The move follows an announcement in February that the companies had agreed to scale up and commercialize Biorenova’s proprietary CatC chemical recycling technology, which recovers monomers with ultra-high levels of purity from sorted plastic waste.

The process has already been tested on polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) – branded Plexiglass by its inventor, Germany’s Röhm – and is expected to be extended to other plastics, for example polystyrene, while further optimization could allow the technology to address the even larger polyolefins market, the companies said.

MyRemono will build the first industrial-scale plant with a processing capacity of up to roughly 5,000 t/y. Operations are expected to start in the second half of 2025, when commercial activities related to licensing, process engineering and critical equipment supply will also be launched.

A CatC demonstration plant with a processing capacity of about 1,600 t/y is already operating in Italy’s Abruzzo region. NextChem said results show that the technology has a conversion rate of about 95%, and provides a “cost-effective, efficient and competitive alternative to other depolymerization technologies for Plexiglass.”

The joint venture partners anticipate that MyRemono’s revenues will grow progressively from 2025 to reach a cumulative figure of €30 million by 2028, after when they expect annual revenues to be in the range of €15-20 million.

Author: Elaine Burridge, Freelance Journalist