Sustainable Development Goals
Location:
Eastern Germany
Project Status:
Feasibility study and project-development phase completed
Project Basis:
Proposed 100-tonne-per-day continuous plastic-liquefaction process for local industrial fuel supply
Organizations Involved:
Greenfuels AG, ReOil Holding AG, First Engineering, IBM, several chemical companies and oil refineries
Services / Equipment:
Design & Engineering, Due Diligence, Supply Chain Management, Component Supply
For the GreenFuels Germany project, Klean translated testing of the client’s actual waste plastics into a proposed 100-tonne-per-day continuous fuel-production process within one month of receiving the sample. The work established processing temperatures and residence times around the material supplied and the client’s requirement for high-specification, low-sulfur industrial fuel.
GreenFuels subsequently invited Klean to consider a joint venture encompassing plant design, construction and operation. The commercial significance was clear: a specific technical assignment had developed into a discussion about Klean’s wider role in delivering the project.
Greenfuels AG had identified an opportunity in mixed plastics that were not being recovered through conventional recycling routes. It had secured an eight-acre industrial site in eastern Germany and sought a thermal-processing solution for the available material.
The intended market was local heavy industry. The client required a high-specification fuel oil with low sulfur content, giving the project a defined product objective from the outset.
The development challenge was to connect that requirement with the behaviour of the actual waste stream. Oil yield, processing temperature and residence time would influence the process configuration and the fuel it could recover. Klean’s task was to establish a practical technical basis for that connection.
Klean arranged for a sample of GreenFuels’ secured waste plastics to be sent to a test facility in Japan for liquefaction trials. A series of tests examined the oil-recovery potential of that specific material and established the processing temperatures and residence times best suited to it.
This gave the development an important foundation: the process proposal was informed by the client’s feedstock. The work connected material testing with the operating conditions needed to pursue the intended fuel product.
Translate test results into a defined process proposal
Within one month of receiving the sample, Klean proposed a solution designed to produce the fuel quality GreenFuels required. The proposed configuration used a 100-tonne-per-day continuous liquefaction process, drawing on technology already commercialized in Japan.
For the developer, the value was a concrete progression from a waste sample to a process proposal. The testing and engineering work addressed the relationship between the available plastics, the conversion conditions and the product the local market required.
Integrate liquid recovery with process heat
The proposed process heated waste plastics in the presence of a catalyst to generate hydrocarbon vapours. Cooling and condensation recovered the liquid fuel fraction, while non-condensable gases were returned for use as reactor process heat.
This configuration considered how both fractions could contribute to the project: recovered oil for the intended industrial market and process gas for internal heat. Klean’s engineering approach brought conversion, product recovery and heat use into the same process concept.
Define a wider delivery relationship
Following the technical work, GreenFuels requested a joint venture in which Klean would take responsibility for plant design, construction and operation. GreenFuels’ proposed responsibilities covered feedstock contracts and local offtake partners.
That proposed division of responsibilities connected technology delivery with the local supply chain. Klean’s recorded service scope included design and engineering, due diligence, supply-chain management and component supply; the joint-venture invitation contemplated a broader role across the plant’s lifecycle.
The completed feasibility and development work produced a defined technical direction for the project. Klean tested the supplied plastics, established processing conditions and proposed a continuous system around the client’s industrial-fuel requirement. GreenFuels then sought to extend the relationship into a joint venture.
The project’s published estimates set out the scale of the opportunity:
These were project estimates. The broader development proposition included preserving virgin fossil resources, supporting new industrial activity and supplying local businesses with recovered fuel.
For a developer or investor, the practical lesson is the sequence. Feedstock testing established the process basis; engineering translated it into a proposed configuration; and the client sought a wider delivery relationship. Klean’s contribution joined technical investigation with the commercial decisions needed to develop an industrial project.
1. Actual feedstock should shape the project.
Klean tested GreenFuels’ own waste plastics in Japan and used the results to establish processing conditions for the proposed system.
2. Technical clarity can move development forward quickly.
Klean proposed the 100-tonne-per-day solution within one month of receiving the sample, connecting the material with the client’s fuel-quality requirement.
3. Klean’s value can extend across delivery and operation.
GreenFuels subsequently requested a joint venture with Klean responsible for design, construction and operation, alongside GreenFuels’ proposed feedstock and offtake responsibilities.
These are selected achievements and lessons. Further technical and commercial insights are available through an engagement with Klean.
A viable plastic-recovery project begins with a clear connection between the material you control, the product your market needs and the process that can bring them together. Klean can help define that connection.
For a waste holder, developer or industrial fuel user, the work can address feedstock suitability, product objectives, processing conditions and equipment configuration. Testing and engineering are scoped around the decisions the project needs to make.
The appropriate first step for a new equipment development is a paid Detailed Equipment Quotation (DEQ), providing a proposed configuration and preliminary technical and commercial basis. A Detailed Feasibility Study (DFS) develops the project’s viability and supporting arrangements, followed by Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) to prepare the defined project for an investment decision.
Define Your Plastic-Recovery Project with Klean >> GO.
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ABOUT THE INFORMATION PRESENTED
This case describes completed feedstock testing, feasibility and project-development work. The 100-tonne-per-day system and joint-venture responsibilities describe the proposed project; diversion, fuel and carbon figures are project estimates. Relevant test results, engineering assumptions and commercial information are available within an agreed engagement and appropriate confidentiality arrangements.
