Transforming household waste into raw material for chemicals

The Waste 2 Chemistry initiative, a consortium set up under the leadership of Nouryon, aims to use a new technology to produce methanol from municipal waste. Methanol, traditionally produced from fossil feedstock such as natural gas or coal, is a base chemical widely used in the production of glues, thickeners, propellants and other everyday materials.

The technology allows to extract carbon from the municipal solid waste and biomass which can no longer be recycled mechanically and use it as a raw material for the production of chemicals.

A plant using this technology is planned to be built in Rotterdam, Netherlands and will supply the Dutch chemical industry with this low-carbon feedstock. The plant is expected to reduce the industry’s CO₂ emissions by 135kT per year, equivalent to the CO₂ emissions of 53,000 households.

Associated SDG targets