Total Energies starts production at France’s 1st advanced plastics-recycling plant
- Total Energies
- 4 days ago
- 1 min read
Total Energies announced March 19 that it has launched France’s first advanced plastics-recycling plant, with an annual capacity of 15,000 tons, at its Grandpuits site southeast of Paris.
This start-up marks another step in the conversion of the refinery into a zero-crude platform.
The new plant uses innovative recycling technology supplied by Total Energies’ partner Plastic Energy.
It transforms hard-to-recycle plastic waste from French households, which is currently sent to landfill or incineration, into a synthetic oil through a pyrolysis process, involving heating the waste to high temperatures in an oxygen-free environment and under pressure.
This advanced recycling process makes it possible to recycle waste that cannot be recycled mechanically.
The synthetic oil is then treated as petrochemical feedstock, as a substitute for fossil fuels.
It contributes to producing recycled plastics of the same quality as virgin plastics, compatible with the strictest requirements for food contact and medical applications.
Total Energies signed an agreement with two French partners in 2023, Citeo and Paprec, to secure the plant’s long-term supply of plastic waste.
“The start-up of the first advanced plastics-recycling plant in France is an important milestone in the conversion of our Grandpuits site into a zero-crude complex,” said Valérie Goff, Total Energies’ senior vice president of renewables, fuels and chemicals.
“Alongside Plastic Energy, contributing its technology, and our partners Citeo and Paprec, we are supporting the emergence of a brand-new French plastic-recycling activity,” Goff said.
