Syclus to invest €130M in “Europe’s first” ethanol-based renewable ethylene production plant

06 Jul 2023 --- Syclus has chosen Axens to provide its Atol technology for “Europe’s first” ethanol-based renewable ethylene production plant. The raw materials company intends to build and operate a plant to produce renewable ethylene from environmentally sustainable ethanol in Chemelot Industrial Park in the Netherlands. 

The facility will use Atol technology from French company Axens. According to the companies, Atol features high, cost-effective ethylene yields due to a catalyst and allows for “optimized” process energy use, which minimizes emissions. 

Basic engineering is scheduled to start in late 2023 and production in 2026. Ethanol will be regionally produced by CropEnergies, which operates a plant producing renewable ethanol in the region. The investment required is estimated to exceed €130 million (US$141.2 million).

“Axens’ Atol technology provides high efficiency combined with a low energy consumption process next to high product quality and safety performance. This supports Syclus’ ambition to set a new benchmark in renewable ethylene,” says Igor Hensing, general director at Syclus.

“Defossilizing” plastics
The renewable ethanol-to-ethylene production plant’s annual production capacity will be approximately 100,000 metric tons, making it a “first in Europe.” The companies seek to create a more ecological way of producing plastics.

Syclus uses Atol tech for a more sustainable plastic production.“Having a 50% stake in Syclus, we are pleased that they have taken the next step to realize the ethanol-to-ethylene project with the selection of Axens as a partner. Renewable ethylene is an important step in defossilizing the production of plastics, making it more [environmentally] sustainable,” explains Stephan Meeder, CEO and CFO at CropEnergies.

“Depending on the results of the feasibility study which is currently being carried out, CropEnergies expects to decide for the next phase, which will be the basic engineering, by the end of this year.”

The ethylene technology
Atol is made for producing polymer-grade ethylene by dehydration of any renewable ethanol from biomass or waste. The ethylene produced can be integrated in partial and total replacement of fossil hydrocarbon-based ethylene in various downstream polymerization installations without requiring modifications.

The technology results from a partnership between TotalEnergies, IFP Energies Nouvelles and its affiliate Axens. It can produce ethylene “widely regarded” as having the highest quality on the market, fulfilling the specifications required by Chemelot and the ARG, the ethylene pipeline network in Northwest Europe. 

“Atol is a mature technology that already counts five references worldwide. We couldn’t be happier to work on Atol’s first reference in Europe and are honored to have been selected by Syclus. Atol is a safe, reliable, low carbon solution, and we have all the reasons to believe it is the future of renewable ethylene,” explains Jacques Rault, executive vice president of technology and technical support at Axens. 

Reducing carbon footprint
Syclus is led by chemical industry professionals aiming to reduce the carbon footprint of ethylene used in plastics and chemical products on an industrial scale. Syclus wants to produce large volumes of renewable ethylene using the most efficient manufacturing processes at multiple sites to achieve this. 

The company aims to make high-quality renewable ethylene available to European chemical companies and polymer producers at affordable costs. “Our objective is to fill this gap with regionally sourced renewable feedstock, instead of fossil oil and gas based resources,” writes Syclus. 

Edited by Sabine Waldeck