‘We know which organisations are involved’: ISPT is building partnerships with the Circular Plastics Initiative and ISPT Brains

As an independent facilitator, ISPT has been building consortia for twenty years comprising organisations from various sectors of the process industry, including those that would not normally come into contact with one another. One example of this is the Circular Plastics Initiative, through which BioBTX and ExxonMobil have joined forces and are now working, in collaboration with others, towards a demonstration project in Eemshaven. ‘We know which organisations are active in the various areas of expertise and how to bring them together effectively,’ says Ronald Korstanje, Programme Director for Circular Plastics at ISPT.

The consortia operate on the principle of open innovation: whatever can be shared is shared, whilst confidential information remains with the party concerned. ‘This helps to grow our collective knowledge,’ says Kees Biesheuvel, director of ISPT Brains. He previously worked at Dow for 37 years.

From pyrolysis project to demonstration

When the Circular Plastics Initiative (CPI) began eight years ago, the plastics recycling chain was still in its infancy and stakeholders were not speaking the same language. A series of supply chain projects are now underway under the programme, in which stakeholders from different positions are working together on technology, processes and insights.

In one of the first projects, a consortium including BioBTX and ExxonMobil investigated how to operate a pyrolysis process, what benefits it offers and where the bottlenecks lie. The project demonstrated that aromatics, which could be of commercial interest, can be produced from plastic waste, including in combination with organic waste streams. This led to a collaboration to scale up BioBTX’s process, with ExxonMobil acting as a potential buyer to assess whether the output meets its specifications.

‘It actually provides a kind of validation of the process BioBTX is working on: whether it ultimately meets what the market is looking for.’ The follow-up project also involves knowledge partners and a catalyst manufacturer. The participants already knew each other through the ISPT network. ‘That increases the confidence in being able and willing to work together,’ says Korstanje.

The same analytical standard

Korstanje is currently discussing, amongst other things, the standardisation of analytical methods with industry stakeholders. A new recycling chain involves new material streams, and stakeholders need to carry out analyses at many points along that chain. ‘That may seem insignificant, but it certainly isn’t,’ says Korstanje.

‘Analyses used for commercial purposes must be comparable; otherwise, you end up comparing apples with pears. As plastic recycling chains mature towards commercial application, it is therefore important to organise this properly. One example is the pyrolysis chain. There, it is important that standardised analytical methods are harmonised and applied.’

Confidential advice

Whilst the consortia operate on the basis of open innovation, ISPT Brains works on a one-to-one and confidential basis. Biesheuvel puts together a team for each enquiry, usually comprising people with extensive operational and strategic experience, some of whom have moved on to different careers after a career in industry. They examine a client’s enquiry independently. ‘It is precisely about gaining and retaining that knowledge,’ says Biesheuvel.

For example, ISPT Brains worked alongside Tata Steel on the issue of substances of very high concern, providing technical and organisational advice on how the company uses measurement technology to determine emissions at the site. Biesheuvel positions ISPT Brains in the strategic-technical sphere, complemented by operational knowledge.

Plastic in the blast furnace

ISPT Brains is also developing new concepts, such as the use of plastic in the steel industry. Steelmakers once used plastic as an additive in the blast furnace, but stopped because it was not technically or economically viable. The carbon from that plastic is released as a gas from the blast furnace.

‘Research has been carried out within ISPT into how we might process that gas,’ says Biesheuvel. ‘There was a major technical barrier involved. And we now have a solution for that technical barrier.’ The gas can then be converted into chemical building blocks or SAF, rather than being burnt. ‘A blast furnace actually behaves like a gasifier.’ During the ISPT Conference on 29 October in Terneuzen, we will discuss how to make this solution financially viable and scalable.

Connections like this can sometimes be right on our doorstep. At a lecture, the then CTO of ArcelorMittal said that his company had a carbon monoxide problem. ‘And I knew from my time in development at Dow: we actually need carbon monoxide,’ says Biesheuvel. The steelworks in Ghent is twenty kilometres from the Dow site in Terneuzen. ‘And we’d never even spoken to each other before. That’s when you see that ISPT acts as a sort of go-between to help each other out.’

Sometimes it is not the technology but legislation that poses an obstacle, or there is a lack of a risk-mitigating funding mechanism. In such cases, ISPT can, for example, enter into discussions with RVO about a new funding category. ‘ISPT provides insight, right down to the technological level of detail,’ says Biesheuvel. ‘We provide an overview of the supply chains. What is needed, and what is preventing technologies that are already available from being used?’

The original Dutch article is published by Industrielinqs.