BioBTX produces aromatics from plastic waste – Covestro invests in ICCP process

Dutch cleantech company BioBTX is building the world's first commercial-scale facility at Chemical Park Delfzijl on the northern Dutch coast that converts mixed plastic waste into high-quality aromatic basic chemicals. The facility is based on BioBTX's proprietary ICCP technology (Integrated Catalytic Cracking Process) and is designed to process around 20,000 tons of waste per year. The process recovers aromatic oil through catalytic pyrolysis, which consists of benzene, toluene, and xylenes (B-T-X) – the same building blocks used today in coatings, pharmaceuticals, and high-performance materials. BASF Construction Chemicals and other construction chemical producers could benefit from this raw material in the future, as could the insulation industry: the aromatic building blocks serve as feedstock for isocyanate production (MDI/TDI), from which rigid and flexible foams for thermal insulation and interior finishing are manufactured. Covestro has been a shareholder of BioBTX since 2024 with a mid-single-digit million-euro investment.

How does ICCP technology work?

ICCP technology converts mixed plastic waste – i.e., sorting residue fractions that would otherwise be incinerated or landfilled – into aromatic oil through catalytic pyrolysis. The process produces around 10,000 tons of renewable aromatic oil annually as well as 8,000 tons of sustainable by-products. The process is feedstock-flexible: in addition to mixed plastic waste, biomass can also be processed in the future. This flexibility distinguishes the BioBTX process from conventional recycling technologies, which typically require sorted plastic streams. The recovered benzene, toluene, and xylene fractions correspond to the chemical building blocks used by the petrochemical industry today – for example, for polyurethanes (PU), which are installed in the construction industry as PIR / PUR insulation boards or serve as binders in mineral composite materials.

What climate advantages does the process offer?

Compared to conventional fossil-based BTX production, the ICCP process reduces greenhouse gas emissions of the resulting chemical building blocks by 70 to 80 percent. This reduction is particularly relevant for construction chemicals and the insulation industry, whose products are increasingly evaluated according to EPD criteria. Covestro plans to use the BTX fractions for its own isocyanate production, which produces rigid and flexible foams for insulation applications (such as refrigeration units, insulating panels) or mattresses. The company aims to achieve climate neutrality for Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 2035; Scope 3 emissions are also to become climate-neutral by 2050. The integration of circular raw materials is a central lever in this strategy – comparable to CO₂-neutral concrete approaches, where clinker substitutes and alternative fuels reduce emissions from cement production.

What does the facility mean for the circular economy in the construction sector?

With the investment decision for the Delfzijl facility, BioBTX is completing a 14-year development journey that began in 2012 with a laboratory idea and progressed through pilot and demonstration scale to commercial implementation. The facility will create 35 new jobs. Dr. Thorsten Dreier, Chief Technology Officer at Covestro, emphasizes: "We have been following BioBTX's progress for years and are very pleased to now see the point where the technology is proving itself at industrial scale. This marks a very important step. Moreover, it processes mixed plastic waste instead of a single sorted stream, which is exactly the kind of recycling we need on a larger scale to make a circular economy a reality."

For the building materials industry, the process opens new perspectives: aromatic building blocks from waste plastics can be used not only in insulation materials, but also in epoxy resin-based coatings, adhesives for laminated veneer lumber (LVL), or as binders in composite materials. The chemical quality of ICCP products matches fossil-based BTX, so existing production lines can be served without technical modifications. Ton Vries, Co-Founder and CEO of BioBTX, comments: "Achieving this important milestone in BioBTX's development marks an important step on our journey toward our mission to make circular chemistry possible. I am very proud of the entire BioBTX team and the shareholders whose commitment and dedication have made this achievement possible. We will build our world's first fully sustainable aromatics facility. A tremendous achievement!"

What role does chemical circular economy play for sustainable building materials?

The circular building strategy includes not only mineral recycled building materials but also chemical recovery of plastics and synthetic binders. With the ICCP process, BioBTX addresses those waste fractions that can no longer be recycled mechanically – such as multi-layer films, composite packaging, or contaminated plastics. While urban mining approaches in the construction sector focus primarily on the reuse of concrete, structural steel, and bricks, chemical recycling complements the value chain with insulation materials, coatings, and adhesives.

Covestro generated revenue of 12.9 billion euros in fiscal year 2025 and employed approximately 17,600 employees (in full-time equivalents) at 46 production facilities worldwide at the end of 2025. The company is oriented toward the circular economy and supplies polymer materials for mobility, construction, electronics, as well as health and telecommunications. The partnership with BioBTX fits into the sustainability strategy, which aims to replace fossil raw materials with circular alternatives – an approach that is becoming increasingly relevant for producers of insulation materials and composite materials.

The new facility in Delfzijl could serve as a pilot for further chemical recycling projects that convert mixed waste streams into high-quality basic chemicals. For manufacturers of high-performance insulation materials, PU-bonded mineral foams, or aromatic resins, the process represents an additional, climate-optimized raw material source – and a step toward circular economy, which closes not only mineral but also petrochemical value chains.