BP&R speaks with Ian Temperton, CEO of Plastic Energy, about the company’s innovative TAC technology, the benefits it brings to recycling and the overall global circular economy landscape, from challenges to outlook.
plastic energy
What is Plastic Energy’s TAC technology, and how does it turn end-of-life plastics into feedstock?
Our TAC technology allows us to take hard-to-recycle plastics, destined for landfills or incineration, and turn them into a reliable, high-quality recycled oil, TACOIL. This replaces virgin fossil oil in the production of new plastic, reducing plastic waste, emissions from the plastic lifecycle and dependence on virgin fossil oils.
Plastic waste is heated in a closed reactor in the absence of oxygen. As part of the reaction, the long polymer chains are broken down into smaller molecules. The process yields three products:
- a recycled oil, which we call TACOIL
- a synthetic gas, currently used to provide heat to the process (in the future, we hope to valorise it as a feedstock for chemicals and plastic production)
- a solid residue, which we call TACFILLER
TACFILLER can replace a carbon-intensive product called Carbon Black, which is used as an additive in the rubber industry to manufacture tyres and other rubber products.
What benefits does this process bring?
Currently, only 9% of plastic globally is recycled, with the remaining 91% ending up in landfills, incinerated, or leaking into the environment. These disposal methods exacerbate today’s plastic waste challenges.
Chemical recycling is poised to revolutionise the way we deal with post-consumer plastics. It can tackle a broader range of plastic feedstock than mechanical recycling, like polyolefins, which make up most post-consumer plastic waste.
Our TAC technology also offers various environmental benefits. We recently commissioned a peer-reviewed, ISO-compliant Life Cycle Assessment that measured the emissions produced by the TACOIL production process. It found that producing TACOIL reduces CO₂ equivalent emissions by up to 78% compared to incineration with energy recovery. This reduction increases to 89% with further grid decarbonisation.
The production of carbon black is emissions-intensive, contributing between 29-79 million metric tonnes of CO₂ emissions globally each year. TACFILLER is made from post-consumer plastic waste and offers a low-carbon, circular alternative.
What role does chemical recycling play in the overall circular economy landscape?
Chemical recycling is essential to creating a fully circular economy for plastics. Mechanical recycling alone can’t handle the volume or diversity of plastic waste generated globally.
By converting these hard-to-recycle plastics into a circular feedstock, chemical recycling reduces the need for virgin fossil inputs while helping meet growing demand for recycled content in high-performance applications.
Plastic recycling is facing several challenges. What do you think is key to resolving them?
Global recycling rates have struggled to increase beyond 10%. From a chemical recycling standpoint, the industry still faces several perceived risks, including market, feedstock and technology risk.
As for market risk, we believe PPWR will be instrumental in creating demand for recycled plastic as we approach the 2030 deadline. Feedstock risk refers to recyclers being able to access plastic waste feedstock at the right quality and price. Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes and the planned EU Circular Economy Act are crucial to achieve this.
The industry needs to show that chemical recycling can operate reliably at scale. This is why we’re focused on scaling up our technology and operations.