Chemical recycling, Versalis (Eni) inaugurates the first plant in Mantua

Versalis (Eni) presented the demonstration plant of Hoop, the new proprietary technology for the chemical recycling of mixed plastic waste, at its Mantua plant. The process involves appropriately prepared loads of mechanically non-recyclable plastics (and transformed into granules) being thermally treated, via pyrolysis: the bonds of the molecules break and pyrolysis oil is produced, a compound that can fuel petrochemical processes in place of fossil raw materials.

Hoop was born from a joint project with the Italian engineering company SRS (Research and Development Services) and creates a technology capable of achieving maximum levels of yield in material recovery thanks to a high flexibility with respect to the fed charge also obtained through artificial intelligence systems.

The construction site for the plant, which occupies an area of ​​approximately 5,000 square meters inside the factory, began at the end of October 2023 and over 25 companies were involved in the construction phases. The first production tests were successfully completed in recent weeks.

The plant has the capacity to treat 6,000 tons of plastic per year and will allow its application to be validated on an industrial scale: in fact, as part of the Memorandum of Understanding on the Eni-Versalis Chemical Transformation Plan, signed last March with Mimit, the construction of a 40,000-ton plant is planned at the Priolo plant in Sicily. The feasibility study has already been completed, "at the end of May the request for an Environmental Impact Assessment was made. We expect the final investment decision by the end of 2026. And that the construction of the plant will be completed towards the end of 2028 and the beginning of 2029", explains Adriano Alfani, CEO of Versalis.

Hoop's project is among the winners of the 2023 call for proposals of the Eu innovation Fund, a fund allocated by the European Commission dedicated to innovative low-carbon technologies, for which it received 16.2 million euros. The patent was also selected by Mimit in the exhibition L'Italia dei Brevetti which ended in March and for display in the Italian pavilion at the Osaka Expo.