Dow, Mura Technology cancel chemical recycling plant in Germany

Dow and Mura Technology have canceled plans to build a chemical recycling facility for mixed plastics at Dow’s Böhlen site in Germany, according to a recent report from Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights.

In an Aug. 6 email to Platts, Dow Director of Corporate Media Relations Sarah Young said that while the Hydro-PRT facility at the Böhlen site will not proceed, the company is “exploring other opportunities with [partner] Mura Technology to expand our supply portfolio in Europe.”

The facility, first announced by the Horgen, Switzerland, office of Dow in 2022, was expected to be operational by this year, having a processing capacity of 120,000 metric tons per year. The Hydro-PRT, or Hydrothermal Plastic Recycling Technology, developed by London-based Mura, uses supercritical water to convert most forms of plastics—including flexible and multilayer plastics—back into their original oil and chemical forms. From there, they can be used to create new plastic products suitable for food-contact packaging.

When Mura and Midland, Michigan-based Dow announced the plans for the facility in Germany in 2022, they also said plans were in place to build additional chemical recycling facilities in the United States and Europe, adding as much as 600,000 metric tons per year of capacity by 2030.

In July, however, that outlook grew dim when Dow announced the shutdown of three of its upstream assets in Europe, which included its ethylene cracker in Böhlen, its chlor-alkali and vinyl (CAV) assets in Schkopau, Germany, and its basic siloxanes plant in Barry, United Kingdom. In particular, the Böhlen cracker is expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2027.

When it announced the shutdowns, Dow said they would “right-size regional capacity, reduce merchant sale exposure and remove higher-cost, energy-intensive portions” of its portfolio in the region while improving its ability to supply profitable derivative demand and optimize margins.

“Our industry in Europe continues to face difficult market dynamics, as well as an ongoing challenging cost and demand landscape,” Dow Chair and CEO Jim Fitterling said in July. “Over the past decade, we have demonstrated Dow’s commitment to operating with a best-owner mindset by taking proactive actions across higher-cost or nonstrategic assets. Looking ahead, we remain committed to realizing the value of our incremental growth investments and enhancing profitability and cash flow through more than $6 billion in near-term cash support.”