Posted on April 15, 2026
WPU, Vitol’s plastics recycling division, plans to build a new chemical recycling plant for end-of-life plastics in the port of Rotterdam, alongside Vitol’s refinery, VPR. The new plant will have the capacity to process 80,000 tonnes a year of post-consumer end-of-life plastic and is expected to be one of Europe’s largest chemical recycling plants.
WPU (Waste plastic Upcycling) has developed the batch pyrolysis technology with which it will convert end-of-life plastic into pyrolysis oil. This is a circular feedstock for the production of circular chemicals, intermediates and new plastics that the plant will use to convert used plastic into pyrolysis oil. This is a circular feedstock for the production of circular chemicals, intermediates and new plastics, and can therefore serve as a substitute for fossil naphtha.
WPU already applies this pyrolysis technology at its plant in Denmark, which has a recycling capacity of 20,000 tonnes per year. This plant is currently operating close to full capacity. WPU is among the first companies to deploy plastics pyrolysis at commercial scale for end-of-life plastic.
Located alongside VPR in Rotterdam, the facility would be well placed to connect recycled output with existing industrial infrastructure. The plant will incorporate the furnace technology designed to reduce emissions and lower energy use. Similar technology has already been deployed at Vitol’s Rotterdam refinery, VPR. Vopak announced they will be repurposing around 20K cbm for the storage and handling of pyrolysis oil, integrating with Vopak’s existing naphtha storage hub at Europoort.
