Hydrocarbon Processing - May 2022 - 19

Executive
Viewpoint
PIERROBERTO FOLGIERO, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Maire Tecnimont, Milan, Italy
Maire Tecnimont and the second wave
of the circular economy
plastic. Unfortunately, recycled plastics are
often poor quality. Pure mechanical recycling
degrades the material, whereas the
upcycling of plastic waste through chemical
additives is necessary to regenerate
polymer back to its virgin state. The result
is a high-quality material that can be used
in manufacturing industrial products. Consequently,
chemical recycling technologies
will be critical for hard to recycle plastics.
Maire Tecnimont's green chemicals
unit NextChem has introduced a proprietary
technology called MyReplast that can
transform both consumer and industrial
PIERROBERTO FOLGIERO joined Maire
Tecnimont in 2010 as the Chief Financial Officer
of KT S.p.A, the group's subsidiary, operating as
licensor and contractor in the refining sector. In
2013, he was appointed CEO. Mr. Folgiero is also
the Managing Director of NextChem, the company
of the group operating in green chemistry. Mr.
Folgiero earned a degree in economic studies
from Luiss Guido Carli University.
plastic waste material into a secondary raw
material with physical and chemical characteristics
and mechanical properties that
allow it to substitute virgin polymers from
fossil sources.
Additionally, we are also patenting our
chemical recycling technologies to cope
with the increasing need to avoid landfilling
of hard to manage plastic wastes.
It is equally important to recover the
carbon and hydrogen (H2
) already sequesThe
circular economy has already
entered the public's consciousness, and
consumers are increasingly aware of the
urgent need to recycle plastic, with the
practice becoming more widespread
than ever. We are now in a " second wave "
of the circular economy, in which we face
two challenges:
1. Increase focus on hard to recycle
resources
2. Incorporate the circular economy
directly into product and
process design.
Technology will be the key asset as we
move into the second wave of the circular
economy. First, upcycling technologies
will be essential to succeed in meeting
the world's booming demand for recycled
trated in the non-recyclable plastics and
the dry part of the municipal solid waste.
Our company is launching several projects
in Italy and abroad to produce H2
plastic and dry waste. This " circular H2
from
" is
not green, not blue and not purple, but it is
very low carbon. It is a way to break the ice
and show society that we do not need to
wait until 2050 for the H2
economy.
The big issue for green H2
is not technological
readiness but the broad availability
of renewable electrons already needed
to switch off coal-fired power plants.
Furthermore, renewable electricity is expected
to become the main power source
in sectors like heating and transportation,
where fossil fuels dominate.
In Europe, there is much debate about
which electron color can be produced
by nuclear energy. Unlike France, Italy
and Germany are taking an opposing
view. There is an overwhelming demand
for electrification, which must be met if
we want to cope with ambitious climate
change targets. We need to produce renewable
electrons to switch off power plants,
for light mobility and to produce renewable
electrons to convert to H2
. There is,
therefore, much competition over the
availability of a sufficient amount of renewable
energy to enable H2
to happen.
Limited amounts of green electrons
may delay the introduction of green H2
.
This bottleneck of green electrons is already
visible in Italy, which must build
70 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy
by 2030 but installs fewer than 1 GW/yr.
Overall, waste management and circular
economy must be part of the solution.
The second challenge of the second
wave is the need for the so-called " eco-design "
of products to enable as much reuse
and recyclability as possible. This is a significant
traversal effort to change the manufacturing
paradigm from its fundamentals.
The circular economy will be a new
mindset to reconceive all industrial processes
that will force companies to think
outside the box in terms of collaborating
across sectors. The circular economy is
about connecting dots. It is about a refinery
that manages waste or a power company
that embraces ammonia and methanol
production from electrons. Everyone
must go beyond their comfort zone and
collaborate differently. This is a big challenge,
and we need to join forces. There is
no room for rhetoric.
The inventor of polypropylene was
an Italian chemist named Giulio Natta,
who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
in 1963. Maire Tecnimont has inherited
some of this chemical engineering DNA.
Thanks to this patrimony, the company
can be part of a circular economy that creates
a new, more responsible way to use
and conceive plastic.
Hydrocarbon Processing | MAY 2022 19
Hydrocarbon Processing - May 2022

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