials," he said.
