Neste acquires minority stake in Alterra Energy; companies partnering to commercialize Alterra’s waste plastic liquefaction technology in Europe
Neste Corporation, Press Release, 4 January, 2021 at 3:00 p.m. (EET)
Alterra’s industrial-scale waste plastics liquefaction unit in Akron, Ohio. Photo: Alterra
Neste, the world’s leading provider of renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel and an expert in delivering drop-in renewable and circular chemical solutions, today announced that it has acquired a minority stake in Alterra Energy, an innovative chemical recycling technology company. Neste’s equity investment supports Alterra Energy’s expansion. The collaboration between the companies will include joint technology development and global technology licensing, enabling the partners to collaborate in commercializing Alterra’s proprietary thermochemical liquefaction technology in Europe.
Alterra’s technology enables a broad range of plastic waste streams from diverse post-consumer sources to be liquefied into a material similar to crude oil. Such material can be flexibly processed and upgraded by companies like Neste into high-quality feedstock for polymers and chemicals production.
The companies are working together towards a global rollout of Alterra’s liquefaction technology with a strong initial focus on Europe, a leading market in the global transition towards making plastics value chains fully circular. With this, the companies aim to accelerate the adoption of chemical recycling and develop capacity to turn hard-to-recycle plastic waste into high-quality, high-performance polymers and chemicals. The collaboration of the companies supports Alterra Energy’s target of commencing the construction of a state-of-the-art liquefaction site in Europe during 2021.
Alterra’s existing industrial-scale waste plastics liquefaction plant in Akron, Ohio produces commercial volumes that can already be refined and upgraded into high-quality feedstock for plastics and chemicals. This, together with Neste’s refining capability, enables sustainability-oriented brands globally to start introducing recycled content into their products and offerings.
“Collaboration with Alterra Energy strengthens Neste’s ecosystem of partnerships that are aimed at accelerating the transition to a circular plastics economy. It demonstrates our commitment to continue developing the chemical recycling industry by supporting some of the leading companies in commercializing promising technologies. This partnership also supports Neste’s aim of building new business growth based on chemical recycling, while marking another significant step towards our target of processing more than one million tons of plastic waste from 2030 onwards,” says Mercedes Alonso, Executive Vice President, Renewable Polymers and Chemicals at Neste.
“The Neste-Alterra partnership will unlock the full potential of the circular economy, bringing our technology to more partners around the world, creating a cleaner planet,” said Alterra’s CEO Frederic Schmuck. “Neste is a world leader in renewable and circular solutions and its endorsement of Alterra's proprietary process is both extremely rewarding and validating.”
Neste Corporation
Susanna Sieppi
Vice President, Communications
Further information:
Neste:
Please contact Heikki Färkkilä, Vice President, Chemical Recycling, Renewable Polymers and Chemicals via Neste’s media service, tel. +358 50 458 5076 / media@neste.com (weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (EET).
Alterra Energy:
Please contact Jeremy DeBenedictis, President, Alterra Energy via Info@alterraenergy.com
Press contact: Bob Zeitlinger, Makovsky, bzeitlinger@makovsky.com
Mobile: +1 551 427 7298.
Neste in brief
Neste (NESTE, Nasdaq Helsinki) creates solutions for combating climate change and accelerating a shift to a circular economy. We refine waste, residues and innovative raw materials into renewable fuels and sustainable feedstock for plastics and other materials. We are the world’s leading producer of renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel, developing chemical recycling to combat the plastic waste challenge. We aim at helping customers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with our renewable and circular solutions by at least 20 million tons annually by 2030. As a technologically advanced refiner of high-quality oil products with a commitment to reach carbon-neutral production by 2035, we are also introducing renewable and recycled raw materials such as waste plastic as refinery raw materials. We have consistently been included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices and the Global 100 list of the world’s most sustainable companies. In 2019, Neste's revenue stood at EUR 15.8 billion, with 82% of the company’s comparable operating profit coming from renewable products. Read more: neste.com and www.neste.com/companies/products/plastics
Alterra Energy in brief
Alterra Energy, based in Akron, Ohio, is a leader in developing and commercializing continuous recycling technology, which transforms waste plastic into petrochemical products that can be further refined into fuels, waxes and new plastic production. Its proprietary process supports global climate efforts in two ways: by reducing dependency on fossil fuels and by diverting plastic waste away from oceans, landfills and incinerators. Alterra Energy licenses its thermochemical liquefaction technology to entities looking to recycle more challenging plastics or to develop more sustainable products. For more information: alterraenergy.com.
