Inspiring Regional Tour Rotterdam for Participants

At Pryme , COO Pascal Spiekerman and CEO Marieke Bleyenbergh clearly expressed their ambition to significantly scale up chemical recycling. Pryme, located at Plant One in the Botlek area, processed 500 tons of plastic waste into 340 tons of pyrolysis oil in 2024. The goal for Q4 2025 is set at 3,000 to 4,000 tons of pyrolysis oil, almost as much as in all of 2024. The demo plant has a designed capacity of 26 kton/year of plastic waste. With this scaling, a Pryme Two will also be established with a capacity that will be more than four times higher. The participants gained a clear insight into how Pryme One operates during the tour.

Bureau Veritas

The next stop was at Bureau Veritas, where strategic business developer Danny Vancoppenolle explained how the Rotterdam facility is particularly focused on testing and certifying oil, petrochemical products, and still coal. Worldwide, there are 160 labs, and 7,000 employees work for Veritas for leading companies. There are also labs and on-site inspections, and Veritas collaborates in building plants, for instance, by designing spaces in installations where material can be taken for testing. The visit to the lab was impressive, showcasing state-of-the-art testing setups and applications.

Deltalinqs

Eline van Krimpen provided an update on the latest developments at Deltalinqs. This is the Entrepreneurs' Organization for logistics, port, and industrial companies, with nearly 95% of the companies (more than 700) affiliated with Deltalinqs. The port and industrial complex are of world-class size, with 150 MTons/year of crude oil, of which 50 MTons is processed, along with 20 MTons of CO2 emissions. Sustainability is a key priority and is promoted in various ways. Eline discussed biofuels and plastic, battery, and ship recycling initiatives. Deltalinqs is working on a raw materials cluster strategy, a circular plastics network, a raw materials innovation study, scenario studies for raw materials transition, market demand creation with governments, and the acceleration house for the port industrial complex. For more background information, see the attachment.

Call from GCNE

During the meetings, Arnold Stokking and Nicole van Klaveren from GCNE also provided an update on activities, with a call for extra attention to companies in difficulty that no longer receive subsidies. Scale-ups are characterized by a phase of high capital needs and cannot afford reserves to be eligible for subsidies. Scale-ups are the crucial step from innovation to entrepreneurship. Therefore, GCNE is preparing a call to the government to simplify regulations around "companies in difficulty" so that scale-ups have better access to subsidy instruments specifically intended for this phase in the innovation chain.

GCNE Monitor 2024

David Otto from TNO presented the annual Game Changer Monitor of GCNE for 2024. Read more about the highlights of this report via this link.

Want to become a participant?

If you would like to join the next regional tour and contribute to the goals of GCNE, read more about the benefits and express your interest as a participant via this link.