Refinity will Use VTT’s Technology for Advanced Recycling of Mixed Plastic Waste
Recently, Innventure and Dow announced their plans to collaborate on the development and commercialization of new waste-to-value technologies through a company called Refinity.
In January 2025, USA-based Refinity, Innventure’s newest company, announced the global licensing of rights from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland for its proprietary fluidized bed advanced plastic waste conversion technology. The company intends to “use the licensed technology to commercialize the cost-effective conversion of mixed plastic wastes to chemical precursors, required in all petrochemical production, to replace fossil feedstock used for the precursors”. Refinity will work with VTT to optimize the technology for the conversion of different plastic waste feedstocks to sustainable chemicals that will replace fossil-derived chemicals, the information said. “The work will focus on increasing the yield of sustainable chemicals from plastic wastes that are not suitable for conventional thermochemical conversion or mechanical recycling and that are currently landfilled or incinerated. Refinity plans to scale up and deploy the technology in future commercial plastic waste-to-value conversion facilities.”
As reported, VTT’s technology transforms hard-to-recycle minimally sorted plastic waste directly into drop-in petrochemical raw materials, including olefins such as ethylene and propylene, and has been demonstrated at a pilot scale. Compared to conventional thermochemical processes, the innovative process concept would offer the conversion of mixed plastic waste into petrochemical precursors with higher yields and lower carbon dioxide emissions using easily scalable industrial process units. Refinity expects to integrate its manufacturing plants with existing petrochemical operations, unlocking the economics needed to support scalability to reshape the recycling landscape.
(Published in GLOBAL RECYCLING Magazine 2/2025, Page 19)
