Germany – The latest in a line of facilities planned across the U.S. and Europe to rapidly scale advanced recycling of plastics, Mura wants to build a new plant at Dow’s Böhlen location in Germany. This facility will be the first to be situated at a Dow property. By the end of 2023, a final investment decision is anticipated for this project.
When fully operational in 2025, Mura’s new Böhlen facility in Germany will be able to offer 120 kilotons of advanced recycling capacity per year (KTA). This facility, together with others that are anticipated to be built in Europe and the United States, would add up to 600 KTA of advanced recycling capacity by 2030, positioning Dow to become the world’s largest user of circular feedstock for the manufacturing of polyethylene.
The future facility will expand on Dow’s ongoing partnership with Mura, which the two companies initially announced in 2021. The initial project will be to establish the world’s first factory employing Mura’s HydroPRS technology in Teesside, UK, and it will go into operation in 2023 with a 20KTA production line. The Böhlen, Germany, location will provide a substantially bigger capacity for plastic waste and dramatically boost the supply of fully circular feedstock to the industry. It is anticipated that the Böhlen site will be co-located with Dow’s production operations.
Advantages
This circular feed, made from plastic waste currently destined for landfill or incineration, would lessen reliance on virgin fossil-based feedstocks and would allow Dow to produce a recycled plastic that is highly sought-after by international brands, particularly for high-end delicate markets like food and medical applications.
The advantages of co-location, which might dramatically lower the cost of scaling up advanced recycling operations, are something Dow hopes to take advantage of. Additionally, by reducing transportation of the offtake and by allowing gas output from the advanced recycling process to be turned back into plastics, co-locating Mura’s facilities at Dow sites would be projected to minimize carbon emissions and ensure that no by-products go to waste.
