Mode: Chemical PET recycling plant in Huelva in planning

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The Spanish company Modelo de Upcycling Sostenible, S.L.-Modus for short-is planning a plant for the chemical recycling of PET waste in the Parque Huelva Empresarial industrial area in Huelva, the capital of Huelva province in southwestern Andalusia. The responsible environmental authority of the regional government of Andalusia publicly displayed the procedure for the integrated environmental permit, the environmental impact study and the other technical project documents at the end of July 2026. The project is managed under the file number AAI/HU/107.

The plant is to process both PET packaging discarded materials and polyester-containing textile discarded materials. According to the published project information, an annual capacity of up to 60,000 tons of packaging discarded materials or 57,600 tons of textile discarded materials is planned. The different amounts relate to alternative compositions of the input material and are therefore not to be understood as simultaneously usable total capacity.

Splitting of PET into chemical starting materials

In contrast to mechanical recycling, the PET utilized should not only be crushed, cleaned and melted again. A chemical depolymerization by alkaline hydrolysis is provided. The polymer chains of the PET are broken down and purified terephthalic acid or PTA and monoethylene glycol, MEG to short, are returned to the chemical starting materials.

According to the project documents, the process is to be supported by reactors that work with microwave radiation. PTA and MEG could then be utilized again to create PET. The developer states that the substances produced should achieve a condition comparable to fossil primary raw materials. Independent operating data of the planned system are not yet available.

Possible input materials are, in particular, PET discarded materials which, due to its contamination, coloring, material combination or textile structure, can only be mechanically recycled to a limited extent. The process is to be utilized in addition to the established mechanical PET recycling.

Second known plant project of the company

In addition to the project in Huelva, Modus is pursuing another project to chemical PET recycling in Medina del Campo in the province of Valladolid. A positive environmental impact statement was initially issued to this plant in 2025 and later an environmental permit. The plant planned there is to be built on an area of almost 80,000 square meters and treat up to 51,020 tons of non-hazardous plastic and textile discarded materials annually. There, too, the proposed process is based on alkaline hydrolysis and microwave methodology.

Whether the project in Huelva is to be implemented in addition to the facility in Medina del Campo or represents a changed location and capacity planning is not clear from the documents that have been publicly available so far.

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