Following the project’s positive Final Investment Decision (FID) reached in July 2026, the capital grant accelerates the commercial-scale deployment of BioBTX’s proprietary Integrated Catalytic Cracking Process (ICCP).
The Delfzijl facility will divert roughly 20,000 tonnes per year of mixed post-consumer and industrial plastic scrap from incineration. In turn, it will synthesize approximately 10,000 tonnes per year of renewable aromatic oil rich in BTX building blocks. With more than 99% of global aromatic hydrocarbons currently derived from fossil petroleum cracking, PETRA constitutes the only commercial venture within the European Union converting low-grade plastic waste directly into drop-in aromatics for pharmaceuticals, performance polymers, and specialty coatings.
Two-Stage ICCP Catalysis and Lifecycle Performance
The core ICCP architecture decouples pyrolysis from upgrading through a continuous two-stage conversion platform:
Step One: Hydrocarbon plastic scrap and biomass fractions are thermally cracked in an oxygen-deprived environment to generate intermediate vapors.
Step Two: The vapor stream is catalytically aromatized, extending catalyst life cycles, enhancing product selectivity, and accommodating mixed, halogenated, or dirty waste streams incompatible with mechanical recyclers.
Calculated under the Innovation Fund methodology, PETRA achieves a 72% lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions reduction relative to virgin fossil-based BTX synthesis paired with mixed plastic incineration. The cumulative ten-year greenhouse gas avoidance of 517,000 tCO₂e corresponds to the emissions profile of roughly 100,000 internal combustion passenger vehicles. The unit will create 35 direct manufacturing jobs at the site while serving as an industrial blueprint for regional technology licensing.
Ton Vries (CEO of BioBTX):
Securing this grant from the EU Innovation Fund is a strong recognition of our technology and of the team that has worked towards this moment in the last years. This grant is an important building block in the realization of PETRA and shows that Europe believes in producing its critical chemicals from waste instead of fossil oil. With PETRA, we are building the first circular aromatics plant in the world, right here in Groningen.
