UK-based developer Mura Technology, a licensee of Australian-based Licella Holdings’ Cat-HTR platform, and leading materials science company Dow aims to construct multiple world-scale 120 kilotons (KT) of advanced recycling facilities in the US and Europe.
Collectively, the advanced recycling facilities will be adding as much as 600KT of annual capacity by 2030.
“The strengthening of Dow and Mura’s partnership is another example of how Dow is working to build momentum around breakthrough advanced recycling technologies,” said Marc van den Biggelaar, advanced recycling director for Dow.
“By investing in new applications, Dow is working to meet the increased demand for recycled material from its customers and make a meaningful impact on the supply chain, helping to close the loop on plastic waste.
“Dow is committed to accelerating a circular economy for plastics, and our expanded partnership with Mura marks a significant step on this journey. As a long-term partner, we are excited about the potential of this process to recycle plastics and help solve the plastic waste challenge.“
Dow will play an important role in the partnership as a key off-taker of the circular feed that Mura produces, which is derived from plastic waste currently destined for landfill or incineration.
It will reduce reliance on fossil-based feedstocks and will enable Dow to produce a recycled plastic feedstock for the development of new virgin-grade plastics, which are in high demand from global brands.
These planned capital investments by Mura, as well as Dow’s off-take agreements, represent both companies’ largest commitment to date to advance and scale global advanced recycling capabilities.
“This partnership continues to create momentum for Dow as we move towards feedstock flexibility and diversification, which is essential if we wish to advance a circular economy for plastics,” said Diego Donoso, president of packaging and specialty plastics for Dow.
“And a fully circular business model for plastics will also enable decarbonisation, and support us on the road to net zero.”
This marks an important milestone in the rapid scaling of Mura’s revolutionary HydroPRS (Hydrothermal Plastic Recycling Solution) advanced recycling process, which can be used to recycle all forms of plastic, including flexible and multi-layer plastics, which have previously been deemed unrecyclable.
Once deployed at scale, it has the capability to prevent millions of tonnes of plastic and carbon dioxide from entering the environment every year, and create the ingredients for a sustainable, circular plastics economy.
“The global plastics issue is one of the most pressing environmental issues to date – there is simply no time to waste,” said Dr. Steve Mahon, CEO of Mura Technology.
“Mura’s technology is designed to champion a global circular plastics economy, and our partnership with Dow is a key enabler to bringing HydroPRS to every corner of the globe.
“This next step in our partnership and the resources provided by Dow will allow us to finance and dramatically increase recycling capacity, and enable circular plastics to enter global supply chains at scale.”
The world’s first plant using Mura’s HydroPRS process, located in Teesside, UK, is expected to be operational in 2023 with a 20KT per year production line set to supply Dow with a 100 per cent recycled feedstock.
