OMV (Vienna, Austria; www.omv.com) today announced a significant milestone in the chemical industry following 15 years of pioneering research and development. The company has now started-up the next-scale expansion of its innovative proprietary ReOil® technology at the Schwechat refinery near Vienna. OMV’s new plant can process up to 16,000 metric tons of hard-to-recycle mixed plastic waste annually – equivalent to the annual plastic waste generated by 160,000 Austrian households.
Alfred Stern, Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of OMV, said “The essential materials of the future need to become more sustainable and circular. OMV’s chemical recycling technology plays a pivotal role in driving growth in our Chemicals segment. The start-up of the new ReOil plant marks a significant milestone on our path towards achieving climate neutrality by 2050 at the latest. Complementing mechanical recycling, ReOil processes plastic waste that would otherwise remain unrecyclable, reintegrating it into the value chain. Through our Strategy 2030, we are advancing circularity as a cornerstone of our responsible transformation.”
ReOil was initially developed in 2009, positioning OMV as one of the global pioneers in chemical recycling. Its goal was to enhance the sustainability of plastics by reintegrating valuable resources into the value chain, thereby avoiding their disposal through incineration or landfill. ReOil achieves this by transforming post-consumer mixed plastic waste into pyrolysis oil, which serves as a raw material for producing sustainable base chemicals. These chemicals are then converted into various essential everyday applications, including food packaging, healthcare products, and components for electric vehicles. The ReOil technology unleashes a positive environmental effect: In 2030, a 34 percent reduction of CO2 can be achieved if post-consumer mixed plastic waste is chemically recycled in the ReOil plant instead of being incinerated.*
The initial ReOil pilot plant at the OMV Schwechat refinery has been operational since 2018, achieving nearly 30,000 cracking hours to date. During this pilot period, more than 2.1 million kilograms of plastic waste have been processed sustainably. The successful operations of the pilot plant prompted the decision to construct a larger, scaled-up facility, which OMV has now completed and started-up. Both ReOil plants are ISCC PLUS** certified.
As a next step, OMV is developing a first-of-its-kind full-scale industrial plant for chemical recycling. The final investment decision by OMV for this plant is subject to internal approvals. On March 12, 2025, OMV secured up to EUR 81.6 million in EU funding for its industrial ReOil plant – the largest public grant ever awarded to the OMV Group.