Do not start by calling oil traders. Almost everyone does, and it is why so many first cargoes go nowhere. The route that works runs in four steps: prove exactly what your oil is, settle whether it is legally a waste or a product, get certified if you want the premium, and only then approach the buyers whose plant can actually run it. Skip a step and you will be asked for it later anyway, usually by the buyer you most wanted.
Step 1: prove what your oil actually is
Nobody buys pyrolysis oil on a description. The first thing any serious counterparty asks for is a full assay from an independent laboratory, and until you have one you are not really offering a product.
The established names for this in the Netherlands and Belgium are Intertek, SGS, Saybolt and AmSpec, all of which run oil testing and cargo inspection and have laboratories in or near the ARA range. Ask specifically for a pyrolysis oil programme rather than a generic fuel assay: the parameters that decide your deal are not the ones on a standard fuel oil sheet.
What has to be on it: total chlorine (organic and inorganic separately where possible), silicon, sulphur, nitrogen, water, metals, density, viscosity, flash point, TAN, distillation profile and filterable solids. For tyre-derived oil, add the biogenic content by radiocarbon analysis, because under RED III that number splits your cargo into two differently accounted fractions. Full detail on pyrolysis oil and tyre pyrolysis oil.
Do this before you contact anyone. An assay costs a fraction of what a failed first approach costs you in credibility.
Step 2: settle waste or product, and REACH
This is the step people skip, and it is the one that strands cargoes at terminals.
If your oil is legally still a waste, a cross-border shipment falls under the EU Waste Shipment Regulation (EU) 2024/1157, which has applied since 21 May 2026: prior written notification, consent from the competent authority at both ends, a financial guarantee and a movement document. If end-of-waste has been established it moves as an ordinary product, and then REACH starts to matter instead: pyrolysis oil is a UVCB and placing it on the EU market at or above one tonne a year generally brings a registration obligation on the manufacturer or importer. See REACH and compliance.
Because this is decided nationally, the same oil can be a product in one member state and a waste in the next, and the receiving authority's view is the one that counts. If you produce outside the EU you will also need an Only Representative for REACH purposes. Consultancies that do this work include Yordas Group, Knoell and Ricardo, among others.
Step 3: certify, if you want the premium
For plastic-derived oil going to a steam cracker, ISCC PLUS with mass balance chain of custody is what converts a hydrocarbon into a certified circular feedstock. Without it the same molecules trade as fuel, and that price difference is usually the entire business case.
ISCC certification is carried out by recognised certification bodies. Ones active in this space include Control Union, SGS, DNV, DEKRA, Normec and Silk Road Certification in Poland, which is our own certification partner. Reckon on roughly 6 to 10 weeks if you are organised, 3 to 4 months from a standing start, and audit fees commonly in the region of EUR 2,500 to 6,000 for a single site. Full detail on ISCC certification.
For the fuel route rather than the polymer route, the relevant frameworks are recycled carbon fuels for fossil-origin material and, for the biogenic fraction of tyre oil, the advanced biofuel rules. See recycled carbon fuels.
Step 4: approach buyers whose plant can run your oil
Only now does it make sense to talk to anyone. And the buyer list is not a list of oil traders, it is a list of plants with a specific capability.
Europe has real, operating capacity for pyrolysis oil, which is worth knowing because it tells you what the market actually wants:
- Neste commissioned an upgrading facility for liquefied waste plastic at its Porvoo refinery in Finland with capacity for up to 150,000 tonnes a year, a roughly EUR 111 million investment, built specifically for difficult streams such as multi-layer packaging, mixed and contaminated plastics. It has processed liquefied waste plastic since 2020.
- TotalEnergies has processed pyrolysis oil at its Antwerp petrochemical platform since 2020, and started up France's first advanced plastics recycling plant at Grandpuits in March 2026, at around 15,000 tonnes a year, using Plastic Energy technology.
- Alongside the majors sit the carbon black producers for tyre-derived heavy fraction, refiners for co-processing, fuel blenders for the middle cut and industrial and marine fuel users for lower grades.
| Feedstock | Plastic, tyre or biomass, and what exactly goes into the reactor. Post-industrial or post-consumer. |
|---|---|
| Process | Reactor type, whether you distil, and which fractions you can deliver separately. |
| Country of origin | Decides shipment rules, duty and often the buyer's own due diligence. |
| Volume | Tonnes per month available now, and annual capacity. Be honest: overstated volume is discovered immediately. |
| Storage and loading | Where the oil sits, what it loads into, and whether it is heated. |
| Certification status | ISCC PLUS, ISCC EU, or none yet, with the scope. |
| Recent laboratory assay | Full parameter set, dated, from a recognised laboratory, with a retained sample available. |
| Consistency evidence | Two or three batches showing similar numbers. This is what separates a serious producer from a hopeful one. |
| Waste or product status | Your position, and which authority confirmed it. |
Or skip all of it and let us run the process
Everything above is what we do for producers every week. We are not a laboratory, a certification body or a REACH consultancy, and we do not pretend to be. What we are is the party that knows which of them you need, in what order, and which buyer will take your specific oil once you have it.
That is worth something concrete: it is the difference between approaching twenty companies cold and approaching the three whose plant can actually run your material. We are paid a brokerage commission on concluded business, so we have no reason to send you round the houses and no reason to talk a marginal cargo into a buyer who cannot use it.
Send us the analysis and the monthly volume. If the honest answer is that your oil is not ready for the route you want, we will say so, and tell you what would change that.
Frequently asked questions
I want to sell pyrolysis oil in Europe. Who can help?
Run it in four steps and use a broker to keep them in order. First get a full assay from an independent laboratory such as Intertek, SGS, Saybolt or AmSpec, asking specifically for a pyrolysis oil programme. Second, settle whether your oil is legally a waste or a product, because that decides the shipment rules and whether REACH applies. Third, get ISCC PLUS if you want the circular premium. Fourth, approach the plants that can actually run your specification. We do the fourth step for a living and will point you at the right people for the first three. Send the analysis and the monthly volume to [email protected].
Who buys pyrolysis oil in Europe?
Not oil traders, mostly. Steam crackers and petrochemical producers for clean polyolefin-derived oil under ISCC PLUS mass balance, carbon black producers for tyre-derived heavy fraction, refiners for co-processing, and fuel blenders and industrial users for the rest. Neste operates a 150,000 tonne per year upgrading facility for liquefied waste plastic at Porvoo, and TotalEnergies has processed pyrolysis oil at Antwerp since 2020 and started a plant at Grandpuits in 2026. These are examples of real European capacity, not a guarantee that any of them will buy your cargo.
What do I need before I can offer pyrolysis oil?
A dated laboratory assay covering chlorine, silicon, sulphur, nitrogen, water, metals, density, viscosity, flash point, TAN, distillation profile and filterable solids, plus a retained sample. For tyre oil, add the biogenic content by radiocarbon analysis. Then your feedstock description, monthly volume, storage location, certification status and your waste-or-product position. Without the assay you are not offering a product, you are offering a description.
Which laboratory should test my pyrolysis oil?
Intertek, SGS, Saybolt and AmSpec all run oil testing and cargo inspection with laboratories in or near the Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Antwerp range. Ask for a pyrolysis oil programme specifically rather than a standard fuel assay, because the parameters that decide the deal, chlorine and silicon above all, are not on a normal fuel oil sheet.
Do I need ISCC PLUS to sell pyrolysis oil?
Only if you want the circular premium. Without certification your oil trades as a fuel; with ISCC PLUS mass balance a cracker can turn it into certified circular polymer, and that price gap is usually the whole business case. Certification takes roughly 6 to 10 weeks if you are organised, with audit fees commonly around EUR 2,500 to 6,000 for a single site.
How long does it take to get a first cargo away?
Realistically months rather than weeks, and most of that is qualification rather than negotiation. Paper screening, then a laboratory sample, then consistency across two or three batches, then a trial parcel co-processed at low ratio, then a term discussion. A producer who can show a stable rolling analysis compresses this more than any commercial argument will.
What is the most common mistake sellers make?
Starting at the wrong end. People call traders first, with no assay, no clarity on waste status and no certification, and then wonder why nothing happens. The second most common is overstating volume: a producer who promises 2,000 tonnes a month and delivers 300 does not get a second conversation.
Who to ask about How to sell pyrolysis oil in Europe
Ask us. Have oil to sell and not sure where to start? Send the analysis and the monthly volume. We will tell you in one conversation which route is realistic. We answer the same working day, in English or Dutch, and there is no charge and no obligation for a market read or a second opinion on a specification.
You get Bart van den Brug directly, not a call centre and not a form that goes nowhere. We are an independent broker: we never take title, we do not trade our own book, and we are paid a commission only on business that actually concludes. That is why we will also tell you when the answer is no.
+31 6 115 83 448
[email protected]
Sustainable Commodities 3 B.V., Lemmer, the Netherlands
Last reviewed 09 August 2026 by Bart van den Brug, Sustainable Commodities 3 B.V. (KvK 99665042), Lemmer, the Netherlands. Regulatory references are given for orientation and are not legal advice; verify against the current Official Journal text before contracting.