Chemical recycling with green electricity: Sustainable, efficient and future-proof.

Chemical recycling is at the heart of the debate surrounding circular plastics—and for good reason. Critics often point to the high energy consumption of chemical processes like pyrolysis or solvolysis, which, when using electricity from fossil fuels, can lead to an unfavorable CO₂ balance. This criticism is not unfounded: if the energy input is not provided sustainably, the ecological advantage over mechanical processes quickly diminishes. But this is precisely where a new development comes in: chemical recycling powered by green electricity and energy-efficient technologies that significantly reduce the CO₂ footprint.

The energy demand of chemical recycling plants arises both from the thermal process itself and from the subsequent processing of the products. Traditionally, this demand was often met by the local power grid – frequently with a high proportion of "grey" electricity. However, this is now changing: plant operators are already planning or implementing concepts in which the electricity demand is met entirely or predominantly by renewable energies, or in which the process energy itself is largely derived from their own process gases.

Chemical recycling complements mechanical processes

Despite their successes, mechanical recycling processes offer advantages primarily where they are applicable: They require less input energy and have a lower CO₂ footprint when processing single-stream materials. At the same time, they reach their limits with complex, contaminated, or multi-layered plastic waste, as such material streams can hardly be recycled mechanically to a high standard.

To fully close plastic cycles, complementary processes such as pyrolysis or chemical depolymerization (solvolysis) are therefore necessary. Only the interplay of mechanical and chemical processes makes it possible to fully exploit the potential of the circular economy and efficiently return even difficult waste streams to new raw materials. Mechanical and chemical processes are therefore not in competition, but complement each other – and together form the basis for a truly functioning circular economy.