UK-based industrial engineering and infrastructure provider px Group has been awarded a ten-year Operations & Maintenance (O&M) contract by ReNew ELP at the world’s first commercial scale plastic recycling plant.
Based at the Wilton International site in Teesside, ReNew ELP, a subsidiary of Mura Technology Ltd, will use the HydroPRS technology platform to chemically recycle end-of-life plastic.
The HydroPRS process uses supercritical water to break down post-consumer plastics into a range of valuable liquid hydrocarbon products including naphtha, gas oils and heavy wax residue, all essential building blocks in the manufacturing of new plastics and other materials.
Unlike traditional Mechanical Recycling, there is no limit to the number of times plastic can be recycled using this process. It is capable of processing all plastic waste types, including difficult to recycle material such as composite films.
At this site, px group and ReNew ELP will initially process over 20,000 tonnes of waste plastic each year, during phase 1 of operations. The site has scope and planning permission for additional processing lines, which would take its processing capability to over 80,000 tonnes per year.
The announcement marks the start of px Group and ReNew ELP’s working relationship. px Group was selected as Renew ELP’s O&M partner as a result of its health and safety track record and its long-standing O&M nationwide expertise.
The contract, which is scheduled to begin before the end of the year, will create around 30 new highly skilled jobs on the site.
Geoff Holmes, CEO of px Group, said: “We have 30 years of hands-on experience developing cleaner energy projects and reducing emissions. So, with this contract we will continue to deliver lower-carbon solutions that are required for a sustainable economy and build on our commitment to the energy transition.”
Neil Chapman, Commercial Director at px Group, added: “We are delighted to partner with ReNew and look forward to starting work on this world-leading project. We take pride in applying our ‘owner-operator’ approach to each and every site we’re based at – that means we treat every asset as if it were our own.”