Total to Set up Bioplastics Hub in France
French energy and petrochemicals giant Total is planning to convert its Grandpuits refinery south of Paris into a zero-crude platform that will produce bioplastics as well as engage in chemical recycling of waste plastics. Two photovoltaic solar power plants will also be part of the project due to cost €500 million and be completed by 2024.
Under the plans, crude oil refining will be discontinued at Grandpuits from the first quarter of 2021. In converting production – which will cost 150 of the site’s 400 jobs – Bernard Pinatel, president of Total Refining & Chemicals, said the group “is demonstrating its commitment to the energy transition and reaffirming its ambition to achieve carbon neutrality in Europe by 2050.”
As part of the switch from petrochemicals to renewables, Total Corbion PLA, Total’s 50:50 joint venture with Dutch bioplastics specialist Corbion, will build a new 100,000 t/y plant for polylactic acid (PLA) at the site. Costing an additional €200 million, this will be the jv’s second such production facility and its first in Europe. Its first plant started up at Rayong, Thailand in 2018, with capacity to produce 75,000 t of the renewable plastic annually.
According to Total, the new commercial scale PLA unit, also planned to be operational from 2024, will help to meet the estimated 15% growth in demand for the bioplastics and make the joint company the leader of the global PLA market. Corbion will supply the lactic acid feedstock.
The chemical recycling plant, which will be France’s first and have a throughput of 50,000 t/y, will be built and operated by Total’s 60:40 jv with London-based Plastics Energy. It will use the London firm’s thermal anaerobic conversion (TAC) technology and the resulting Tacoil feedstock, which converts liquid waste through a pyrolysis melting process into new virgin-quality polymer.
Total said the recycling facility unit will help it meet its objective of producing 30% of its polymers from recycled materials by 2030. Output will be used to make food grade material.
The French group’s renewable energy affiliate Total Quadran will operate the photovoltaics plants. Total said the aim is to bring it closer to its goal of providing “green” electricity to all its industrial sites in Europe and help support France’s plans for a transition to greener energy up to 2040.
Author: Dede Williams, Freelance Journalist
