The Global Advanced (Chemical or Feedstock) Recycling Market 2025-2040

3.1 Global production of plastics
3.2 The importance of plastic
3.3 Issues with plastics use
3.4 Bio-based or renewable plastics
3.4.1 Drop-in bio-based plastics
3.4.2 Novel bio-based plastics
3.5 Biodegradable and compostable plastics
3.5.1 Biodegradability
3.5.2 Compostability
3.6 Plastic pollution
3.7 Policy and regulations
3.8 The circular economy
3.9 Plastic recycling
3.9.1 Mechanical recycling
3.9.1.1 Closed-loop mechanical recycling
3.9.1.2 Open-loop mechanical recycling
3.9.1.3 Polymer types, use, and recovery
3.9.2 Advanced recycling (molecular recycling, chemical recycling)
3.9.2.1 Main streams of plastic waste
3.9.2.2 Comparison of mechanical and advanced chemical recycling
3.10 Life cycle assessment

4.1 Market drivers and trends
4.1.1 Growing Environmental Concerns
4.1.2 Stringent Regulatory Policies
4.1.3 Corporate Sustainability Initiatives
4.1.4 Technological Advancements
4.1.5 Circular Economy Adoption
4.2 Market Challenges and Restraints
4.2.1 High Initial Investment Costs
4.2.2 Technical Challenges
4.2.3 Infrastructure Limitations
4.2.4 Technological Barriers
4.2.5 Supply Chain Complexities
4.2.6 Cost Competitiveness
4.3 Industry news, funding and developments 2020-2025
4.4 Capacities
4.5 Global polymer demand 2022-2040, segmented by recycling technology
4.5.1 PE
4.5.2 PP
4.5.3 PET
4.5.4 PS
4.5.5 Nylon
4.5.6 Others
4.6 Global polymer demand 2022-2040, segmented by recycling technology, by region
4.6.1 Europe
4.6.2 North America
4.6.3 South America
4.6.4 Asia
4.6.5 Oceania
4.6.6 Africa
4.7 Chemically recycled plastic products
4.8 Market map
4.9 Value chain
4.10 Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) of advanced chemical recycling processes
4.10.1 PE
4.10.2 PP
4.10.3 PET
4.11 Recycled plastic yield and cost
4.11.1 Plastic yield of each chemical recycling technologies
4.11.2 Prices

5.1 Applications
5.2 Pyrolysis
5.2.1 Non-catalytic
5.2.2 Catalytic
5.2.2.1 Polystyrene pyrolysis
5.2.2.2 Pyrolysis for production of bio fuel
5.2.2.3 Used tires pyrolysis
5.2.2.3.1 Conversion to biofuel
5.2.2.4 Co-pyrolysis of biomass and plastic wastes
5.2.3 SWOT analysis
5.2.4 Companies and capacities
5.3 Gasification
5.3.1 Technology overview
5.3.1.1 Syngas conversion to methanol
5.3.1.2 Biomass gasification and syngas fermentation
5.3.1.3 Biomass gasification and syngas thermochemical conversion
5.3.2 SWOT analysis
5.3.3 Companies and capacities (current and planned)
5.4 Dissolution
5.4.1 Technology overview
5.4.2 SWOT analysis
5.4.3 Companies and capacities (current and planned)
5.5 Depolymerisation
5.5.1 Hydrolysis
5.5.1.1 Technology overview
5.5.1.2 SWOT analysis
5.5.2 Enzymolysis
5.5.2.1 Technology overview
5.5.2.2 SWOT analysis
5.5.3 Methanolysis
5.5.3.1 Technology overview
5.5.3.2 SWOT analysis
5.5.4 Glycolysis
5.5.4.1 Technology overview
5.5.4.2 SWOT analysis
5.5.5 Aminolysis
5.5.5.1 Technology overview
5.5.5.2 SWOT analysis
5.5.6 Companies and capacities (current and planned)
5.6 Other advanced chemical recycling technologies
5.6.1 Hydrothermal cracking
5.6.2 Pyrolysis with in-line reforming
5.6.3 Microwave-assisted pyrolysis
5.6.4 Plasma pyrolysis
5.6.5 Plasma gasification
5.6.6 Supercritical fluids
5.6.7 Carbon fiber recycling
5.6.7.1 Processes
5.6.7.2 Companies
5.7 Advanced recycling of thermoset materials
5.7.1 Thermal recycling
5.7.1.1 Energy Recovery Combustion
5.7.1.2 Anaerobic Digestion
5.7.1.3 Pyrolysis Processing
5.7.1.4 Microwave Pyrolysis
5.7.2 Solvolysis
5.7.3 Catalyzed Glycolysis
5.7.4 Alcoholysis and Hydrolysis
5.7.5 Ionic liquids
5.7.6 Supercritical fluids
5.7.7 Plasma
5.7.8 Companies
5.8 Comparison with Traditional Recycling Methods
5.8.1 Mechanical Recycling Limitations
5.8.2 Energy Efficiency Comparison
5.8.3 Quality of Output Comparison
5.8.4 Cost Analysis
5.9 Environmental Impact Assessment
5.9.1 Carbon Footprint Analysis
5.9.2 Energy Consumption Assessment
5.9.3 Waste Reduction Potential
5.9.3.1 Wastewater
5.9.3.2 Atmospheric Emissions
5.9.3.3 Catalyst and Media Waste
5.9.3.4 Maintenance and Cleaning Waste
5.9.3.5 Waste Management Approaches
5.9.3.6 Regulatory Considerations and Classification
5.9.3.7 Comparative Waste Production
5.9.3.8 Environmental Impact and Future Directions
5.9.4 Sustainability Metrics
5.10 Emerging Technologies
5.10.1 AI and Machine Learning Applications
5.10.1.1 Sorting Optimization
5.10.1.2 Process Control
5.10.1.3 Quality Prediction
5.10.1.4 Maintenance Prediction
5.10.2 Robotics in Sorting
5.10.2.1 Vision Systems
5.10.2.2 Picking Mechanisms
5.10.2.3 Control Systems
5.10.2.4 Integration Methods
5.10.3 Novel Catalyst Development
5.10.3.1 Nano-catalysts
5.10.3.2 Bio-catalysts
5.10.3.3 Hybrid Catalysts

6.1 Plastics
6.1.1 Polyethylene (PE)
6.1.1.1 HDPE Analysis
6.1.1.2 LLDPE Analysis
6.1.1.3 Recovery Methods
6.1.2 Polypropylene (PP)
6.1.2.1 Homopolymer
6.1.2.2 Copolymer
6.1.2.3 Processing Methods
6.1.2.4 Quality Grades
6.1.3 Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET)
6.1.3.1 Bottle Grade
6.1.3.2 Fiber Grade
6.1.3.3 Film Grade
6.1.3.4 Recovery Technologies
6.1.4 Polystyrene (PS)
6.1.4.1 General Purpose PS
6.1.4.2 High Impact PS
6.1.4.3 Expanded PS
6.1.4.4 Processing Methods
6.1.5 Other Plastics
6.1.5.1 PVC
6.1.5.2 PC
6.1.5.3 ABS
6.1.5.4 Mixed Plastics
6.2 Metals
6.2.1 Precious Metals
6.2.1.1 Gold
6.2.1.2 Silver
6.2.1.3 Platinum Group Metals
6.2.1.4 Recovery Methods
6.3 Base Metals
6.3.1 Copper
6.3.2 Aluminium
6.3.3 Steel
6.3.4 Processing Technologies
6.4 Rare Earth Elements
6.4.1 Light REEs
6.4.2 Heavy REEs
6.4.3 Extraction Methods
6.5 Electronic Waste
6.5.1 Circuit Boards
6.5.1.1 PCB Types
6.5.1.2 Component Separation
6.5.1.3 Metal Recovery
6.5.1.4 Waste Management
6.5.2 Batteries
6.5.2.1 Lithium-ion
6.5.2.2 Lead-acid
6.5.2.3 Nickel-based
6.5.2.4 Recovery Processes
6.5.3 Displays
6.5.3.1 LCD
6.5.3.2 LED
6.5.3.3 OLED
6.5.3.4 Material Recovery
6.5.4 Other Components
6.5.4.1 Capacitors
6.5.4.2 Resistors
6.5.4.3 Semiconductors
6.5.4.4 Connectors
6.6 Textiles
6.6.1 Natural Fibers
6.6.2 Cotton
6.6.3 Wool
6.6.4 Silk
6.6.5 Processing Methods
6.7 Synthetic Fibers
6.7.1 Polyester
6.7.2 Nylon
6.7.3 Acrylic
6.7.4 Recovery Technologies

7.1 Chemical Feedstocks
7.1.1 Monomers
7.1.2 Oligomers
7.1.3 Specialty Chemicals
7.2 Fuels
7.2.1 Diesel
7.2.2 Gasoline
7.2.3 Synthetic Gas
7.3 Raw Materials
7.3.1 Recycled Plastics
7.3.2 Recovered Metals
7.3.3 Other Materials
7.4 Energy Products
7.4.1 Electricity
7.4.2 Heat
7.4.3 Biofuels

Table 1. Types of recycling
Table 2. Global plastics production 1950-2023, millions of tonnes
Table 3. Issues related to the use of plastics
Table 4. Type of biodegradation
Table 5. Overview of the recycling technologies
Table 6. Polymer types, use, and recovery
Table 7. Composition of plastic waste streams
Table 8. Comparison of mechanical and advanced chemical recycling
Table 9. Life cycle assessment of virgin plastic production, mechanical recycling and chemical recycling
Table 10. Life cycle assessment of chemical recycling technologies (pyrolysis, gasification, depolymerization and dissolution)
Table 11. Market drivers and trends in the advanced chemical recycling market
Table 12. Global regulations driving plastics recycling
Table 13. Corporate Sustainability Initiatives
Table 14. Technological Advancements
Table 15. Technical Challenges
Table 16. Technological Barriers
Table 17. Cost Competitiveness Analysis
Table 18. Advanced chemical recycling industry news, funding and developments 2020-2025
Table 19. Advanced chemical recycling capacities, by technology
Table 20. Global polymer demand 2022-2040, segmented by recycling technology for PE (million tonnes)
Table 21. Global polymer demand 2022-2040, segmented by recycling technology for PP (million tonnes)
Table 22. Global polymer demand 2022-2040, segmented by recycling technology for PET (million tonnes)
Table 23. Global polymer demand 2022-2040, segmented by recycling technology for PS (million tonnes)
Table 24. Global polymer demand 2022-2040, segmented by recycling technology for Nylon (million tonnes)
Table 25. Global polymer demand 2022-2040, segmented by recycling technology for Other types (million tonnes).*
Table 26. Global polymer demand in Europe, by recycling technology 2022-2040 (million tonnes)
Table 27. Global polymer demand in North America, by recycling technology 2022-2040 (million tonnes)
Table 28. Global polymer demand in South America, by recycling technology 2022-2040 (million tonnes)
Table 29. Global polymer demand in Asia, by recycling technology 2022-2040 (million tonnes)
Table 30. Global polymer demand in Oceania, by recycling technology 2022-2040 (million tonnes)
Table 31. Global polymer demand in Africa, by recycling technology 2022-2040 (million tonnes)
Table 32. Example chemically recycled plastic products
Table 33. Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) of Advanced chemical recycling Processes
Table 34. Life cycle assessment of mechanically versus chemically recycling polyethylene (PE)
Table 35. Life cycle assessment of mechanically versus chemically recycling polypropylene (PP)
Table 36. Life cycle assessment of mechanically versus chemically recycling polyethylene terephthalate (PET)
Table 37. Plastic yield of each chemical recycling technologies
Table 38. Chemically recycled plastics prices in USD
Table 39. Applications of chemically recycled materials
Table 40. Summary of non-catalytic pyrolysis technologies
Table 41. Summary of catalytic pyrolysis technologies
Table 42. Summary of pyrolysis technique under different operating conditions
Table 43. Biomass materials and their bio-oil yield
Table 44. Biofuel production cost from the biomass pyrolysis process
Table 45. Pyrolysis companies and plant capacities, current and planned
Table 46. Summary of gasification technologies
Table 47. Advanced recycling (Gasification) companies
Table 48. Summary of dissolution technologies
Table 49. Advanced recycling (Dissolution) companies
Table 50. Depolymerisation processes for PET, PU, PC and PA, products and yields
Table 51. Summary of hydrolysis technologies-feedstocks, process, outputs, commercial maturity and technology developers
Table 52. Summary of Enzymolysis technologies-feedstocks, process, outputs, commercial maturity and technology developers
Table 53. Summary of methanolysis technologies-feedstocks, process, outputs, commercial maturity and technology developers
Table 54. Summary of glycolysis technologies-feedstocks, process, outputs, commercial maturity and technology developers
Table 55. Summary of aminolysis technologies
Table 56. Advanced recycling (Depolymerisation) companies and capacities (current and planned)
Table 57. Overview of hydrothermal cracking for advanced chemical recycling
Table 58. Overview of Pyrolysis with in-line reforming for advanced chemical recycling
Table 59. Overview of microwave-assisted pyrolysis for advanced chemical recycling
Table 60. Overview of plasma pyrolysis for advanced chemical recycling
Table 61. Overview of plasma gasification for advanced chemical recycling
Table 62. Summary of carbon fiber (CF) recycling technologies. Advantages and disadvantages
Table 63. Retention rate of tensile properties of recovered carbon fibres by different recycling processes
Table 64. Recycled carbon fiber producers, technology and capacity
Table 65. Current thermoset recycling routes
Table 66. Companies developing advanced thermoset recycing routes
Table 67. Comparison of Advanced Chemical Recycling with Traditional Recycling Methods
Table 68. Energy Efficiency Comparison: Advanced Chemical Recycling vs. Mechanical Recycling
Table 69. Quality of Output Comparison
Table 70. Cost Analysis of advanced plastic recycling versus traditional recycling methods
Table 71. Carbon Footprint Analysis
Table 72. Energy Consumption Assessment
Table 73. Sustainability Metrics
Table 74. AI and Machine Learning Applications
Table 75. Types of Nano-catalysts
Table 76. Types of bio-catalysts
Table 77. Advanced polyethylene recovery methods
Table 78. Polypropylene processing methods for chemical recycling
Table 79. PP Quality Grades from Chemical Recycling
Table 80. Advanced PET recovery technologies
Table 81. Advanced chemical recycling of metals
Table 82. Precious metals recovery methods
Table 83. Advanced processing technologies for base metal recycling
Table 84. Rare Earth Elements Extraction Methods
Table 85. Recovery Processes for Batteries
Table 86. Advanced technologies for materials recovery in displays
Table 87. Processing Methods for Natural Fiber Recycling
Table 88. Recovery Technologies for Synthetic Fibers
Table 89. Monomers from chemical recycling
Table 90. Oligomers from advanced recycling

Figure 1. Global plastics production 1950-2023, millions of tonnes
Figure 2. Coca-Cola PlantBottle®
Figure 3. Interrelationship between conventional, bio-based and biodegradable plastics
Figure 4. Global production, use, and fate of polymer resins, synthetic fibers, and additives
Figure 5. The circular plastic economy
Figure 6. Current management systems for waste plastics
Figure 7. Overview of the different circular pathways for plastics
Figure 8. Global polymer demand 2022-2040, segmented by recycling technology for PE (million tonnes)
Figure 9. Global polymer demand 2022-2040, segmented by recycling technology for PP (million tonnes)
Figure 10. Global polymer demand 2022-2040, segmented by recycling technology for PET (million tonnes)
Figure 11. Global polymer demand 2022-2040, segmented by recycling technology for PS (million tonnes)
Figure 12. Global polymer demand 2022-2040, segmented by recycling technology for Nylon (million tonnes)
Figure 13. Global polymer demand 2022-2040, segmented by recycling technology for Other types (million tonnes)
Figure 14. Global polymer demand in Europe, by recycling technology 2022-2040 (million tonnes)
Figure 15. Global polymer demand in North America, by recycling technology 2022-2040 (million tonnes)
Figure 16. Global polymer demand in South America, by recycling technology 2022-2040 (million tonnes)
Figure 17. Global polymer demand in Asia, by recycling technology 2022-2040 (million tonnes)
Figure 18. Global polymer demand in Oceania, by recycling technology 2022-2040 (million tonnes)
Figure 19. Global polymer demand in Africa, by recycling technology 2022-2040 (million tonnes)
Figure 20. Market map for advanced plastics recycling
Figure 21. Value chain for advanced chemical recycling market
Figure 22. Schematic layout of a pyrolysis plant
Figure 23. Waste plastic production pathways to (A) diesel and (B) gasoline
Figure 24. Schematic for Pyrolysis of Scrap Tires
Figure 25. Used tires conversion process
Figure 26. SWOT analysis-pyrolysis for advanced recycling
Figure 27. Total syngas market by product in MM Nm³/h of Syngas, 2021
Figure 28. Overview of biogas utilization
Figure 29. Biogas and biomethane pathways
Figure 30. SWOT analysis-gasification for advanced recycling
Figure 31. SWOT analysis-dissoluton for advanced recycling
Figure 32. Products obtained through the different solvolysis pathways of PET, PU, and PA
Figure 33. SWOT analysis-Hydrolysis for advanced chemical recycling
Figure 34. SWOT analysis-Enzymolysis for advanced chemical recycling
Figure 35. SWOT analysis-Methanolysis for advanced chemical recycling
Figure 36. SWOT analysis-Glycolysis for advanced chemical recycling
Figure 37. SWOT analysis-Aminolysis for advanced chemical recycling
Figure 38. Alterra’s Akron Plant in Ohio
Figure 39. ChemCyclingTM prototypes
Figure 40. ChemCycling circle by BASF
Figure 41. Recycled carbon fibers obtained through the R3FIBER process
Figure 42. Cassandra Oil process
Figure 43. CuRe Technology process
Figure 44. MoReTec
Figure 45. Chemical decomposition process of polyurethane foam
Figure 46. OMV ReOil process
Figure 47. Schematic Process of Plastic Energy’s TAC Chemical Recycling
Figure 48. Easy-tear film material from recycled material
Figure 49. Polyester fabric made from recycled monomers
Figure 50. A sheet of acrylic resin made from conventional, fossil resource-derived MMA monomer (left) and a sheet of acrylic resin made from chemically recycled MMA monomer (right)
Figure 51. Teijin Frontier Co., Ltd. Depolymerisation process
Figure 52. The Velocys process
Figure 53. The Proesa® Process
Figure 54. Worn Again products