Chemical recycling, sustainable solution by Esenttia

Reducing the high percentage of plastic products that are not recycled (70% of the total) was the main motivation of this company, a petrochemical subsidiary of the Ecopetrol Groupto develop the project ‘Advanced chemical recycling: 100% circular plastic’.

This initiative, which won the 2024 Portfolio Award in this category, allows elements that traditionally ended up in landfills to create new high-quality and circular plastic products.

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To do this, first of all the company Pyrcom It converts plastic waste into pyrolytic oil, which is a process that seeks to return to the origin of plastics. Then, the Ecopetrol Group, through the Barrancabermeja Refinery, is responsible for processing this non-fossil material and producing green propylene, a raw material for the production of plastics, and its subsidiary Esenttia It transforms that propylene into circular polypropylene to finally be reused by different companies in new products.

“Esenttia is the first to achieve the production of a circular polymer and, worldwide, it is probably the fourth or fifth petrochemical to do so, the company explained when applying for the project.“, indicated the company when explaining that this approach also contributes to reducing CO2 emissions by more than 40%, which currently reach 59 gigatonnes annually from the production of plastics.

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The project, which began in October of last year and whose development is planned until 2027, has national scope and projection abroad, since in Colombia alone the objective is to process between 10,000 and 25,000 tons of plastics that are difficult to recyclable by 2027. generating 100% circular resins that can be used in various industries.

PORTFOLIO