Plastic pyrolysis oil (PPO / WPPO) brokerage

For a clean polyolefin feed, liquid yields in the region of 70 to 80 percent by weight are reported, with the rest going to gas and char. The polyolefin content of the feed is the main driver: the cleaner and more polyolefin-rich the input, the higher the liquid yield. A mixed post-consumer feed carrying PVC, PET, labels, moisture and dirt will come in well below that, and the material you did not want does not simply disappear, it lands in your chlorine and ash figures.

Commonly reported in the range of about 38 to 43 MJ/kg, which puts it in the same territory as conventional fuels. But treat calorific value as the least interesting number on your analysis. Nobody buying for a cracker is paying for energy content, they are paying for a hydrocarbon they can process, and that conversation is decided by chlorine, silicon and consistency. Energy content only leads the discussion when the oil is going to a burner, which is the lowest value outlet.

Off a reference, usually naphtha, with an adjustment for quality and a separate premium where the material carries a recognised certification. That structure matters more than any number we could quote here: the reference moves, so a price agreed today is really a formula, not a figure. Certified oil meeting cracker specification and uncertified crude oil going to a burner are different products with a wide gap between them, and the gap is worth more than most producers assume.

Density at 15 degrees by ASTM D4052, pour point by D97, initial and final boiling point by D86 with D7169 as the alternative for the back end, Reid vapour pressure by D323, total acid number by D664, sulphur by D5453, nitrogen by D4629, total oxygen by D5291, total halogens by D7359 with the bromide value alongside, and total metals, phosphorus and silicon by ICP-MS or ICP-OES. That is the panel buyers keep asking for. Run it once properly and you can answer almost any enquiry without going back to the lab.

No, and agreeing one while meaning the other is a routine source of argument. Total halogens covers fluorine, chlorine, bromine and iodine together. A buyer working to a chlorine limit wants chlorine specifically. Quote which one you have measured and by which method, and if there is a bromide figure alongside, say so.

Three normal causes. The plastic itself carried stabilisers, antioxidants and processing aids from its original manufacture, and those break down during pyrolysis into oxygenated compounds. Light fractions, where oxygenates concentrate, are being captured into the tank blend instead of separated. And air ingress during condensation or handling promotes light oxygenate formation. The fixes are tighter light end collection and better inerting of the condensation train. Being able to explain this to a buyer, with a plan, changes the conversation completely.

Almost all of it arrives with the feed rather than being created in the reactor. Organic matter such as food residue, soil, paper and cardboard drives oxygen, water, ash and solids. Plastic additives, meaning fillers, plasticisers, inks, labels and pigments, drive oxygenates, metals and ash. PVC drives chlorine. Metals come from labels, closures and pigments, and silicon in particular ends conversations with refiners. Money spent on the sorting line usually buys more specification than money spent on the process.

Light and middle fraction, for buyers of ours. The light cut, naphtha range to around 180 C, is what a steam cracker actually wants. The middle cut, roughly 180 to 360 C, routes to hydrotreating, diesel blending or a cracker depending on how chlorine, sulphur and nitrogen come back. We will still look at full range undistilled oil, but the fractionated cuts place faster and at better levels.

Light, naphtha range roughly C5 to C12 up to about 180 C. Middle, gasoil and diesel range roughly C12 to C20 between about 180 and 360 C. Heavy and residue, above roughly 360 C, waxy and often recycled back into the reactor or placed as industrial fuel or carbon black feedstock. Cut points vary by operator, so these are conventions rather than a standard.

Usually yes, if the capital is there. A plant that can deliver a defined light or middle cut is selling a product a cracker or hydrotreater can take directly, instead of a full range oil the buyer has to work out what to do with. It widens the buyer list and shortens qualification.

Generally single-digit ppm on total chlorine, with some plants tighter still. Untreated oil from mixed post-consumer feed commonly tests in the hundreds or low thousands of ppm because of PVC and chlorinated additives. Always confirm the specific buyer's limit, there is no single industry figure, and plants do not relax it for trial cargoes.

Four routes, in rough order of cost-effectiveness: sorting PVC out of the input upstream; capturing chlorine in-process with scavengers or a dechlorination stage; post-treating the produced oil by adsorption, washing or a dedicated unit; or blending into a much larger compliant stream. Input sorting is the most durable, which is why post-industrial feed prices above post-consumer.

Both go to a steam cracker and both carry a certified renewable or circular claim, but they are different products. PPO is derived from waste plastic and supports a circular (recycled-content) claim. Bionaphtha is a bio-based co-product of hydrotreating fats and oils and supports a bio-based claim. Brand owners' targets often specify which one they need, so they are not interchangeable. See bionaphtha.

Not to sell it as fuel. You need it for the cracker route, because ISCC PLUS with mass balance chain of custody is what allows the polymer producer downstream to sell a certified circular grade. Check that the pyrolysis unit is inside the certified boundary, that the product group is right, and that the mass balance period matches your delivery schedule.

Months rather than weeks. The sequence is paper screening, laboratory sample, a consistency check across three or more batches, a trial parcel co-processed at low ratio, and only then a term discussion. The step that fails most often is consistency, a single good COA counts for very little if the next batch looks different.

It comes from siloxanes and antifoam agents in the input and it permanently poisons hydrotreating catalyst. Unlike water or solids it cannot be filtered out, and unlike chlorine it cannot realistically be blended away. Any buyer with a hydrotreater tests for it whether or not it appears on the offered specification, and a failure usually ends the conversation.

There is no universal trading specification. ASTM D8577 is a standard guide for characterising waste plastic process oil and is a sensible basis for a COA. In practice every buyer applies its own acceptance limits, so the question that matters is not whether the oil meets a standard but whether a specific plant can run it.